CT- Annie Le, missing from Yale, thread #2

[Labrat]

Here's the pertinent exchange from the press conference transcript (Lorimer is VP and Mertz is the FBI agent.)



MERTZ: I believe it was caused by a human being opening up a device that let the steam out.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: By mistake or on purpose?

(CROSSTALK)
http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0909/12/cnr.07.html

An autoclave is the only thing I can think of that would release a large amount of steam.

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Here's the link to the Fall 2009 class schedules which shows Bennett's and Robek's. Bennett's class is in Sterling.

http://bbs.yale.edu/images/Courses%202009_tcm176-19062.pdf

Thanks~ I am still looking to see where his office is located.

PHARM 528a, Principles of Signal Transduction. Anton Bennett.
The regulation of intracellular signaling is of fundamental importance to the understanding of cell function and regulation.
This course will introduce the broad principles of intracellular signal transduction. More detailed lectures on specific
intracellular signaling pathways will be given where students will learn both the basic and most recent and cutting edge
concepts of intralcellular signaling. Topics covered will include regulation of signaling by protein phosphorylation, small
G-proteins, G protein-coupled receptors, hormones, phospholipids, adhesion and gasses.
Tuesday and Thursday, 10:30 - 12:00 p.m., Giarman Room, SHM B-201.

http://bbs.yale.edu/images/Courses 2009_tcm176-19062.pdf

I wonder why they took down Bennett's homepage link?

http://info.med.yale.edu/bbs/faculty/ben_an.html

I found a photo of Bennett and another person which looks like it was taken in the lab. Seems very disorganized and messy to me. I want to know what the silver/gray metal boxlike thing is behind them? Is it a chute for trash or something else? The ceiling appears to be a normal acoustic tiled drop ceiling instead of those reflective panels which were discussed in that article earlier so I am not sure which building this is in and if it is 10 Amistad.

http://info.med.yale.edu/intmed/yccmd/INVESTIGATORS/BENNETT/Anton.jpg

 

[scandi]

I'm telling you BE VERY CAREFUL about these media reports. This mistaking the STATE ATTORNEY for a PERP is as bad as it gets. However, tomorrow you will see news coverage change. The weekend is over, the story has gone national, and you will see REAL reporters starting to head up there. Even in the local NYC newspapers they're quoting WTNH, The New Haven Register.

Thanks Puffster, We have a poster I met here on the DB Cooper case who works in media. She is an independent but does a lot of work for CNN on cases like this and goes in from the beginning to work with the families and the immediate needs they have. She prepares them for giving interviews and is there to give them pointers especially at the Breaking News stage of the game and as long as the case is in the headlines.

I wonder if she will go to New Haven, and hope she joins Annie's thread here with her input. She is a delightful lady with many fascinating stories to tell and a perfect example of the interesting and valuable Sleuthers drawn to Websleuths. xox

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I have just read through this thread, thanks for all the fascinating assessments.

Regarding the items Annie was carrying--is it possible these had some value? If they were exams, for instance, would they have been theft worthy? I hope whatever is was has been scrutinized and accounted for by LE.

Since class was just starting that day, I would have to question it being exams. However, exams are always theft worthy if a person needs to cheat to succeed.

 

[amysmom]

I think(?) there may be some confusion re: the day..If so:


Her fiancé, Jon Widawsky, a physics graduate student at Columbia University, canceled the wedding Friday after Le had been missing for three days.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bloody_clothes_in_missing_bride_wDZk02N1NnobuY0Drw0PCM

 

[SeriouslySearching]

well, maybe a little garbled, but ... oh, no, Labrat, this will be very helpful.

Wait until you see what happens to your timeliine over the next few days...
WS will have its' way with it - hope you don't mind a group project!


I'm grateful to finally know when the roomie reported Annie missing. 9 PM.
To me that says ANNIE HAD A HARD SCHEDULE that day. She was leaving town, and she was MISSED by those who knew what she was supposed to be doing and who she was supposed to be meeting long before 9 PM, when someone (the roomie) in her circle was finally moved to call this in.

Do we know who & when someone noticed the purse in her office?

The first time I saw it mentioned came from the woman on the video wearing the black shirt and black glasses, but it could have been brought up before and I missed it. She was said to be a co-worker and is the same one who mentioned something about 11:00am. I have the link somewhere so I will try to track it down. She also mentioned she had been asked if she had seen Le that morning and replied, "No.".

 

[kikid]

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/13/missing.yale.student/index.html

The FBI says it is examining materials that have been discovered that may be linked to missing Yale graduate student Annie Le.
Annie Le, 24, has not been seen by family, friends or co-workers since Tuesday, police say.

Annie Le, 24, has not been seen by family, friends or co-workers since Tuesday, police say.


A law enforcement source close to the investigation tells CNN bloody clothes are among the potential evidence being tested to see whether the blood is Le's.

The source added the clothes were found hidden in ceiling tiles in the medical research building where Le was last seen Tuesday.

"All I can say is items that could potentially be evidence have been seized. None have yet been associated with Annie Le," New Haven's FBI Agent in Charge Kim Mertz said Saturday at a news conference.

Mertz added that the items are being tested in more than one laboratory, but declined to say where.

Le, 24, was to be married Sunday in Long Island, New York. Her fiance, Jonathan Widawsky, is a graduate student at Columbia University in New York.

 

[SuziQ]

An autoclave is the only thing I can think of that would release a large amount of steam.

Can you elaborate for a lab knowledge challenged person like me?

