9/8 Annie Marie Le missing from Yale University (BODY FOUND)

[cece]

http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/01/01/news/a1_--_yearinreview.txt


Headline makers: A review of who made news in 2009

Published: Friday, January 1, 2010

From cop controversies to mayoral mishaps and budget crises, Greater New Haven and Connecticut saw their fair share of scandals in 2009. But many stories had happy endings, and across the state, residents and nonprofits were forced to pull together to weather the recession.

What’s in store for 2010 and the decade to follow? Only time — and November’s gubernatorial election — will tell. For now, take a trip down memory lane in a chronological survey of some of the top stories that defined 2009.



September

The brutal killing of Yale graduate student Annie Le captivates the nation as the story unfolds from a missing person case to homicide investigation. Police arrested Raymond J. Clark III, an animal technician who worked in the same lab as Le. Her body was found behind a lab wall on the day she was to be married in New York.
snipped.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-01-22/yale-murder-suspect-clark-likely-to-plead-not-guilty-update2-.html
Yale-Murder Suspect Clark Likely to Plead Not Guilty (Update2)
January 22, 2010, 11:00 AM EST
By Thom Weidlich

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Yale University laboratory worker Raymond Clark, charged with the murder of 24-year-old graduate student Annie Le, is likely to plead not guilty next week, his lawyer said.

“That’s what I anticipate,” Beth Merkin, Clark’s lawyer at the Connecticut Public Defender’s Office in New Haven, said in a phone interview today. “We’re now in a position where I think we’ve reviewed all the materials.”

Clark’s next court date is Jan. 26. Merkin said she also hopes to be in a position by then to recommend to her client that he waive a so-called probable-cause hearing and move forward with the case. At such a hearing, the government would have to show it had reason to charge Clark.

Clark, 24, was arrested Sept. 17. He is accused of strangling Le, a pharmacology student, five days before her Sept. 13 wedding. Clark cleaned mouse cages in the Yale lab building where her body was found. Clark, who’s being held on $3 million bail, hasn’t yet entered a plea in the case.

Assistant State Attorney John Waddock didn’t immediately return a call for comment on Clark’s potential plea. Connecticut Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano is overseeing the case.
 Le’s body was discovered hidden behind a wall in the basement of the Yale School of Medicine research lab at 10 Amistad Street in New Haven on Sept. 13.

‘Traumatic Asphyxiation’

The Office of Connecticut’s Chief Medical Examiner said in a statement the day Clark was arrested that Le died of “traumatic asphyxiation due to neck compression.”

Clark’s arrest affidavit, unsealed Nov. 13, showed that before his arrest police had found at the crime scene a pen and a blood-stained sock with both Clark’s and Le’s DNA on them.

Investigators searched Clark’s BlackBerry and found Le’s e- mail address in a locker with “Ray” on it in the lab building where they both worked, according to search warrants unsealed Dec. 2.

Le, a Vietnamese-American who was studying for a doctorate in pharmacology, was from Placerville, California, according to a Sept. 25 Yale University statement. She graduated from the University of Rochester, in New York, where she met her fiance, Jonathan Widawsky, now a graduate student at Columbia University in New York City, the university said.

Clark was suspended from his job when he was arrested, Yale University President Richard Levin said in a Sept. 17 statement.

The case is State of Connecticut v. Clark, CR09-97102-T, Connecticut Superior Court (New Haven).--With assistance from John Dillon in New Haven, Connecticut. Editors: Mary Romano, Charles Carter.

To contact the reporter on this story: Thom Weidlich in New York at +1-212-617-2670 or tweidlich@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David E. Rovella at +1-212-617-1092 or drovella@bloomberg.net.

[cece]

http://www.registercitizen.com/articles/2010/01/26/news/doc4b5f0e7624d6a308158508.txt


Clark pleads not guilty in Yale slaying

Published: Tuesday, January 26, 2010

NEW HAVEN — Four months after he was arrested and charged in the slaying of Yale graduate student Annie Le, Raymond Clark III, of Middletown, plead not guilty to the crimes in New Haven Superior Court.

Clark, 24, was an animal technician in the building on Amistad Street where Le, also 24, conducted experiments. He was arrested and charged with murder Sept. 17, four days after her body was found behind a wall of the building. Clark is being held in lieu of $3 million bail at McDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.

