Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

The Search for Chandra: Police Will Search Abandoned Buildings

Aired July 12, 2001 - 08:01   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: We've got some late breaking developments in the Chandra Levy case.

CNN's Bob Franken is standing by at the Washington bureau -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, CNN has learned, from a knowledgeable FBI source, that the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have interviewed a Pentecostal minister who lives in the Modesto, California, his name Otis Thomas, about allegations that his daughter, seven years ago, when she was 18, had an romantic relationship with Congressman Gary Condit, who, of course, has been mentioned in the investigation in the Chandra Levy disappearance.

According to "The Washington Post," this matter really came to light when the minister, Reverend Thomas, was a gardener for Susan Levy and the Levy family. The "Post" says that there were various discussion on this. So when Mrs. Levy returned to Modesto, California, last night, she was confronted by reporters and asked to comment on this story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN LEVY, MOTHER OF CHANDRA LEVY: To be in this situation is surprising enough and shocking enough -- and just surreal; that's all I can say. I want my daughter home, and I want her alive, and I want the truth to come out. And that's all I can tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: CNN reporters went to the home of the minister, and all they found was a note on the door from the daughter, saying that the story was not true, and that she did not want to comment.

The FBI has not been able to interview her.

A spokesperson for Congressman Gary Condit would not comment on the case, saying this was not worthy of comment.

And this was just one of the developments in this story that continues to develop very quickly. CNN has been told by a top police official in Washington, the assistant police chief Terrance Gainer, that, today, investigators will start looking for abandoned buildings in the northwest section of Washington, where both Condit and Levy had their apartments. They're looking for abandoned buildings. When they have been identified in this affluent section of Washington, they will then take the city's cadaver dogs -- dogs that are there to try and find bodies -- and search them to see if they can come up with any evidence in this case.

Of course, as we reported earlier, there are also plans to take the same dogs to landfills and garbage dumps in the area. Police insist this is not because they have any particular leads in the case. They just want to explore all possibilities.

As for the search the other night of Congressman Condit's apartment, it is being analyzed right now, the material that they got. It was said there were just a few items that they took from the apartment. At this point, investigators are telling CNN that there is nothing of huge consequence.

I do want to point out that there is still an effort to try and get Congressman Condit to take a lie detector test. His lawyer made it clear that he was willing to negotiate with that. These negotiations have broken down to some degree, Carol. They are still going on, but thus far, there is no agreement over exactly how the test will be conducted -- Carol.

LIN: Bob, you have given us a lot of information here. Let me take you back from the very beginning. As salacious, as juicy, as interesting as this story might be that's being reported in "The Washington Post," what does this alleged affair with this 18-year-old girl, at the time, have to do with the search for Chandra Levy or whether Gary Condit is a suspect?

FRANKEN: Well, a lot of people are questioning the relevance of it, but others are saying that this particular interview, as well as the interview that's being conducted right now with Anne Marie Smith -- she is the flight attendant who says that she too had a romantic relationship with Congressman Condit -- could give some idea of how he conducted himself during romantic relationships.

Remember, Condit denied through his spokesman for a long time that he was having an intimate relationship with Chandra Levy. As police sources told us when he was interviewed by the police for the third time, last Friday night, he said that there was a romantic relationship. The police are trying to find out how he treated the people who were allegedly his lovers. And if in fact that might have been in a harsh way that caused them to have very severe depression. They're trying to find some insights into what Chandra Levy did, which caused her to disappear on April 30/May 1.

LIN: Thank you very much, Bob Franken, reporting in from the Washington bureau.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com