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  • ANNIE LE

    By UD September 14, 2009 9:42 am

    "Most frightening is the fact that Le may have been killed by someone who walks among us, considering the basement of 10 Amistad St. is only accessible with a Yale keycard," write the editors of the Yale Daily News, as they ponder Annie Le's death - her murder - in the basement of a campus lab.

    Now that her body has been found, the quiet rituals of grief - flowers massed along the building where she worked and died, candles lit in her name - replace the frenzy of press conferences.
    *****************************************************

     

    First dread, and then horror; but also, now, the ceremonies of remembrance that will gradually rescue her from the dehumanizing circumstances of her death, and bring her back to the world in her full humanity.


    ******************************************************

    The academic year has just begun, which makes this death especially painful. There is a piety we feel about the renewal of university life after the summer. The campus teems withall the power/ That being changed can give, as Philip Larkin, describing just-married couples, puts it in his poem, The Whitsun Weddings. It teems with people getting on with their lives seriously, excitedly. In his autobiography, Ted Kennedy recalls his father saying to him, "Teddy, you can live a serious life or a nonserious life. I'll love you just the same, whatever you choose... But you have to make that choice."

    *****************************************************

    The specific wound of this sort of death is that the decision to live a serious life had been deeply, successfully made. Even the grainy surveillance shot of Annie Le entering the building where she did her experiments reveals her energetic forward stride: Her hair swings as she walks; she carries heavy-looking scientific equipment of some sort in both arms; she seems focused and intent. Her physical delicacy - she was under five feet tall and weighed less than one hundred pounds - is there in the shot too, but it's her confident happy progress through the world that we register.

    The fact that Le was herself just about to be married, the fact that she represented an American success story (her parents emigrated from Vietnam) -- these sharpen the wretchedness.

    **********************************************************

    There have been swine flu deaths at our colleges this season; there are, every season, campus deaths by intoxication, car crash, suicide. Always there is the misery that comes of considering the disappearance of the beauty, power, and innocence of youth.

    The university campus is not a monastery, isolated from the uninnocent world; but it is a place apart. The university exists to give the exquisite ambitions of people like Annie Le spaciousness. She was lost in that space, and we will eventually find out how it is she was lost. Meanwhile, our vocation, as students and professors, is to honor her.

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Comments on ANNIE LE

  • Honor Annie
  • Posted by Jacquie on September 14, 2009 at 6:30pm EDT

  • I am far away from Yale but closer to Annie's hometown. My heart goes out to her family, fiance, friends and classmates. I have been following her story as soon as I heard. I felt a connection with her.

    I will honor her with my heart and pray for her family and fiance's family.

    RIP Annie. Heaven has an open arm. Death is another beginning.

  • RIP, Annie
  • Posted by Binh Yen on September 15, 2009 at 9:45am EDT

  • I can't hold my tears when I follow the news about Annie. Even though I understand the cause and effect in this life, but can't keep my mind wonder why someone wanted to kill a human being like her!! I would like to extend my deep and heartfelt sympathy to her fiancé, both families and friends. May the peace of God be with her.

  • Posted by vfichera on September 15, 2009 at 10:15am EDT

  • The murder of Annie Le -- and her personal interest and commitment concerning campus security, enshrined in an article she authored earlier this year for a Medical School publication (cf. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/09/11/2009-09-11_missing_yale_bridetobe_annie_le_once_penned_article.html) -- reminds me of my own first year as a graduate student at Yale.

    One of my friends had been violently abducted from Helen Hadley Hall at Yale -- she succeeded in escaping from the van and her captors, and her experience sparked a movement among us to petition the university for better safety measures on the campus.

    It was frustrating to encounter the hesitations of both the administration and the student population when confronted with our petition. In response to bland reassurances at a meeting with the then Yale Chief of Police, the abducted student from within our midst said, "Remember me, sir?" -- we were not content with the status quo.

    Another friend was savagely beaten on Hillhouse Avenue a few years later. Later, in 1998, a student was murdered in the nearby East Rock section of New Haven, a crime which remains unsolved.

