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CNN Live At Daybreak

Chandra Levy Hasn't Been Seen Now for 100 Days

Aired August 08, 2001 - 07:06   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: The latest on the Chandra Levy case now. Chandra Levy hasn't been seen now for 100 days.

But as CNN's Bob Franken reports, Washington police say they have mixed feeling about whether the former intern is still alive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: At 100 days, Washington's police chief makes it clear he believes Chandra Levy is a victim of foul play. Still...

CHIEF CHARLES RAMSEY, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: There is still an outside possibility she is missing on her own. We have to have as broad an investigation as possible, and that's what we are continuing to do.

FRANKEN: But even Charles Ramsey's No. 2 has a somewhat different point of view. Faced with the same evidence, Terrance Gainer finds a reason to be hopeful.

Typically, when there is a crime, detectives hear a lot of street talk -- not this time. Unusual.

ASSISTANT CHIEF TERRANCE GAINER, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: It's very unusual. I mean, that actually lends more towards the thought that she went off on her own.

FRANKEN: Law enforcement officials say they have left no stone unturned. Almost no leaf unturned as they scoured the woodlands around Washington.

But it has been a trail to nowhere. Nowhere nearer to solving the case than when they started, and criticism has come from as far away as Chandra Levy's hometown -- Modesto, California.

VERONICA VILLANEUVA: I think that they are focusing too much on the Condit guy instead of finding other things.

FRANKEN: The Condit guy is Gary Condit, the Modesto area congressman, who according to police sources admitted to an intimate relationship with Levy during the third of four interviews with investigators.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are those who say that you hadn't pressed Condit early enough to tell all that he knew.

GAINER: People's expectations of this are probably unreasonable and based on half-hour TV shows. Just because people didn't like the conduct of a particular individual doesn't mean we can run rough shot over them. That would be wrong. That would be indictable.

FRANKEN (on camera): Others have charged that investigators failed to get surveillance tapes from Chandra Levy's apartment building. Unfair, say the police, the videotapes were already erased before they were brought in.

(voice over): Did investigators wait too long to begin full- scale searches or interview residents in Chandra Levy's apartment building. According to the police, the early evidence didn't justify an all-out search, and many tenants were unavailable.

As for the heightened expectations from all of the media attention...

WILLIAM RITCHIE, FORMER CHIEF OF DETECTIVES, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: The police department contributed to raising that bar when you have the chief, assistant chief constantly, you know, in front of the cameras.

GAINER: Oh, that I should get up and leave then. I am damned if I do and damned if I don't. What we have tried to do in this is at least put some context on this. And I think we have all done a pretty fair job of that, frankly.

FRANKEN: In fact, police say they have been able to keep some information confidential.

RAMSEY: The good part of that is the fact that, you know, there is some information that you have not yet gotten a hold of.

FRANKEN: Investigators insist they have done just about everything by the book. However...

GAINER: There is hardly a day goes by that I don't wish I could replay it and do something a little bit more thoughtfully. I don't think there have been critical things in this case that we haven't done that would change the outcome.

FRANKEN: There is no outcome. What happened to Chandra Levy is just as much as mystery today as it was 100 days ago.

Bob Franken, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCEDWARDS: And you can hear more of Bob's extensive interview with Assistant Chief Terrance Gainer coming up in our next hour.

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