I doubt the autoclave sets off the fire alarm that frequently. If it did the fire department would be going to the building all of the time and they would probably start fining the university to pay for each false alarm. The university would want the problem fixed quickly.
Sadly, I think the excess steam from the autoclave tells us something horrible. The fact they are searching the waste facility makes me think her body, after she was dead, was hidden as medical waste.
Our bodies are 62% water. A person who weights 90 pounds would be about 56 pounds of water. This is almost 7 gallons of water.
If a dead body was put in an autoclave, hidden in a biomedical waste bag, that would generate 7 extra gallons of water all turned into steam during the autoclave run - that is A LOT of extra steam coming out from inside the autoclave when the door (which is like a valve) was opened - much, much, much more than normal.
An autoclave run can take anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour, which in my mind would narrow down the of her death from between 10-12.
If this is true it again makes me feel like this horrible story is the result of a premeditated plan by someone involved in research - someone who knew Annie and someone who know how medical waste is treated.
Is there anyone who knew her who had a bad event in their life recently? Maybe a break-up in a relationship, a failed exam, etc...? Something that might trigger someone to snap and do something horrible?
I'm also very curious about that report we read where LE is reviewing tape from the Yale-New Haven Hospital from Tuesday (I can't find the link right now). Did Annie fight back and hurt her attacker? Did the extra steam from the autoclave burn the hands/arms of the person who opened the door? I want to know if anyone who was in the building that day went to the hospital later that night.