Yale murder: Police to arrest lab technician

Police investigating the murder of Yale student Annie Le are obtaining an arrest warrant for Raymond Clark III, a lab technician who worked in the university building where Ms. Le’s body was discovered on Sunday.

The development came after DNA taken from Mr. Clark was found to match evidence taken from the crime scene, according to news reports. Computer records show he may have been the last person to see her alive.

The medical examiner’s office said Wednesday that Ms. Le died of “traumatic asphyxiation due to neck compression.” Her body was found Sunday stuffed into a wall cavity in a university lab building.

Clark was taken into custody Tuesday night after authorities announced he was a “person of interest” in the case and executed four search warrants on his apartment and Ford Mustang. According to the New Haven Register, the lab technician had wounds that could have been sustained during a struggle.

According to a source, Clark drew the attention of authorities even before Le’s body was found stuffed inside a wall near the lab in which he worked at 10 Amistad St.

When he was questioned by the FBI, agents took note of numerous injuries on his body, the source said, including what appeared to be bruises and abrasions on his arms, a mark under his eye, a scratch on his right ear, and a bruise or deep scratch to his chest.

When questioned, he said some of the injuries were a scratch from a cat. Others he attributed to playing softball.

Police were staked out at the hotel where Clark has been staying since he was released from police custody Wednesday, reports the Associated Press.

Le, who was due to be married Sunday, was a doctoral student in pharmacology at Yale. She was last seen on surveillance tapes entering the lab building at the university’s medical school complex, and her body was found Sunday inside a wall in that building.

Clark was responsible for cleaning the cages of mice used for research in the lab, and had other custodial duties.

ABC News reports that Clark sent Le a text message Sept. 8, the day she disappeared, “requesting a meeting to discuss the cleanliness of research mice’s cages.”

Clark may have been the last person to see Le alive, the Hartford Courant reported, citing a law enforcement official.

Investigators traced Le's and Clark's movements through their computerized swipe cards, said the source, who is familiar with the investigation. Le entered the Yale laboratory at 10 Amistad St. at about 10 a.m. on Sept. 8. She passed through a basement lab area moments later. Then she swiped her way into a separate room of that lab.

Clark entered that same room a short time later, the source said, citing the computer records. Le was never seen again and her card was never used again.

Clark had moved around the laboratory area quite a bit that day, including entering rooms that he normally would not expected to be in, the source said.

Clark also swiped into another area -- the place where Le's body was eventually found after five days, stuffed into a 2-foot crawl space behind a wall.

According to the New York Daily News, police are "gearing up" to arrest Clark and have called a news conference for Thursday morning.