Police warrants allege a bloody sock, which was found in a ceiling at the research building, contains a mixture of Clark’s and Le’s DNA. The documents also allege a green pen found under Le’s body had Clark’s DNA on it.

[cece]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aNTIs26R1vUQ

Yale Lab Worker Clark Pleads Not Guilty in Le Murder (Update1)



By Thom Weidlich

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Yale University laboratory worker Raymond Clark pleaded not guilty to the murder of 24-year-old graduate student Annie Le.

Clark, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, handcuffs and leg shackles, entered his plea today before Connecticut Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano in New Haven. Fasano is overseeing the case.

When Fasano asked Clark if he understood that his lawyer, Beth Merkin, waived his right to a probable cause hearing, Clark responded, ‘Yes, sir, your honor.” At a probable cause hearing, the government would have to show it had reason to charge Clark.

Merkin, Clark and Assistant State Attorney John Waddock left the courtroom without commenting.

Clark, 24, was arrested Sept. 17 and is being held on $3 million bail. He is accused of strangling Le, a pharmacology student, five days before her Sept. 13 wedding. Clark cleaned mouse cages in the Yale lab building where her body was found.

Clark’s arrest affidavit, unsealed Nov. 13, showed that before his arrest police had found at the crime scene a pen and a blood-stained sock with both Clark’s and Le’s DNA on them.

BlackBerry Searched

Investigators searched Clark’s BlackBerry and found Le’s e- mail address in a locker with “Ray” on it in the lab building where they both worked, according to search warrants unsealed Dec. 2.

Le’s body was discovered hidden behind a wall in the basement of the Yale School of Medicine research lab at 10 Amistad St. in New Haven the day she was to be married.

The Office of Connecticut’s Chief Medical Examiner said in a statement the day Clark was arrested that Le died of “traumatic asphyxiation due to neck compression.”

Le, a Vietnamese-American who was studying for a doctorate in pharmacology, was from Placerville, California, according to a Sept. 25 Yale University statement. She graduated from the University of Rochester, in New York, where she met her fiance Jonathan Widawsky, the university said.

Clark was suspended from his job when he was arrested, Yale University President Richard Levin said in a Sept. 17 statement.

The case is State of Connecticut v. Clark, CR09-97102-T, Connecticut Superior Court (New Haven).

[cece]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,583929,00.html

Lab Technician Pleads Not Guilty in Murder of Yale Grad Student

NEW HAVEN, Conn —  An animal research technician charged with killing a Yale graduate student has pleaded not guilty.

Twenty-four-year-old Raymond Clark III appeared in New Haven Superior Court on Tuesday morning.

Clark also waived his right to a probable cause hearing at which prosecutors would have to prove they have enough evidence to justify the murder charge.

SLIDESHOW: Yale Graduate Student Murdered

Clark is accused of killing 24-year-old Annie Le of Placerville, Calif., whose body was found behind a Yale research lab wall in September. An autopsy determined she was strangled.

Le vanished Sept. 8 from the Yale medical school research building where she and Clark worked, and her body was found five days later, on what was to have been her wedding day.

[cece]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35078897/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

Yale lab tech pleads not guilty in student killing
24-year-old graduate student Annie Le slain days before her wedding day

[cece]

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/yale-murder-suspect-gets-regular-visits-from-fiancee-1.1724366?qr=1

Yale murder suspect gets regular visits from fiancee

January 26, 2010 By MATTHEW CHAYES

The fiancee of accused Yale killer Raymond J. Clark III has visited him in prison nearly every week since Clark's arrest last year in connection with the grisly slaying of Annie Le, according to prison records obtained by Newsday.

Like Clark's parents, fiancee Jennifer Hromadka has made the frequent trips, sometimes at night and on weekends, to the high-security MacDougall-Walker Correctional...

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[cece]

http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2010/01/26/news/doc4b5f0d0c1d4f1962290861.txt


Clark pleads not guilty in Yale slaying

Published: Tuesday, January 26, 2010 10:43 AM EST

NEW HAVEN — Four months after he was arrested and charged in the slaying of Yale graduate student Annie Le, Raymond Clark III, of Middletown, plead not guilty to the crimes in New Haven Superior Court.

