Stalled Jovin case looks to van, DNA for leads

The recent recovery of a van thought to be linked to the murder of Suzanne Jovin, DC '99, and the release of DNA material recovered from underneath her fingernails have propelled the case back into the limelight. This latest development came just one day after James Van de Velde, ES '82, former Yale political science lecturer and the only named suspect in Jovin's murder, sought once again to reassert his innocence in a letter to the New Haven Register.

FILE PHOTO New DNA evidence and a potentially important van have brought the homicide case of Suzanne Jovin, DC '99, back into the limelight.

It has been almost three years since Jovin was found stabbed to death in the East Rock section of New Haven on Dec. 4, 1998. Despite a massive investigation, New Haven police have seemingly not come closer to catching the culprit.

The NHPD, in conjunction with the University, established a $150,000 reward last March to solicit information leading to the arrest of Jovin's murderer.

While Van de Velde remains the only official suspect in the case, the Thurs., Nov. 8 issue of the Register reported that the police have made some important discoveries, although they have been hesitant to make this information public.

The Register reported that police have in their custody a 1982 Dodge E-250 van believed to be linked to the murder. According to police sources, the tan van (since painted white) is believed to be the same vehicle that was seen at the location where Jovin's body was found on the night of her murder.

Nevertheless, the Register noted that the police have not officially released any information about the van, nor have they confirmed that they are in possession of it. A police source told the Register the van was submitted into evidence on Fri., Apr. 20—less than a month after the police released a report asking for information about the vehicle. Since then, however, its storage location and significance have remained a mystery even to many members of the NHPD.

The police source also noted that the van's role in the investigation is still unclear. The owner of the unregistered vehicle, a former resident of Guilford, has been brought in for questioning but has not been named as a suspect. The van may prove useful in the investigation, not because it was directly involved in the murder, but because whoever was in the van may have witnessed the crime.

Even so, the police have performed several careful forensic investigations of the vehicle but have so far uncovered nothing linking it to the murder. Van de Velde's car, a red Jeep, was also searched following Jovin's murder, but no evidence was found linking the vehicle to her murder.

Van de Velde wrote an e-mail to the Register, published on Wed., Nov. 7, in which he noted that he fully cooperated with the police when they asked to search his car. He also claimed that the police department did not come forward with information about the van until a private investigator hired by Yale exposed its existence.

Another recent development came in a report that male DNA was found under Jovin's fingernails. Tests performed yielded no concrete results; however, State Attorney Michael Dearington reported on Fri., Oct. 26, that the DNA found on Jovin did not match Van de Velde's.

In response to the release of this information, Van de Velde wrote a letter to the Register asserting that New Haven Police Chief Melvin Wearing owes him an apology for the "gross negligence, if not criminal misconduct" of the NHPD.

"Why has it taken more than two years for this important evidence to surface?" Van de Velde asked. He also demanded that he be dropped from the suspect list: "No motive, testimony or evidence remotely links me to the crime and, in fact, all the evidence points decidedly away from me" ["Van de Velde wants name off cops' list," New Haven Register, 11/7/01].

Police maintain that the DNA test results do not rule out Van de Velde as a suspect. Although there is no guarantee that the DNA belongs to Jovin's murder, investigators are currently testing the DNA of Jovin's male friends and acquaintances in hopes of ascertaining its origin.

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