Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Killers Amongst Us: Petite genius disappears before Sunday wedding. What happened to Annie Le? (episode 2)

Episode Date: March 10, 2021

Researcher Annie Le walks from Sterling Hall to another campus building at 10 Amistad Street, That's where her research laboratory is located. She is caught on video entering the building. There is a fire alarm that day, but Annie is not seen on video again. Her purse and cellphone are still in her office in Sterling Hall. What happened to Annie Le? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Hi guys, Nancy Grace here. Welcome back to Killers Amongst Us, a production of iHeartMedia and Crime Online. When you get out of your car in the parking deck or at the parking lot or you step off the metro or the bus, hop out of your Uber and walk into work, do you ever look around and think, who are these people around me? Who's sitting next to me on the bus? Who's driving my Uber? Who's parking next to me in the parking deck? Usually, most people don't. They're going about their business,

they're on a mission, and they don't really want to think about the fact that a huge percentage of people out there are either on parole or probation. No one wants to think about the fact that there are killers amongst us. What happened to Annie Lay? Absolutely stunning young woman and a brainiac to boot. Just 24 years old.

Take a listen to our friend Randall Pinkston at CBS. 24-year-old Annie Lee was working on a PhD in pharmacology at the Yale School of Medicine. Tuesday morning, she left her office and walked four blocks to her lab near the School of Nursing. Around 10 o'clock, a surveillance camera captured her entering the building. Just after noon, there was a fire drill, but Lee wasn't seen. When she did not come home Tuesday night, her roommate became concerned and notified authorities. Just thinking about that confusion. With me, an all-star panel, to break it down and put it back together again, former felony prosecutor, now defense attorney, Daryl Cohen, name partner at Cohen, Cooper, Estep, and Allen. And you can find him

at ccealaw.com. We're now psychiatrists joining me out of the Atlanta jurisdiction, Dr. Angela Arnold. You can find her at AngelaArnoldMD.com. And with us, former police lieutenant there in the jurisdiction where Annie Lay disappears, the New Haven Police Department, the senior lecturer and director of the Center for Advanced Policing at the University of New Haven and worked this case. But right now to Matthew Chase, investigative reporter with Newsday. You know, Matthew, I was just thinking about the confusion of a fire drill. I would be so peeved at the district attorney's office when a fire drill or some kind of, you know, practice drill would happen. And not being able to see beyond my own case is thinking, well, I'm being interrupted at this moment. Are you kidding?

And have to go out on the street or God forbid in a hotel in the middle of the night when you have to go outside and wait around in your pajamas. I'm just thinking about Annie Lay. I think she was down in the basement, a basement science area, chemistry, like a lab sort of. That's how I imagine her. And everybody had to leave the building. Was it a real fire alarm? Was there a fire or was this just a drill? What was it, Matthew? You know, to be honest, I don't know.

I know that the smoke alarm went off and everyone in that building in Amistad exited the building. But I don't think I ever found out if I didn't either. And it may have been just a smoke alarm. Lisa Daddio joining us, former New Haven Police Department lieutenant. What was the smoke alarm all about? Was there a fire? So what actually happened? there wasn't a fire, there was a malfunction in a steam vat, if you would, that sterilizes equipment. And so what

happened is the individuals that were working on that had opened the hood too quick and the steam came up and hit the fire alarm, which caused an actual fire alarm to go off. And so it was a legitimate alarm. It wasn't a drill or anything like that. Just there was no fire. It had to do with all the steam that was released in that particular room that sterilizes equipment. And you're absolutely sure, Lisa Daddio? Yes, absolutely. Because the first thing I would have thought to Daryl Cohen is that whoever took Annie Lay had set off the fire alarm as a ruse to conceal her somehow, force her out of the building, just something.

I would have thought it's just too much of a coincidence for the fire alarm to go off and then she's missing. Sure, Nancy, it's just like a magician. Don't see what I'm really doing because I'm going to take something on the right, something on the left, something on the top, and make you look at that, and then I'm going to do what I need to do. So it seems to me that's exactly what happened because that gives them the cover of, if you will, the cover of darkness. Yeah, you're right. And Dr. Angela Arnold, with everybody pouring out of that building, it's so easy to be lost in the crowd and then not spotted leaving.

