Thank you for the article below that describes which locker room area her body was located. I'm still baffled with the diagram showing two separate washrooms. Perhaps the Courant messed up the diagram, and labelled the location of the body incorrectly?
2. Thousands of murder convictions are obtained without eyewitnesses to the immediate crime.
True, but some have probably turned out to be wrongful as well. And there are many other factors, including whether the defendant was able to afford a competent lawyer.
3. The evidence was being guarded. Clark's actions were viewed as being suspicious. He didn't just touch the evidence; he tried to conceal his actions, according to a trained police officer. He was asked to leave the room. He returned several times thereafter.
The evidence was being watched over, but again, nothing was mentioned saying that staff at the lab were told not to touch anything. At that point, they were dealing with a missing persons investigation, not a murder. I think if Ray had thought Annie was dead, he wouldn't have touched anything.
He was asked to leave the room at that moment when the FBI arrived. Did they bar him from re-entering the room? Nothing was indicated to say they told him not to enter it again.
4. Card swipes do gather cumulative importance. If some one is swiped in, there is a witness. If some one leaves a room, the departure can often be verified by card swipes into other rooms, floors, or by video records of their leaving. Even Clark himself reportedly told police that he was the last person to see Annie Le leave.
Not every room required a card swipe, and not every room required each person to scan in if two were entering at the same time. If they had revolving doors, that would be different. One person could scan and 5 other people could be let in at the same time, no one would know there were 6 people in a room. Clark said he was the last person to see Annie leave G-13. But he didn't see her walk out of the basement lab area. She could have been lured to another area of the lab, and someone else would have scanned her in, we just don't know. They haven't said if there are more video cameras located within that lab area. Only at the entrance to the building.
5. Where did Raymond hide the body? In G22, which he alone entered on the day of the crime. That Raymond had the pen on him habitually is indicated by his repeated use for the sign-ins required for techs. (I checked the sign-in cards for our building clean-up crew and many of them signed with the same writing utensil repeatedly.)
They didn't say he was the only one entering G22 that day, just that he was the only one soon after he had entered G13 and around the suspected time of the murder. They haven't given a window for when they think she was killed, but I'm guessing they assume it was before 11am. So that would mean they'd ignore scans into G22 after 1pm, for example. But if she was murdered after 12:45pm, when Clark saw her leaving, that would mean they could be ignoring other suspects who used the room. For instance, if Ray left at 4pm (according to the new affidavit) is there evidence other people entered G22 after 4pm that afternoon/evening?
6. Humans, like virtually every other species, return to their hiding places. The prospect of life imprisonment would certainly motivate one to return to the chase to readjust the body and cover it with insulation material to mask the odor. It is certainly possible that he dropped his pen while performing such tasks. Rigor mortis occurs gradually and not at an exact rate. Nor would a few hours make it even difficult to move a small body. Full rigor mortis usually occurs around the 12 hour mark. Similarly, blood can continue to be wet from cumulative gravitational seepage, contact with clothes, or substantial wounds.
It's possible, but highly unlikely that he would have dropped a pen. Was he leaning into the chase? If it was as small as it was, then his extended arms would have been sufficient. There would have been no need to lean into the chase, resulting in his pen being dropped. The affidavit doesn't state whether Clark questioned staff and researchers as to the whereabouts of his pen, nor do they mention if he left it on a desk, or always kept it in his pocket (pant? scrub?) until the end of the day.
7. Apparently, Ray changed clothes several times. He not only had to commit a crime; he had to clean up hastily; carry the body more than once; hide bloody evidence; and not look like a crime scene himself. Clark has been associated with several pieces of lab clothing; it seems highly unlikely that they were all his personal property. That a lab coat was used or touched by another person does not seem unusual. Indeed, since it was, I believe, found in a cleaning hamper, it's possible that it was touched by somebody else after it was discarded.
As far as I can tell, he only changed twice, once when he entered the lab, changing from his outside clothes into scrubs, and then at the end of the day back into his outside clothes. He wore scrubs all the times in between when he was seen leaving for a break and for the alarm.
We don't know much about the lab coats. I don't think people shared them. It's not clear if Clark kept his lab coat in his locker, or just hung it in the lab. Personally, I think all the staff and the researchers would have kept their lab coats under lock and key. Since the scrubs were disposable (i.e. worn for the day, then put for cleaning, just like in a hospital), those were stuck in laundry bags, according to the new affidavits. The lab coats were not discarded into the same dirty laundry bags at the end of the day.
Had to hurry & check to see if anyone responded. I may not be on for a few days - going to the beach for Thanksgiving.
