Professor Questioned by Police in Case of Missing Yale Student Annie Le

[Teacher Mark 53]

BY Matthew Lysiak In New Haven and Henrick Karoliszyn and Samuel Goldsmith

DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Cops questioned a Yale professor Friday in the case of a graduate student who went missing just days before her New York wedding, a police source told the Daily News.

Annie Le, a 24-year-old doctoral student in pharmacology, was supposed to attend the professor's class on Tuesday afternoon.

But the class was abruptly canceled - and hours later, Le was discovered missing.

The sudden cancellation near the time when Le is believed to have disappeared aroused suspicions among law enforcement, a New Haven police source said.

It was unclear what class was canceled or if the professor is a suspect. Yale officials would not comment, and a police spokesperson did not return calls.

Le was last seen about 10 a.m. Tuesday at her lab on the Yale Medical School complex, about a mile from the main campus.

Her purse, cell phone, credit cards and cash were found at the lab later that day. She has not contacted anyone since.

Hundreds of cops and FBI agents searched for clues Friday at Yale, which offered a $10,000 reward for information on Le's disappearance.

Meanwhile, family members canceled her wedding, which was set for tomorrow morning on Long Island.

"The wedding is off," a supervisor at the North Ritz Club in Syosset said. "A family member called and canceled it."

Nadeen Fotopoulos, the banquet manager at the North Ritz Club, said 160 guests were expected for the outdoor ceremony.

"Annie had planned to have an outdoor ceremony on our gazebo," Fotopoulos said.

"It's very sad," she said. "The hall will be dark Sunday morning."

Le graduated from the University of Rochester in 2007, where she received a degree in bioscience and met her fiancé, Jonathan Widawsky, now a Columbia University graduate student

"I only heard good things about her," said Lucille Mayer, who lives next-door to the Widawsky family in Huntington, L.I. "I heard she's very bright, very hardworking, a very kind individual."

The 4-foot-11, 90-pound student wrote a cover story on staying safe at Yale for the medical school's magazine in February. "Crime and Safety in New Haven" compared higher instances of robbery in New Haven to other Ivy League cities.

"In short, New Haven is a city, and all cities have their perils, but with a little street smarts, one can avoid becoming yet another statistic."

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2009/09/12...l#ixzz0QsxvhCUF

Edited September 12, 2009 by Mr. Saigon

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

What a shame.

[Teacher Mark 53]

What a shame.

This kind of stuff really bothers me. Can you imagine how her fiance feels, if he's not involved?

I was down in that area back in January. It's not the nicest of cities, that's for sure. Hartford was even worse.

[redglasses 1]

Whoever the suspect is, I really hope she will be found unharmed and have a beautiful gazebo wedding.