So that really hurts the investigation because we don't really know from where she disappeared. Was she in the throngs of people pouring out of the building? Was she secreted out by a kidnapper? And also, she was a tiny little thing, wasn't she? Oh, gosh, yes. She wasn't even five feet tall. She could have easily, she could have been mistaken for a child leaving the building. Very, very petite.

So at that point, Lisa Daddio, what would be the first thing? Well, you know what? Let me don't get, I'm getting ahead of myself because they have the fire drill. Lisa Daddio, they did all go back in the building, correct? Yes, they did. Hmm. And at that time, did anyone notice whether she was there or not? So, you know, it was a weird thing for us because we saw also that the timing of the fire alarm was all very suspect.

We thought it was a diversion, which caused us investigatively to really start looking at different things because we we really just had a hard time saying there's no way that these two events, you know, any going into the building and then, you know, us trying to find out what's going on, where she is and then having a fire alarm all around the same time. There's no way that they can't be connected. Well, I kind of feel the same exact way. Lisa Daddio joining us, former police lieutenant right there in New Haven Police Department who worked this case. But seemingly. Cops are coming up with no leads. Take a listen to our friend Kelly Wallace at CBS News and Randall Pinkston at CBS. On her Facebook page Sunday, 24-year-old Annie Lee wrote, Less than one week till the big day. But two days later, the Yale University doctoral student vanished. FBI agents used dogs to search the building where she went missing Tuesday morning.

Lee was engaged to Jonathan Wadowski, whom she met as an undergraduate at the University of Rochester. He is in grad school at New York's Columbia University. They were scheduled to be married tomorrow. Ironically, Lee had written an article about security for Campus Magazine, urging readers to take precautions. All cities have their perils, she wrote, but with a little street smarts, one can avoid becoming another statistic. The FBI says there's no person of interest in the investigation but refused to comment when asked specifically whether Lee's fiance has been ruled out as a suspect. Yale officials say there's no reason to believe that Annie Lee is a runaway bride. A runaway bride.

All I can think of is Julia Roberts. I can also think of another woman. I believe her name was Jennifer Wilbanks out of the Atlanta area who was a runaway bride and then tried to blame being kidnapped for that. But long story short, runaway bride, Matthew Chase, reporter on Newsday, you were the first person to bring up that possibility. What would indicate yay or nay on the Runaway Bride theory? I think the proximity to the wedding. She's supposed to get married that weekend. And her departure from New Haven, you know, up or down to New York was imminent.

And it's just the timing, as far as I know, that she's supposed to get married and she goes missing. You know, again, I just heard former police lieutenant, New Haven Police Department, Lisa Daddio state. It's really hard to believe that the fire alarm and her going missing at the very same time were a coincidence. Daryl Cohen, I've long said there are no coincidences in criminal law. She's supposed to get married and she vanishes from her place of work in a lab. I mean, how can that be a coincidence? I don't see it as a coincidence. I see it as a possibility of her being like this young lady from Duluth, Georgia, running away or someone who wanted her not to be where she is to extradite her. Stop the wedding.

Something like that. It could be any number of things. And it brings up more questions than it does answers. And that always bothers me because the more we have an answer, the more questions that arise and the more leads that you guys have to follow. Runaway bride, Dr. Angela Arnold. I mean, I remember the morning I got married at high noon, like a shootout in the old west. And I remember we decided to get married on a Tuesday and we got married on Saturday.

And I was trying to apply hair and makeup on myself, not doing a very good job. And for some reason, I ended up being almost two hours late to my own wedding. And I got to tell you, of course, it's the best thing I ever did. Dr. Angie's Mary David and have the twins. But at the time I had been, let's just say a lone wolf for a really long time, ever since the murder of my fiance, you know, just before our wedding, Keith. And I, I don't know that I was afraid. I just didn't want to risk the same thing, anything even remotely similar happening again. I finally got down to the venue. I saw my dad and I went to him. And then after that, everything was fine, you know, and I'm just thinking about this whole runaway bride.

If I had had a horse to gallop off, I may have done it. I don't know. What do you make of the whole runaway bride theory, Dr. Angie? Well, my thought is, I mean, let's not forget everything that we've learned about this young woman and how I don't think you run away from something when you are studying for your PhD in something at Yale University. And it seemed that she was very involved in that. She had a lot of a lot of research going on. And also, she has nothing to do with her love life, Dr. Angie.

