SamSal News Blog

(Sept. 14) — Clues increasingly pointed to an inside job Monday 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 accessible only to university employees.
Police on Monday sought to calm fears on the Ivy League campus, saying the death of 24-year-old Annie Le 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 officer Joe Avery, a police spokesman. No one else is in danger, he said, though he would not provide details other than to say that police believe no other students were involved. He also denied broadcast reports that police had a suspect in custody.
Earlier, ABC News reported that authorities investigating Le's killing have focused their efforts on a suspect who failed a lie detector test and who has what appear to be defensive wounds on his body. Sources also told ABC News that bloody clothing removed from the lab contained evidence that links her killer the to the crime.
Meanwhile, Yale officials said the building where Le worked would reopen under increased security. Still, 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."
Michael Vishnevetsky, 21, of New York, said he did not feel safe when he made a late trip to his lab Sunday in a different building. "It felt very different than how I usually felt," he said.
Twenty-year-old Muneeb Sultan said he's shocked that a killing could take place in a secure Yale building.

Autopsy results revealed Monday that a body found hidden behind a wall at a Yale University lab is that of graduate student Annie Le. Meanwhile, ABC News reported that police are focusing on a suspect who failed a lie detector test. But a police official later denied this. Above, a surveillance photo, left, shows Le entering the lab on Sept. 8, the day she was last seen alive.


Le, a 24-year-old pharmacology student, vanished just five days before she was due to get married. Police found her body Sunday in a wall chase -- a recess where utilities and cables are run. More than 100 investigators had been searching for her. "We're not believing it's a random act," said Officer Joe Avery, a police spokesman.


Considering the heavily secured lab building was accessible only to university employees, Le's murder appeared to be an inside job. Here, Yale students and faculty participate in a candlelight vigil for Le on campus Monday night.


A high school photo shows Le was one of two students selected as "Most Likely To Be The Next Einstein." Meanwhile, Yale students worried about their safety. "I'm not walking at nights by myself anymore," said one student. "It could happen to anyone, anytime, anywhere."


Authorities said Le used her identification card to enter the lab where her body was found. There was no record of her leaving. Her ID, money, credit cards and purse were found in her office. Above, an undated photo shows Le, front row, center, with other members of her high school in El Dorado, Calif.


Family members on Friday canceled her wedding, which had been scheduled for Sunday. Police have said that her fiance, Jonathan Widawsky, a Columbia University graduate student, is not a suspect and is assisting with the investigation. Here, a billboard showing Le appears alongside Interstate 91 in New Haven, Conn.


A sign posted by Yale graduate students hangs outside the laboratory Sunday, before it was announced that Le's body had been found.


"It's a frightening idea that there's a murderer walking around on campus," said 20-year-old Muneeb Sultan, a chemistry student. "I'm shocked that it happened in a Yale building that had key-card access. It's really sad." Here, Connecticut police stand outside the lab Sunday. (Sources: AP, New Haven Register)

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