Tragic Find In Search for Yale Student

(CBS/AP)  Last updated 7:52 a.m. ET

Just seven months before police found what they believe is Annie Le's body hidden in a Yale University building, the graduate student wrote a magazine article about how to stay safe on the streets around the Ivy League school.

The 24-year-old bride-to-be, who had been missing since Tuesday, apparently met a violent death in a secure Yale building accessible only to students and staff, police said Sunday on what was supposed to be her wedding day.

Police would not confirm reports that another student was being questioned and had failed a lie detector test, CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston reported on CBS' "The Early Show."

Photos: Student Found Dead on Wedding Day

Authorities have said little about the investigation. They hadn't positively identified the body found hidden in a wall Sunday, but they were assuming it was Le and treating her death as a homicide.

State police found the body in a building in Yale's medical complex, about a mile from the main campus. It was in an area that houses utility cables that run between floors.

Yale President Richard Levin offered support to Le's family and her fiance, Columbia University graduate student Jonathan Widawsky. The couple was to marry Sunday in Syosset, N.Y., on Long Island's north shore.

"The family and fiance and friends now must suffer the additional ordeal of waiting for the body to be positively identified," Levin said.

Police on Sunday would not say if they have any suspects. They previously have said Widawsky is not a suspect and is assisting with the investigation. New Haven Assistant Police Chief Peter Reichard said police also recovered "a large amount" of physical evidence, but he would not discuss what that included.

Le, who worked in a laboratory in the five-story building's basement, was reported missing last Tuesday. Surveillance video shows her arriving at around 10 a.m., but police could find no video of Le leaving, despite some 75 surveillance cameras operating around the complex. Her ID, money, credit cards and purse were found in her third-floor office.

More than 100 local, state and federal police had been searching the building for days, using blueprints to uncover any place where evidence or Le's body could be hidden.

On Sunday morning, a state police van drove down a ramp into the building's basement area. Authorities also sifted through garbage at a Hartford incinerator Sunday, looking through trash that was taken from the building in the days since Le went missing.

Criminal profiler Pat Brown suggested to "The Early Show" that because Le never left the building, "all the evidence is there. The bloody clothing they found, I'm guessing, if it's related to this crime is the perpetrator's clothing and that's why it was stuffed up there in the ceiling tile, which would be fantastic because there would be evidence on that clothing, perhaps DNA from the person, so they'll at least be able to put this creep away.

"But they're going to be looking at people she knew well, somebody she worked with - a professor, another student, somebody who knew her schedule, knew where she was, and that she wouldn't have been afraid of when she was in the lab. And that's why she wasn't aware that she was in any danger."

Last winter, Le, a pharmacology student from Placerville, Calif., wrote a magazine article about how to stay safe around Yale's campus.

The article, titled "Crime and Safety in New Haven," was published in February in a magazine produced by the university's medical school. It compares higher instances of robbery in New Haven with cities that house other Ivy League schools and includes an interview with Yale Police Chief James Perrotti, who offers advice such as "pay attention to where you are" and "avoid portraying yourself as a potential victim."

"In short, New Haven is a city and all cities have their perils," Le concludes. "But with a little street smarts, one can avoid becoming yet another statistic."

Brown suggested that, because Le had not placed herself in a hazardous situation, "my guess is the only fault she could have is that she was too nice, that she was too sweet, and that somebody that she worked with, she didn't realize that they were obsessing over her. That's what my guess is in this. I don't see a serial killer; I see a guy who thought he was entitled to her, and was angry that she was not choosing him and she was going to pick somebody else, and as her wedding day approached he harbored that anger and took it out on her, and I bet she never saw it coming because she was just too nice a person."

Brown said that Le's case "makes me cry. It's really depressing."

Jennifer Simpson, a friend of Le's who met her at a summer program at the National Institutes of Health in 2006, told "Early Show" anchor Maggie Rodriguez that she hasn't been able to sleep much since news of her disappearance. "It truly is very, very sad. My heart goes out to John and Annie's family and John's family and all her friends."

Simpson said Le had been planning the wedding for over a year and was very excited about it. "She's been doing a countdown to her wedding day and she was doing weather patterns to make sure that the weather would be perfect on her wedding day. And she just wanted everything to be perfect, everything down to table napkins, to flowers - Annie was very, very excited about this day."