Well, but it does have something to do with her stability. I believe she's with her stability. Are you suggesting I'm unstable? Is that where this is going? Well, we can talk about that later. Wisely dodging the question. Well, yeah, I have to agree because it seemed to me, Matthew Chase, investigative reporter on Newsday, that she was very methodical and well planned out. I agree.

Gosh, but this coincidence, the fire drill, the wedding the next day, she goes missing. Andrew, excuse me, Matthew Chase, reporter Newsday, brings up the possibility of a runaway bride scenario. So who is the fiance? Take a listen to Sharon Alfonsi, ABC News, along with Annie's co-worker, Debbie Apuzzo. Lee was supposed to marry her fiancé, Jonathan Wadoski, a graduate student at Columbia, this weekend in New York. He's an amazing kid. Wonderful, wonderful boy. And he just must be so heartbroken. I just cannot imagine. Thursday, investigators combed over the lab. Later, sorting through dumpsters, looking for clues. Coworkers can't understand how she disappeared in the middle of the day. Look at all the people.

How could that happen? She has a little tiny thing, but still, I mean, it's amazing. It really is. It's pretty scary. We're just praying that she's just going to pop up somewhere and everything's okay. We're not going to look at the worst here. And still some say the area around jail can be a very dangerous area. In fact, Annie had written about it herself in the university magazine earlier this year. She wrote

New Haven is an area plagued with thefts and frightening confrontations, but adding with a little street smarts, you can avoid becoming a statistic. What about the boyfriend? Did he, I'm sure, becomes a suspect or a person of interest at the very least to Lisa Daddio, former police lieutenant there in New Haven Police? What about it? So, yeah, you know, we did look at Jonathan originally early on in the investigation because, of course, with any time somebody goes missing and there's really none of it makes any sense, you start looking at those closest to the victim as somehow being involved. But we were able to rule that out pretty quickly based upon where he was, and everything was verified. So like he had an alibi to not being anywhere around or anywhere.

He wasn't even in the state of Connecticut at the time that Annie went missing. Just thinking this through, is that correct? Matthew Chase, he had an airtight alibi, so to speak. Remember, he goes to school in New York. He's a student at Columbia. As Lisa said, he's not in Connecticut. So he's, you know, early on we heard from folks from the police, from the FBI, that he's not a suspect at all. So placing yourself in a completely different jurisdiction,

he's totally ruled out. He can account for his movements. Or can he? Take a listen to our friend Sharon Alfonsi, ABC. The wedding has now officially been called off. About 100 state and federal investigators are looking for Annie. They're combing over her computer, looking for any clues. They're trying to figure out if this bride-to-be got cold feet or if she was the victim of a violent crime. Hmm. Victim of a violent crime, right there in her lab. She had to be secreted out somehow during that fire drill.

But the fire alarm was a result of a smoke alarm that set off the fire alarm. And it's documented now it came from a steam valve under one of the hoods in the labs. So was this perfect timing? Still can't get away from the coincidence of it being so close to her wedding. Back to you, Matthew Chase, reporter Newsday. What can you tell us about her wedding plans? You know, she actually blogged about the wedding quite a bit. She wrote about it on Facebook. She was looking forward to it.

It was, you know, the big day was a couple days away. She would, you know, write on her blog on Facebook about staring down at the ring when she was distracted while she was at school. So this was something that she was very excited about. It was supposed to be on New York's Long Island. It was going to be at a nice venue. You know, this is something she's looking forward to. I'm just thinking about who all Annie Lay would have come into contact with.

