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CNN Live Today

Police Try to Uncover Mystery Surrounding Chandra Levy's Death

Aired May 23, 2002 - 12:02   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: First, let's get go to Washington. More questions today than answers in the Chandra Levy matter. A day after Levy's remains were found in Rock Creek Park, police now are trying to piece together the ongoing mystery about her death. Bob Franken at this hour and this minute, in fact, yesterday, breaking the story across the country. Bob, good afternoon again.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon, Bill. And there is a bit of an irony here, in that the technique that they used unsuccessfully last year they are employing again, as they begin to scour the area. Once again, they are relying on the recruits from the D.C. Police Academy. We saw them this morning as they boarded buses to go from one part of the Rock Creek Park area where the remains might be to another area. They are going to be scouring, looking for pieces of evidence, looking for remains, anything which might try and solve the next mystery that occurs, which is to now find out how it is that Chandra Levy came to come here and be killed.

Of course, investigators all along thought that Rock Creek Park would be an area that they would want to highlight because of the fact that it's such an important jogging area. But this area here, which is near where she was found, is not really near that much where the jogging occurs. Nevertheless, police are continuing their investigation.

It is a story, of course, that we have been following for a little bit over a year. Chandra Levy was the 24-year-old former Washington intern who became such a national cause when she disappeared, and that is because of the relationship that she had with her lover, Congressman Gary Condit.

As for Congressman Condit, he is still in Congress, although he will be leaving at the end of the year, since he lost his reelection. A source close to the congressman told CNN Capitol Hill producer Ted Barrett (ph) that what the congressman looks at is that the discovery of the remains of Chandra Levy might lead to his being exonerated. Of course, so many questions have come up about the role he had in the disappearance. Police, by the way, have never said that he was a suspect.

The concern, according to the source, is that there won't be enough evidence after all of this time to clear Congressman Condit. So the investigation goes on. On one of the news shows this morning, the D.C. police chief said it's always possible that there might be still another interview with Congressman Condit. It was in one of those interviews that he acknowledged having the sexual relationship with Chandra Levy, that according to law enforcement sources.

But this all goes on now, the investigation gets more intense, but the sad answer to the big question has come, and that is where is Chandra Levy? Now we know. Now the question, Bill, is how did she get here.

HEMMER: Tell us about the scene today, Bob, and also on that same point, how much of that forest area has been marked off for investigators?

FRANKEN: Well, we can't say exactly how much, but of course it won't be the entire 1,700 acres. We are now talking about a section of Rock Creek Park, the creek itself, we are talking about this area right here. We are going to be talking about looking, overturning the rocks, literally looking under the leaves, looking for chards of evidence, looking for anything that might help in the investigation.

As for the media presence here, well, by Washington's standards, this is not as large as it gets sometimes, but still of course you have the gathering of reporters from here -- from other countries, all of that, as the Chandra Levy story once again dominates the news. Of course, it did that until September 11, and one would expect that this story is going to be replaced in just a few days by the much larger scale world events that have dominated our headlines for the last several months.

HEMMER: Thank you, Bob. Bob Franken, again, in Rock Creek Park today.

Chandra Levy's remains have been turned over to a medical examiner. The question now, will experts be able to gather enough information from her decomposed remains to determine a cause and a time of death? From New York City, forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden, is our guest now. Doctor, good afternoon to you.

You are critical and quite quick to blame police on this matter. How does that contribute right now? Are the police too much of an easy target, sir?

DR. MICHAEL BADEN, FORENSIC PATHOLOGIST: No, I am not blaming the police for anything. I'm saying if the body were there in May and it was missed, that's a serious problem. The police, I think, are doing a very good job in trying to gather all the evidence, but this shows the importance of getting to a dead body as quickly as possible, both to be able to determine a cause of death, and also to be able to gather trace evidence that can link the death to another individual.

But I think the police are doing the kind of job police do, but it has to be ascertained where did she die. If she died where she was found in May, there are some real concerns. If she died elsewhere and then was placed in this area after July, that's an important investigative clue. That would indicate that somebody who knew her did it, because strangers don't behave that way. HEMMER: Doctor, if it is determined that she did not die in that location where they found the remains yesterday, one would think that this could be a question that could possibly never be answered as to where, correct?

BADEN: Well, it depends. You had down in Atlanta, you had the Atlanta murders of 25 children, found decomposed in the Chattahoochee river, and that case was solved by fiber evidence on the decomposed bodies in the water that connected the bodies to the car that Wayne Williams was driving in.

Now, in this instance, if the body -- if the death occurs elsewhere, there may be evidence on the clothing still -- fiber evidence, or other evidence -- that foreign materials that would indicate that -- links it to another place.

HEMMER: Yeah, Bob Franken last night, doctor, just to interrupt and then go onto another subject, Bob Franken last night said that his sources were telling him that nothing immediately jumped out at them as they recovered the remains and looked at them. Is that common?

BADEN: Oh, sure.

HEMMER: I mean, how would you respond to something like that?

BADEN: Well, what we have to do -- what has to be in the crime lab, looks at the things you can't see with the naked eye. The job of the scene is to collect all the evidence that can be looked at more clearly, under better lighting condition, under microscopes, under magnification in the crime lab that can't be done at the crime, so I wouldn't expect things to jump out at the scene. They would have to be -- the clothing becomes extremely important, because as much as the body deteriorates, the clothing may not deteriorate. If there are bullet holes, if there are stab wounds, if there are trace evidences, foreign hairs, foreign semen, foreign fibers, that's to be identified in the crime lab.

HEMMER: Doctor, quickly, and I have to interrupted you in a moment here because we've got to go to Moscow, but can one determine if a woman was pregnant from skeletal remains?

BADEN: Not if the uterus and the pelvic organs are gone. You'd have to have some part of the pelvic organs still there to be able to make that determination.

HEMMER: Thank you, doctor. Dr. Michael Baden, live in New York.

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