AROUND HIGHER EDUCATION: No suspects in Yale murder

Yale Daily News NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- (U-WIRE) Police investigators said Tuesday they had no suspects, no strong leads, no weapon and no witnesses in the homicide of Yale senior Suzanne Jovin, but added that police are rapidly acquiring more information about the night of her death. News reports that Jovin knew her assailant are premature, said Captain Brian Sullivan, head of the New Haven Police Department's detective bureau. Sullivan said he has not ruled out the possibility of a random act of violence. Police are searching for a male suspect based on reports from an Edgehill Avenue resident who heard a loud argument between a man and a woman between 9:15 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. Friday night, he said. The neighborhood resident could not provide details about the substance of the argument, Sullivan said. But another Edgehill Avenue resident said he noticed no suspicious activity when walking his dogs on the street around 9:30 p.m. Sullivan said police have removed Jovin's boyfriend and the mentally disabled adult she mentored from their suspect list. Police found the body of the senior at the intersection of Edgehill Avenue and East Rock Road Friday night at 9:58 p.m. when they responded to reports of a woman bleeding. Officers found Jovin suffering from multiple stab wounds to the back and rushed her to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where a medical examiner pronounced her dead at 10:26 p.m., officials said. "She was stabbed in the back -- and only in the back -- with a knife," Sullivan said. He added that reports of wounds to the neck and chest are incorrect. Medical examiners found no evidence of sexual assault, but investigators said they had not ruled out robbery as a possible motive. Sullivan said investigators found Jovin's wallet at her 258 Park Street residence and could not be sure whether her assailant intended to steal it. Jovin was last seen between 9:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. on College Street walking north toward Elm Street. She was wearing a maroon fleece coat, blue jeans and casual boots, Sullivan said. "We are trying to piece together what might have happened during the last half hour of her life," Sullivan said. Investigators currently believe Jovin was killed at the site where her body was found. They said a blood trail would have been left if her body had been dumped from a vehicle. Sullivan said how Jovin traveled to Edgehill Avenue from College Street in 30 minutes remained an unanswered question. "It's just too early to speculate about it now," he said. Officials said police are investigating the incident aggressively. The New Haven Police Department increased the number of detectives assigned to the investigation from six to eight two days ago, Sullivan said. But police sources said the investigation had run into roadblocks. Sullivan said searches of the area failed to produce a murder weapon. "I don't think they're anywhere. This isn't good. They're throwing everything into it, and it's not going well," said a police officer who asked not to be identified. However, officials said the New Haven Police Department had devoted all available resources to the investigation and added that officers were working around the clock. "The Yale community can be sure they are hurling everything into it," one officer said. Sullivan said Jovin's killing should not raise security concerns for Yale students. "This was only one isolated incident," he said.

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