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CNN Live At Daybreak

Anonymous Tipster Says Levy Body Buried in Virginia

Aired August 02, 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: Right now, we begin with a new tip about Chandra Levy. Authorities are taking it -- taking time with this one. The anonymous tipster said the body of Levy, the missing government intern, was buried at Fort Lee, an army-training base near Petersburg, Virginia, south of Richmond. There have been conflicting reports, though, about the possibility of a search at Fort Lee. To help clear things up, national correspondent Bob Franken is live in Washington -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, Carol, it's always a dilemma for the police: which tips do they follow? What do they do with tips in a case like this one, which has gone more than three months with almost no clues that have panned out? What happened is is just a couple of days ago, a Web site -- a California Web site called MyTips.com got a call from somebody who gave a very detailed description about his claim he knew where Chandra Levy was buried.

And the description included some talk about a parking lot under construction at or near Fort Lee, which is about two hours from Washington. There is a parking lot that at least was under construction. That caught the eyes of the Washington police. They decided that it required some follow-up. Now, the question is how much follow-up? And that is something that is being resolved in coordination with the provost marshal of the base, and of course with the FBI. Discussion about that, which has played out in public, the police say it could very well be just another of the scores of tips, or it could be nothing. But it's not going to be unchecked -- Carol.

LIN: Bob, take a temperature for us then. I mean, in the last hour, we talked with a former D.C. cop, who says that the department is not taking this very seriously.

FRANKEN: They are not taking it very seriously, but they are not saying that they are going to eliminate it. And quite frankly what they always say is one of these tips that doesn't appear serious might be the one that breaks the case. We're going to check out each and every one of them.

LIN: Got you. Thanks, Bob -- Colleen.

COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: And Eileen O'Connor is watching things for us right there on the ground in Fort Lee, Virginia. Let's go to her now. Eileen, what's happening? EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now, it's pretty much business as usual at the army base here -- people coming in for work. Now the public information officer issued a statement last night, and they are sticking by that saying that they're ready to cooperate with the FBI in anything they might want to do. But they say right now, there is absolutely no search anticipated -- not even a cursory search by military personnel.

Now, they do say there was a parking -- there is a parking lot here that had some paving done. But they are also checking the dates on exactly when that paving was done. And the gates here, while they are manned now, have not been manned continually all summer. So there have been times when people could get access on and off the base. Again, the local FBI office here also says that they do not anticipate searching this area. They are looking into the credibility, the validity of that tip, they say. And they say, if it warrants, then they will take further investigative steps -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: OK. CNN's Eileen O'Connor at Fort Lee. Thanks.

LIN: Probably a pretty good time to go to Lou Hennessy. He is a former homicide detective with the Washington, D.C. Police Department. Good morning, Lou.

LOUIS HENNESSY, FORMER HOMICIDE DETECTIVE: Good morning. How are you?

LIN: Well, you have been in these investigator shoes. What are they going to do with this tip now?

HENNESSY: Well, I think they're probably taking a cautious approach to it. They are going to go ahead and check it out as best they can before they launch any type of in-depth search down there. They're going to try to assess the credibility and examine the detail that was involved in the tip. The detail will enhance the credibility of the tip.

LIN: Can you be more specific about what they are going to do? Are they going to go down there? Are D.C. investigators going down to Fort Lee? Will they be interviewing construction workers? How seriously are they taking this tip?

HENNESSY: Well, I don't know how seriously they are taking it, because I didn't actually see the tip itself. But I believe that the police department or the FBI will do some investigation, which would include interviewing the construction crew that worked there, you know, checking them out in a very cursory manner to determine whether there is any validity to this tip at all.

It's interesting that this is an anonymous tip, though, when there is a $200,000 reward out there. You would think that someone who would offer this type of information and it was valid, they would probably doing it for the financial reward.

LIN: So do you think the timing of this tip is suspicious given that the D.C. police are winding their investigation down? HENNESSY: Well, I think from the physical perspective, I think the investigation is winding down. I don't necessarily think the investigation itself is winding down. I think there is a number of leads that they haven't had an opportunity to get to yet. But they will, probably similar to this one, that they have evaluated and prioritized and maybe less of a priority immediately that they're going to have to go back and check out. And that will be the crux of the investigation from this point on.

LIN: So when specifically do D.C. cops, or even the FBI, know when a tip is credible? What do they look for? I mean, this was described as a three-page, rambling anonymous tip. This person claimed to be hired to dispose of the body.

HENNESSY: Well, obviously you look for detail. You look for details that aren't known to anyone except to the investigators and the family or the victim, so to speak. That information obviously would be available to the killer and to anybody that assisted in disposing of the body. If they have information about those intimate details, then you automatically give it some credibility. You also give credibility to tips that come in when people associate their name with it -- when they give a name where they can actually be interviewed.

LIN: Well, speaking of, We Tip is an anonymous service. But what are chances that the D.C. police are going to try to subpoena the information, find out who gave this tip and want to interview that person.

HENNESSY: That's difficult to tell at this time. I don't even know whether or not We Tip obtained that information. If they did, they may go ahead on their own contact the tipster and ask if they would object to them passing the information on to the police. I mean, that would be the first step.

LIN: It's a tough case. Thank you very much, Lou Hennessy.

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