    Chilling that this scenario is repeating itself, so many years later. Chilling that Annie Le herself had written an article about campus security at Yale only half a year ago.

  • Posted by vfichera on September 15, 2009 at 11:15am EDT

  • The link to the article on "Crime and Safety in New Haven" by Annie Le: http://bbs.yale.edu/images/B10_1.pdf

    For a sample of the type of discussion and advice offered by Yale campus authorities today.

  • Annie Le
  • Posted by Jennifer from GA , NA at NA on September 15, 2009 at 12:45pm EDT

  • To the friends and family of Annie Le.

    I'm from a very small town in GA about 45 miles west of Atlanta. This tragic incident has profoundly touched the hearts of me and my family.
    From what I have seen and read of this dear young lady, it is evident that she was a captivating young soul, such a precious gem. I do hope you will embrace Annie's spirit and beauty and keep it alive.

    With my warmest condolences,
    Jennifer
    Roopville, GA

  • such a tragic, tragic event.
  • Posted by tyler on September 15, 2009 at 9:45pm EDT

  • this goes beyond sadness...it made me sick to hear of this. How sad that this should ever happent to anyone. My sympathy and condolences to her family.

  • Posted by beth on September 15, 2009 at 10:30pm EDT

  • it is coincidental that I knew somebody from way back my elementary days who has suffered the same fate as Annie Le. She was Annabel Lee in the kingdom by the sea of Edgar Allan Poe.

    My condolences,
    Beth S.

  • Posted by J. on September 16, 2009 at 1:15pm EDT

  • The tragedy of this beautiful and deeply committed young woman, who knew what she was about and where she was going, has deeply saddened me. A star was plucked out of the sky before its full brilliance could be displayed. As the mother of a young woman, I cannot begin to fathom the horror which Annie Le's murder has just begun to subject her family, friends, fellow students, and colleagues to. I pray for God's peace, extreme justice, and at least some answers even though nothing will ever be enough to make up for this unthinkable loss.

  • I can't imagine how you must feel
  • Posted by Michelle , accounting at n/a on September 16, 2009 at 1:15pm EDT

  • Today I'm at work living my life as I do everyday. I have come across this tragic story and now am saddened. As a newlywed myself married in mid July I can not imagine the heartbreak her fiance must feel at this moment. When you ask someone to marry you, you are opening your life to that person. The willingness to share your most precious life moments with that one person; this is something that few can find. I can not imagine how I would handle this kind of news... my heart bleeds for you. I will cry for you all day and then some. I want to give you the biggest hug and hold your hand till you don't need a crutch. I will pray for you, your family and her family. To all your friends; Give these people my love as I can not, I can only give words.

    God bless you all.

  • Posted by Kim , Prayers and Thoughts on September 16, 2009 at 9:30pm EDT

  • My prayers are with Annie's family, friends and fiance. In reading the recent news it is sure looking as if Raymond Clark may be the eventual suspect, however, if he is ruled out through DNA I am curious if any of the Dept of Pharmacology associate Scientists have access to this off campus facility and were any working there on that day?

  • Very Sorry for you loss
  • Posted by Annie on September 18, 2009 at 5:15am EDT

  • My heart goes out to Family,Friends and Fiance- First as a mother of a daughter in college,thats spends alot of time in the lab at her college. This has sent chills down my spine and have shed alot of tears for your family. It sickens my that you rised this beautiful, articulate, warm kind hearted, woman of science and she has been taken from you.Suddenly.... I can only say that my prayers go out to the Family and Friends of this fine young woman.(Annie) The severe way that she had to be taken from you, I only hope that you get justice on the person who did this to her... God Bless his torid soul*** May Annie rest in Peace and the Family know that there are so many people even strangers are feeling their pain and praying for them!

    God Bless,

    Annie

     

  • My condolences
  • Posted by Vicki on September 18, 2009 at 5:15am EDT

  • I am very disappointed that a fine institution would hire someone that would end, what should of been the beginning of her life. My heart and prayers go out to Anney's family.

