The murder of Suzanne Jovin
New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut · December 4, 1998
A Yale senior was last seen walking out of a campus gate at 9:25 on a warm December night and was found stabbed 17 times, two miles away, half an hour later, and the knife, the route and the killer remain unknown.
Overview
Suzanne Jovin, a 21-year-old Yale senior, spent Friday, December 4, 1998 finishing her senior essay on Osama bin Laden, running a Best Buddies pizza party at a New Haven church and returning a borrowed station wagon. She was last reported seen near Yale's Phelps Gate at about 9:25 p.m. Roughly half an hour later, just before ten o'clock, she was found bleeding at the corner of Edgehill and East Rock roads, nearly two miles away. She had been stabbed 17 times and died at Yale New Haven Hospital. The knife has never been recovered, and how she got from campus to East Rock is unknown. Days after the killing, New Haven police let it be known that her senior-essay adviser was in a pool of suspects; he was never charged and has maintained his innocence. DNA under her fingernails, long believed to be the killer's, turned out to be a lab worker's. No one has been charged. In September 2017 a state hearing officer found that a prospective law enforcement action was a reasonable possibility as investigators retested her clothing for touch DNA and re-interviewed witnesses. The state and Yale now offer $150,000 for an arrest and conviction.
Where it stands
No one has been charged. The New Haven State's Attorney's Office leads the cold case investigation, and a $150,000 reward from the state and Yale stands (WFSB, December 2025; Connecticut Division of Criminal Justice). The nearest the case has come to a public sign of progress was September 2017. A state hearing officer refused to release the New Haven police file, relying on testimony from Assistant State's Attorney Marcia Pillsbury, and ruled that "a prospective law enforcement action is a reasonable possibility." Sources told the Hartford Courant that Jovin's clothing had been resubmitted for touch DNA testing, the FBI was involved, witnesses and classmates were being re-interviewed and a hypnotist was being hired. In December 2018 the New Haven State's Attorney called it "an active and ongoing investigation." Since then the public statements have been less hopeful. CT Insider reported in 2023 that two state investigators who spent about seven years on the case were told in 2020 they did not have enough evidence to indict anyone and were ordered to stop. The current New Haven State's Attorney said that as new techniques developed the state would revisit the case, and that this had been done in the past three years, without giving details. Jovin's father wrote that the state's laboratory told him no new technology would help because the recovered DNA was limited and mixed. The reasons it is still open are concrete: the knife was never recovered; no one knows how she traveled two miles in about half an hour; the fingernail DNA once seen as the killer's was lab contamination; a partial palmprint on a soda bottle found in the bushes has never been identified or examined for DNA, according to CT Insider; and the man seen running and the person who borrowed her study materials have never been identified. One of the two investigators Yale hired in 2000 told the New Haven Register that constant reports that police already knew who did it likely kept people from coming forward with information.
Persons of interest
The theories below are reported strictly as attributed to the cited sources. Naming a person here is not an accusation. Individuals are named only where they are deceased, were formally charged, were officially named by authorities, or have been publicly cleared.
- Her senior-essay adviser, a Yale lecturerNot publicly named
Days after the killing, New Haven police leaked that he was in a pool of suspects, and Yale repeated that in January 1999 while saying he was presumed innocent. He was never charged and has maintained his innocence. CT Insider reported that police have not come up with forensic evidence linking him to the crime, and that in 2013 the State's Attorney said it was fair to say he was no longer in the pool.[3]
- The man seen running from the area, known as the running manNot publicly named
A woman driving near Whitney Avenue told police she saw a white man in his twenties or thirties run past and disappear toward a church garden. Investigators released a sketch in 2008 and described him as a person of interest. He has never been identified, and the woman has said she saw him for only a second or two.[3]
- The person who borrowed her GRE study materialsNot publicly named
In her last email, sent less than an hour before she died, Jovin said she would retrieve study materials from someone who had borrowed them. Prosecutors said in 2008 they were still looking for that person. CT Insider reported the person has never come forward and the materials were never returned.[8]
- A former Yale graduate student who died in 2012 (never named or charged)Deceased
Three New Haven friends of the man, including a documentary filmmaker, asked police to consider whether he might have been responsible, citing his comments about the case and a resemblance to the police sketch. CT Insider reported that he was never charged or named as a suspect. The then Chief State's Attorney said investigators had not made any connection that would warrant action.[3]
Sources
- Strong Push On To Solve 1998 Slaying Of Yale Student Suzanne Jovin (September 26, 2017)
“Siegel ruled that “a prospective law enforcement action is a reasonable possibility.””
- Police using hypnotist to try to solve 1998 murder of Yale co-ed (September 27, 2017)
“Standing out most is that investigators are hiring a hypnotist to interview a key witness who saw Jovin walking only minutes before she was murdered.”
- Killing of Yale student Suzanne Jovin continues to haunt loved ones and investigators 25 years later (December 12, 2023)
““It’s a pending investigation, it’s a murder. So it’ll never be closed until we get some answers,” he said.”
- Jovin murder mystery continues 20 years later (December 2, 2018)
““This is an active and ongoing investigation. The partners are focused. They’re engaged.””
- 27 years later, Yale student murder remains unsolved cold case (December 4, 2025)
“The New Haven State’s Attorney’s Office is leading the cold case investigation. Between the state and Yale University, there’s a $150,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.”
- Open Cold Cases and Rewards: Homicide of Suzanne Jovin
“This investigation is now being handled by the New Haven State's Attorney's Office, which continues to pursue investigative leads in an effort to solve this tragic murder.”
- Yale murder mystery: Witnesses sought in 1998 killing of student (December 4, 2014)
“The case is being investigated by the Jovin Investigation Team, comprised of New Haven police, the Division of Criminal Justice, Connecticut's Office of Chief State's Attorney Cold Case Unit and the Office of the New Haven State's Attorney, reports the paper.”
- 10th Anniversary of Murder, Still No Arrest (December 4, 2008)
“Clark said they're still looking for a man who was seen running near the crime scene. They're also still looking for the person who planned to return G.R.E. study materials to Jovin the night she died.”
- Investigators say Jovin case still a mystery (March 1, 2000)
“Jovin, 21, was found dying around 10 p.m. at the intersection of New Haven’s Edgehill and East Rock roads. She had been stabbed 17 times.”
- A Murder at Yale (August 1999)
“Jovin was last reported seen around 9:25 near Phelps Gate, the main entrance to Yale on College Street. At 9:58, someone called 911 to report that a woman lay bleeding on the corner of Edgehill and East Rock, nearly two miles away.”