Yale Murder Suspect Leaves Court Without Expected Not Guilty Plea

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – A former Yale lab technician charged with murdering a graduate student less than a week before her wedding did not enter an expected plea in court Tuesday, though his lawyers say he will eventually plead not guilty.

Raymond Clark III, 24, is accused of strangling pharmacology student Annie Le, also 24, last month and hiding her body behind a Yale medical laboratory basement wall.

Clad in an orange prison jumpsuit, Clark was in New Haven Superior Court Tuesday morning, but a judge decided to schedule another probable cause hearing Oct. 20.

Clark has yet to enter a plea, but his defense team says he will ultimately plead not guilty to charges of murdering the California woman.

At the probable cause hearing, both sides will have the right to introduce evidence and call witnesses.

Under Connecticut law, defendants accused of murder have the right to the hearing within 60 days of their arrest to decide if the case will go forward.

The judge said he will also consider at that hearing whether to extend a sealing order on the police arrest affidavit in the case.

Le vanished Sept. 8 after surveillance footage captured her entering — but not leaving — the lab building in the university's medical school complex.

Her body was found Sept. 13 in the same facility, on what was supposed to be her wedding day.

Police have not talked about a motive in the slaying, largely because Clark has not talked to authorities. Investigators and Yale officials have called Le's death a case of workplace violence, but have not elaborated.

Co-workers have told police that Clark was controlling and viewed the laboratory and its mice as his personal fiefdom.

As a technician, Clark's duties included cleaning mouse cages and the floors of the lab.

Le's work involved experiments on mice that were part of research into enzymes that could have implications for treatment of cancer, diabetes and muscular dystrophy.

She was reported missing Sept. 8 from the medical school research building about a mile from Yale's main campus. Security cameras last recorded her entering the building that morning, and investigators were initally baffled that there was no record of her leaving.

Her body was found five days later in the basement laboratory in a wall chase — a hidden access that allows utility pipes and wires to run vertically between floors.

Investigators, who had been keeping around-the-clock survellieance of Clark, labeled him a person of interest two days later and got a court order to take forensic evidence from him and search his apartment. Clark was arrested Sept. 17 after DNA evidence linked him to Le's body.

He has been jailed since his arrest. A judge set his bond at $3 million.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.