Clark, 24, was an animal technician in the building on Amistad Street where Le, also 24, conducted experiments. He was arrested and charged with murder Sept. 17, four days after her body was found behind a wall of the building. Clark is being held in lieu of $3 million bail at McDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield.

Police warrants allege a bloody sock, which was found in a ceiling at the research building, contains a mixture of Clark’s and Le’s DNA. The documents also allege a green pen found under Le’s body had Clark’s DNA on it.

[cece]

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/city-news/2010/02/09/cheshire-case-clue-clark/

Cheshire case a clue for Clark
Both cases are high profile and lack apparent motive

By Alon Harish
Staff Reporter
Published Tuesday, February 9, 2010



Jennifer Hawke-Petit, her husband, William Petit, and their two teenage daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11, were sleeping in their Cheshire, Conn., home early in the morning of July 23, 2007, when two men crept into the house. Within two hours, Hawke-Petit and Hayley were raped and the home was set on fire.

By the time the alleged perpetrators were caught, Hawke-Petit had been strangled to death and the two daughters had died from smoke inhalation. Fifty-year-old Petit, though beaten with a baseball bat, managed to escape.

Almost three years later, the two men charged in the notorious triple homicide, Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky, have yet to be tried. And Monday in New Haven Superior Court, Judge Jon Blue delayed jury selection for Hayes’s trial for at least another week. (Komisarjevsky will be tried after Hayes’ trial has concluded .)

Exactly two weeks after Raymond Clark III, the man charged in the slaying of Yale graduate student Annie Le GRD ’13, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and felony murder, the Hayes trial suggests a lengthy judicial process lies ahead for Clark as well.

NOTORIETY

National news organizations have extensively covered both cases, making the selection of impartial jurors a challenge, three legal experts said. One of the public defenders representing Clark, Beth Merkin, said “it’s common sense that in a high profile case, you want to minimize any impact of media exposure on the jury pool.”

In cases as well-known as these, lawyers hope to fill juries with people who at least demonstrate an ability to be impartial despite prior exposure, said New Haven-based criminal defense attorney Paul Carty. Jurors need to be able to “empty the cup of all that they’ve read or heard and let it be filled with information from the trial,” he said.

Given widespread publicity about these cases, it will be a challenge to find jurors who will not feel pressured by how their friends, family or colleagues might react to a surprising verdict, said former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Meyer ’85 LAW ’89, now a law professor at Quinnipiac University.

The state prosecutor handling the case, Michael Dearington, and Hayes’ public defender, Thomas Ullmann, both declined to comment because the judge has ordered them not to discuss the case with the media. The order is intended to limit pre-trial publicity to ensure an unbiased jury, they said.

Meyer said high-profile cases draw attention to the jury selection strategies of the defense and prosecution. The prosecution in Hayes’s case wants jurors who believe in an “eye for an eye,” whereas the defense, he said, is looking for jurors who are open-minded and have a diversity of experience.

As in the Hayes case, the judge in the Clark case, Roland Fasano, has needed to strike a balance between releasing information to the public and not biasing the jury pool, Merkin said.

“But I can’t predict whether it’s even going to go to trial,” she added, because the police investigation is ongoing.

Steven Duke LAW ’61, an expert on criminal law and professor at Yale Law School, said he would not be surprised if the Clark case takes a year to come to trial.

But notoriety aside, Meyer said the most troubling parallel between the two cases is the lack of an established motive.

“Neither case involved infidelity or refusal to hand over money or any other typical motive,” Meyer said. “There are real question marks.”

The state prosecutor for the Clark case, John Waddock, declined to comment Monday.

LONG ROAD AHEAD

Jury selection for Hayes’ trial was halted last week after Hayes, of Winsted, Conn., was found unconscious in his cell at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield, the maximum security facility where Clark is also being held. Hayes had overdosed on medication he had been pretending to take for several days. While his condition has since stabilized, Judge Blue postponed jury selection until at least Feb. 16.

Since jury selection began on Jan. 19, four jurors have been selected for the panel, which will include 12 regular jurors and up to eight alternates. The trial is scheduled to begin in September.

But selecting the rest of the jurors to try Hayes may take several more months, Meyer said.

