Yale Tech Had Access to Buildings After Murder

By PAT EATON-ROBB, JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN and LEANNE GENDREAU

Updated 5:39 PM EST, Tue, Sep 22, 2009

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Even as police suspected Yale lab technician Ray Clark of killing Annie Le and stuffing her body behind a wall, he was able to roam the Ivy League campus – albeit under constant surveillance, officials said.

The school didn't disable the identification card that allowed Clark to come and go from campus buildings until after his arrest Thursday, Yale spokesman Tom Conroy said on Monday. That was four days after Le, 24, was found strangled in a wall in the lab building where they both worked.

Police have said that investigators knew where Clark was at all times after Le's body was found, following him covertly at first, and then more obviously until they apprehended him.

The day after Le's body was found, university officials said that there was no danger to the public.

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Le’s team experimented on mice as part of research into enzymes that could have implications for treatment of cancer, diabetes and muscular dystrophy.

Clark was responsible for caring for the mice, cleaning floors and cages and one official told the AP that Clark's Yale co-workers told police he was a "control freak," fastidious and territorial about the mice whose cages he cleaned, even with scientists and doctoral students at the Ivy League school.

Police are investigating whether that attitude might have set off a clash between Clark and Le.

Conroy wouldn't say whether Clark continued to work in the days before he was arrested.

New Haven police said they don't expect to make more arrests in Le's killing and rebutted media reports that police were considering whether Clark had an accomplice.

"It's still my belief I don't expect anyone to be charged," Police Chief James Lewis said. "But I don't know where the evidence may take us."

Police have also refuted reports that Le’s bones were broken and her body was mangled.

Le will be remembered Wednesday at a private memorial service at the temple that her fiance's family attends, said Rich Pilatsky, whose wife is the cantor at Temple Beth El in Huntington, N.Y.

Le's funeral is planned for Saturday at Holy Trinity Church in El Dorado Hills, Calif., said the Rev. Dennis Smith, acting as family spokesman.