Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Killers Amongst Us: Petite genius disappears before Sunday wedding. What happened to Annie Le? (episode 4)

Episode Date: March 23, 2021

Researcher Annie Le enters a campus building at 10 Amistad Street, in Connecticut. 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. Investigators are following every lead they can find. Then, investigators find a body. Who killed 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. So often in life, we rush through our day and our nights with blinders on, not looking around us to realize there are killers amongst us. I'm Nancy Grace. Thanks for being with us. Annie Lay's body just found. Hasn't even been identified yet, but we all know it's her.

A beautiful 24-year-old young lady, just literally hours away from her wedding day, a fabulous wedding and reception planned out on Long Island. That was not to be. With me, former felony prosecutor, now defense attorney, Daryl Cohen, name partner with Cohen, Cooper, Eastep, and Allen at ccealaw.com. Renowned psychiatrists joining me out of Atlanta, Dr. Angela Arnold at AngelaArnoldMD.com. Former Police Lieutenant, New Haven Police Department, Director of the Center for Advanced Policing at the University of New Haven's Forensic Science Department, Lisa Daddio. Professor of Forensics, Shaxsville State University, author of Blood Beneath My Feet on Amazon. You can find him on Poisonous Liaisons on the True Crime Network,

death investigator Joseph Scott Morgan. But first, to investigate a reporter, Newsday, you can find Matthew Chase at Twitter at Chase Matthew. Matthew, take a listen to our friend Randall Pinkston, CBS. Police would not confirm reports that another student was being questioned and had failed a lie detector test. Lay was last seen three hours before an unexpected fire alarm in the lab building. Police say the body was hidden behind a section of wall. But discovery stunned students who had held out hope until the end. It's just a very sad thing to have happen here at the university, so sorry. I mean, I really tried to remain as hopeful as possible throughout.

I certainly didn't think it would end in the way that it did. I think it's just incredibly gruesome. Okay, let me understand this. Annie last seen just three hours before a surprise fire alarm within the lab building. Now her body has been found secreted away behind the wall. And the irony, the irony of the timing. Take a listen to CBS. The discovery came on the same day Leigh had been scheduled to be married on Long Island, New York, to her college sweetheart, Jonathan Wadowski. Her florist last

saw her September 3rd. I'm holding Annie's bouquet that she would have held today for her wedding. It consists of four dozen of carnival roses, which we chose for her because roses were her favorite. Such a tragic ending. The focus now obviously finding the person responsible. Police would not say whether they have any prime suspects. Meanwhile, we are told that the only people who have access to the area of the building where the body was found are those with Yale University identification. Hmm. That certainly narrows the pool of suspect.

But as we all know, practically anybody can figure out how to skate in behind someone with a key card. Guys, were there any red flags? Had Annie Lay mentioned anything about being worried for her safety or potentially unwittingly named the suspect before her death? Take a listen to Maggie Rodriguez, CBS. Can you think of anything in hindsight that Annie may have said that's now a red flag? Was she worried about her safety, worried about anything, concerned about anyone who might hurt her? No. Annie was friendly and she was amicable with everyone.

She was cordial with everybody. And, you know, she was a people person. She loved people. She loved life. And we just can't imagine anybody wanting to harm Annie. And with regards to her safety, if she were concerned at all, she would have said something to someone and they would have known. And, you know, John would have known. Family would have known.

Friends would have known. Annie, you know, John would have known, family would have known, friends would have known. Annie, you know, she protected herself. And, you know, Annie walking around, this is, it's not, Annie always made sure she was safe. You know, 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. You know, before I go to Matthew Chase, investigative reporter with Newsday, you know what? Daryl Cohen is so cliche. You see it on reruns of Magnum P.I. for Pete's sake.

