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The murder of Annie Le occurred on September 8, 2009, while she was working in the
New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
campus of
Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
. Annie Marie Thu Le (July 3, 1985 – September 8, 2009) was a 24-year-old doctoral student at the
Yale School of Medicine The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...
's Department of
Pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...
. She was last seen in a research building on the New Haven campus on September 8. On September 13, the day that she was to be married, she was found dead inside the building. On September 17, police arrested the perpetrator, Raymond J. Clark III, a Yale laboratory technician who worked in the building. Clark pleaded guilty to the murder on March 17, 2011. Clark was sentenced to 44 years imprisonment on June 3. The case generated frenetic media coverage.


Disappearance and death

On the morning of September 8, Le left her apartment and took Yale Transit to the Sterling Hall of Medicine on the Yale campus. At about 10 a.m., she walked from Sterling Hall to another campus building at 10 Amistad Street, where her research laboratory was located. Le had left her purse, cell phone, credit cards, and cash in her office at Sterling Hall. She entered the Amistad Street building just after 10 a.m., as documented on footage from the building's security cameras. Le was never seen leaving the building. At approximately 9 p.m. on the evening of September 8, when Le had still not returned to her home, one of her five housemates called police to report her missing. Because the security footage did not show Le exiting the building at Amistad Street, police closed the whole building for investigation. Police also searched through refuse at the
Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
dump, where Yale's garbage is incinerated, looking for clues as to Le's whereabouts. The
FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
, the
New Haven Police Department The New Haven Police Department is the law enforcement agency responsible for the city of New Haven, Connecticut. History Founding and early years The NHPD was formed with the signing of a bill on July 27, 1861. Its first elected Chief was J ...
and the
Connecticut State Police The Connecticut State Police (CSP) is a division of the Connecticut Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection responsible for traffic regulation and law enforcement across the state of Connecticut, especially in areas not served by ...
were all involved in the search. On Sunday, September 13, her planned wedding date, authorities discovered Le's body in a cable
chase Chase or CHASE may refer to: Businesses * Chase Bank, a national bank based in New York City, New York * Chase Aircraft (1943–1954), a defunct American aircraft manufacturing company * Chase Coaches, a defunct bus operator in England * Chase Co ...
inside the wall of a basement laboratory in the Amistad Street building. Bloody clothes had previously been found above a ceiling tile in the same building, which is monitored by about 75 security cameras. The entrance and the rooms inside the building require Yale identification cards to be opened and accessed. The basement where Le's body was found houses animals that are used for experiments and research. Due to the high security measures in the building, authorities and Yale officials maintained that it would be extremely difficult for someone without a Yale ID card to enter the basement laboratory, leading them to focus their investigation on Yale employees and students. The Connecticut
medical examiner The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions who is trained in pathology that investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictio ...
's
autopsy An autopsy (post-mortem examination, obduction, necropsy, or autopsia cadaverum) is a surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse by dissection to determine the cause, mode, and manner of death or to evaluate any di ...
found that Le's death was a result of "traumatic
asphyxia Asphyxia or asphyxiation is a condition of deficient supply of oxygen to the body which arises from abnormal breathing. Asphyxia causes generalized hypoxia, which affects primarily the tissues and organs. There are many circumstances that ca ...
due to neck compression". On September 17 police arrested Raymond Clark, a 24-year-old laboratory technician who had been working in the same building. The previous day he was taken into custody after police obtained a warrant to collect his DNA; he was released after providing a sample. Memorials were held in
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and Huntington, New York, and the funeral was broadcast live on the Internet. The Yale community also publicly mourned Le's death. The ''
Yale Daily News The ''Yale Daily News'' is an independent student newspaper published by Yale University students in New Haven, Connecticut since January 28, 1878. It is the oldest college daily newspaper in the United States. The ''Yale Daily News'' has consis ...
'' reported that professor and
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
historian
John Lewis Gaddis John Lewis Gaddis (born 1941) is an American international relations scholar, military historian, and writer. He is the Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History at Yale University. He is best known for his work on the Cold War and ...
called September 14 the "saddest day to open class" since the day after the
9/11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...
.


Personal life

Le was born in San Jose,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
to a
Vietnamese-American Vietnamese Americans ( vi, Người Mỹ gốc Việt, lit=Viet-origin American people) are Americans of Vietnamese ancestry. They make up about half of all overseas Vietnamese and are the fourth-largest Asian American ethnic group after Chinese ...
family. She spent her childhood with her aunt and uncle. She was
valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the highest-performing student of a graduating class of an academic institution. The valedictorian is commonly determined by a numerical formula, generally an academic institution's grade point average (GPA ...
of her graduating class at
Union Mine High School Union Mine High School is a public high school located in El Dorado, California, United States. It is a member of the El Dorado Union High School District. The school district purchased the property on which the school is located in 1971 for $6 ...
in
El Dorado, California El Dorado (Spanish for "The Golden") is an unincorporated community in El Dorado County, California. It is located southwest of Placerville, at an elevation of 1608 feet (490 m). The population was 4,096 at the 2000 census. The town is regi ...
, and voted "most likely to be the next
Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
". After earning approximately $160,000 in scholarship money, she attended and graduated from the
University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...
in New York. Her major was
cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life Cell may also refer to: Locations * Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery ...
developmental biology Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of Regeneration (biology), regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and di ...
with a minor in
medical anthropology Medical anthropology studies "human health and disease, health care systems, and biocultural adaptation". It views humans from multidimensional and ecological perspectives. It is one of the most highly developed areas of anthropology and applie ...
. Le was accepted into a graduate program at Yale that would have led to her earning a doctorate in
pharmacology Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...
. Her research had applications in the treatment of
diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...
and certain forms of
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
. She was due to be married on September 13, 2009, in
Syosset, New York Syosset (also known as Little East Woods or Locust Grove) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the Town of Oyster Bay, in Nassau County, on the North Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 19,259 at the 202 ...
to Jonathan Widawsky, a graduate student in applied physics and mathematics at
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
. She had previously written an article for
Yale Medical School The Yale School of Medicine is the graduate medical school at Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was founded in 1810 as the Medical Institution of Yale College and formally opened in 1813. The primary te ...
's ''B Magazine'' titled "Crime and Safety in New Haven", published in February 2009.


