CLUES INCREASINGLY are pointing to an inside job in the slaying of a Yale graduate student whose body was found stuffed inside a wall five days after she vanished from a heavily secured lab building which was accessible only to university employees.
As students and staff last night held a candlelit vigil, police sought to calm fears on the Ivy League campus, saying the death of Annie Le (24) was a targeted act, but would not say why anyone would want to kill the young woman just days before she was to be married.
“We’re not believing it’s a random act,” said police spokesman Joe Avery.
He added that no one else was in danger, but would not provide details other than to say police believed no other students were involved. He also denied broadcast reports that police had a suspect in custody.
Yale officials said the building where Ms Le worked would reopen under increased security. However, some students worried about their safety. “I’m not walking at nights by myself anymore,” said student Natoya Peart (21) of Jamaica. “It could happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere.”
Police found Ms Le’s body about 5pm on Sunday, the day she was to marry Columbia University graduate student Jonathan Widawsky, lovingly referred to on her Facebook page as “my best friend”. The couple met as undergraduates at the University of Rochester and were to marry on Long Island.
Police have said Mr Widawsky is not a suspect and was helping detectives in their investigation.
The building where the body was found is part of the university medical school complex about a mile from Yale’s main campus. It is accessible to Yale personnel with identification cards. Some 75 video surveillance cameras monitor all doorways.
The body was found in the basement in the wall chase – a deep recess where utilities and cables run between floors.
Ms Le was part of a research team headed by her faculty adviser, Anton Bennett.
According to its website, the Bennett Laboratory was involved in enzyme research that could have implications in cancer, diabetes and muscular dystrophy.
Ms Le’s office was on the third floor of the five-story building, where authorities found her wallet, keys, money and purse.
Campus officials say she was recorded her entering the building at about 10am on Tuesday but was never seen leaving. – (AP)