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American Morning
With Discovery of Levy's Remains, Case Become Death Investigation
Aired May 23, 2002 - 07:25 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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: With the discovery of Chandra Levy's remains, the year old missing person's case has become what authorities are calling a death investigation. And the next step for police investigators is trying to determine just how Chandra Levy died.
Joining us now from Washington is D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey.
Good morning, Chief. Good of you to join us.
CHARLES RAMSEY, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: Good morning. Good morning.
ZAHN: Was this particular part of the park searched last year during that two week very intense search you put on?
RAMSEY: Well, 1,700 acres of Rock Creek Park was gone over by members of our department. The problem is that this is an urban forest. It's really not just a park with a lot of trees. This is very rugged terrain. This was well off the beaten path, not near any roadways or jogging paths or anything like that.
In fact, children even play in parts of Rock Creek Park, but it wasn't until yesterday a man looking for turtles, of all things, his dog located the remains.
ZAHN: Chief Ramsey, last night the attorney representing Gary Condit had this to say about the discovery of Chandra Levy's body: "It is certainly not a red letter day for the D.C. police. It has reported she left with only her tennis shoes and her keys and was going jogging. Wouldn't you look on the jogging trails? How do you miss somebody? It's mind boggling."
What do you say to him this morning?
RAMSEY: Well, I'm saying he's ill-informed, as usual. This was not by any jogging trail at all and before he makes comments he should be more familiar with the circumstances around the case. But then again, that's his job, to try to move as much spotlight away from his client as possible.
ZAHN: How much of a spotlight is still on his client as far as you're concerned?
RAMSEY: Well, as far as I'm concerned, the spotlight is on the case in general. His client just happens to be one of many people that we've spoken to during the course of this investigation. And we'll continue to do everything we can to get to the bottom of what took place, irrespective of who the individual might be.
ZAHN: Chief Ramsey, what are the chances that this body wasn't there from the day of her death and it was actually put there well after what you believe to be her murder?
RAMSEY: One of the things we're looking at is whether or not the body could have been placed there after the search was conducted. We just don't know. That's presuming, of course, that it was a homicide, and right now the medical examiner has yet to determine the manner and cause of death.
But we have to look at all possibilities. We can tell from the state of the remains and also the clothing that it had been exposed to the elements for quite some time. There was about a foot of underbrush that the body was underneath and very, very difficult and very, very well concealed.
ZAHN: Chief, I know I just have time for one more question. How confident are you that investigators will figure out exactly how Chandra Levy died?
RAMSEY: Well, we have some of the best investigators in the world, in my opinion. So we'll do everything humanly possible to get to the bottom of this case. It's not going to be easy. It's not going to be quick. But we will not stop until we find out what happened to Chandra Levy.
ZAHN: And finally, have you had any contact with the Levys since this announcement was made?
RAMSEY: Yes. Actually, I talked to the Levys twice yesterday prior to the confirmation that we had from the medical examiner, then I called the house twice since then and spoke with their attorney. But they're in very, very bad shape, I mean very distraught.
ZAHN: Yes, as recently as yesterday I guess they did an interview with Oprah where they still expressed the hope that she would be found alive.
Well, Chief Ramsey, thank you very much for joining us this morning. Glad to have you on AMERICAN MORNING.
RAMSEY: Thank you.
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