Did Annie have any enemies that would want her dead? That's how they always start. It's just so cliche. It sounds more like a script for a TV special than it does in a real investigation. Nancy, you have to wonder. All of us have enemies. We just don't know who they are and how much of an enemy they may be. And some of us make enemies because of who we are. Some of us make enemies because of who we are. Some of us make enemies

because of what we do. Sometimes we just have an enemy because he or she looks at us and thinks they need to be our enemy. So it may be a cliche, but it's real. And as you point out, there are killers amongst us, and we never quite know who they are until we find out. Sometimes we never do. I've got a pretty good idea for you and myself, Daryl. All the people we put away when we were prosecutors, now they're starting to get out for Pete's sake. To Matthew Chase, investigative reporter, Newsday. Matthew, what does it mean she was found in a wall?

So there's something called a chase. It's a mechanical chase. It's a vertical space that contains ducts and pipes and wires. And in this basement where she had her lab nearby, she's discovered behind a panel in a wall. And she's discovered by a, I believe it was an FBI canine team that made the discovery. So it's not a wall per se. There's a panel that was apparently removed and she was put inside and the panel returned. I believe that's the case. You know, let me follow up with Lisa Daddio, former police lieutenant, New Haven PD, who worked this case.

I think I get what Matthew is telling us. Matthew Chase from Newsday. Could you describe it as well? Yeah. So it was actually the Connecticut State Police K-9 unit that had found it. So the Connecticut State Police had been assisting us processing the scene. They actually had teams of investigators. That's all they were doing at 10 Amistad was handling the scene

while New Haven PD was focusing more on the investigation and talking to people. And as I mentioned earlier, it was really quite a partnership. So what happens before, unfortunately, we found Annie's body, the investigators started smelling decomposition, which is a very unique smell when the human body dies and starts to decompose. There's a smell truly unlike any other that those of us who have worked in the field know as soon as we get a whiff of it, what it is. And it became, all right, where is she? Because this is the first time that we had any type of inkling that she was still in, truly in the building and hadn't gone out with the medical waste or the trash, unfortunately. And

it sounds so cold and inhumane, it really does. But that's what we were up against. So we then knew. But this is a research building that had a multimillion dollar ventilation system. So while they kept getting a whiff of decomposition, it's like, where is she in this in this building? Wait a minute. I get it because they're performing all of these chemical tests in there, they've got to have a very state-of-the-art ventilation system. I get it. Go ahead. So, you know, with that, a determination was made to bring in a cadaver dog. Cadaver dogs are specially trained dogs, typically bloodhounds, who come in and they're utilized by law enforcement, local, state, federal, to alert to decomposition if you can't find it.

And so what happens is the canine that was brought in, the cadaver dog that was brought in, alerted to this room where there was this mechanical chase and it was like a metal panel if you would that was in a locker room bathroom area that the dog had alerted to. So investigators opened the panel in the area and as Matthew had stated it's kind of where pipes and stuff are and you go to it if there's an issue versus taking down an entire wall. And immediately, as soon as they removed one of the screws, I mean, but then hidden away in the wall.

And it brings to mind Joseph Scott Morgan. All the people working in that area. Remember, the lab was not closed off. And our first reaction was contaminated crime scene. No, they were working just feet, maybe inches away from Annie Lay's dead body sequestered behind the wall. Yeah, their colleague and that building still standing. Can you imagine you walk in there

and I'm sure that some of the people are still there, you know, that worked with Annie. And that's something they'll have to bear for years and years. But I got to tell you, I know that Lisa's probably too humble to say this about this investigation.

But let me explain to you very briefly. This is a hellish nightmare for a crime scene investigator, because this is not like some case that you would handle in some home somewhere where people are residing and you have a killing in a dwelling. This is a medical research or an animal research facility. So what are you faced with in here? There's going to be biological sample all over the place. And it's not necessarily going to be from the victim or potential perpetrator. You're talking about biological sample that's coming from any animals they're working on. And when I say that, I'm talking about anything that is the essence of life, particularly blood.