  • overwhelmed
  • Posted by juliana bradley , biology at ga tech on September 18, 2009 at 10:15pm EDT

  • How beautifully your piece was written. I am not easily moved to tears, but this was so moving.....Thank you for sharing the power of your words.

    --Juliana

  • Parents' Nightmare
  • Posted by yanwenxia at usoncology on September 19, 2009 at 8:15am EDT

  • We all heard of the 9/8/09 death of Annie Le, 24-year-old Yale graduate, which happened 5 days before her planned wedding to her college boyfriend. She was found stuffed in the wall of a research center, having been suffocated to death. We might never know what exactly happened during the last moment of her life. For a parent, it doesn't matter how a child dies because the weight of this fact is too heavy to bear. At first, it came as a shock when it happened in an institution of such a high prestige with heavy layer of campus safety and extra "three levels of security to get into the basement of the lab building, including two swipes of a security card." It happened even when the victim was cautious and trying to avoid becoming “yet another statistic.” The murder reminds people of the death of Suzanne Jovin, the 21-year-old German Yale senior brutally murdered in 1998. Her death remains unsolved homicide cold case. We are not sure if this one is going to be one of the cold cases. What can we say of these levels of security? If anything, they only provide an illusion of security, relaxing our vigilance, believing all is well within a secured place. I talked to my teenage daughter, "There is absolutely no security every time you find yourself alone with another nearly-a-stranger male. Do not habor any illusion of security even with 10 levels. Then the question still remains -- how can we parents prepare our children for college with violent crime like this?

  • Thanks.
  • Posted by UD on September 19, 2009 at 3:15pm EDT

  • Juliana: Many thanks for your kind words.

  • Evidence
  • Posted by Eduardo , Licenciado en Sistemas at Universidad Tecnologica Nacional - Buenos Aires - Argentina on September 20, 2009 at 9:30pm EDT

  • Annie Le's ordeal had touched me profoundly, if not for other things equally important, for sure because I have three daughters slightly older than she that shortly ago concluded their studies.
    To all the sorrow and the pain inflicted to the families and friends and mates that loved her, to lose such a wonderful human being that had a tremendous talent and the prognosis to be a genius is for me almost unbearable. No matter how many billions we could be, talent is scarce, and genius to solve new problems even scarcer (Source: The Economist October 7th - 2006 :"The search for talent; Why it's getting harder to find"). That the apparent reason for this tragedy could be not more than the intemperance of a not so bright co worker made the whole thing almost a nightmare.
    An here come my point, that now that the wave have receded, could be considered mot. Still at his moment the media insist in telling us that Annie "vanished". From all what I read in the media, since the very first moment, the "evidence" as described by the investigators pointed out that Annie never left the building. The logic conclusion then should be that she was, live or dead, inside the building. But they, instead of searching in earnest inside the building immediately, vanished out her from it. She "vanished", no matter that the evidence, including their personal belongings, indicated the contrary. Therefore they started looking for her, live or dead, outside and not inside. They used 100 FBI and other personnel to accomplish this task.You can see in the photos that at first the dogs were used in the building surroundings and according to the news , at the garbage disposal facilities. Max would have saved those horrible hours of waiting to all involved, only if he would be brought to follow Annie's scent within the 24 hours from her "vanishing". It took them almost incredible five days to do that. Five days of pain for family and friends, not to mention the bill to be footed by the taxpayers.
    Evidence and simple mathematics logic indicate that if you need to find the path from A to B, and you only know A (i.e. the place where the electronic system indicated Annie entered for the last time) and you don't know B or the path, your start looking for the path from A.This is something that Annie for sure would have concluded should not the destiny had her dead . Instead, contradicting all the evidence and any logic, 100 persons plus equipment and dogs started searching directly for B. Five days later they recanted and followed a "normal" logic.
    My affection and respect for Annie's short life and genius. This very small and now trivial example shows how much we , all of us, would miss her talent.

  • anne le tribute
  • Posted by chris , technical director at university of michigan on October 1, 2009 at 5:30am EDT

  • Annie Le's story touched me deeply. So much so I made a video tribute.
    R.I.P. Annie Le

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG2_NI-vZDo

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