Yale student disappears before wedding, body found (update page 5)

[Roo]

Originally Posted by LVLux

Roo that is probably why she was so nervous living there-I could not picture why she would be scared since most campus have an insulated feeling of safety around them-it sounds like it is just an all around rough area and probably why the campus had so many security cameras surrounding the building.

I remember the first time I saw the campus there, how disappointed I was. I expected this austere campus with quaint tree-lined streets, etc. A very, very small portion of the area IS that way, but you venture just a few blocks away and it's very run down and scary. The last time I was there with my Uncle, we had pizza at Sally's (which is world famous) and were leaving the area in the car-- just a few blocks away we saw what were clearly several drug transactions going down in broad daylight.

[Megs]

^ Many campuses that I have been to are not surrounded by great areas. Actually most that I have been to are not. But most of the crimes you see/hear about are breaking into cars, burglaries, etc.

This is really scary. So right now they have not found her body, just some evidence?

[Roo]

Originally Posted by Megs

^ Many campuses that I have been to are not surrounded by great areas. Actually most that I have been to are not. But most of the crimes you see/hear about are breaking into cars, burglaries, etc. This is really scary. So right now they have not found her body, just some evidence?

You're right. The area around UC Berkeley comes to mind too. It can be really dicey. Reports are conflicting on this... some media reported a body, then the FBI refuted it. My aunt called earlier and said the rumor is that the body was stuffed into a ceiling panel, because she was so small... so I don't know. One of my aunts lives close to New Haven and has been following all the reports.

[Megs]

Originally Posted by Roo

You're right. The area around UC Berkeley comes to mind too. It can be really dicey. Reports are conflicting on this... some media reported a body, then the FBI refuted it. My aunt called earlier and said the rumor is that the body was stuffed into a ceiling panel, because she was so small... so I don't know. One of my aunts lives close to New Haven and has been following all the reports.

I think it is because student housing which surrounds college schools brings down the price in those areas - and then you get more people coming in trying to break into cars, houses, rob students, etc.

I haven't been watching the news much but I want to follow this story - it is just awful. I feel so terrible for her fiance, family, and friends. Her wedding was supposed to be tomorrow, one of the happiest days of her lives.

[Lieu]

I'm so sad. I don't think theres going to be a happy ending.

[Jill]

sooo sad.My sister went to YALE and it wasnt the safest place.....i was very nervous about that area when i visited there

[Longchamp]

I think they found the body, just aren't releasing that yet is what I'm hearing. It's very sad.

[HauteMama]

This is just heartbreaking. I cannot imagine the ramifications on campus if she was murdered and a professor was involved. I, too, am VERY glad that her fiance was hours away at the time. Too often these cases fixate on the fiance (and for good reason, as that is more often than not the guilty party) to the exclusion of other leads.

[amanda]

Originally Posted by Megs

I think it is because student housing which surrounds college schools brings down the price in those areas - and then you get more people coming in trying to break into cars, houses, rob students, etc. I haven't been watching the news much but I want to follow this story - it is just awful. I feel so terrible for her fiance, family, and friends. Her wedding was supposed to be tomorrow, one of the happiest days of her lives.

Large colleges really have the propensity to cripple the economic development of the areas around them after a certain point. Student housing keeps prices low, but the biggest problem is that the university's power keeps wages artificially low. Since they're almost always the biggest employer in a college town, they set pay rates for their staff (janitors, cooks, etc. all the way up to administrative workers) according to their own whims and not according to the requirements of the area's job market - they ARE the area's market. Area businesses then set their pay rates according to the standard that the university sets, and no one in town (save for a few people) makes very much money. On top of that, the transient population keeps local tax revenues low and gives petty crime a lot of obvious targets. And then a lot of businesses fail because they can't survive the summer doldrums when students are out of town and revenue slows to a trickle, so jobs can be hard to come by in a lot of industries. Combine all that, and you've got an area that's ripe for crime with plenty of people that are willing to commit it.

It's like that to an extent in Athens - lots of property crime like break-ins and a healthy drug trade. There is also lots of subsidized housing ("projects," for the uninitiated) in certain parts of town - including across the street from the freshman dorms. They were the first projects that I ever saw in person. Campus is gorgeous, though, and they do a good job keeping *most* of the areas around it student-friendly, which is why we have such a good reputation as an idyllic college town. But they don't succeed all the time, and our crime rate is high. Most of it isn't violent, thankfully, but let's just say that it's hard to hold on to a flat screen TV around here and fairly easy to buy one from someone toting it down North Avenue.

But even when you're used to looking over your shoulder in parking lots and dealing with the elevated crime rate of the average college town, you're not prepared for a crime like this. Sure, people get laptops swiped all the time (my neighbors got their back door kicked in a few months ago), but this is the kind of crime that is so rare, even in the grimiest of university-adjacent areas. This is distinct and different, and incredibly tragic. This just doesn't feel like it's going to have any kind of decent outcome to me.

[Baby Boo]

its soo sad whats going on.. i hope we find out wahts really happened..at least now with no body theres still hope

[shanam]

5 days and now with the bloody clothes found in the bldg.(which you can't enter without credentials) it does not sound good. The fact that a fire alarm went off and everyone left the bldg. is all too scary. i can't help but wonder if some deranged person who read her article about safety on campus set out to prove she was wrong. the area around yale is extremely unsafe as i learned in the past when i got lost. i want to be hopeful but the clues are not adding up that way. very sad.

[MrsMammaGoose]

amanda, great post! I'm at Duke, and it's the same thing there.

[aaallabama]

Originally Posted by Longchamp

I think they found the body, just aren't releasing that yet is what I'm hearing. It's very sad.

^^ i think so too (so sad)

[Megs]

When I was watching the news coverage on this last night they were saying that with the FBI and police and university officials being SO extremely hush hush, it would seem like they have found something but will not share yet.

Her wedding was supposed to be today

[print*model]

Such a sad story. I know it looks doubtful but I pray that they find her alive.