And so as an investigator, this is why this is such a nightmarish case. If you come across something that you suspect is blood at this scene and you're trying to process this, you have to do this gymnastics in your mind. Is this related to the case that I'm working? Or is this something that's just an everyday thing that goes on in the lab? Because contrary to what people think, when you go into a lab, you smell the chemicals, you smell the cleaner and all that stuff. But you can never get the thing completely clean. And that's what makes this so very difficult for the investigators that were tasked with handling this case. And to Dr. Angela Arnold, psychiatrist joining us out of Atlanta. It tells me so much. It tells me that it was an insider there within Yale because we've got 70 cameras working.

They can see who's coming in and out. And they were right. Annie never left the building. Forget about all the theories. She could have gotten out in the rush and not really been spotted in a group of people. She never left the building. Forget about all the theories she could have gotten out in the rush and not really been spotted in a group of people. She never left the building. But that also narrows the pool of suspects who was in that building. And doesn't it also say something about the suspect? What a disrespectful thing to treat her like an animal. Basically, whoever did this to her

treated her like she was one of the lab rats that she was working on. To stuff this brilliant little girl who God only knows what she had the capacity to discover that would have helped all of us. And to stuff her in a, you know, in a wall like she was a dead lab rat. Wow. That comparison you just made just stopped me in my tracks to Lisa Daddio, who actually worked this case. Lisa, what was the cause of death? Yeah. So, you know, and the reason why this case and as we're going through it, it literally still to this day brings chills to my body. And parts of it, I still get my eyes tear because of just the horror and listen to Dr. Angie and hearing the comparison.

Just, God, it makes it so more like it just happened yesterday, unfortunately. So the cause of death is, you know, Annie was strangled to death. She also had suffered a broken clavicle, a broken jaw, and had a lot of other injuries with her that had occurred to her as well. So it was really, truly, just a brutal, brutal crime. Now, as we've said, you know, she was so tiny, you know, just small, small structured. So, you know, obviously, the types of injuries she sustained because of her stature, it probably wouldn't have been as difficult. But the reality of it is, is that she was like beaten to a pulp. And it was just horrific, horrific. Beaten to a pulp. Let me ask you this, Lisa Daddio. Was there a sex attack?

So there was no obvious signs of the fact that she was been wearing and actually had her underwear had been down from her hip vaginal area. Well, in my mind, I mean, Daryl Cohen, that that sex attack right there. I don't need anybody else to tell me anything. When Lisa Daddio says there was no evidence of a sex attack. There is. There is. I understand what she's saying in the technical sense of the word. But when your underwear are down and you've got semen on them at work and you're dead. I mean, they didn't teach me math in law school, but two and two still equals four, doesn't it, Jackie? Okay, yes. She said yes. Daryl Cohen, she was sex attacked and beaten dead.

That's what happened to this little lady. She may not have been raped, but she was sex attacked. And there was somebody so enraged that she didn't give them what they deserved in their opinion, that they took care of her. And because you're never going to tell me no, your word's going to be spelled K-N-O-W, not N-O. And they just went crazy. And then I think they tried their best to hide her.

And because they likely worked there or certainly knew what was going on, they found a place where they could hide her or until the smell became overwhelming, until the canons came there that she would not have been found. And she wasn't for several days. At that point, Lisa Daddio, who worked the case, guys. What do police do now? So, you know, we had discussed how we were going to get her out of this area because we need to. She's a crime scene. Everything on her, everything that was in that wall becomes part of the crime scene.

And now we have truly like one of the most important types of evidence is the body. So we needed to come up with a plan on how to remove her from the wall with as little possible contamination and damage as we could. She's surrounded by wall. So it's like, how do we get her out without contaminating or destroying any type of evidence that is there? And so what we did, what the Connecticut State Police did was they actually took the wall out, but from the other side from where the mechanical that was and did it in such a, as much as they could, a careful way to not to further contaminate and damage any trace evidence that was on her, you know, those hairs, those fibers, any DNA that was there. And of course, the DNA is able to withstand some type

of more contamination than hairs or fibers until we were able to get her out of the wall and brought to the medical examiner's office for a full autopsy and preserving as much of the evidence that was on her and within the law as possible. Wow. To you, Justice Scott Morgan, death investigator, forensics expert. Got to admit, that was brilliant. Didn't want to contaminate or ruin evidence. So they go in from the other side of the wall, from the other room. Yeah. And, you know, these are very fluid situations. When you come to crime scenes like this that are highly complicated, you have people that are sequestered in these kinds of areas.

