Annie Le -- Found Deceased 9/13/09

NEW HAVEN, Conn. (Sept. 10) - Connecticut State Police are using search dogs as they try to find a Yale graduate student who went missing Tuesday morning, just days before her planned wedding.

Annie Le, 24, is a doctoral student in pharmacology at the Yale School of Medicine. She was last seen at her laboratory in New Haven, Conn. She has not contacted her family, co-workers or friends. Her purse, cell phone, credit cards and money were left in her lab office.

http://news.aol.com/article/student-disappears-just-before-wedding/665223

Nancy Grace will be featuring this story tonight.

OMG... where is she?.... Somehow I just dont think she is another Jennifer Wilbanks who decided to run away b4 her planned wedding.

Thanks for story J4A, too bad it is true.

I agree that she probably didn't run away. I don't think she would have left her purse, cell phone, credit cards and money behind if that was the case.

Maybe the professor did something.It seems strange that he cancelled class before most people would have known she was missing.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/09/12/2009-09-12_professor_questioned_by_police_in_case_of_missing_yale_student_annie_le.html

The list of other lab members in her group

http://info.med.yale.edu/pharm/bennett/labmembers.htm

Pics of Annie Le & her fiancee

http://www.cbsnews.com/elements/2009/09/11/crimesider/photoessay5303665.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody

I agree Michelle. It seems like a strange coincidence that the professor suddenly canceled the class around the time that Annie disappeared. They definitely need to investigate him.

There are reports that bloody clothes were found stuffed in the ceiling of the building where missing Yale student Annie Lee was last seen, but officials wouldn't confirm what was found at the 5:30 pm press conference. At the press conference, authorities said reports that Annie's body had been found inside the building were wrong and that she was still considered a missing person. Police questioned a man outside the lab earlier, but would not say whether he was a witness or a suspect. I thought a strong person of interest might have been one of Le’s professors who canceled a class around the time Le went missing, but officials said the canceled class was not a concern in this case.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/09/12/2009-09-12_cops_seeking_clues_in_missing_yale_student_annie_les_disappearance_say_case_wide.html

Doesn't sound good after finding the bloody clothes.

Maybe it was the professor that was taken in for questioning.

No one is safe anywhere nowadays...not even in a locked building.The poor girl.

The press conference left me more confused than before I watched it. They shot down the theory that the professor had anything to do with Annie's disappearance. They pretty much wouldn't answer any questions or say what items of interest were found. They also said they didn't know if these items were linked to Annie. The New York Daily News and Fox 62 of New Haven, Connecticut reported earlier that Annie's body was found in the building, but that was also denied by officials at the press conference. Hopefully by some miracle she is still alive, but it doesn't look good if the reports about bloody clothes being found are true.

Especially when the clothes were found stuffed in the ceiling. Ugh. So sad. It's also been said that LE is going over 100's of hours of hours of surveillance tapes, farme by frame, to see if they can see her leaving the building at any time. So far, the have not seen her leave the building. (Neighboring building surveillance tapes as well) They are also going over blue prints of the building to make sure they searched the complete building.

Thanks for the update, j4a......this does not look good with bloody clothes being hidden.

Police have found a body stuffed inside a wall of the Yale lab where missing student Annie Le was last seen. There was surveillance video of Annie entering the lab on Tuesday morning, but no video of her ever leaving the lab. Police are assuming that the body they found is Annie and are now treating this as a homicide case. This is tragic news on what would have been Annie’s wedding night to fiance Jonathan Widawsky. Police have not named any suspects in Annie’s murder.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/09/13/2009-09-13_body_thought_to_be_missing_yale_graduate_student_annie_le_stuffed_inside_a_wall_.html

http://abcnews.go.com/US/body-found-search-missing-yale-bride-annie-le/story?id=8560293

Police: Found Body Is Likely Missing Yale Student
Police say body found inside Yale building is likely that of missing graduate student
NEW HAVEN, Conn. September 14, 2009 (AP)

Police on Sunday said they found what they believe is the body of a Yale University graduate student and bride-to-be hidden inside the wall of a university building where she was last seen five days before.

New Haven Assistant Police Chief Peter Reichard said officials are presuming the body was that of doctoral student Annie Le, who has been the focus of a massive police search since Tuesday.

"It hasn't been positively identified as of this time," Reichard told reporters Sunday night. "However, we are assuming it is her ... so we are treating it as a homicide."

State police found the body at around 5 p.m. Sunday in an area of the building that houses utility cables that run between floors. The building is in the Ivy League school's medical complex, about a mile from the main campus.