Media coverage

The case of Annie Le generated frenetic media coverage, with a news producer trampled in a rush to a briefing. In the wake of her disappearance and murder, there was a backlash in some circles to the extensive media coverage and while most acknowledged the crime was especially heartbreaking, some questioned whether the level of interest was warranted. Some commentators have suggested that the attention given by the media was inappropriately disproportionate to that given to other murder victims. ''
Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'' contributor Jack Shafer opined that "Journalists almost everywhere observe this rough rule of thumb: Three murders at a
Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...
ern college equal one murder at
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
or Yale." '' Connecticut Post'' columnist MariAn Gail Brown argued that there is a "
pecking order In biology, a dominance hierarchy (formerly and colloquially called a pecking order) is a type of social hierarchy that arises when members of animal social groups interact, creating a ranking system. A dominant higher-ranking individual is so ...
in the investigation of crimes, and that Le's murder attracted media attention because she was an
Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...
r", someone who might earn beaucoup bucks, someone who possesses sky's-the-limit potential, vivacious and attractive, too".


Prosecution

After his arrest, Clark was held on $3 million bail at the
MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution The MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution is a Level 4 & 5 (high & maximum) security level multi-mission facility for adult males, in Suffield, Connecticut. Based on its inmates population, it is the largest correctional facility in New Engla ...
, a maximum-security prison in
Suffield, Connecticut Suffield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. It was once within the boundaries of Massachusetts. The town is located in the Connecticut River Valley with the town of Enfield neighboring to the east. As of the 2020 census, ...
. He appeared in
Connecticut Superior Court The Connecticut Superior Court is the state trial court of general jurisdiction. It hears all matters other than those of original jurisdiction of the Probate Court, and hears appeals from the Probate Court. The Superior Court has 13 judicial distr ...
on October 6, 2009 but did not then enter a plea to the charges. His hearing was delayed until January 26, 2010 since not all of the materials in the case had been made available to the lawyers. Clark initially pleaded not guilty on January 26. His pretrial hearing was scheduled for March 3, 2010 in New Haven with pretrial evidence processing scheduled for July 26. In October 2010, Clark's case was continued and another hearing was scheduled for February 9, 2011. In March 2011, Clark entered a guilty plea in Le's murder in exchange for a 44-year prison term. On an additional charge of an attempted sexual assault of Le, he entered an
Alford plea In United States law, an Alford plea, also called a Kennedy plea in West Virginia, an Alford guilty plea, and the Alford doctrine, is a guilty plea in criminal court, whereby a defendant in a criminal case does not admit to the criminal act and ...
, a guilty plea that does not admit the facts but concedes the sufficiency of the evidence against him. Clark officially entered the pleas on March 17 and he was formally sentenced to 44 years' imprisonment on June 3. While Clark expressed great remorse at his sentencing, he offered no explanation for the attack and no motive was given. Clark is serving his sentence at the
Cheshire Correctional Institution Cheshire Correctional Institution is a Connecticut Department of Correction state prison for men located in Cheshire, New Haven County, Connecticut. The facility was built beginning in 1910, partly by the inmates of the Wethersfield State Prison, ...
as inmate #371189, and is scheduled for release on September 16, 2053.Connecticut Department of Corrections: Inmate Information Search website
Accessed November 12, 2022.


See also

*
List of solved missing persons cases Lists of solved missing person cases include: * List of solved missing person cases: pre-2000 * List of solved missing person cases: post-2000 See also

* List of kidnappings * List of murder convictions without a body * List of people who di ...
*
Bonnie Garland murder case The murder of Bonnie Garland took place on July 7, 1977, in Scarsdale, New York. Details of the crime In the early-morning hours of July 7, 1977, around 2 a.m. Yale graduate Richard Herrin bludgeoned his ex-girlfriend, Yale college senior Bonnie ...
, Yale undergraduate murdered by her boyfriend, a Yale alumnus, during summer break 1977 * Murder of Christian Prince, involving the death of a Yale senior on campus in 1991 * Murder of Suzanne Jovin, involving the death of a Yale senior off campus in 1998


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Le, Annie 2000s missing person cases 2009 in Connecticut 2009 murders in the United States Crimes in Connecticut Deaths by person in Connecticut Deaths from asphyxiation Formerly missing people Incidents of violence against women Missing person cases in Connecticut Murdered American students Sexual assaults in the United States Yale University History of women in Connecticut September 2009 crimes in the United States