And, you know, it's like finding a body in a car, for instance, and you transport the entire car to a location to be processed, a police garage, for instance, and you transport the entire car to a location to be processed, a police garage, for instance, and that sort of thing, you want to leave the body in what we refer to as a pristine condition as much as you possibly can. But again, it's very, very difficult. As Lisa had mentioned, when you're essentially dismantling part of the structure of the building, you're going to get a lot of debris that's going to fall on the body. The body will be jostled. But you try to keep it as intact as you possibly can so you can harvest any kind of evidence that might have been left behind. Guys, we're looking at a pool of potential suspects now.

We've got key cards. We've got video. We have, as Matthew Chase correctly pointed out, contrary to my belief, we have clothing. Not Annie's clothing, but blood. Lisa Daddio, was that bloody clothing found near her body? No it actually was not Nancy. It was found in the drop ceiling of the basement area but not where Annie had been found. And who worked in the area where the bloody clothing and Annie's body was found? So there were several people that had actually worked there. Obviously, other researchers had access to it.

But each graduate student researcher also had an animal technician assigned to them to assist them with, in Annie's case, her mice. And there were hundreds of them in her own lab room. Guys, the search is on for whoever killed this beautiful, brilliant bride-to-be. Take a listen to Randall Pinkston at CBS News. She was as good a human being as you'd ever hope to meet. Holding candles, over 2,000 members of the Yale University family mourn the loss of Annie Lay. This is a horrific tragedy. This shouldn't happen in the world to anybody. While the search for evidence continued, authorities are making progress on a suspect targeting one person, a lab technician who worked in the building with Lay.

Sniffer dogs led police to Lay's body Sunday afternoon. The remains were hidden behind a basement wall in an area called a chase, which is used to run wires and pipes between floors. Authorities had reason to focus on insiders because of the building's robust security system. To go to the basement area, you have to swipe a card. Once you're in the basement area, you have to swipe again to get inside the room. The four-story, 120,000 square foot research facility is equipped with 75 cameras and requires magnetic IDs not only to enter, but to access corridors and workrooms. Who was in that room? Take a listen to Drew Levinson, WPRI 5.

Police at Yale University are focusing on a lab technician as they investigate the murder of grad student Annie Lay. CBS News has learned that unidentified person has failed at least one lie detector test. Authorities say the killing was not a random act, and that brings some relief to students. That they think they know who it is brings some sense of security, but the fact that he's within the community is also scary. It is nice to know that they have someone who they think is the person, so you feel better walking down the streets knowing that they're not just out and about. And here's Drew Levinson, WPRI 5.

Now, a person of interest in the murder of a Yale grad student has just been taken into custody. Investigators raided Raymond Clark's apartment around 10.30 tonight. They say he has not been arrested, but that a judge has issued a warrant to obtain a DNA sample. They also say he will be held until the dna is obtained not arrested well they took him into custody and they're swabbing his mouth for dna daryl cohen now we know why defense attorneys tell their clients don't take a

polygraph when you see somebody humming and hawing about they haven't taken the polygraph yet they want a private polygraph they They're trying to arrange it. That's why, Daryl. You never, ever representing a defendant take a polygraph with the knowledge of the prosecution. You may have your client take one to see whether or not he or she passes, whether or not it's inconclusive. And if they pass, you wave it like a flag if they don't pass your memory is very hazy you don't remember it here's aaron katursky abc we know they've been waiting for forensic test results they wanted to compare samples of raymond clark's dna from his hair mouth and skin to physical evidence found at the scene, including

