00:00:00
You never really know anyone. Ever. That's a Crime Junkie life rule for a reason, and the story of Annie Le is one
00:00:08
that proves it in the most chilling way. Annie was a brilliant 24-year-old Yale graduate student just days away from her
00:00:15
dream wedding. But in one seemingly ordinary week in 2009, her entire future vanished.
00:00:28
On the night of Tuesday, September 8th, 2009, Annie's roommate Natalie Powers grew worried because Annie hadn't come
00:00:35
home. And this just wasn't like her. Annie Le was responsible and honestly, in my opinion, brilliant. She was
00:00:43
studying pharmacology at Yale, planning to marry her best friend, and had her wedding and likely a lovely future all
00:00:51
mapped out. So again, it's concerning when she isn't home as planned and isn't communicating. When Natalie phoned
00:00:58
Annie's fiance, Jonathan, in New York, he said he'd talked to Annie that morning around 8:00 a.m., but that she'd
00:01:03
missed their scheduled 7:00 p.m. call, which only raises Natalie's concerns. So she reported Annie missing to Yale
00:01:10
police, and at first, officers brushed it off. They thought, "Maybe Annie got cold feet before the wedding."
00:01:17
But when they checked Annie's office on campus the next day, they found her wallet, phone, purse, and keys just
00:01:24
sitting there, untouched. And at that point, everyone knew something was very wrong, and they needed to find Annie. So
00:01:33
investigators started by retracing Annie's steps throughout the day that she went missing. Now, one thing that is
00:01:39
important to note is that every restricted building at Yale required a swipe card, and cameras covered almost
00:01:45
every entrance and exit. So there should be evidence of Annie and anyone else coming and going from her office.
00:01:52
Records showed that Annie used her card around 10:00 a.m. that Tuesday to enter an animal research lab. Then again at
00:01:58
10:11 a.m. to access room G13, which was her usual workspace. Security footage showed her in a bright green top and
00:02:06
brown skirt. And then she vanished. She never appeared leaving on any camera. Sometime in the early afternoon,
00:02:14
a fire alarm was triggered by lab equipment and sent everyone pouring out of the building.
00:02:19
Investigators studied that footage frame by frame thinking maybe Annie slipped out in a lab coat.
00:02:25
But she was nowhere. So it was time to take a closer look at her last known location.
00:02:31
But when police wanted to seal the lab Annie worked in for important investigative steps like forensic
00:02:36
testing, Yale hesitated. The Connecticut Commissioner of Public Safety later admitted that at the time the university
00:02:43
feared destroying experiments of enormous scientific value. So investigators were forced to keep
00:02:49
searching while research continued, which may have been a decision that would delay justice for days. Eventually,
00:02:56
investigators brought in blood hounds, but remember this was an animal research lab, so animal scents in the building
00:03:02
masked Annie's trail. And two full days passed with still no trace of Annie. Then,
00:03:09
a student noticed something odd in room G13. A box of disposable wipes with what
00:03:15
appeared to be blood spatter on the side. And as if that alone was not concerning
00:03:19
enough, as a campus officer stood guard, a 24-year-old lab technician named Raymond Clark kept walking in and out
00:03:26
making small talk. And at one point he casually turned the bloody box around to hide the stain. And
00:03:32
Clark came back later with cleaning pads and spray scrubbing the floor and sink that already looked spotless before FBI
00:03:38
agents did remove that box for testing. So now there's blood, a missing person, and a technician acting suspiciously.
00:03:48
So investigators decide to interview Clark. Clark said he knew Annie only professionally. He worked in the lab
00:03:54
handling the research animals. He claimed he saw her that morning, left for lunch, and later watched her leave
00:04:01
around 12:45. But this is an instant problem because every second of the cameras had already
00:04:07
been reviewed and Annie never left. Investigators also noticed that Clark had fresh scratches on his face and arm,
00:04:14
which he blamed on his cat. Then, not too long after, police found a blood-stained lab coat in the recycling
00:04:21
bin, the same kind Clark was seen wearing the day Annie disappeared. And later, tests confirmed the blood
00:04:28
belonged to Annie. With a lot pointing towards Clark, investigators started digging into his background.
