Re: 3/1/00 - Van de Valde talks
Wed, Mar 01, 2000
Van de Valde talks
By Randall Beach, Register Staff
NEW HAVEN ? James Van de Velde, the only person named by police in the "pool of suspects" in the murder of Yale University student Suzanne Jovin, will passionately defend himself tonight in his first in-depth television interview.
"Nothing has been revealed to link me to this crime and nothing will," the former Yale lecturer told an interviewer for ABC's "20/20," according to a network news release.
During the show, which airs at 10 p.m., Van de Velde also vows to file a lawsuit against Yale and/or police for "violations of my civil rights."
Jovin, a 21-year-old senior, was stabbed 17 times in the back, head and neck, then left for dead at the corner of East Rock and Edgehill roads on Dec. 4, 1998. Police said there are no eyewitnesses to the slaying.
"20/20" reports witnesses said Jovin's last words were: "I can't believe you're doing this."
"20/20" is the latest in a long list of national and local news outlets to profile the Jovin case.
While Van de Velde, 39, who was Jovin's thesis adviser, spoke to local media early in the case about his former student, he later limited his comments to statements and letters after he was named as a suspect. Van de Velde has only given in-depth interviews about the case to the New York Times Magazine and "20/20."
On the show, Van de Velde stated, "I have never committed an act of violence in my entire life. ... I have never so much as kicked a cat in my life.
"There can never be ... there are no reports ever of me committing any violence or threatening anyone," he said.
Moreover, Van de Velde denied reports that he had harassed three local TV reporters and developed a reputation as a stalker of women.
Asked by "20/20" about an alleged New Haven Police Department theory that he killed Jovin after she rejected his romantic advances, he replied: "Pure, ridiculous speculation ? I had no relationship with this woman. We never argued. I never saw her outside of class. I didn't even know where she lived."
Van de Velde said New Haven and Yale police, in their eagerness to allay public fears and solve the case, made him a scapegoat.
"This is a case of institutions colluding and making a mess of a crime," he said.
According to the ABC release, Yale officials declined to comment and said bringing more attention to the murder can "only hurt Yale."
Yale spokesman Tom Conroy Tuesday told the Register, "The university cooperated with the police from the beginning and continues to do so."
Conroy declined to comment further on Van de Velde's allegations, but he said, "Yale never publicly identified him as a suspect."
In January 1999, Yale issued a statement saying New Haven Police had informed them Van de Velde "is in a pool of suspects."
Yale then cancelled Van De Velde's classes, saying his presence in the classroom would be a "distraction." His one-year contract was not renewed last fall.
Jovin's father, Tom Jovin, told the Register Tuesday from his home in Germany that he will not be able to see the show for several days and has no comment.
During the show, Tom Jovin said "it was a big mistake" for Van de Velde to withdraw his original offer to submit to a lie detector test administered by New Haven police.
But in the show, Van de Velde said, "I am not going to act like a circus seal" and take a polygraph test for New Haven police because he doubts their "credibility" and "integrity."
The Register reported in February that Van de Velde had taken and passed a polygraph test regarding Jovin's murder that was conducted by a private examiner and arranged by Van de Velde and his attorneys.
The show reports that Van de Velde took three tests. The examiner on the first two tests said the results were inconclusive because Van de Velde was "emotionally over-responsive to the polygraph."
Van de Velde passed the third test, according to "20/20." "He was tested on whether a declaration he signed denying the murder was true," the ABC release said.
The ABC release also said, "Van de Velde does not have an alibi that can be checked out because, by his own account, he was home alone at the time of the murder."
Van de Velde's attorney, David Grudberg, said police uncovered nothing to disprove the alibi.
"He told them (police) in December 1998 exactly were he was when Suzanne Jovin was killed," Grudberg said. "He was home alone watching TV. Fifteen months later, not one shred of evidence suggests he was not home."
Wearing said last December there were still about 10 suspects in the case.
But none were ever named, Grudberg said, so police were either lying about it and Van de Velde was the lone suspect or they have others and named only Van de Velde "and have subjected him to the destruction of his life."
"I'm not sure which is worse, but either way it's clearly indefensible," Grudberg said. "It's time for the police, not Jim, to start answering questions like why they targeted Jim in the first place."
Van de Velde also told "20/20" that since he has been labeled a murder suspect, he has lost his life savings and letters of recommendation. He said he has applied for more than 30 jobs but has not received any offers.
He said his "greatest fear" is that Jovin's killer will never be caught.
"It doesn't escape me and will likely not escape me until the police arrest someone or withdraw their label of me as a suspect," he said.
Register reporter William Kaempffer contributed to this story.
¸ 2000 ,CT CENTRAL
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