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CNN Live At Daybreak

Search for Chandra: Condit May Talk With Police Today

Aired June 22, 2001 - 07:08   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.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: A California congressman may talk to police today after meeting with the parents of a missing 24-year- old woman.

CNN's national correspondent Bob Franken is in Washington with the latest on the search for Sandra Levy.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILLIAM MARTIN, LEVY FAMILY ATTORNEY: If he's available, Dr. and Mrs. Levy and I would love to talk with him.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Congressman Gary Condit made himself available. Sources tell CNN that Thursday night he had his face-to-face meeting with Robert and Susan Levy, along with their new Washington lawyer/investigator, William Martin. The meeting was held at a private location and no details were immediately available.

The Levy's are in an ever more desperate search for their missing daughter, Chandra Levy, the 24-year-old former Bureau of Prisons intern, who disappeared more than seven weeks ago. The Levy's have made it clear they believe the persistent reports that Condit had a romantic relationship with their daughter. Condit's spokesmen have repeatedly denied any romantic relationship.

MARTIN: We will not go into any detail on what that relationship is. The congressman has indicated that they were friends. As a friend, we reiterate, please come forward, please meet with the police, please tell anything that you can regarding Chandra. We have no further comments.

FRANKEN: It was a day of meetings for the Levy's. They pleaded with police to intensify their effort, to officially reclassify it from a missing person's search to a criminal investigation. But officials turned them down.

CHIEF CHARLES RAMSEY, METROPOLITAN D.C. POLICE DEPARTMENT: We have nothing to show that this is anything other than a critical missing person. But we would be remiss in our responsibilities, and certainly we would be doing a less-than-thorough investigation, if we didn't look at every single possibility that exists.

FRANKEN: Investigators are retracing their steps. They are still trying to arrange a second interview with Condit. Among other questions, police say, they want to ask about the congressman's relationship with Chandra Levy.

"If there is any new information I can provide," said Condit, "I will do so without hesitation."

Now, Condit will also have to contend with the Levy's separate investigation.

MARTIN: We hope that during the investigation we can really find out the depth of that relationship -- what it was.

FRANKEN: But with all the controversy, this case is still someone's daughter who has been missing for more than seven weeks and her parents' desperation to find her.

SUSAN LEVY, CHANDRA LEVY'S MOTHER: As you know, we, as parents, are very heartbroken as we don't know where our daughter is. But I believe and I continue to hope and pray that she will come back to us alive.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: Police sources say that they have been trying for several days to arrange a meeting with Condit. Condit sources also say that, Colleen, saying that they had not been able to make their schedules jive, but they hope to today.

MCEDWARDS: So, Bob, police say they don't want to reclassify the case to a homicide case at this point. Is there a threshold that has to be met? Is there a trigger?

FRANKEN: Well, there is a trigger. And, actually, the Levys could take some hope from this. The trigger is that they have evidence of foul play. They're saying that there is not a lot of evidence of foul play, something that could give some comfort to the parents of Chandra Levy.

MCEDWARDS: Understood.

CNN's Bob Franken in Washington, thanks.

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