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Missing Bride's Body Believed To Be Found; Report Says Suspect ID'd

2009_09_anniele2.jpg Investigators, searching for missing bride-to-be and Yale graduate student Annie Le, found a body in the New Haven research building where Le was last seen. While the body has not been identified as Le's, New Haven police are assuming it is hers. According to the Hartford Courant, "The body was found inside a chase, a square area in a wall used to run pipes and wires from floor to floor. Police would not say in what area of the building the body was found. Le's family has been contacted." The 24-year-old, who was supposed to be married to Columbia graduate student Jonathan Widawsky on Long Island yesterday, had been missing since Tuesday, when she was last seen entering the building (she had left her purse, credit cards and cell phone in her office a few blocks away).

Investigators from local, state and federal agencies had been searching the building, as well as a trash facility, in recent days for clues. Some bloody clothes had been found in the building, but they do not appear to be the ones Le was last wearing. Yale will be holding a candlelight vigil tonight, as students worry—one told the Yale Daily News, "It’s pretty terrifying knowing that in a keycard-accessed building, in broad daylight, this could happen. It kind of makes me not want to go anywhere by myself."

Update: NBC News reports that a suspect has been identified by police, "The suspect has defensive wounds, and failed a polygraph test, police said."

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Comments [rss]

  • gothamguy

    Why did it take 6 days to find a body in the building?

  • marcasm

    I was thinking the same thing. You would think that a police dog would easily find a body in a confined area.

  • NannyState

    Do you really want to know?

  • JacqueMehoff

    did the suspect do a perp walk yet?

    sad for those all around, she cutes up nicely, even carrying all those books and in a long dress. the couple looked very happy together. and she was 24, she'll have those youthful looks for a long time.

    and about the "clingy" reference I think that's just because she's shorter than her mate and will always look up. like I said before, some Asian moms can bring home the bacon and cook it too.

  • Clarice City

    This is sad. She was one of the good ones.

  • gg101

    She was gonna marry Jared from Subway?

  • Bort

    Here's my official guess: crazy fellow grad student, probably met through one of those Asian-American student organization. I'll also guess that he was in a program associated with numbers as opposed to words.

  • Bort

    ah man, double post. i feel like a fool. sorry guys!

  • jibbly

    The double post snafu is forgiven.



    The contents of the post...is troll-tastic.

  • Bort

    Didn't intend to be trolly, but I guess you can't actually speak your mind here without being called a racist or troll. Oh well..just wait til the facts come out. Bortstradamus.

  • jibbly

    No, you can speak your mind here without being called a racist or troll. It's really simple: Don't post racist or trolling comments.



    Easy peasy!

  • JenChungsBaby

    I feel bad for that guy, losing a hot chick like that.

  • Rocknrope

    Wow, a student suspect. i would have put my money on someone in the non-student staff.

  • NannyState

    It sure as hell could have been another student. This reeks of classic obsessed thrill kill and that would be nothing new for a college campus. I don't know if this helps, but girls, whenever a strange dude says hello or makes a comment, ask his name and jot it down. A lot of these killers make vague encounters but value their anonymity too much to engage fully with their quarry.

  • snappaloosa

    I'm gonna put my money on a fellow grad student-- either a professional rivalry, or someone who had a fixation on/obsession with her and became unhinged when she was about to get married. She was a brilliant student in a competitive program in a top-notch program... no doubt there are a few minds in such programs that may be scientifically brilliant, but are socially/psychologically/emotionally lacking. What a terrible loss to her family and her fiance!

  • slny

    I doubt its some geek who needs binoculars to go to the bathroom.

  • Clarice City

    I'll bet anything it's a jealous crazy chick.

  • Bort

    Here's my official guess: crazy fellow grad student, probably met through one of those Asian-American student organization. I'll also guess that he was in a program associated with numbers as opposed to words.

  • angry_pickle

    met through one of those Asian-American student organization



    Um, usually these heinous crimes are commited by white males. So I'm betting on a white male not an Asian American.

