On day Yale student’s body was found, suspect was playing shortstop in softball game

Yale suspect played softball on day body was found

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — The lab tech suspected of killing a Yale student was playing softball the day the victim’s body was found.

A player on an opposing team said Friday that Raymond Clark’s girlfriend often watched the games but wasn’t at Sunday’s game in New Haven.

Thirty-six-year-old Vinnie Mauro calls Clark “nondescript” and says he didn’t lose his temper or even interact much with other players.

Mauro says he usually recognizes Clark by the Mets jersey he wears with player David Wright’s name on the back.

Mauro says his team defeated Clark’s Wild Hogs in the playoff game. Clark was playing shortstop.

Clark is charged with killing 24-year-old Annie Le. Her body was found in a lab building wall after she had been missing for days.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) — Police found DNA evidence implicating a lab technician in the death of a Yale graduate student in a ceiling and in the wall recess where her body was found, according to a newspaper report Friday.

A law enforcement official told The Hartford Courant that Raymond Clark III tried to hide blood-spattered equipment and cleaned up areas Annie Le was in before she vanished Sept. 8. Her body was found five days later on what was to be her wedding day.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity, and New Haven police wouldn’t confirm the information to The Associated Press.

Police charged Clark, 24, with murder on Thursday, arresting him at a motel a day after taking hair, fingernail and saliva samples from him to compare with the evidence from the crime scene.

Bond was set at $3 million for Clark. He did not enter a plea.

A law enforcement official — who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the investigation continues and many details remain sealed — said Yale workers told police that Clark was a “control freak” who clashed with scientists and their proteges in the lab where they both worked at the Ivy League school.

Investigators haven’t decided whether the theory will ultimately lead to a motive but don’t believe they’ll need to establish one when Clark goes to trial because of strong forensic evidence, the official said.

Authorities would not discuss a motive, largely because Clark has not been talking to police, the official said. They also would not disclose the DNA test results or how they connected Clark to the slaying.

Security guards continued their street patrols Friday and news crews set up for another day of staking out the college’s medical complex. A makeshift memorial of candles and flowers was arranged at the entrance to a park across the street from the lab building, in an area of squat, utilitarian buildings about a mile from the majestic main campus.

Kristin Dugan, who works in the building where Le was found dead, said she did not fear for her safety there before Le’s killing or afterward.

“Things happen; you can’t stop evil,” she said. “If evil’s going to happen, it’s going to happen anywhere.”

Le’s work at the university involved experiments on mice that were part of research into enzymes that could have implications for treatment of cancer, diabetes and muscular dystrophy, while Clark’s technician job involved cleaning floors and mouse cages.

New Haven Police Chief James Lewis has called Le’s death a case of workplace violence. He would not elaborate except to say reports that the two had a romantic relationship were untrue.

Clark appeared in court with two public defenders. Joseph Lopez, one of the defense attorneys, said he still was reviewing the case and declined to comment.

Two friends of Clark’s since childhood, appearing on CNN’s “Larry King Live” on Thursday night, said they were stunned by the murder allegations and could not reconcile them with the young man they’ve known for years.

“That’s not the Raymond Clark I’ve talked to my whole entire life,” Bobby Heslin said.

“I just can’t picture him doing something like this,” Maurice Perry said.

The New York Times reported that Clark at times grew angry if lab workers did not wear shoe covers. “He would make a big deal of it, instead of just requesting that they wear them,” said a researcher who asked not to be identified.

ABC News reported that Clark sent a text message to Le on the day she vanished requesting a meeting to discuss the cleanliness of mouse cages in the research lab.

Reached at their homes after work Thursday, several of Le’s co-workers at the lab declined to comment.

The Connecticut medical examiner said Wednesday that Le died of “traumatic asphyxiation,” which could indicate a choke hold or some other form of suffocation caused by a hand or an object such as a pipe.

Clark was being held at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution, a high-security facility in Suffield, about 20 miles north of Hartford. His next scheduled court date is Oct. 6.

Associated Press writers Colleen Long in New Haven, Conn., Matt Apuzzo in Washington, D.C., and Jim Fitzgerald in White Plains, New York, contributed to this report.