POLICE IN New Haven, Connecticut, yesterday released the “person of interest” they had detained overnight in connection with the murder of Annie Le, the 24-year-old postgraduate student in pharmacology whose brutal killing has shaken the Yale University community.
On Sunday, the day she was to have been married on Long Island, Ms Le’s body was found stuffed into a wall cavity holding pipes and wiring in the Yale Animal Resources Centre (YARC) where she worked. ABC reported that bloody clothing was found behind ceiling tiles in the laboratory and contained evidence of the killer’s identity. Hundreds of research rodents are kept in the basement laboratory, and there are three security checks to reach it.
Police took Raymond Clark (24) into custody at 10pm on Tuesday, but released him five hours later after taking DNA samples and searching his apartment in Middletown, about 20 miles from the Yale campus. Clark is a lab technician at YARC. So are his fiancée, Jennifer Hromadka, his sister and brother-in-law. None of the four went to work yesterday.
As many as 15 FBI agents followed Mr Clark to a local fair last weekend. Neighbours told reporters they saw Mr Clark and Ms Hromadka leave with a large amount of luggage late on Sunday afternoon, about the time Le’s body was found.
The medical examiner was scheduled to release the results of Ms Le’s autopsy on Tuesday, which would have revealed the cause of her death. The results were withheld on orders from the local state attorney.
A researcher working in the same building told the New York Times that Mr Clark was “very officious and very demanding”. A former neighbour described him as “very unsociable”.
Ms Le’s enzyme research on laboratory mice had implications for cancer, diabetes and muscular dystrophy.
She was engaged to marry Jonathan Widawsky, a graduate student at Columbia University. The shy scientists were introduced by a mutual friend.
A video surveillance camera filmed Ms Le entering the lab building on the morning of September 8th. Her roommate reported her missing that night. Police initially suspected Ms Le might have disappeared because she had second thoughts about marriage. After watching 700 hours of video footage, they realised she never left the building.
Investigators have focused on Yale maintenance workers, lab technicians and students. Police told Yale students that no one else is in danger. They apparently believe Ms Le’s murder was a crime of passion, possibly committed by someone who wanted to prevent her marrying.