Simpson said Le was a "people person" who was friendly and cordial with everybody. "She loved people. She loved life. And we just can't imagine anybody wanting to harm Annie. With regards to her safety, if she were concerned about it, she would have said something to someone and they would have known. John would have known. Family would have known. Friends would have known.

"Annie always made sure she was safe. She doesn't walk around at night by herself and if she had to work late, she would make sure that somebody could come pick her up or walk with her."

Le's disappearance weighed heavily on Yale students, who prayed for her safe return Sunday at The University Church on Yale's campus.

"It has brought up a lot of fears for people," the Rev. Ian Buckner Oliver said just before he gave the Sunday morning sermon. "It has brought up a lot of worry and concern for her and for all our safety."

Bjorn Cooley, a 20-year-old Yale student from Oregon, said he heard the news that a body had been found while studying in his room Sunday night.

"Before they found the body, I still had hope she had just disappeared," Cooley said. "I was looking for some sort of quasi-happy ending to this whole thing."

The university planned a candlelight vigil at 8 p.m. Monday at the Ivy League school. The Yale Daily News says an e-mail to the Yale community invites participants to "bring a candle and join us in solidarity."

[whatareyounuts]

I agree ,she has nerve but she sounds like a vandictive person as if she was the one who killed Annie. Very sick person liz

[pixmixuneek]

Maybe my previous comments and questions sound like we should have gadgets to protect ourselves as in like "James Bond", our technology has enabled us to do just that, give us a chance to enhance our knowledge and promote ideas that are for the good to help people be safer, Annie le wrote an article regarding safety, so why dont we act upon honoring her by designing something to make a safer environment, by some of the suggestions I made in my previous comments and questions.There are many young women in college who have been attacked or raped and never talked about it because they felt ashamed or too afraid, even young men have been subjected to the same.
It might make a difference, call it the "Annie Le Safer Button"or " Annie Le Safety Button"

[pixmixuneek]

This comment/ and questions are not, I repeat not to in any way to crticise against Yale Universitys' way of having strict security on their campus. I am curious as to why there arent any cameras inside the lab where this young woman worked? they have cameras outside showing the people entering. Is there any reason such as a privacy issue due to experiments being performed that there couldnt be cameras installed strategically even in the crawl spaces or wall areas as well as the lab areas,so that if something occurred it would be viewed by security and taped and the problem could be addressed quickly and maybe prevent in the future what occurred with this young woman, and did anyone assimilate the unplanned fire alarm going off was unusual and was this investigated in a timely manner as to why it went off unexpectedly?In addition, is there a way electronically to check if everyone left the building by them swiping their ID cards as they left the building in the event of a fire drill or some other kind of occurence that would require them to swipe their cards on their way out, or just swiping their cards as a way of notifying that they have actually left the building and a timestamp of that?I am sure this would present an enormous expense to incorporate, it might make it safer to a point, and maybe the parking lots should be brighter lighting too and installing alarms placed so that if a student is placed in danger and they can get to the area where an alarm can be pushed, security can be alerted faster or even better have the students carry such an alarm that they can wear like a life alert type necklace or bracelet or even as small as an earring designed by the University for the purposes of if being attacked they can push it and it will be linked to the security system,to notify security of a serious problem, and it will give the location such as a tracking device, maybe this will deter further attacks like this.students and faculty and employees would feel alot safer.

[whatareyounuts]

lizwetzel um o y are saying a woman canno be prety if she is short ?you are dumb ass BIOTCH a real idio!!! I would love to meet you in person so I can beat the crap out of your ignorant ass. I am 5'3 and pretty I am not ugly because Im short. Who the F^%^&& do you think you are..

[whatareyounuts]

You have some nerve liz? is it. You sound like you hate this woman. YOUB DONT EVEN KNOW HER ARE YOU NUTS? You are attacting her personally , insulting her. It sounds like Maybe you are the murderer trying to let us know why you killed her. Because why and how can you figure all this out by a few comments and photos Do you know her?