Jury selection in Connecticut’s capital cases can proceed exceedingly slowly, he added, because state law allows lawyers to question each prospective juror one-on-one.

“We need to ask at what point justice delayed becomes justice denied,” he said.

Duke said individual questioning of jurors is an uncommon, but not unheard of practice outside Connecticut. Though jurors are usually questioned in groups to save time, jury selection for murder trials can take weeks or even months, he said.

Though progress on the case has been made, the long road to trial has taken a toll on those involved.

Petit, once a prominent endocrinologist, gave up his medical career after the attack to advocate for tougher sentencing laws for repeat violent offenders. Both Hayes and Komisarjevsky were on parole when they allegedly committed the crimes. At an October 2008 gathering in Woodbury, Conn., Petit said he felt abused by years of waiting for the trial to begin, the Hartford Courant reported.

“Somebody murders your family in 2007, and they tell you they’re going to go to trial in 2010 — what a great system we have,” he said.

Both Hayes and Komisarjevsky, whose trial will take place after Hayes’, could face the death penalty if convicted.

Danny Serna and Esther Zuckerman contributed reporting.

[cece]

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/media-advisory-dr-adam-c,1166475.shtml

 Media Advisory: Dr. Adam C. Thermos, Noted University Security Expert, Says Lack of Psychological Profiling a Key Factor in Allowing Potentially Dangerous Faculty to Be Submerged in Campus Life -- Until Too Late
Posted : Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:43:43 GMT


MEDWAY, MA -- 02/16/10 -- According to Adam C, Thermos, LL.B, M.A., PhD., president of Strategic Technology Group (www.drthermos.com) and well-known campus security expert, "The lack of effective psychological evaluation of faculty members at most colleges and universities is a tragedy waiting to happen. The very fact that campus life is enriched by students and professors of all types of personalities, eccentricities and odd behavior -- especially when exhibited by people acknowledged to be extremely intelligent and/or talented -- makes the ever-increasing incidents of serious violence even more shocking."

Dr. Thermos explained, "There are very few universally accepted psychometric tools available to identify the 'psychopath' or 'sociopath' lurking in the isolated and shadowy world of University labs. And very few know of or how to use these tools to make sure such personalities do not provoke a catastrophic incident.

"Sociopathic personality is inherently opaque, a ticking time bomb exposing labs and personnel to unimaginable danger," he continued.

"Although campuses recognize certain behavioral oddities, and psychopaths do regularly and often 'broadcast' intents and behavior, corporate and academic campus cultures prefer to isolate, ignore, or encourage the person to move away.

"This is the classic 'enemy within' scenario that no Human Resources Office nor Senior level Administration dares recognize in an all-pervasive PC culture," Dr. Thermos said.

A recent National Research Council report defines the problem of the 'Insider Threat' as a matter of culture, not rules. The present environment allowed Bruce Edward Ivins, a senior biodefense researcher at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, MD, to commit suicide after being suspected for anthrax attacks in 2001 that killed people in Washington, DC.

"Ditto for the murder of the Yale NIH undergraduate, Annie Le, killed and stuffed in the lab walls by co-worker Raymond Clark, or the Harvard University Medical School poisoning incident of six people at a research building with sodium azide, or the most recent case of multiple murders of professors at the University of Alabama-Huntsville by Amy Bishop, a Harvard-educated neurobiologist."

From his decades-long experience as security consultant to dozens of college and universities, Dr. Thermos said, "The majority of our security consulting is concerned with physical systems and products. However, even though student behavior is now becoming more scrutinized in the wake of recent events, faculty members present an almost totally unknown degree of dangerous behavior and unimaginable threat. Academic, corporate and government cultures must be made aware of the tools available to make their communities more secure, and how to use them effectively."

[cece]

http://desicritics.org/2010/02/13/201059.php

Shooting At University Of Alabama and The State of Affairs In Academic Research
February 13, 2010

Aditi Nadkarni

Last night news broke out about the shootings at the University of Albama at Huntsville. Dr. Amy Bishop, a Harvard trained neuroscientist was being reviewed for tenure. Screams were heard coming from the room. Bishop had allegedly shot three people named in several news reports as Dr. Gopi Podilla, the chair of the Biology department, Dr. Maria Ragland Davis and Dr. Adriel D. Johnson Sr. Media speculates that denial of tenure was the primary motive for Dr.Bishop's rampage. Tenure, for an academic professor to put it simply is a permanent job security status granted by the university and the department.

