After almost two months of searching for answers, investigators are now trying to assemble an hour-by-hour time line of the day Levy went missing, interviewing friends, family and co-workers, scouring phone records and e-mails and canvassing Washington’s leafy Rock Creek Park–all in an effort to identify patterns or clues that have so far eluded them. Police have also contacted morgues across the country, establishing that no Jane Does matching Levy’s description have surfaced.
Authorities are trying to piece together a picture of Chandra Levy’s state of mind at the time of her disappearance. Police sources tell NEWSWEEK that investigators are pursuing the possibility that she was suffering emotional distress over her personal life. That, they say, combined with the sudden loss of her job, may have led her to run away, or possibly to commit suicide.
One question in particular continues to stymie investigators: was Levy’s disappearance in any way connected to her friendship with Gary Condit, the married congressman who represents her hometown of Modesto, Calif.? Since her disappearance, there has been heated speculation that Levy was romantically involved with Condit–despite the congressman’s repeated statements through a spokesman that the two were just friends. Police sources tell NEWSWEEK there is some evidence Levy may have been upset over a recent breakup with an unidentified man–possibly, they believe, Condit. They also say there is evidence that she felt let down when someone in a position to help her keep her job didn’t intervene. Police believe Condit could be that person.
Levy’s parents have said they had suspected that their daughter might be seeing Condit. In one home videotape before her disappearance, Chandra’s father, Robert Levy, can be heard asking Chandra about her congressman friend. In February, the Levys told police, Chandra began wearing a bracelet, which was from a man she refused to name. Guarded about her boyfriend’s identity even with family and friends, she gave them sparse details about him, saying only that he was involved with Congress. When Chandra’s mother, Susan Levy, saw a newspaper article describing Condit as a teetotaler, she remembered that Chandra had mentioned her boyfriend also did not drink alcohol. Telephone records show that she repeatedly phoned Condit at an unpublished voice-mail number.
Throughout the investigation, Condit has remained publicly silent, occasionally issuing statements through a spokesman. “He liked her. They talked a lot,” says Condit’s chief of staff, Mike Lynch. “But to my knowledge there was no romantic relationship.” Condit has met with police twice to discuss the case, most recently for an hour last Saturday. Executive Assistant D.C. Chief Terrance Gainer says there is no criminal case and Condit is not a suspect. Police say that even if Condit and Levy were seeing each other romantically, that does not mean he was in any way involved in her disappearance. Yet privately, a source close to the case tells NEWSWEEK, D.C. police have become increasingly suspicious of Condit’s behavior. Some investigators do not believe his denials of a relationship with Levy and wonder if he is holding back potentially crucial details about their relationship. Recently they have begun quietly interviewing former Condit interns, looking for a possible pattern of behavior. Yet the source stresses that they have “nothing” on Condit that would implicate him in any crime.
As the search continues, Levy’s parents have become impatient with the lack of progress. In a move to pressure Condit into breaking his silence, the Levys told reporters they believe it is a “possibility” that Condit was involved in Chandra’s disappearance. Last week the Levys hired Billy Martin, a high-profile Washington attorney who represented Monica Lewinsky’s mother. Condit, too, signed up a Washington heavy hitter–Abbe Lowell, the white-collar defense lawyer who defended House Judiciary Committee Democrats during the Clinton impeachment hearings. According to sources close to Condit, Lowell phoned the congressman, whom he’d known for a few years, and offered his services. Late last week Condit and Susan Levy got together at Washington’s elegant Jefferson Hotel. According to Lynch, Condit’s spokesman, Condit assured Susan Levy that “he wants Chandra found” and that he’s willing to meet them “any time.”
Meanwhile, police are pursuing other possibilities. Perhaps Chandra, out running errands, was attacked or snatched off the street–hardly unheard of in busy Washington, where hundreds of people have been reported missing this year alone. Levy’s family told police that before she disappeared, a relative had given her a check for less than $100. The check was missing from her apartment but was never cashed. Investigators say this could support the theory that she was abducted or killed. That’s not much to go on, but in a case with so many questions and so few answers, no scrap of evidence is too small.
