By Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Associate Editor
MANHATTAN — Anne Le, the 24-year-old bride-to-be whose body was found in the wall of a Yale medical school building, died of "traumatic asphyxiation," according to Connecticut's state medical examiner.
Dr. Wayne Carver's office released a short statement about the autospy Wednesday listing the cause of death, according to the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, the prime suspect in the Yale grad student's murder is free. For now.
Raymond Clark, a 24-year-old Yale lab technician who's been identified as a "person of interest" in his co-worker's murder, was released from custody early Wednesday morning after officials took DNA samples from him.
Based on those results, due by the end of the week, he could be arrested or exonerated. David Dworski, Clark's lawyer, said his client is "committed to proceeding appropriately with the authorities," the AP reported.
Police armed with a search warrant swarmed Clark's Middletown, Conn., home Tuesday night and took him into custody in handcuffs, the Hartford Courant reported.
Clark lived roughly 20 miles from Yale, where he worked as an animal lab technician in the building where Le's body was found stuffed behind a wall on Sunday, which would have been her wedding day. She was to marry Morningside Heights resident Jonathan Widawsky on Long Island.
"We took him into custody to gather evidence from his body and his person," Police Chief James Lewis said of Clark at a press conference. New Haven police spokesman Joe Avery said Clark was released to his lawyer after complying with police requests for DNA samples, according to news reports.
Cops used a tow truck to haul off Clark's red Ford Mustang, the Associated Press reported. Prosecutors on Tuesday delayed the release of Le's autopsy results saying they could hinder the investigation.
Clark lived in the apartment with his girlfriend, Jennifer Hromadka, and three cats, the Courant reported.
He had failed a lie detector test and had unexplained wounds on his body, according to news reports. The New York Post quoted an unnamed source who said Clark's scratches came from a cat.
Meanwhile, other details about Clark began to emerge on Wednesday. Clark's girlfriend, Hromadka, who the Post described as his fiancé, had blogged last year about rumors that "good guy" Clark was having an affair with someone from work.
"He is a bit naive, doesn't always use the best judgement, definitely is not the best judge of character but, he is a good guy," Hromadka blogged on MySpace, according to the Post. "He has a big heart and tries to see the best in people ALL THE TIME! even when everyone else is telling him that the person is a psycho or that the person can't be trusted. he thinks everyone deserves a second chance. and has a hard time hurting peoples feelings and it takes him getting burned to learn.
"My boyfriend, Ray, if you don't know him, has no interest in any of the other girls at [the university research center] as anything more than friends.
"This rumor of a 'fling' is probably the most stupid thing i have ever heard and really is not even worth going into detail about."
Clark's neighbors, however, told a different story about him.
"Ray was very controlling of his girlfriend," said Anne Marie Goodwin, 40, told the Daily News. "He would never let her talk to anyone. I would hear a lot of yelling upstairs."
The News quoted other neighbors who said Clark kept a pit bull caged in the apartment that they could hear crying during the day while he was at work.
Word of his arrest rattled some of Clark's neighbors.
"It definitely freaks me out," said Ivan Hernandez, 22, who lives directly above Clark, told the News. "A possible murderer living right under you, that's crazy. I thought he was just a normal guy."