I believe she took the bus. I guess it was the school transit, Lisa Daddio, or was it the public transit? No, it was Yale's transit. So it was definitely part of the university. Would you have to show ID to get on? So typically, yes, the students do or else anybody can use it, correct? So they would use their student IDs to the bus driver in order to get picked up. It could be a student. It could be an employee. It would have to be somebody with a Yale University badge in order to get on to the Yale transit system. Annie Lay, born in San Jose, California, grew up in a large, very tight-knit family, valedictorian of a graduating high school class, voted most likely to be the next Einstein by

classmates. She got $160,000 in scholarships. She got her undergrad degree in cell development biology, University of Rochester, New York. And it was there she met and fell in love with Jonathan Wadowski. They were set to be married. She was studying pharmacology and monitoring effects of various medicines on mice. Now, the campus laboratories were at 10 Amistad Street. She went in that morning and apparently was never seen alive again. When she didn't come home late that night, a roommate reports her missing. Very interesting about the timing of the wedding now called off and what clues were left behind. Let's focus more on that fiance, Jonathan Wadowski, a Ph.D. student at Columbia. Take a listen to Kelly Wallace, CBS.

Lee's fiance, Jonathan Wadowski, a Ph.D. student at Columbia, didn't return emails, but is reportedly in New Haven helping with the search. Two of Wadowski's lab partners at Columbia tell the early show Lee visited him as recently as Friday night and that the two seemed very excited about the wedding. His roommate tells the New York Post that the minute Wadowski learned Lee was missing, he was on a train to New Haven, that he was very distraught and worried. The timing is terribly cruel, the roommate said. Distraught, worried. You know what I find very interesting to you, Daryl Cohen, veteran trial lawyer joining us at the Atlanta jurisdiction. Daryl, typically when a woman goes

missing, you look at the husband, the boyfriend, the ex, the live-in, whoever's the male presence in her life. If you look back at so many cases, look at Scott Peterson, look at Chris Watts. I mean, the name goes, the list goes on and on. They're not out helping with the search. They're holed up somewhere speaking through their reps. This guy we just heard from Kelly Wallace actually travels to New Haven to try to help with the search. And see, I'm troubled by all of this. Here's a little girl. Here's a woman student. Here's a fire drill here. How did she sneak out? How did she get dragged out? Wouldn't that create attention and her boyfriend, excuse me, her fiance,

the fact that they do or do not help with a search, to me, that's emotional, not physical, because there's not a lot he's going to be able to do. But I think the fact that he is helping shows that he does care. But that doesn't rule him out in my view, that just because you don't personally do something doesn't mean you don't control what is happening. you don't control the circumstances but i'm very troubled as to how no one saw her leave during the fire drill because well i understand that very well why nobody saw her she's about four foot ten there were mob got mobs of people trying to get out, thinking there was actually a fire.

I can understand that very well. But Lisa Daddio, former police lieutenant, New Haven Police, about the fiance, Jonathan Wadowski, did he travel to New Haven to try to help? Yes, Jonathan did. And he was there as soon as he was notified. And, you know, he was incredibly distraught and wanted to help out in any way that he can. Investigatively, it was important because, as mentioned, we also were thinking maybe this is a runaway bride situation. We did think that in the beginning. When you say he was distraught what do you mean by that what did you observe so he was he was upset um he was emotional he was frantic trying to reach her um a thousand scenarios were playing out in his head and he was providing us with as much information as he can as to when he last heard from her and actually even saying that it was so unusual for her, for him to have gone so many hours without speaking

to her on that Tuesday that she was never seen again. But again, he never thought that there was anything wrong. He just thought that she was so busy because she was supposed to be leaving the very next day to go down to Long Island to start getting ready for her wedding. So he just thought, hey, you know, she was just frantic about where she could possibly be. Lisa D'Addio, were there cameras on the school bus that she took to get into work? There was one. And so, you know, it did show her getting on and getting off. Was anybody following her at that time?

No. There was nobody following her at that time. There was nobody following her when she left her office building. Nobody following her when she, you know, was walking down the street. And then when she had gone into 10 Amistad, there's obviously cameras there, but it's so busy because everybody's in and out. Yeah, obviously there's people going in, but they also have to have university IDs. You can't just walk in because it's a research laboratory.

And so obviously... I mean, I know you've watched the movies, Lisa, because, you know, someone can. I've even done it myself without really trying. Somebody can throw up their key card and you just go in on their coattails, just follow right behind them. So that means nothing to me. Even I, with very little effort, my 13-year-old children can do it.