A few months ago there was the case of a Yale graduate student, Annie Le, who was found murdered by a member of the janitorial staff, Raymond Clark III, at her animal research facility. In that case, media had reported some information about how this janitor had certain standards of animal welfare and lab area maintenance that he had felt Annie Le was not adhering to.

These are sad and devastating scenarios. Those who have been through a lengthy academic process such as graduate school can recognize what a safe environment the university is viewed as. Up until the Annie Le case I did not think twice about working late nights or venturing into deserted research areas alone. Just a few days ago, I attended a seminar where the dismal statistics correlating tenure and careers in academia were discussed. What I gathered from the talk was that only about 10-15% of PhDs receive tenure in their academic careers and the average age for receiving their first major research funding from the NIH is about 43. These are extremely depressing numbers.

(snipped)

[cece]

http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2010/03/01/news/doc4b8b34d3ed462321169565.txt

Lab tech charged in Yale killing returning to court

NEW HAVEN (AP) — An animal research technician charged with killing a Yale University graduate student is returning to court.

Raymond Clark III, of Middletown, is scheduled to appear Wednesday in New Haven Superior Court.

Clark is accused of strangling 24-year-old Annie Le, of Placerville, Calif., in September. Le’s body was found stuffed behind a research lab wall on the day she was supposed to get married on Long Island.

Clark, 24, has pleaded not guilty to murder charges. He has been jailed in lieu of $3 million bail.
snipped.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j3Z7m0uROG-_CM8GzpRCqE2M9IbwD9EBCE7O2
Judge plans to unseal Yale killing search warrant

(AP) – 23 hours ago

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A judge has ruled that part of a search warrant can be unsealed in the case of an animal research technician charged with killing a Yale University graduate student.

Raymond Clark III is accused of strangling 24-year-old Annie Le (LAY) in September.

Le was from Placerville, Calif. Her body was found stuffed behind a research lab wall the day she was supposed to get married on Long Island.

The 24-year-old Clark has pleaded not guilty to murder charges.

New Haven Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano on Tuesday issued a ruling saying parts of the search warrant would be unsealed after three business days if attorneys don't appeal. A court clerk says that means the warrant would be unsealed Monday.

The judge ordered portions of the search warrant that he called "offending material" be blacked out.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2010/03/09/last-clark-warramt-be-released/
Last Clark warrant to be released

By Esther Zuckerman
Staff Reporter
Published Tuesday, March 9, 2010
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The last of the search warrants in the case of Raymond Clark III, who pleaded not guilty in January to the murder of Annie Le GRD ’13, will be released as early as Monday.

New Haven Superior Court Judge Roland Fasano wrote in a ruling today that a redacted version of the warrant will be held for the next three business days, during which the prosecution or defense will be able to appeal, before it is released.

The warrant was issued after Clark’s Sept. 17 arrest, one of Clark’s lawyers, Joseph Lopez, said last week.

Lopez said the defense is not planning to appeal the ruling and he does not think the information in the final warrant will be surprising.

Search and seizure warrants released in early December showed that bloodstains were found in Clark’s apartment. The arrest warrant affidavit released in November showed that bloody items of clothing and DNA matches led to Clark’s arrest.

Clark's next pre-trial court date is scheduled for April 7.

[Blonde]

Warrant: DNA Of Clark's Fiance Tested
Lab Technician Accused In Graduate Student's Death

POSTED: 10:32 am EDT March 15, 2010
UPDATED: 12:54 pm EDT March 15, 2010


NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- A newly released search warrant shows that investigators probing the death of Yale University graduate student Annie Le sought the DNA of suspect Raymond Clark's fiance.

The warrant, released Monday, does not reveal the results of testing of Jennifer Hromadka's DNA. The warrant shows that DNA taken from Hromadka's lanyard was compared to DNA found on a bloody sock and pen.

"The source of the DNA profile from the lanyard cannot be eliminated as a contributor to the DNA profile from the blood-like stain from the outside of the sock," the warrant reads.

Hromadka is engaged to lab technician Clark and also worked at the university. The couple also shared a Middletown apartment.

