The Tragic Ivy League Murder of Suzanne Jovin
False accusations, missed witness interviews prove obstacles in solving 1998 Yale death
- Updated by author on October 12, 2021.
In December 1998, Yale senior Suzanne Jovin had a shining future, full of possibility. Saturday, December 4 — her last day on Earth — proved a fruitful day. Suzanne began her day by working on graduate school applications to Tufts, Columbia, and Georgetown.
She dropped off a revised version of her senior thesis to her academic advisor, Professor Jim Van de Velde, around 4:00 p.m. She then headed to Trinity Lutheran Church to host a pizza-making party for Best Buddies — an international organization for the mentally disabled and their student partners. Suzanne ran the Yale chapter of Best Buddies.
After finishing party clean-up, shortly before 8:30 p.m, Suzanne gave several volunteers rides home. She dropped off the borrowed Yale car and headed to Old Campus to turn in the keys. At 9:15 p.m, classmate Peter Stein ran into her and recalled her joking about fatigue and a need to go to bed. Peter was the last person who knew Suzanne who would see her alive.