bloody surgical gloves and bloody clothing. Those were two key pieces of physical evidence they had. We also know they had been reading text messages and emails that Clark sent to Annie Lay, perhaps about the cleanliness of her workstation. At the lab, Clark worked the mice cages. He was responsible for their cleanliness and upkeep. And we're told that he complained to Lay about her work and the tidiness of her work and suggested that they meet to talk about it. Really? He wants to talk about the tidiness of a cage of rats? How does that explain the semen on her underwear? Take a listen to Randall Pinks in CBS. Law enforcement sources also tell CBS News that

when the technician was first questioned, investigators noticed marks and scratches on his body, most notably on his hands and arms, suggestive of defensive wounds. Authorities keyed in on him when he took a polygraph test and failed badly, raising a number of red wounds. Authorities keyed in on him when he took a polygraph test and failed badly, raising a number of red flags. Law enforcement sources say he now has a lawyer. So far, there's no comment on the motive, but the CBS source says, quote, there's no romance involved in this. I guess you can say that again. Who is this guy, Matthew Chase, investigative reporter on Newsday? Who is Clark? What do we know about him?

Well, Raymond Clark, he's around Annie Lay's age. He has a girlfriend or a fiance as well. He works at, actually, the fiance also works there. And he is from Connecticut. He has worked there for quite a bit. And there are rumors that he's a some folks have said that he's a control freak. And, you know, he's a he's a guy who's from Connecticut. He played sports.

And, you know, we were discovering more and more about him every day as his name came out. Well, isn't it true to Lisa Daddio, former New Haven PD lieutenant who worked the case, there were allegations of abuse? So, yes, to be short about it. You know, we, as Ray started to become more of a really a strong suspect because of a lot of different things we were finding, both investigatively and frantically. We had done a criminal history check. We reached out to police departments where he had lived to see if there was anything. We actually started learning more about Ray after he was arrested. And so, you know, it's one of those things that even though an arrest is made, the investigation still continues because we're trying to get as much information as we can. And so once, you know, he was identified as being a suspect in the case, people started coming forward. Former girlfriends started coming forward to say, hey, he was a control freak.

And this was several years ago when I dated him. However, his fiance, as Matthew had stated, who also worked at 10 Amistad, as well as his brother-in-law, who also worked at 10 Amistad. Everybody said Ray was this great guy. He would never hurt a soul. He loved animals. And so they were definitely portraying a completely different picture than what Ray's previous girlfriends were saying. Well, speaking of previous girlfriends, take a listen to former girlfriend Jessica Del Rocco at GMA. I just, I wanted out. I wanted, I realized that I didn't want to be in this type of relationship anymore, that I wanted it to be over.

And when you told him this, what? He didn't want it to be over. And an incident occurred and I took the steps that I thought would be the best way to handle it. And I went through the school and I went through the police and it. Wait a minute, wait a minute. When you say he didn't want. Yeah, he didn't want to break up. What did he do?

I can't comment on that. But it was frightening enough that you thought at some point you might need police help. Absolutely. To keep him away. Yeah. Was it explosive anger yelling or was it something more, more submerged? No, it was anger yelling. Grabbing. What happened afterwards then after you broke up? Something more submerged. No, it was anger, yelling, grabbing.

What happened afterwards then after you broke up? For about two weeks, I was escorted from the school to my car. She had to have an escort to her car for two weeks after the breakup? Well, in case you're wondering, this is what happened to Raymond Clark III. Take a listen to Jamie Muro, WTNH. Clark, now 26 years old, was sentenced immediately after his statement to 44 years in prison. He won't get out until 2053. I think that the family will never be able to recover their sense of loss for Annie. But all the best we can hope for is that there's going to be safety changes at Yale, and that's what we will hope to ensure. Annie Lay never made her wedding. Her family devastated her fiancé, still heartbroken, because of Raymond Clark III.

No one knew a killer was amongst them. Nancy Grace, Killers Amongst Us, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.