Clark III is accused of strangling 24-year-old Le in September. Le's body was found stuffed in a wall five days after her disappearance, on her would-be wedding day.

Sources in the case told Eyewitness News that all people int he lab were asked to voluntarily submit DNA samples. An attorney for Hromadka told Eyewitness News that his client did not agree to submit DNA samples voluntarily.

Clark pleaded not guilty to murder charges. Hromadka has not been charged in the case.

http://www.wfsb.com/news/22842349/detail.html

[MuffyBee]

http://newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/clark/id_25144
Ford Mustang Returns To Annie Le Suspect’s Family
Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Judge Roland Fasano on Wednesday ordered the release of a red 2004 Ford Mustang belonging to murder suspect Ray Clark.

The car had been seized by police investigating the death of Annie Le.

Clark, a former lab technician at Yale, is accused of murdering the grad student and hiding her body in the basement of the building in which they both worked.

In a brief court proceeding in New Haven Superior Court on Church Street on Wednesday afternoon, Judge Fasano granted a defense motion to have the car returned to Clark’s family.

Clark sat between his attorneys during the brief hearing. He wore orange coveralls, handcuffs, and leg chains.

The prosecuting attorney, John Waddock, told Judge Fasano that the state had no objection to the car being released.

Photos of the car could be used during Clark’s murder trial.

“There’s nothing of evidentiary value connected to this car, in my opinion,” said Clark’s attorney, public defender Joe Lopez, after the hearing. There is “no link” between the car and the crime, he said.

According to a police warrant, blood stains were found inside a different red Ford: a Taurus. Police say they found numerous blood stains on that car’s carpet and door panel. The name of the Taurus owner is redacted in the warrant.

Clark’s next court appearance is scheduled for May 5 at 10 a.m.

[MuffyBee]

I found this article after I posted the previous one.  Interesting...

http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/warrant_lanyard_tested_from_alleged_annie_le_killers_fiancee/
Warrant: Why Cops Sought Saliva Sample From Annie Le’s Alleged Killer’s Fiancee
March 15, 2010

Police sought a DNA sample from the fiancee of a Yale lab tech accused of killing Yale grad student Annie Le. They were trying to determine if she played any role in the murder.

That information surfaced in a redacted search warrant affidavit released Monday.

Judge Roland Fasano ordered it released. Fasano is presiding over the trial of Raymond Clark, the 24-year-old lab technician charged with strangling Le and hiding her body in a basement wall of a Yale lab building where they both worked. Clark has pleaded not guilty.

The warrant released to the public Monday morning concerns Clark’s fiancee, a fellow Yale lab tech. The warrant sought to have saliva samples taken from the fiancee.

The fiancee has not been accused of participating in the crime.

The warrant does not allege that [she] had a role in the murder. Nor have authorities since issued any statements suggesting she had a role. There is no evidence that authorities have or had any plans to pursue an arrest.

The fiancee’s lawyer, Bridgeport criminal lawyer Robert Berke, confirmed Monday morning that his client gave the police saliva samples after the warrant was issued.

“Any time someone’s DNA is sought, it’s kind of crazy to think they’re not in some respects being looked at,” Berke said in a phone conversation. But since that time, he has not heard any further word from either the police or the state’s attorney’s office, he said.

Click here to read the warrant. (this is to pdf)

According to the Nov. 25, 2009 warrant, written by New Haven Detectives Scott Branfuhr and Al Vazquez, police had obtained a lanyard attached to the fiancee’s identification card during a previous raid of a Middletown apartment she shared with Clark. DNA collected from that lanyard matched fiancee’s DNA. So did part of a DNA “mixture” found on a pen and a bloody sock discovered along with Annie Le’s body in a basement wall cavity of a Yale animal lab testing facility at 10 Amistad St.

“Obtaining buccal swabs from [the fiancee] will either prove or disprove whether or not [she] is the single source of said DNA profile obtained from the lanyard, the sock, and the pen,” the detectives wrote. “Obtaining a confirmatory DNA sample from the source of the DNA found in these items will help investigators prove or disprove any involvement [she] may have had in the murder of Annie Le.”

But they were at least making sure to cover their bases.

