8A
NEWS
CRIME
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2009
Police search home for clues in murder of Yale student
BY RAY HENRY AND
SUSAN HAIGH
Associated Press
MIDDLETOWN. Conn.
Police on Tuesday raided the apartment of a man they call a person of interest in the slaying of a Yale graduate student.
Two search warrants for DNA and other physical evidence were served at the apartment of 24-year-old Raymond Clark III in Middletown. No charges were filed against Clark, who police said would be released after they obtain the evidence they need from him and his apartment.
Clark, dressed in a tight-fitting white shirt, was handcuffed and escorted out of the apartment building and into a silver car. Neighbors leaned over the apartment buildings iron railings and cheered as police led him away.
New Haven Police Chief James Lewis did not describe Clark as a suspect. He said police were hoping to compare DNA taken from him to more than 150 pieces of evidence collected from the crime scene.
"We're going to be making sure there's not other suspects out there," Lewis said.
Investigators began staking out Clark's home on Monday, a day after they discovered 24-year-old Anni Le's body hidden in the basement of a research building at Yale's medical school. She had vanished Sept. 8.
Clark shares the apartment with his girlfriend, Jennifer Hromadka, whom he is engaged to marry in
December 2011, according to the couple's incomplete wedding Web site. Middletown is about 20 miles north of New Haven.
Neither the couple nor Clark's parents returned repeated telephone calls Tuesday.
Clark moved to Middletown
from New Haven six months ago, and shares the apartment with his girlfriend and three cats, according to former neighbor Taylor Goodwin, 16.
"I never really
"I never really talked to him much,he was just some guy."
"I never reany talked to him much, he was just some guy," Goodwin said.
tion.
TAYLOR GOODWIN Neighbor of Clark
It was unknown how long Clark worked at Yale or his duties. Clark's supervisors at Yale would not comment Tuesday.
Authorities had been tightlipped since Le was reported missing Sept. 8, just a few days before her wedding day. Police say they have ruled out her fiancee, a Columbia University graduate student, as a suspect but have provided little additional information.
Le worked for a Yale laboratory that conducted experiments on mice, and investigators found her body stuffed in the basement wall of a facility that housed research animals.
Investigators usually have reasons for keeping information secret during a criminal probe, said David Zlotnick, a former federal prosecutor who now teaches law at Roger Williams University in Bristol, R.I.
Officials had promised Tuesday to release an autopsy report that would shed light on exactly how Le died. But then prosecutors blocked release of the results out of concern that it could hinder the investiga-
Secrecy helps police confront
possible suspects with little-known evidence about a crime and makes it harder them to fabricate a cover story.
"Having that information secret or private helps the investigators know, first of
"rightors know, first of all, what buttons to push on the person, and it makes sure they haven't tainted the investigation," Zlotnick said.
Le's body was found Sunday, the day she would have been married on New York's Long Island. Her remains had been crammed into a wall recess where utilities and cables run between floors.
The Le family issued a statement Tuesday through a family friend, the Rev. Dennis Smith, that thanked friends and the Yale community for their support during their grieving. The family also asked for privacy.
"The entire Yale community as well as our extended families and friends have been very supportive, helpful and caring," said Smith, speaking for the family. "Our loss would have been immeasurably more difficult to cope with without their support."
Peaceful puzzling
Nathan Britch, Everett sophomore, works on the SubOku puzzle near Wesco Hall. Temperatures this month have been cooler than usual in Lawrence, and students can be seen studying and socializing outside between classes.
Amanda Kistner/KANSAN
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