Co-Worker Arrested in Yale Employee's Killing

A Yale University lab technician was arrested Thursday and charged with murdering a graduate student in the research building where they both worked on the campus in New Haven, Conn.

Raymond Clark III, 24, kept his head bowed during a three-minute appearance over the suffocation death of Annie Le, also 24. He did not enter a plea and said "Yes, Your Honor" when asked whether he understood his rights. The judge set bail at $3 million.

Investigators have not identified a motive. New Haven Police Chief James Lewis said speculation the two had a romantic relationship was untrue "to my knowledge." People interviewed by police describe Clark as a "control freak" who viewed the lab as his territory, and authorities are investigating whether that led to the killing.

Le was found dead on Sunday, her body hidden in the basement wall of a building where she worked as a medical researcher, on the day she was to marry her college sweetheart, Columbia University graduate student Jonathan Widawsky. The Connecticut medical examiner said Wednesday that Le died of "traumatic asphyxiation."

Yale President Richard Levin released a statement shortly after the arrest, saying Clark's employment history gave no indication he was capable of such a crime.

"This incident could have happened in any city, in any university, or in any workplace. It says more about the dark side of the human soul than it does about the extent of security measures," Levin wrote to the Yale community.