The fiancee generally worked in buildings other than 10 Amistad St., though her work sometimes brought her to that building, according to the warrant affidavit. However, computer records do not show her assigned key card being used to gain access to 10 Amistad St., where Le’s body was found, between Sept. 8 and Sept. 13, the period during which Le was killed.

“However, during the course of this investigation these Affiants have learned that it is not uncommon for an individual employed and assigned to work in 10 Amistad Street to access the facility by following behind others accessing and using their respective electronic key-card,” the detectives wrote. “We have also learned that the rooms which require key-card access do not require or have a means of swiping the key-card as an individual exits the particular room they entered.” In other words, a person could exit key-card rooms without swiping his or her key-card being recorded.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2010/05/05/univ-continues-expansion-workplace-security-polici/
Univ. continues expansion of workplace security policies
May 5, 2010


A month after students leave Yale for the summer, a new round of classes will begin on campus — this time for managers and faculty, who will learn how to prevent workplace violence through a series of workshops.

The training sessions, as well as the expansion of the University’s workplace violence prevention website, are the latest measures designed to fortify Yale’s security policies in the months following the on-campus murder of Annie Le GRD ’13, for which Yale lab technician Raymond Clark III was charged in September.

Vice President for Human Resources and Administration Michael Peel announced several changes to Yale’s workplace violence policy in October, the month after Le’s murder, requiring all employees to report threatening, intimidating or violent behavior on campus. At the time, both Peel and University President Richard Levin said Le’s death and the arrest of gun-wielding former employee John Petrini had prompted a major security review.

“Our experiences this fall certainly made it more urgent,” Peel said in October.

Peel could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Understanding the revised policy, which also provided specific examples of prohibited behavior and outlined procedures for reporting such incidents, will be a major focus of the training sessions, according to the course description.

“While no large organization is immune from acts of violence, clear policies and procedures help reduce the likelihood of such events and guide appropriate responses to situations that do arise,” the workplace violent prevention website reads. “University managers are expected to learn to recognize the early signs of hostile and potentially threatening behavior that could jeopardize the safety of a member of the Yale community while on our campus.”

Taught by Hamish Blackman, a director for the human resources company the Wellness Corporation, the courses will run in early June. Managers are required to attend, while other staff and faculty can attend if they wish, according to the human resources website. Blackman will train employees to recognize early warning signs, it says.

The newly expanded website also provides “prevention tips” for managers, including training their staff to resolve conflicts, making sure staff know about the counseling and security resources available to them and setting up an emergency management plan.

[MuffyBee]

http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2010/05/06/news/doc4be23b0bd1ead313478057.txt
Judge grants motion in Yale-murder case
Thursday, May 6, 2010

NEW HAVEN — A Superior Court judge Wednesday granted a motion by defense attorneys for Raymond Clark III, requiring prosecutors to provide a bill of particulars stating specific details of their case in the slaying of Yale graduate student Annie Le.

Judge Roland Fasano approved the motion by attorneys Joseph E. Lopez and Beth A. Merkin during a court session that lasted about 30 seconds, following their much more extensive private meeting. Fasano set June 16 as the next pre-trial date.

The bill of particulars motion is a routine procedure.

Clark, of Middletown, is being held in lieu of $3 million bail and did not come to the courtroom. He is charged with murder and felony murder in Le’s death. Her body was found Sept. 13 in the Yale animal research building where Clark worked and she did experiments.

[Nut44x4]

Annie Le Murder Suspect To Appear In Court

4:58 p.m. EDT, June 15, 2010
NEW HAVEN — — Raymond J. Clark III, the former lab technician accused of killing Yale University graduate student Annie Le last September, is expected to appear in court Wednesday morning.
Clark, 25, is charged with the murder of Le, a third-year doctoral student in pharmacology from Placerville, Calif.

Court records show that investigators used DNA evidence, a combination of computer records of security cards that showed Clark's movements at the lab before Le's death and his alleged attempts to clean up the crime scene to arrest Clark.

Clark has pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and felony murder.

Le, 24, was reported missing Sept. 8. For days, investigators searched the basement of the Yale Animal Research Center at 10 Amistad St., a research building that is part of the Yale School of Medicine complex where Clark worked and Le did research.

Police found her body on Sept. 13, the day Le was supposed to get married.
http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/yale-annie-le/hc-annie-le-murder0616-20100615,0,264191.story