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CNN Live Today

Levy Family Prepares for Memorial Service

Aired May 28, 2002 - 13:55   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: I want to bring in Gary Tuchman now, who is going to preview the memorial service which is about to take place in just a few minutes. Gary, I don't know if you have had a chance to hear from the family or whether they were even watching the news conference with the D.C. police chief, but I'm wondering, what is being said there at the scene?

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, it is a little hard for me to hear you right now. I can tell you that we have not seen Robert and Susan Levy since the identification of their daughter's remains on Wednesday. They have been in seclusion for six days along with their son Adam inside their house about 20 minutes away from where we are standing now. This is the small convention center in downtown Modesto, where the memorial will be held. It was scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. Pacific time, 2:00 p.m. Eastern time. It will be late because they are about 20 minutes away.

But perhaps it may be surprising some people that the Levys have been in seclusion all this time after being on television so much over the last 13 months. But until you are in their shoes you just don't know. These were people who genuinely thought, even up until the last day, that there was a possibility they would see their daughter again.

They were hoping and praying that perhaps she had amnesia. Perhaps she just ran away and they didn't know why, and they really thought they might see her again. So they are absolutely devastated. We are told that when people go in the house there may be some laughter for a little while and then Mr. and Mrs. Levy will break down and cry, and that's one of the reasons they are not allowing cameras inside for the memorial service.

The Levys say they are just not emotionally prepared to handle the cameras inside. There will be cameras outside when they come in, and that will be the first time we see them since Wednesday -- Carol

LIN: All right. Thank you very much. Gary Tuchman in Modesto, California.

Jeffrey Toobin, I'm just wondering, at this point what are you going to be looking for in the immediate portion of this investigation, now that it is a homicide case?

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL CORRESPONDENT: I think the very simple fact of more evidence, somehow a cause of death determined through perhaps this more extensive investigation with the FBI. I think at this point, the best hope is some sort of DNA, micro-fiber, some sort of evidence that gives some clue as to where Chandra Levy was and who she was with. I think that is really what the police have to put their faith in at this point, because based on what's been made public, the crime -- the scene where her body was discovered does not seem to have yielded many clues at all.

I mean, this business of the knotted sweatshirt. If this sweatshirt was hers, did it belong to her, did it belong to someone else? That's obviously something people are going to -- you will want to look into. But that's basically what -- you have got to look for more evidence, because based on what's public now, they don't even have a suspect, much less a case.

LIN: Bob Franken, is there any woulda, shoulda, coulda going on at D.C. Police Department?

FRANKEN: Well, they say no. They will also say that no matter what do you in an investigation, if it is not successful, people are going to say you should have done such and such and so and so. The police chief quite angrily -- both police chiefs, the deputy police chief, Terence Gainer, and Chief Ramsey, have really resented that question all along, saying that until a case is solved there will always be woulda, coulda, shoulda.

They go back, they review, they re-review. A lot of people say that they made mistakes that were really unacceptable. Many people, for instance, criticize the fact that when they were searching Rock Creek Park they didn't search the sloped areas, the creek beds that might have been the most likely hiding places for them. he police shoot back and say look, they are somewhat limited in the scope that they are really able to pull off on a search.

That kind of discussion will continue. It is probably worthwhile at some point, but of course the bottom line will be, at some point, finding who it was that was responsible for the death of Chandra Levy, and according to the police chief, he said that they will eventually -- quote unquote -- eventually come up with the person responsible.

LIN: Well, he is an optimist. Go ahead, Jeffrey.

TOOBIN: Carol, I know second-guessing is not popular. It is one of the reasons journalist are held in the low esteem that they are.

LIN: We call it analysis, Jeffrey.

TOOBIN: That's right. As your analyst, the fact that this body was not discovered for 13 months is a serious question, particularly since it was discovered in Rock Creek Park, not too far from the Klingle mansion, which is where Chandra Levy was looking at on her Web browser the last time she was on it. I mean, I think that is a valid question to ask.

And I think what we are learning today in the extremely limited information that was yielded by the autopsy -- we're seeing the cost to the investigation. Of 13 months -- a body decays to the point where you really can't find out very much, and had this body been discovered earlier, I think there's a wealth of information that they would have found that they didn't. And I think that's a serious issue.

LIN: All right. I want it bring our viewers up to speed right now.

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