Reichard said police also recovered "a large amount" of physical evidence, but he would not discuss what that included.

Yale President Richard Levin offered support to Le's family and her fiance, Columbia University graduate student Jonathan Widawsky. The couple was to marry Sunday in Syosset, N.Y., on Long Island's north shore.

"The family and fiance and friends now must suffer the additional ordeal of waiting for the body to be positively identified," Levin said. "I met earlier this evening with Annie's family, with her fiance and his family and I conveyed to them all the deeply felt support of the entire university community."

Police on Sunday would not say if they have any suspects. They previously have said Widawsky is not a suspect and is assisting with the investigation.

Le, 24, was last seen Tuesday morning in the five-story building that housed the laboratory where she worked. Surveillance video shows her arriving around 10 a.m., but police had been baffled since the investigation began because there was no video of Le leaving, despite some 75 surveillance cameras operating around the complex. Her ID, money, credit cards and purse were found in her office.

More than 100 local, state and federal police had been searching the building for days, using blueprints to uncover any place where evidence or Le's body could be hidden.

Investigators on Saturday said they recovered evidence from the building, but would not confirm media reports that the items included bloody clothing.

On Sunday morning, a state police van drove down a ramp into the basement area of the building where the lab is located. Authorities also sifted through garbage at a Hartford incinerator Sunday, looking through trash that was taken from the building in the days since Le went missing.

Le, a a pharmacology student from Placerville, Calif., wrote a magazine article earlier this year about how to stay safe around the Ivy League campus.

The article, titled "Crime and Safety in New Haven," was published in February in a magazine produced by Yale's medical school. It compares higher instances of robbery in New Haven with cities that house other Ivy League schools and includes an interview with Yale Police Chief James Perrotti, who offers advice such as "pay attention to where you are" and "avoid portraying yourself as a potential victim."

"In short, New Haven is a city and all cities have their perils," Le concludes. "But with a little street smarts, one can avoid becoming yet another statistic."

Le's disappearance weighed heavily on Yale students, who prayed for her safe return Sunday at The University Church on Yale's campus.

"It has been a week that has tested many people in many different ways," the Rev. Ian Buckner Oliver said just before he gave the Sunday morning sermon. "It has brought up a lot of fears for people. It has brought up a lot of worry and concern for her and for all our safety."

The student-dominated congregation offered a moment of silence and prayer, "for Annie, and her family, who have arrived here in New Haven, for her fiance, on this, what would have been their wedding day. Let's lift them up in our prayers," Oliver said.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=8564933

I've been following this story, and it just so heartbreaking. I hope they catch the monster responsible. Most probably it's someone who was stalking her. I'm wondering if she might have said something about this to anyone. My heart, thoughts & prayers are with her family, fiance and friends. I hope & pray that this will increase awareness of the importance of safety on campus.

Yes, Book, this is a very sad case. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the "Professor" that cancelled his class right after she went missing. I remember reading that someone was taken in for questioning but can't find it now. Not sure if it was the professor or a lab tech. I know it was someone from that building though. Hopefully, LE has the murderer. It's so sad, yesterday would have been her wedding day.

FystyAngel wrote:Yes, Book, this is a very sad case. I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the "Professor" that cancelled his class right after she went missing. I remember reading that someone was taken in for questioning but can't find it now. Not sure if it was the professor or a lab tech. I know it was someone from that building though. Hopefully, LE has the murderer. It's so sad, yesterday would have been her wedding day.

Hi, Fysty! I also heard on HLN that a Professor had cancelled his classes for that day. I think that's highly suspicious in any case. I hope they are investigating him. I can't even begin to imagine what her poor family, fiance & friends are going through right now. I believe the Death Penalty is most definitely called for in cases such as this one.

ABC News is reporting that police have a suspect who appears to have defensive wounds. According to sources, the suspect failed a lie detector test. There is hope that the bloody clothing found Saturday will link the killer to the crime. Police would only say that this was not a random act and that nobody else is in danger. Police claim that reports of a professor or student being a suspect are incorrect.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/evidence-annie-le-murder-lead-killer/story?id=8565647

http://www.courant.com/community/new-haven/hc-missing-yale-student-body-found-annie-le-seo2,0,1169328.story

I still have my doubts about the professor, but we will see how that turns out. I don't understand how police can say nobody else is in danger when an arrest hasn't been made.

Another story mentioning a possible suspect (a Lab Tech)

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/09/14/2009-09-14_killing_of_yale_grad_student_annie_le_not_random_say_police.html

The cause of death is supposed to be released tommorrow at 3pm

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2009/09/14/body-identified-annie-le-med-13/