Follow somebody in, get under the gate, go in through somebody else's key card. So while I love key card evidence to track movements, I also know that you can get on a bus or go into a building that's key card requisite very easily without a key card. You just got to be fast. But the fact that no one's following her, you can kind of track her movements then through various surveillance videos. You could see her walking into the building at Amistad. Yeah, we were able to see that. And you're right, Nancy. I mean, anybody can obviously slip and we've all done it. And so if somebody wanted to do something, they easily could have blended in with the stream of people that were walking into the building around the time that Annie was also walking in or walking out.

And plus, while typically it's Yale University personnel in the building, they also have outside vendors coming in. They have salespeople coming in. They have, you know, service technicians or, you know, anybody that is coming in to fix a copier, for example, where they don't obviously have a university ID, but they're supposed to, you know, have some type of identification in order to gain access to those key carded areas. Tell me about this fiance. What do we know? Did he have any girlfriends? Had he exhibited any angst about the wedding, Lisa? No, not at all. Honestly, there was nothing that was indicative of that with Jonathan. We, you know, obviously those tough questions were asked and of course anybody can not be truthful about it, but there was nothing giving investigators kind of that little, that sixth sense, if you would, that, you know, something he's saying just doesn't make sense. We really were focusing more on her being a runaway bride on the early part of the investigation,

never thinking that she, you know, something bad had happened to her initially. Like, so that first 24 to 48 hours, we're again, still treating this almost like a missing person, runaway bride type of thing, not that there was foul play involved. Back to Matthew Chase, investigative reporter with Newsday. You know, the fiance, Jonathan Wadowski, is investigated in every way possible. What, if anything, was learned about the fiance, a Ph.D. student at Columbia? Certainly nothing that would indicate that he was capable of harming his fiance. You know, he's obviously a great student.

The two of them had met up in Rochester when they were undergrads. He's in New York at the time that she goes missing. As Lisa said, Annie and Jonathan were near constant contact. So, you know, just the sort of stuff that you'd hear about, you know, kind of an average guy, nothing, nothing to miss, nothing that would indicate that he would, she would, or, you know, could be a suspect in this. Oh, you know what? Matthew, Matthew, Matthew. My poor, sweet, naive Matthew. Daryl Cohen.

They say that about every man that kills his wife. We didn't see it coming. They were so in love. How can this be? Because they confuse love with lust and lust disappeared after normal husband-wife relations. So look, all of us can be an actor from time to time. I hope your wife isn't listening right now. Well, my wife does not exist. So she's listening. Yeah, that's right. She's listening from far, far away. Yes, he's single, Jackie.

Now you know. Dr. Angie, whoever really believes that a spouse is capable of killing the other, if you go to their friends, they'll say, no way did this happen. He didn't do it. I agree with you. But I'll tell you something, Mitzi, in this case, the guy wasn't even there. He was in do it. I agree with you. But I'll tell you something, Nancy, in this case, the guy wasn't even there. He was in New York. Okay, okay.

You're letting the facts get in the way of my theory. It just seems to me. It's not there. I accept it. I accept it. I accept it. It just seems they were a happy couple. You know, in my world, that's really hard to take in.

But actually, I think you're very close to the truth. Guys, take a listen to our friend Sharon Alfonsi, ABC. Investigators say they still don't know if Leigh, who was supposed to get married today, was the victim of a violent crime or just got cold feet. But friends say she's not the type to run off. That's very out of character. She would not do it this way. She would be very straightforward and tell her family and friends and John especially. Friends say Jonathan Wadowski, Leigh's fiance, is heartbroken and worried sick. Outside his family's Long Island home, wedding gifts wait at the doorstep.

Nearby at a local florist, they are still hoping for a happy ending. This was Annie's bouquet, which was made today, which we always make bride's bouquet the day before. We're just hoping she's found safe. One thing makes me cave in to Daryl Cohen, Dr. Angie Arnold, Lisa Daddio, and Matthew Chase. Matthew, what can you tell me about the location of Annie's purse and cell phone? She leaves that stuff in her office and goes to walk to this lab a couple of blocks away where she's last seen on surveillance video going into this building. So left behind her purse and cell phone. And that tells me she's not a runaway bride because if she was on the run,

she would take that purse and cell phone. Right now I'm just thinking about what the local florist just said. They've got her wedding bouquet ready and waiting on her. Where is Annie Lay? Nancy Grace, Killers Amongst Us, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.