Lyall apparently suspected someone was stalking her

Garland Nelson, store manager for Babbage's, where Lyall worked, said she spoke to him about a strange man who sent the UAlbany student E-mail and who may have telephoned her at her campus dorm room.

And, according to Nelson, this man attempted to meet Lyall.

Nelson said he knew the incidents had taken place since early in the semester and continued up until a week before Lyall disappeared on March 2.

"She said, ‘Yeah, this guy was stalking me,' " Nelson said in an interview.

Nelson said the problems stemmed from E-mail messages the man allegedly sent to Lyall.

"This E-mail thing was a pain in the ass for her," said Nelson, who has known Lyall for about 1 1/2 years. "This guy was making unwanted advances. She said this guy was ‘pushing up on her.' In street vernacular, he was trying to get with her."

Nelson said he doesn't know who the man is but that Lyall eventually did find out his identity. Apparently she wasn't afraid of the individual, Nelson said.

"She said, ‘A weird guy is stalking me,' " Nelson recalled. "She didn't consider it to be threatening. She played it off as being benign."

But Lyall refused to leave a personal greeting on her UAlbany dorm phone answering service, Nelson said, presumably because of the man.

"She didn't want him calling," said Nelson, who couldn't remember if Lyall ever told him that the man called her at school. "But I assumed he was calling her on the phone."Neither Lyall's father, Douglas Lyall, nor her fiancé, Richard Condon, were aware of any such stalking incidents.

But acting upon information provided by The Record, Douglas Lyall contacted State Police Wednesday. He was notified later in the afternoon that police had information consistent with Nelson's claims.

Lt. Dennis Conway, of Troop G in Loudonville, said police had checked out the lead, but "nothing had come of it."

When asked if officials were able to identify the individual, Conway said he was unaware if the investigation revealed any suspects.

"I don't know," said Conway. "I just couldn't say."

Police secured Lyall's personal computer from her dorm room. It is not known if they have reviewed any of its contents. Lyall also had access to a number of other computers, including one at Genfo Inc., a Troy company where she worked part-time.

Condon was surprised that police had confirmed the allegations of stalking incidents.

"Wonderful, and they never bothered to tell us what was going on," said Condon. "This is big news. I can't believe we weren't told."