  • blondeinthecity

    Probably a jealous ex (could have been his or hers). this is really just so sad. i her family and fiance get answers.

  • HymietownHero

    This is so awful. Bloody clothes not belonging to the victim? Body stashed in the wall? I imagine the police will have a suspect shortly, and unless there is an unguarded exit to the building with no surveilence, someone had to have seen the suspect - either in person or in the camera footage. How could someone commit a murder and hide a body in a building during daylight hours and not be seen?

  • Mookie Wilson

    Pedro Espada did it.

  • freddynyc

    Perhaps she was messing around on the side and got involved with the wrong individual. I would not rule out as suspects any janitors or ancillary personnel named Julio or Miguel, as they tend to be obsessed with petite Asian females...

  • HymietownHero

    Who isn't obsessed with petite Asian females these days?

  • freddynyc

    Personally, I think they're very clingy and way too SMALL for me. I can understand why Mexicans and certain white guys may prefer them (hehe)...

  • marzipan

    it should have been you stuffed behind the wall.

  • Trilby16

    Me...

  • theevilone

    I don't think canceling the hall makes the family a suspect. It's common sense and doesn't preclude them from being worried sick while they did it.



    The timing just could be an awful coincidence, but the fact that she was to get married this weekend makes me think it was someone who had a thing for her whom she had rejected and went the "if I can't have her, no one can" route.

  • suepart

    is this new york news by default of the fiance?



    who did it? was it the professor who strangely cancelled the class on that day? was it a custodian or some sort who knew the building well (like the aforementioned clean-up woman murder from a while back)? was it the professor (again) who premeditated the murder and thought of places to stash the body not thinking anyone would report her missing so soon- as it takes 48 hours to report a missing person? did said professor have a secret relationship with the deceased in the past? was it someone from the family who hired someone to off her because they disagreed with the mixed marriage? was it the person in the family who cancelled the hall reservations when they should have been worried sick instead? who done it?

  • robingee

    "is this new york news by default of the fiance?"



    It's New York news by default of your mom.

  • Dirk

    Calm down, Angela Landsbury.

  • militza

    I can't stop laughing from your comment. I'm sorry.

  • militza

    this is sad but I find something else bothersome...

    'Some bloody clothes had been found in the building, but they do not appear to be the ones Le was last wearing'



    well then who do those clothes belong to?

  • Politburo

    The suspect, perhaps.

  • valeriob

    This is so sad, wtf man.

  • Rocknrope

    Disturbingly, she looks abit like the woman in the "Gloria-V" American Apparel Ad running above.

  • Such a shame.

  • jibbly

    Tragic, I think everyone was hoping that this was just a case of pre-wedding jitters.

  • r1b2

    Shockingly, it appears it's not the fiance for a change. Condolences to the family.

  • Rocknrope

    Truly horrible, even more so given her wedding was supposed to be yesterday. Given that no security cameras caught her leaving or someone removing a body, it had to be assumed that she was still in the building.



    This recalls that story in NY where the cleaning lady who was in fear of her life from one of the elevator maintenance men, and whose body ended up stashed in the building somewhere.



    I'd check the staffers and maintenance crew.

  • My condolences to her family and loved ones.



    Hopefully, they catch whomever did this quickly.

  • greeen

    very sad and very morbid. first suspect= someone very familiar with the building infrastucture. That should narrow it down. I feel very badly for the family and fiance, what should have been a happy celebration turned into the worst nightmare imaginable. THere are no words but a wish for healing when this all passes.

  • Mr Mel

    I think you're right, the authorities are probably interviewing the custodial help. Not too many people would know how or where to hide a body in a particular building. My condolences to the families.

  • nicemarmot

    Yeah, it sounds like it was a fellow Yalie or a staffer who did it. I don't know if that makes it more scary or less scary...I guess in the end there are crazy people everywhere. A good friend of mine is a fellow grad student there and actually knew Ms Le. It's so sad that it happened the week before her wedding. RIP. Hopefully they will be able to use the evidence from the building to find the murderer.

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