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American Morning

Authorities Expand Search for Chandra Levy

Aired July 02, 2001 - 09:31   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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: An update for you now on the Chandra Levy investigation. Authorities looking into the disappearance of the former Washington intern are now expanding their search.

CNN national correspondent Bob Franken has been tracking the story for us and he has the latest -- Bob, good morning.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, of course, the fact is is that the Chandra Levy investigation continues to capture everybody's imagination so every incremental piece of it becomes something of great interest to people around the world. Chandra Levy the 24-year-old former Bureau of Prisons intern who disappeared about the 1st of May. That is a new date, by the way. She has been linked romantically in a variety of reports to Congressman Gary Condit. Gary Condit's office repeatedly denies that there was any romantic involvement.

Now, the D.C. police say that they are going to use what they call their cadaver dogs, dogs that are trained to try and find bodies, to look at landfills around the Washington area. They say that there is nothing sinister on this. A police source who is supervising this investigation say it is a normal expansion, that thus far the searches have not yielded any results so they now want to look at the landfills. Of course, that raises the ominous possibility that they are looking for foul play. Police continue to insist, however, this is a missing person's investigation and not a criminal investigation.

Police sources also tell CNN that now have indications that Chandra Levy was in her apartment not April 30, as everybody has reported, but she actually was there on May 1. They say that the indication comes in some e-mail that was sent from her apartment laptop computer, which they found there. There is nothing, they insist, nothing that they feel would contribute to the knowledge of the investigation that was contained in the e-mails but they now believe that she was actually there sending e-mails on May 1.

Police officials, through the FBI, continue to try and set up an interview with Carolyn Condit, the wife of Congressman Gary Condit. She lives out in the California district in Ceres, California. The FBI is being used. That is normal. This is actually a coordinated investigation. The Washington, D.C. police since the beginning have been coordinating this investigation with the FBI so the actual questioning, once it is arranged, would be done by FBI agents on the west coast. The reason I say once it is being arranged, there are still negotiations going on, although the lawyers for Gary Condit say they are happy to have Mrs. Condit interviewed to try and coordinate information. Mrs. Condit was supposed to have been in town about the time that Chandra Levy disappeared -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Bob, tell me a little bit more about this new discovery of May 1, that she was in her apartment as late as that. It seems a little late to be making that discovery.

FRANKEN: Well, it just is an indication that they had just gotten their computer records. As you know, when they went in there they confiscated the hard drive. At the time they said it would take quite some time to analyze the hard drive. This is the result of their analysis.

KAGAN: Bob Franken, thank you, from Washington.

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