Cops: Motive in Yale killing may never be known
Raymond Clark III 24, is arraigned at Superior Court in New Haven, Conn., in connection with the murder of Yale University graduate student Annie Le, whose body was found stuffed in the wall of the research building where they both worked. At left is Assistant Public Defender Jospeh E. Lopez. (Sept. 17, 2009) Credit: Pool Photo / Douglas Healey
The New Haven police chief said Friday that authorities may never know the reasoning behind the killing of a Yale University graduate student whose body was found hidden behind a wall on what was to be her wedding day.
"The only person that really, truly knows the motive in this crime is the suspect," Chief James Lewis told a local TV station Friday. "What made him do what he did, we may not know until trial. We may never know."
An investigator conducting interviews not long after the disappearance of Annie Le first became suspicious of her accused killer, Raymond Clark III, when he was seen trying to hide equipment that was later discovered to contain blood spatters, the Hartford Courant reported Friday.
A police source told Newsday that Clark returned to the lab early in the search for Le to try to cover his tracks and clean up the crime scene. "He's that arrogant," the source said.
The Courant reported that Clark was observed cleaning areas that Le was in before the 24-year-old researcher was even reported missing Sept. 8, citing a law enforcement official.
That and other apparent telltale signs led investigators to view Clark, 24, of Middletown, Conn., as their primary suspect, according to the Courant.
Investigators found the DNA of both suspect and victim in the ceiling and in the wall recess where Le's body was hidden, an official told the Courant.
Clark was arrested Thursday at a Super 8 Motel in Cromwell, Conn. "There are no other arrests forthcoming," a New Haven police spokesman told Newsday on Friday.
Clark, 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds, did not enter a plea on charges he choked to death the 4-foot-11, 90-pound Le.
Le was a researcher at the lab. Clark was a technician who some sources have called "a control freak."
The New York Times, citing a researcher who asked not to be identified, reported that Clark sometimes grew angry if lab workers did not wear slip-on covers on their shoes.
Le's body was found last Sunday stuffed into a wall chase in the basement of the Yale Animal Resources Center, the same day she was to be married in Syosset to Columbia grad student Jonathan Widawsky of Huntington.
Now being held on $3-million bond, Clark was represented in court by two public defenders. One, Joseph Lopez, told The Associated Press on Thursday he is still reviewing the case and declined to comment further.
ABC News reported that Clark sent a text message to Le on the day she disappeared, requesting she meet with him to discuss the cleanliness of mouse cages in the lab.
Widawsky's temple, Temple Beth El in Huntington, is planning "to create a private memorial service" for Le, who had "not yet" converted to Judaism, Cantor Sandra Sherry told the AP.
The service is planned for between the upcoming High Holy Days, starting with Rosh Hashanah on Friday and ending Sept. 28 with Yom Kippur.
With Matthew Chayes and AP.
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