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CNN Live Today

Interview with Mike Brooks

Aired April 30, 2002 - 14:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: As we talk about that topic -- and we interrupted Kathleen Koch's story. A year later, the missing intern Chandra Levy, that case continues to swirl a year later with no firm answers.

Let's talk more about it with a man who became rather a familiar face at the height of the Levy search, Mike Brooks, a former D.C. police detective, with me again. Good to see you again.

MIKE BROOKS, FMR. D.C. POLICE DETECTIVE: Good to see you.

HEMMER: A year later, where do we stand? What happens to an investigation now? Do you keep looking, do you take the tips? Or do you sit back for a little bit? What happens?

BROOKS: There are still tips coming in. After September 11th, they kind of funneled down and are just coming in at a trickle now. But they still have investigators, both with the D.C. police and the FBI assigned to the case. And they're still going back, going over the interviews, doing re-interviews.

There's a sitting grand jury in D.C. superior court right now. So again, it's not -- it is an active case. It's not a cold case, because usually with a cold case you have a homicide. This is still considered to be a missing person's case.

HEMMER: You mentioned 9-11, though. I think that's one thing that a lot of people will tell you, as long as you can keep the issue in front of the public eye, you're going to get information. You're going to get tips and calls. But you say, clearly with the change of the world at that point, that things died down.

BROOKS: Right, they did. And I think the Levys -- the Levys are doing a good job of keeping it in the press. They even hired their own investigators. They have two former D.C. homicide investigators kind of running a parallel investigation along with the regular FBI and the metropolitan police investigation.

Keep in mind, the metropolitan police is still the lead agency. That's because it's still -- with no evidence and no witnesses -- it's still a missing persons case.

HEMMER: What does it say to you as a detective? You've been around these stories. No one saw anything to this point. No one heard anything to this point. That indeed is a mystery.

BROOKS: It really is. And talking to investigators and having been an investigator myself, when do you a neighborhood canvas, there is always someone, whether it be the old lady, you know, the insomniac at her window. Where she lived, where the Newport is, it's a busy street. There are people going 24 hours a day back and forth. And usually there's always at least somebody looking out the window. But in this, it just seems like there was no one at all.

HEMMER: Gary Condit right now, where does he figure into the investigation, in terms of a suspect or not a suspect?

BROOKS: I would say right now that they're looking at him as not a suspect. Now, there are things that people will share with someone who they have been intimate with that they wouldn't share with their aunts, their cousins, other people.

So that's why they were so intrigued with him, if you will. Because he might have had information that he wasn't being very forthcoming with in the beginning. And I think the grand jury could have been there a little bit to try to draw out a little more information from him. Because again, there are some things that they would share that she might not share with other people.

HEMMER: One thing that detectives will do oftentimes is they'll develop their own to help them along in their own logic. Is there a theory right now that's being used, that applies to this case?

BROOKS: Well, the theory always was, was she, you know, the victim of a random act of violence. Was it someone she knew from work? Was it someone she knew from the gym? Was it someone from her apartment building? Was it someone she may have passed along those streets? They don't know.

But they're looking at a couple of people right now as -- I wouldn't call them suspects. But some people that they're looking at with some interest right now.

HEMMER: The sad reality though, is that thousands of people disappear every year.

BROOKS: They do.

HEMMER: Without a trace. And those cases, in large part. are never solved, are they?

BROOKS: No, they're not.

HEMMER: We shall see in this one. Surprise you at all, a year later, now that we have nothing?

BROOKS: Yes, it does. But, you know, whenever something comes up, as gruesome as it may seem, whenever a bone is found or something is found, anywhere on the East Coast, they call the Metropolitan Police and the FBI to let them know. Because we do have -- law enforcement does have DNA from the parents, so they can compare it with that. But so far, nothing.

HEMMER: Thank you, Mike. Mike Brooks, former police detective, Washington, D.C. Good to see you again.

BROOKS: Good to see you, Bill.

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