00:04:34
He didn't have a criminal record, but an old report did surface. An ex-girlfriend once told police he'd
00:04:40
become violent and even forced her to have sex, though she never pressed charges. And more and more of Clark's
00:04:46
behavior continued to raise questions around if he could have been involved in Annie's disappearance. During the fire
00:04:52
alarm, cameras caught him outside, head in his hands, visibly shaken. And his key card records painted an even
00:05:00
clearer picture. On the Tuesday that Annie was last seen, he had entered Annie's lab, room G13, at 10:40 a.m. and
00:05:08
spent the rest of the day going back and forth between G13 and another storage room, G22, multiple times. Before that
00:05:15
week, he'd almost never used those rooms. So, what's in room G22? Once police finally locked down the building for a
00:05:25
full search, investigators combed room G22 and discovered two brown beads on the floor.
00:05:32
And immediately, they recall that footage of Annie entering the lab the morning of her disappearance wearing a
00:05:37
necklace that matches those beads. Then, low to the ground behind a rolling cart
00:05:43
in the lab, they also find blood on the wall. Back in room G13, they collect a single
00:05:49
black hair with the root still attached. Chemical analysis on the walls of that room also reveals blood stains that
00:05:55
someone had attempted to clean. They also notice other stains on the wall. And when those are tested,
00:06:01
investigators learn that the stains are from seminal fluid. At this point, it is
00:06:06
clear that something terrible has happened. And now there are just a few things left to do.
00:06:12
Test Clark's DNA and locate Annie. While waiting on a warrant for Clark's DNA, officers searched dumpsters, waste
00:06:19
centers, anywhere her body could have been discarded. But they found nothing. Until
00:06:25
back inside, they noticed a ceiling tile slightly out of place above the locker room. And above that ceiling tile, they
00:06:31
found a bloody glove and sock. Nearby, there were also work boots labeled Ray C, blood-stained blue scrubs, and later
00:06:39
on another day, even more items were found. A drain pipe stuffed with plastic bags, tubes, scissors, rags, all items
00:06:48
with no business being there. The weekend after Annie disappeared, on Sunday, September 13th, was supposed to
00:06:54
be Annie's wedding day. Instead, it became the day that Annie was found. Investigators noticed a faint odor of
00:07:02
decomposition in the lab. A cadaver dog named Max led them to a restroom and to a specific toilet stall.
00:07:09
Behind it, a small plumbing access panel had loose screws. And when officers removed it, the smell intensified.
00:07:17
Behind insulation and pipes, in a space about the size of two or three shoe boxes, they found Annie Le's body wedged
00:07:25
inside the wall. An autopsy confirmed her cause of death was strangulation, and her jaw and
00:07:30
collarbone were broken while she was still alive. Her underwear was pulled down, and
00:07:35
investigators found seminal fluid and believed she was sexually assaulted. And next to her was an odd but telling
00:07:41
detail. A green pen. The same kind Clark used. When police collected Clark's DNA, the
00:07:49
results confirmed that his DNA matched the semen stains and that the sock and pen both carried Annie's and Clark's
00:07:56
DNA. And that Annie's clothing also contained his genetic material. On September 17th, police arrested Raymond
00:08:02
Clark and he was charged with murder and felony murder. Held on a $3 million bond, Clark pled
00:08:09
not guilty at first. But in March 2011, he changed his plea to guilty of felony murder and entered an Alford plea for
00:08:16
attempted sexual assault. He was sentenced to 44 years in prison without parole.
00:08:22
He has never explained why. Annie's family later filed a wrongful death suit against Yale, alleging the
00:08:28
university ignored red flags in Clark's background. It was ultimately settled for $3 million.
00:08:34
On what should have been her wedding day, Annie's dress may have still hung untouched in her closet.
00:08:41
Months before her death, Annie had written an article titled Crime and Safety in New Haven.
00:08:46
And she ended it with a line, "But with a little street smarts, one can avoid becoming yet another statistic."
00:08:52
And that quote sticks with me because no one should be another statistic and Annie is not just a statistic.
00:09:00
She was an incredible young woman who was loved by her family and friends and fiance. She was doing brilliant
00:09:07
scientific work and had such a bright future ahead of her and nothing, not even the horrific senseless violence
00:09:13
carried out by Raymond Clark, can fully take that away. You can find more true crime stories
00:09:19
like this one on Crime Junkie wherever you get your podcast, including here on YouTube. Don't forget to like, subscribe
00:09:25
and hit the bell so you never miss our next investigation.