Re: 12/6/02 - Yale Herald: Suzanne Jovin must not be forgotten
December 6, 2002 | Opinion
Our Town
Suzanne Jovin must not be forgotten
BY TED DISKANT
COURTESY OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
[picture]
Susanne Jovin, DC '99.
It was exactly four years ago this week that Suzanne Jovin, DC '99, was found stabbed to death less than two miles off campus in the normally sedate East Rock section of New Haven. No arrests have been made in the case, and the only named suspect, former Yale professor James Van de Velde, has moved on to a new city and a new job. Little mention of the case is ever made. Last year's graduating class was the last to have been on campus when the murder took place.
By all accounts the trail has gone cold. With no new evidence in an investigation that many have claimed was mishandled, the murder remains just as much of an enigma today as it was four years ago. More irritating still, the state and the New Haven Police Department have managed to successfully fend off attempts by journalists and private citizens to access the fruits of the investigation through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.
The murder itself was tragic. I spoke just last week with someone who was with Jovin the night of the murder. She recalled, as a freshman, meeting Jovin, a senior, through the "Best Buddies" program, a program Jovin coordinated that year which sets up Yale students with mentally disabled "buddies." There was a Best Buddies pizza party the evening of the murder, and she remembered eating with Jovin, then saying goodbye before heading home. Jovin was discovered dead less than two hours later. In the days that followed the murder she went through the ordeal of speaking with police, watching them investigate Jovin's friends and everyone else she had encountered that evening, including Jovin's mentally disabled Best Buddy. She could never bring herself to return to another Best Buddy event, severing ties with everything that reminded her of the tragedy. Last spring, she graduated in Davenport courtyard, near the small memorial that is the last remaining evidence of Jovin's time at Yale.
But despite the horrid nature of the murder and the intense sadness attached to her death, I find myself almost compulsively captivated by the mystery that remains. Jeffrey Mitchell, a close friend of Van de Velde's, started an online message board dedicated to solving the crime in an effort to exonerate his friend. Since its inception in December 1999, over 1,100 messages have been posted by amateurs across the country seeking to crack the case. The postings discuss the details of the investigation, posting new theories on who the killer might be. It's macabre reading, to say the least, and yet I managed to read through nearly all of them over a span of a few nights, following years of back and forth between those who have followed the case closely.
The murder was almost immediately identified as a crime of passion—Jovin was stabbed 17 times in the neck, back, and head, leading many to assume that deep-seated feelings motivated the attack. Money was discovered in one of her pockets, and her earrings and watch had not been taken, suggesting robbery was an unlikely motive. Based on those conclusions, speculation raged that Van de Velde, who was her thesis advisor, had murdered her because she had spurned him as a lover. And while no evidence ever emerged to justify such a theory, it nevertheless managed to ruin the former professor's life and academic career. Meanwhile, Jovin's thesis was on international terrorism, with a specific focus on a Saudi citizen by the name of Osama bin Laden. Even then, some thought that the subject matter might have gotten her killed by sparking the interest of those who sought to protect the terrorist and his work.
The temptation to play armchair detective is all the more intense because of the strong signs that the New Haven Police Department botched the investigation; the lead detective on the case was later tried on charges of mishandling and hiding evidence related to a separate case. Needless to say, despite my reading on the subject, I have not uncovered the smoking gun, found a new crucial witness, or discovered the identity of the murderer. But I feel like we owe it to Jovin's family and to the community, to keep going. Her murder was tragic. But it would be even more so if it remained forever unsolved. The city should reopen the case and seek the assistance of outside agencies, including the state's Cold Case Unit, a special crime-solving agency created in 1998. Moreover, the city and the police department should end their challenge to FOIA requests and release information related to the investigation to the media and the public. If nothing else, such a release would focus new energies on a case authorities have been unable to crack.
I've read interviews with many of the students who knew her or saw her that night. I've read the statements made by her family, including an angry letter from her parents concluding that "it was a tragic mistake to send our daughter to Yale College for an education." The only way to make it right, to provide the closure the family and the University needs, is to solve the case.
© 2002 The Yale Herald
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