You know what makes a women pretty ? her smile, her inner peace, joy and happiness . Not the shape of her nose hey lets see a photo of you what do you look like. The fact she is nice and friendly to people. And not a disrespectful person like you. You are the ugly one maybe you mess around with your co-workers . And who the F&^*(* are you to insult nd accuse a victim simply because of her ethnic background. BTW she was born in the USA she's american.. You are such a lowlife BIOTCH

[lizwetzel]

I find it annoying that these woman is being portrayed as something bigger than she is. People are killed everyday and somehow this woman are getting all the limelight.


"No one can possibly hate her" Well, obviously she did something so awful enough for someone to kill her. Chinese/Vietnamese women have double standard, two face. . One for white people and another for non white people.

"She could have cured diabetes" ?? SERIOUSLY? She is a reaserch assistant, that one who photocopies papers and dump lab materials after work. She is being glorified as a scientist and all she did is to probably sleep around with someone at work and photocopy papers.

She wrote an article about safety. HAHA. So I guess she bought that article from the internet since she doesnt personally know what she is saying.

"She is pretty" This is most laughable statement I have ever read. She's short, her nose is as wide as her lips, her eyes lacks any expression.

Anyone who says she is pretty, Im sure they are the internet warriors from Communist China.

If the profiler is corect that the murderer is a scorned lover. Obviously, a man wont have the guts to impose his love on her if this girl didnt give him a reason to tag along.

If this is true, this girl is playing someone in yale so she can use him for her career. Either that or she is sleeping around with someone.

This girl is not a naive young virgin/girl.. She had it coming.

[lloydbest1]

Sorry, but no.

Of course you know her SO well. The many, many years of close association with the victim qualifies you to make those absurd statements....

...Even if Annie was everything you claim - and worse - was true; she did not deserve to die like this. She did not deserve to be struck down violently - with blunt force or sharp instruments - then stuffed into a utility closet and left to rot. Ann Coulter and Michele Malkin don't deserve to die like that way. And even though I hold my nose while saying it, even Nancy Garrido doesn't really deserve to die like this.

Claiming soon-to-be Dr. Le did is a stretch to say the best of it.

[Joann61]

lizwetzel..is your comment a joke, I find it difficult to believe that any serious answer could be so unreasonably judgemental of a victim of a violent crime. I hope it's a joke anyway otherwise it's pretty scary if this is your serious thoughts.

[pixmixuneek]

I am curious as to why she wrote the article on safety in the first place?? what was her motivation or did something happen or did she suspect someone that prompted her to do so?? a rather uncanny way to attract attention from a written article as in sending a beware warning, maybe not only for herself, to others be safe and to the criminals to beware, The unplanned fire alarm to divert attention in order to commit the crime, so no one would hear her cries for help or while trying to defend herself.
It is so shocking to all the families and friends colleagues, a vibrant young woman, full of life, love and happy, about to be married and in a moment she is gone.
I hope they find the person who did this and is prosecuted to the fullest extent, the law will prevail, yet the question of why still remains and the answer will probably never be accepted, this young womans life was taken from herself,her husband to-be, her family, her friends, her mentors, her colleagues, there isnt an acceptable reason for her to die like this.

[rondivoo]

The news media DOES pick and choose which stories it will follow. There are several things that come into play when they do so. Usually, the victim is female and comes from a middle to upper class family, is educated more than the norm, is attractive, and has something going on in her life that makes her more "interesting." In this case, the victim was to be married soon after the disappearance. The media looks for all the "right ingredients" to make story telling that will appeal to the public and also make a "good" TV crime story, such as on "48 Hour Mystery." There IS a difference according to the victim's race also. This is just a fact, not an indicator that whoever states that fact is a racist. The commentor who stated that fact was jumped on by others on this forum, but he should not have been. Being a realist is not being racist. Minority races HAVE been overlooked for a long time and ARE just starting to be included in high profile crime news. And, I also think having a bi-racial president who is considered our first African American president (and rightly so) HAS influenced for the good how much attention is given to minorities in stories that invoke sympathy and caring.

[rsmik]

Why is this profiler guessing that the clothing found was the perpetrator's? I will guess that the clothing belongs to Le. Last I checked, one guess is as good as another.

[woeisme1]

I believe another student did it.