Police have opened a murder case after finding the body of a missing graduate student from an elite US university in a college building where she had last been seen five days before.
State police found the body of the Yale student at around 5pm yesterday inside a laboratory wall, where utility cables run between floors. The building is in the Ivy League school’s medical complex, about a mile from the main campus.
New Haven Assistant Police Chief Peter Reichard said officials are presuming the body was that of Yale University doctoral student Annie Le, who has been the focus of a massive police search since Tuesday.
Mr Reichard said police also recovered “a large amount” of physical evidence, but he would not discuss what that included.
Investigators, armed with blueprints for a building secured by 75 surveillance cameras and accessible only with a university ID, found the body yesterday after an intensive five-day search, police said.
Yale President Richard Levin offered support to Ms Le’s family and her fiance, Columbia University graduate student Jonathan Widawsky. The two were to marry on Sunday in Syosset, New York, on Long Island’s north shore.
Police yesterday would not say if they have any suspects. They previously have said Mr Widawsky is not a suspect and is assisting with the investigation.
Ms Le (24) was last seen in the five-story building that housed the laboratory where she worked.
AP