Police: Body Found in Yale Lab Building

(CBS/ AP)  Last updated at 10:58 p.m. Eastern.
Police in Conn. say a body has been found in a building where a Yale University graduate student vanished.

The human remains were found inside a wall in a Yale laboratory by Connecticut State Police just after 5 p.m., reports CBS affiliate WFSB - Hartford. It was in an area holding utility cables that run between floors. More than 100 police officials have been searching for Le since Tuesday, when she was last seen.

New Haven's assistant police chief says officials presume the body is that of the missing doctoral student. He says Le's family has been told. Police also say the missing persons investigation is now being treated as a homicide.

New Haven Assistant Police Chief Peter Reichard says the body has not been identified as doctoral student Annie Le, who has been the focus of a massive police search since she vanished in the building on Tuesday.

Le swiped her identification card to enter the building that morning, but there was no record of her leaving, despite some 75 surveillance cameras that cover the complex. Investigators pored over blueprints and surveillance video footage while searching for her.

Le was from Placerville, California. She was set to get married Sunday in Syosset, N.Y., on Long Island's north shore.

[erasmus111]

by ffoulkes-2009 September 14, 2009 4:12 AM EDT
You are assuming that everyone swiped their cards...There tends to be an underestimate as to how important security is in some buildings. Sometimes one person swipes his/her card, and a whole slew of people come in the open door behind them.


That is of course possible, but probably is unlikely in this case. The chances are good that the person knew her from there. And that happens in apartments, where people let others in, but in a place like this, people are probably more careful.

[erasmus111]

"Le swiped her identification card to enter the building that morning..."


Which means that everyone that entered that building also had to swipe and identification card. Right? So at least there are a limited amount of people to investigate. There could be a lot of people, but at least it's limited to the people that access that building and not just anybody.

[ffoulkes-2009]

You are assuming that everyone swiped their cards...There tends to be an underestimate as to how important security is in some buildings. Sometimes one person swipes his/her card, and a whole slew of people come in the open door behind them.

[Bass_c]

This is absolutely heartbreaking. My thoughts and prayers go out to both the Le and Widawsky families.

[tafhdyd]

Sorry to hear of the tragic find. More than likely she knew the killer, probably a classmate or staff member that didn't do as well in a class or was outdone in some project. On the other hand, with the real wackos out there like the kook from CA that kidnapped the girl 18 years ago, the killer may be a right wing racist. Someone that listens to Glen Beck and took Joe Wilson's "liar" statement to heart and figured if she was from CA and Asian she must be an illegal about to get health care at his expense. Just thinking outside the box.

[ffoulkes-2009]

Way to go politicizing this terrible tragedy. I hope the family and fiance can come to grips with this.

[anniepyedeiulio]

I believe she knew her assailant. He was fond of her but he was of a cold heart. I have had a vision that the perpertrator is with a group of people that meets at the end of the street to the left of her building. I hope this is helpful because it is haunting me.

[rwsmith29456]

I was afraid of that. It sounds like what they put her in was the part of a building called a 'chase'. I've worked on several large buildings including a hospital and a research laboratory and can say that there are LOTS of hiding places in a complex structure.

[DoctorGlennPHD]

What a tragedy. My condolences to family and friends.

[edgy44]

I wonder how many students used the utility room, and what all went on in there. I know young people do stupid things, and I don't immediately jump to a homocide as the reason somebody dies.

[toldyouso21]

Yeah, there is no telling what she was doing to end up dead and in a wall, might have all just been a mistake? Stop being a Pollyanna. Someone killed this girl, then hid her body--otherwise, if she "died of natural causes" why hide the evidence, why not call 911, why not call and give an anonymous tip that someone died or was dying?

You may not jump to a homicide as the reason when somebody dies, but when freshly dead bodies end up behind walls--most normal, intelligent people, do--they don't get there, freshly dead by themselves.

[debinok1]

It wasn't a "utility room" it was a holding area in the floor for utility cables. I very much doubt that this young women felt herself dying from natural causes and decided to open the access panel, crawl into the floor and wait for death, instead of calling for help.

[wattEYEno]

What a vivid shame

[toldyouso21]

WHY???!! If she was sexually assaulted, she may have been stalked. Maybe by someone who knew her and was upset and angry that she was marrying someone else and they could never have her? At any rate, this is a terrible end. I know this is not nice, but I hope the body is not hers and she is somewhere safe, just a bit scared of finally getting married. The world is crazy. The Surveillance camera should show who went in and out of that building for the past few days.