Did not leave his apt., nor talk with anyone via phone
....or in-person, for the rest of the night. (Jeff didn't
....answer whether Jim had fax/email capabilities at his
....apt,; but, if he did, he did not generate, nor
....receive any communications via those modes.)
Here is what Vanity Fair wrote about that timeframe:
Van de Velde spent most of the evening of Friday, December 4, at his office, Ira Grudberg says. A friend, who stopped by around six P.M. to ask him to go to a movie, says he was planning to work all evening, According to Grudberg, Van de Velde went over Jovin's revisions that evening and was going to give her his comments the following morning. He took a short break at one point and walked up the street to Ingalls Rink, to watch part of the hockey game, then returned to his office, and then went home, which is where he was, alone, says Grudberg, at the time of the killing. Message 12191387
Here is what the NY Times wrote:
This is what James R. Van de Velde -- high-school student council president, cold-war diplomat, popular Yale political science lecturer -- did after night fell last Dec. 4, according to James Van de Velde: he worked late in his Yale office; he went home and watched an episode of 'Friends' that he had taped; he reheated a month-old burrito, and he surfed the channels, lingering on Discovery to watch the big cats.
<snip>
The evening of the murder, Ramirez stopped by Van de Velde's office and invited him to see 'Life is Beautiful.' But he said that he had to work, so she perched in his windowsill and they chatted. (Among his projects that evening, Van de Velde told me, was to read Jovin's latest draft.) They made plans to jog at 9 the next morning.
He turned up on schedule, Ramirez recalled, and seemed as grouchy as ever at the prospect of exercise. After they finished, he asked her if she had heard there was a murder in the neighborhood the evening before. (Van de Velde told me he learned of it on the 11 o'clock news.) She should be careful, he warned her.
Ramirez was questioned by the police, who summoned her downtown on New Year's Eve and, in her view, lied to her. She said that they told her that Van de Velde had 'almost cracked' and warned her, 'This guy is a serious lunatic.'
<snip>
When I asked if there was any other way to 'prove you innocent,' Van de Velde came as close as I ever saw to venting frustration. 'This is the dilemma,' he said. 'Why should I have to prove my innocence? Frankly, it's impossible.' He flung himself back on his futon couch, legs sprawled, and made as though to flip the channels with an invisible clicker. 'About 10 P.M., Friday, Dec. 4, I am 99 percent sure I was just like this.'http://www.siliconinvestor.com/readmsg.aspx?msgid=12231664
My comments:
So, to summarize (note: times are my own guess):
-- Jim got home around 8:20pm
-- parked his car outside on the street (there was no garage; recall in November his car had been burglarized there showing that while the area might have nice houses, it's still in the middle of New Haven and thus not crime free)
-- climbed up the staircase one flight to his apartment
-- watched a Friends episode he had taped (he routinely taped Friends); this would take us to about 9pm
-- reheated a month-old burrito (not sure if this is routine; hope not (g))
-- flipped through the channels; saw part of a show about "big cats" on the Discovery Channel (which I verified here was called "Lions: Africa's King of the Beasts" and aired between 9-10pm: discovery.com ; you'd think someone who supposedly planned a perfect murder would have perfected his alibi by now (g))
-- continues flipping the channels
-- watched the 11 o'clock news
-- went for a jog at 9am the next morning
I had Jim call the cable company to see if they track usage, which he did, but, alas, they don't. He didn't own a computer but would bring a power mac back from the office if he needed to do work at home on the computer. That night and on average he didn't bring a computer home. I ended up lending him an old Toshiba 486 I had just so he could access his e-mail once Yale let him go. Prior to that he would use a friend's office. He didn't have a fax.
as Jim does not know who the last person was to see him
No, that was me just not taking the time to cite the written material as I did above that should clear this up.
As far as if anyone saw him at the rink, all I know is that Jim never said he talked to anyone there so I presume not. He didn't have a ticket so he just stood in the doorway for a while. The walk to and from his office on Sachem is a short, quiet walk. That area is Yale administration buildings and thus would have seen little traffic on a Friday night. Most people who drive through would take the next street over to the west, Trumbull, because it connects with I95. No one saw him walk up to his apartment and he neither received nor made any calls that night.
Who was the first person to tell him about Suzanne's murder?... When was he told?
This I'm not sure. I know the murder was announced on the news but the identity of the victim wasn't made public until the day after. I presume he found out from Yale. I'll ask.
- Jeff |
