September 14, 2009 10:25 AM
- Text
Clues Sought in Student's Disappearance
(CBS/AP)
Last updated at 6:39 p.m. Eastern
Investigators pored over blueprints and surveillance video footage Saturday at a Yale University laboratory building where a graduate student went missing just days before her wedding.
Security records show Annie Le swiped her identification card to enter the building about 10 a.m. Tuesday, but there is no record of her leaving, despite some 75 surveillance cameras that cover the complex.
Nearly a dozen unmarked police cars lined the sidewalks around the laboratory building in the Yale Medical School complex.
University Vice President and Secretary Linda Lorimer called it "entirely perplexing that there doesn't seem to be a record of her" leaving the building, according to the Yale Daily News. Lorimer didn't immediately return a phone call to The Associated Press on Saturday.
At a press conference Saturday afternoon, Kimberly Mertz, with the FBI, said they can't confirm if it's a missing person's case or if criminality is involved. She said that a body has not been found.
Also at the press conference, Lorimer said there was no reason to believe that Le was a runaway bride trying to avoid her wedding.
The FBI has named no person of interest, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston, but refused to comment when asked if Le's fiancé had been ruled out as a suspect.
Investigators, having already gone through the videos once, were reviewing the surveillance tapes frame-by-frame to see if they overlooked Le, who could have changed into a laboratory coat or other clothes before leaving the building.
On Saturday, they brought what appeared to be blueprints to the building. FBI agents were also spotted questioning an unidentified man outside the lab. When they finished talking, the man got in the front seat of the unmarked car and an FBI agent got in the back seat. The car then drove away.
Agent Bill Reiner said the FBI wouldn't answer any questions about the investigation while it's ongoing.
Yale is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Le's whereabouts. She is described as of Asian descent, 4 feet 11 inches tall and 90 pounds. Her purse, cell phone, credit cards and money were found in her office.
Officials say there's no evidence of foul play.
Le, originally from Placerville, Calif., was set to get married Sunday at the North Ritz Club in Syosset, N.Y. Workers at the club say the wedding was canceled Friday.
Police say fiance Jonathan Widawsky, a Columbia University graduate student, is not a suspect and is assisting with the investigation.
Meanwhile at Le's apartment building across town, hopes for Le's safe return waned.
"I feel bad what happened to her," said Anna Beth Funk, who lives across the street from Le's apartment. "It broke my heart hearing she was about to get married because I love being married and it must be so hard for her fiance."
Wesleyan University professor Charles Lemert, who also lives across the street, said Le always took time to talk to his 11-year-old daughter.
"I wish more than anything this could be solved and turn into some kind of misunderstanding, but it seems bleak," he said.
Investigators pored over blueprints and surveillance video footage Saturday at a Yale University laboratory building where a graduate student went missing just days before her wedding.
Security records show Annie Le swiped her identification card to enter the building about 10 a.m. Tuesday, but there is no record of her leaving, despite some 75 surveillance cameras that cover the complex.
Nearly a dozen unmarked police cars lined the sidewalks around the laboratory building in the Yale Medical School complex.
University Vice President and Secretary Linda Lorimer called it "entirely perplexing that there doesn't seem to be a record of her" leaving the building, according to the Yale Daily News. Lorimer didn't immediately return a phone call to The Associated Press on Saturday.
At a press conference Saturday afternoon, Kimberly Mertz, with the FBI, said they can't confirm if it's a missing person's case or if criminality is involved. She said that a body has not been found.
Also at the press conference, Lorimer said there was no reason to believe that Le was a runaway bride trying to avoid her wedding.
The FBI has named no person of interest, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston, but refused to comment when asked if Le's fiancé had been ruled out as a suspect.
Investigators, having already gone through the videos once, were reviewing the surveillance tapes frame-by-frame to see if they overlooked Le, who could have changed into a laboratory coat or other clothes before leaving the building.
On Saturday, they brought what appeared to be blueprints to the building. FBI agents were also spotted questioning an unidentified man outside the lab. When they finished talking, the man got in the front seat of the unmarked car and an FBI agent got in the back seat. The car then drove away.
Agent Bill Reiner said the FBI wouldn't answer any questions about the investigation while it's ongoing.
Yale is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to Le's whereabouts. She is described as of Asian descent, 4 feet 11 inches tall and 90 pounds. Her purse, cell phone, credit cards and money were found in her office.
Officials say there's no evidence of foul play.
Le, originally from Placerville, Calif., was set to get married Sunday at the North Ritz Club in Syosset, N.Y. Workers at the club say the wedding was canceled Friday.
Police say fiance Jonathan Widawsky, a Columbia University graduate student, is not a suspect and is assisting with the investigation.
Meanwhile at Le's apartment building across town, hopes for Le's safe return waned.
"I feel bad what happened to her," said Anna Beth Funk, who lives across the street from Le's apartment. "It broke my heart hearing she was about to get married because I love being married and it must be so hard for her fiance."
Wesleyan University professor Charles Lemert, who also lives across the street, said Le always took time to talk to his 11-year-old daughter.
"I wish more than anything this could be solved and turn into some kind of misunderstanding, but it seems bleak," he said.
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