 

[SeriouslySearching]

I think(?) there may be some confusion re: the day..If so:


Her fiancé, Jon Widawsky, a physics graduate student at Columbia University, canceled the wedding Friday after Le had been missing for three days.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bloody_clothes_in_missing_bride_wDZk02N1NnobuY0Drw0PCM

The article I quoted was from the person performing the ceremony and was a direct quote from her that it came from the father of the groom on Wednesday. I think I will believe the Pastor/Priest/Rabbi person over the nypost reporter. LOL

 

[panthera]

I'm bringing this time-line over with all the changes. Thanks SO much to everyone for helping to get it right. There are many time changes (thanks SS) and I can edit this for about the next 24 hours. If you have something to add please let me know. :blowkiss:

Thanks so much for the valuable timeline ~ it answered a lot of questions I had before I wanted to post anything! I'm a little confused though by the gap in time between 2pm & 9pm ~ where was Annie supposed to be during that time? (Just a general question not that I expect you to know!) I too would also like to know who discovered her purse, etc and when. And finally who else was in the lab at the time she went in and if all those who were in there were seen leaving before or when the fire alarm went off. I assume the entire building was supposed to be evacuated when that alarm went off? MOO

 

[panthera]

Can you elaborate for a lab knowledge challenged person like me?

It's a container/device used to sterilize instruments.

 

[amysmom]

Thanks! It's a time-line for Bennett...I'll keep it and upgrade it to a real time-line. I'm pretty sure his office is in the Sterling bldg. The same bldg Annie left her purse and phone. He has a team working out of Anistan but his office is in Sterling...I think? lol nothing is for sure anymore.

I am almost positive the Anton Bennett lab & his office is in the Sterling bldg..

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Can you elaborate for a lab knowledge challenged person like me?

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoclave[/ame]

 

[Labrat]

I found a photo of Bennett and another person which looks like it was taken in the lab. Seems very disorganized and messy to me. I want to know what the silver/gray metal boxlike thing is behind them? Is it a chute for trash or something else? The ceiling appears to be a normal acoustic tiled drop ceiling instead of those reflective panels which were discussed in that article earlier so I am not sure which building this is in and if it is 10 Amistad.

http://info.med.yale.edu/intmed/yccmd/INVESTIGATORS/BENNETT/Anton.jpg

LOL at the messy and disorganized! That's how they all look- not what you'd expect, right?

I can't tell what that is behind them- the color and texture look like your basic lab prefab shelving, except it looks too tall and narrow. It almost looks like a support column was covered with metal sheeting. Maybe it's covering pipes?

 

[STEADFAST]

I am almost positive the Anton Bennett lab & his office is in the Sterling bldg..

Here's the cached page for the lab from Google.
http://74.125.95.132/search?q=cache:1Q5ns7UcXJ0J:info.med.yale.edu/pharm/bennett/contact.htm+%22bennett+lab%22+sterling&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

[SIZE=+1] The Bennett Laboratory[/SIZE]
Protein tyrosine phosphatase function in mammalian
growth and development
Contact Information

We are located in the Department of Pharmacology at Yale University School of Medicine in the Sterling Hall of Medicine.

Mailing Address:
Yale University School of Medicine
Department of Pharmacology, SHM B226D
333 Cedar Street
New Haven, CT 06520-8066
Telephone203) 785-4395
Fax203)737-2738

 

[SeriouslySearching]

Someone asked earlier about her parents and I found this article which listed them. (Sorry if it has already been posted.) Another article stated her mother owns many nail salons in CA.:

Le’s parents, Robert Linh Nguyen and Ngoc-tuyet Bui, did not return telephone messages seeking comment Thursday. Neither did her fiance, Jonathan Widawsky, though University Vice President and Secretary Linda Lorimer said he is cooperating with the investigation.

Minh Nguyen, Le’s uncle, said he was shocked to learn of Le’s disappearance.

“I didn’t want to believe it; I just went numb,” he said, adding that Le and Widawsky visited him in California just four weeks ago.

http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2009/09/11/ten-hours-days-and-still-smiling/

 

[amysmom]

SeriouslySearching;4153354]
I wonder why they took down Bennett's homepage link?

I read last nite on ??? it was to protect the students not B..I will try to remember which of the MANY articles it was. :crazy:

 

[debirlfan]

An autoclave is the only thing I can think of that would release a large amount of steam.

That was my thought as well - perhaps if you opened the autoclave without turning a fan on first, it tripped the fire alarm? If so, I'm thinking this might have been something that happened relatively often, and a perp might KNOW that doing so would trip the alarm.

Question - if this were a semi-regular occurrence, how seriously would students/staff have taken the alarm? My initial thought was that the alarm might have been sounded to get Annie alone, but unfortunately it now appears she was already missing for some time - but it could have been done to cover disposal of a body or to confuse the issue as to whether she might have left on her own.

Also - Labrat - I'm assuming that if there was no one scheduled to use the animal lab after Annie, then a staff member working there could have anticipated having an undisturbed block of time with her?

 

[Labrat]

.. if all those who were in there were seen leaving before or when the fire alarm went off. I assume the entire building was supposed to be evacuated when that alarm went off? MOO

I do not leave for fire alarms if I am working on something. They're always false alarms or something small on another floor and I'm not going to lose a week's worth of work botching the last step in a timed experiment over a false alarm. We are supposed to leave, but I would bet that many do not.

If the sprinklers actually ever go off, then I will leave.

 

[panthera]

I do not leave for fire alarms if I am working on something. They're always false alarms or something small on another floor and I'm not going to lose a week's worth of work botching the last step in a timed experiment over a false alarm. We are supposed to leave, but I would bet that many do not.

If the sprinklers actually ever go off, then I will leave.

Thanks ~ so then I assume everyone didn't leave during the alarm, and LE would have to go through many hours of videotape to determine that Annie never left the building. At first I thought the timeline could be narrowed by the fire alarm but now it doesn't seem so. What a painstaking job it must be to go over 75 or so cameras. MOO