It’s been a difficult week here at Yale. On Wednesday morning, news broke that a Yale graduate student, Annie Le, who works in a secured Yale building, was missing. Her purse, cell phone, and wallet were in her office. She was seen on a security camera entering the 10 Amistad Street building, but was not seen leaving. Her roommate reported her missing on Tuesday evening.
News slowly trickled out during the week. The FBI was called in. A hundred investigators were working the case. They were combing every inch of the building that she was seen entering but not leaving. It wasn’t clear at first if this was a targeted act, a random act, or something in between. Then on Friday bloody clothing was found placed above some ceiling tiles. On Sunday a female body was found stuffed into a wall, presumed to be Annie Le. Sunday was supposed to be her wedding day.
The news today is that there is a suspect in the case. The bloody clothing is apparently his. He has seeming defensive wounds on his wrists. He failed a lie detector test. He knew Le.
I can’t say I’ve ever felt a missing person case or a homicide hit quite so close to home. Le worked in one of the most secure building on campus. (Because the lab does animal testing, there are many levels of security, including 75 video cameras covering the entrances and pass-card access to the room where she was last seen.) It wasn’t clear at first if this was an isolated event or one of potentially many like it. It wasn’t clear if she was randomly selected or if this was extremely personal. (I leaned toward the latter given that this happened the week before her wedding.) It wasn’t clear at first if this was committed by a Yale member or someone outside of Yale.
As more information comes out, anxiety has settled, and the grieving has begun. I still am finding it hard to concentrate. Watching television is difficult because so many shows are about deaths like this one. Reading is difficult because it is hard to concentrate. Being on the internet is difficult because I keep seeing updates.
It doesn’t help that this week also saw an unemployed former Yale employee arrested for returning to the building where he used to work with an (unloaded) shotgun in his car and bullets. (After someone was suspicious of his manner when he asked for directions to where his former department was relocated, Yale police detained him within a minute.)
For many years, New Haven has had a reputation as a crime-ridden city where it is unpleasant and dangerous to live. Perhaps it was once true, but that reputation has been many years (decades even) out of date. But even in the reputation, Yale was an isolated fortress. This death burst that, as it perhaps did with the 1998 homicide of a Yale student. (No one was ever put on trial for that murder, but for a while a professor was the major suspect. More recent evidence suggests an unknown attacker.)
I’m not even sure what to do now, what to write, how to work.
Here are links with more information:
0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment