Police Search for Motive in Yale Student Murder

NEW HAVEN, Conn.
Published: September 20, 2009

A Yale laboratory employee has been arrested and charged with the murder of Annie Le, a Yale University graduate student that was found behind the wall of a high-security university research lab on Sept. 13. The motive is still unknown.

Raymond Clark III, a 24-year-old Yale employee, did not enter a plea during his Sept. 17 arraignment. He is being held on $3 million bail.

The homicide suspect had worked as a custodian at the university’s laboratory since 2004. According to a statement issued by Yale President Richard C. Levin, nothing in the history of Clark’s employment at the university gave an indication that he would commit this type of crime.

According to recent report, it is suspected that Clark had help hiding Le’s body from investigators. According to Fox News, police are questioning another Yale employee who works in the lab. That person has not been identified; however, Clark’s fiancée, sister and brother-in-law are also work at the lab.

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According to the Connecticut medical examiner, Le died of “traumatic asphyxia,” or strangulation.

Clark was initially brought into police custody for questioning earlier in the week. Police collected DNA samples to compare it with evidence found at the scene of the crime. According to news reports, Clark cooperated with authorities while they searched his apartment for evidence. Authorities obtained new search warrants on Sept. 16 to collect potential evidence from Clark’s Ford Mustang.

On Sept. 12, police found bloody clothes above floor tiles in the basement of the Amistad Building that they believe belong to the suspect. Investigators told the Daily News that they recovered Le’s blood from Clark’s boots, and a green pen he used to sign in to the lab. The New Haven police are also reviewing access card swipes that place Clark in the room where Le’s body was recovered for an hour after her killing.

Le was last seen on video surveillance outside the school’s medical laboratory on Sept. 8. She had disappeared only days before her wedding.

The 24-year-old was a doctoral student in pharmacology at Yale’s School of Medicine. She was working at the school’s laboratory complex located less than a mile from the main campus. Her purse, cell phone, credit cards and money were found in her office.

According to reports, Le swiped her Yale ID card at the building’s entrance at 10:00 a.m. At 12:40 p.m., the building’s fire alarm was set off by a faulty smoke detector. According to investigators, the alarm is not tied to the student’s disappearance.

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