Police swooped in on Yale lab tech Ray Clark today, arresting him in connection with the murder of graduate student Annie Le, whose battered body was found stuffed in a wall on the day she was supposed to get married. Investigators have gathered more than 250 pieces of evidence in the case, sources told ABC News, including text messages exchanged between Clark and Le arranging to meet on the day she disappeared.
Clark was taken into custody by police early today after investigators stood vigil all night outside a motel in Cromwell, Conn., where the suspect had retreated to room 214 on Wednesday. Earlier Wednesday, police had taken DNA samples from Clark, searched his apartment and then let him go.
A convoy of pollice and FBI cars pulled into the motel parking lot with lights flashing about 8:20 a.m. while others blocked off the intersection. FBI agents ran up stairs at the back of the motel. Clark was arrested minutes later.
The arrest warrant charges Clark with murder and set bail at $3 million.
Officers held a news conference almost simultaneously and Police Chief James Lewis said, "There were no issues with the arrest. It went smoothly."
Lewis refused to say whether there was a DNA match that linked Clark to Le, and he dismissed printed rumors of a romantic relationship between Clark and Le. The chief hinted at the tragedy of Le's murder.
"Annie Le was a young woman of unlimited potential," he said.
Lewis said Le's murder was part of a growing wave of workplace crime.
"This is not about urban crime, university crime, or campus crime. It's about workplace violence, a growing concern across the country," he said.
Yale University President Richard C. Levin released a statement that said in part, "Mr. Clark has been a lab technician at Yale since December 2004. His supervisor reports that nothing in the history of his employment at the University gave an indication that his involvement in such a crime might be possible."
He added, "This incident could have happened in any city, in any university, or in any workplace. It says more about the dark side of the human soul than it does about the extent of security measures."
Clark has wounds on his chest, arms and back, sources told ABC News, suggesting a violent struggle. A bead from Le's necklace was found on the floor of the basement lab where Le's body was found and blood spots were found on a laundry cart there.
Sources told the Hartford Courant that Clark's Yale swipe card indicated he was the last person to see Le alive. The electronic trail left by his card indicated he had entered the same lab where Le was last seen. Clark also reportedly swiped his identification at least 10 times in the hours surrounding Le's disappearance, the paper reported.
The deep scratches on Clark's body came to light as the Connecticut medical examiner released Le's cause of death to be strangulation, or it was officially described as "traumatic asphyxia due to neck compression."
Police also found a pair of bloody surgical gloves.
ABC News has also learned that Clark sent a text message to Le early Tuesday, Sept. 8, requesting a meeting to discuss the cleanliness of research mice's cages.
0 comments:
Post a Comment