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Pastimes : Murder Mystery: Who Killed Yale Student Suzanne Jovin? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (1034)	12/18/2001 5:45:48 PM
From: SalemsHex	Respond to of 1397

After reading your posts, I did some research on this story. It is very interesting. Full of intrigue. Not to mention a sad story. Another one I'm following with a great deal of interest is the Martha Moxley case. And I believe they're going after the right person. I'm sure you're quite familiar with it. marthamoxley.com

To: Jeffrey S. Mitchell who wrote (1034)	12/23/2001 11:28:03 AM
From: Jeffrey S. Mitchell	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1397

Re: 12/23/01 - NH Register: After 3 years, resources still held out of Jovin case FORUM After 3 years, resources still held out of Jovin case David R. Cameron December 23, 2001 On Dec. 4, 1998, Suzanne Jovin, a senior in Yale College, was murdered. Within days, James Van de Velde, a lecturer in political science at Yale and one of Jovin's teachers, was identified as a suspect in the case. On Jan. 11, 1999, in announcing the cancellation of Van de Velde's spring semester classes, Yale said it had been informed by the New Haven police he was a suspect. The police, who until then had publicly denied he was a suspect, confirmed the fact. Three years have passed since Van de Velde was identified as a suspect. The police have neither charged him nor retracted that characterization of him. Two weeks ago, Van de Velde filed a complaint in U.S. District Court against Chief Melvin Wearing and several former detectives, charging their public identification of him as a suspect violated his constitutional rights. Apart from that matter, serious questions exist about the investigation. In March 2000, ABC's "20/20" reported that Henry Lee, the world-renowned forensic scientist who at the time was the commissioner of public safety and the director of the state police Forensic Science Laboratory, called the New Haven police late in the evening of Dec. 4 and offered to examine the crime scene. Incredibly, the police turned down his offer. On the day of the "20/20" broadcast, the Hartford Courant reported that Lee was still awaiting additional information he had requested from the police in order to carry out a reconstruction of the crime. In November 2000, Fox 61 WTIC-TV reported Lee had been forced to abandon his reconstruction and regarded it as a "cold case." Why did the police reject Lee's offer? Why did they not provide the information he requested in a timely manner? Might the investigation have proceeded differently had Lee examined the crime scene and reconstructed the crime? Last March, the police and prosecutors announced that a tan or light brown van had been seen by several witnesses parked in the roadway immediately adjacent to where Jovin was found. They made it clear they had not yet found the van. A van was subsequently impounded. But whether that van is the one seen by the witnesses, it is astounding the police did not immediately track down the van seen by the witnesses. Why didn't they? In October, the state's attorney announced that minute traces of male DNA had been found in blood obtained from the fingernails of Jovin's left hand. The DNA did not match Van de Velde's. The state's attorney acknowledged there had been a delay in doing the tests. DNA breaks down over time. When were the forensic materials obtained from Jovin tested? Why was the testing delayed? Who was responsible for the delay? The New Haven police continue to assign one detective full-time to the investigation. In October 2000, Yale retained an eminent former homicide detective to investigate. Perhaps that combined effort will suffice. But what if the perpetrator does not live in New Haven? What if he lives outside the city and had no known connection to Jovin? One of the most important state-level resources that could be brought to bear in this investigation is the "cold case" unit of the chief state's attorney's office. Created in 1998 to work with state and local police departments in investigating crimes that remain unsolved after a long period of time, the unit has investigated 15 cases and made arrests in 10 of them. Considering the difficulty of the cases, that is a very good record. One of the 10 arrests, for example, involved the Waterbury man who now awaits trial for the murder of Concetta "Penny" Serra in New Haven in 1973. The murder of Suzanne Jovin surely meets the criterion of a crime that remains unsolved after a long period. Her parents recently expressed their confidence in the New Haven detective, the Yale investigator, and the assistant state's attorney who are now involved in the investigation. That is very important. But how can state officials in good conscience claim they are doing everything in their power to solve the case when they refuse to commit the full array of the state's investigative resources? Some of these questions may be answered as Van de Velde's legal action proceeds. In the meantime, the investigation has entered its fourth year and there is no end in sight. The state should, without further delay, commit the full array of its investigative resources — including the "cold case" unit of the chief state's attorney's office — to the case. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David R. Cameron is a professor of political science at Yale University. He served as chairman of the department in 1998. He is a member of the East Rock community policing management team and will represent East Rock on the new Civilian Review Board. He can be reached at the Department of Political Science, Yale University, New Haven 06520-8301. ©New Haven Register 2001 zwire.com