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American Morning

Internet Clue Leads to Rock Creek Park in Search for Chandra Levy

Aired July 17, 2001 - 10:59   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.
JONATHAN KARL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... that this controversy has gone on, look, the search for Chandra Levy has continued. Gary Condit has continued to do his job up here in terms of showing up at these committee hearings, this one on the 2002 Farm Bill, an issue which is of critical importance to his district, which is a major agricultural district there in California's central valley.

He's up there in that back row sitting between two of his closest political friends in, on Capitol Hill, Charlie Stenholm of Texas and Colin Peterson of Minnesota, both members of that Blue Dog coalition of conservative Democrats that was co-founded by Gary Condit and Colin Peterson, particularly close also personally with Gary Condit. And they got together and as soon as he walked in the room, you know, shared a little laugh. They kind of laughed.

The media presence outside that committee room, which you can't see, but of course there was many, many camera crews staking out Gary Condit's every move, largely because he has been such a fleeting presence up here on Capitol Hill. Although he has attended these committee hearings and he has been on the floor of the House for virtually every vote since this controversy started, Gary Condit has done a good job of keeping away from the cameras. He doesn't go to his office and he keeps out of the public view most of the time.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Jon, we've been trying to figure out how many days it's been since we've actually seen him. How long has it been?

KARL: The last time we saw him, I believe, was Thursday. And, you know, when Congress went away on its weekend break, there was absolutely no sign of him, and that despite the fact, Leon, that, you know, virtual 24 vigil outside his apartment of TV crews. Nobody saw any sign of Gary Condit at his apartment, and of course his staff and his spokespeople saying absolutely nothing about where he was or what he was doing over the weekend.

That's been the pattern. You know, when Congress has been out of session, he's been out of sight. But when Congress has been in session, he has managed to get up here and attend these committee hearings.

HARRIS: Well, with this reappearance today is there any reason to believe that he might actually be speaking to someone in the press any time soon?

KARL: Anything, I'll tell you, Leon, there's no indication of that but something else I should also point out and we should remember about this is that Gary Condit's people have said from the start that once this search concludes, once the investigation and the search for Chandra Levy concludes, that Gary Condit would be coming out and would be, you know, answering questions.

But he has said through his people that he does not believe it is appropriate for him to come out and talk to the press because he believes, again, through his people, saying that it would impede the investigation, impede the search for Chandra Levy. So he's been keeping mum.

He's also told some people, I've been told privately that he's also, you know, concerned about a so-called zone of privacy and is working very hard, of course, to protect not only his privacy but his family's privacy.

HARRIS: Yes, and with that in mind, then, and you noted earlier about what happened when he walked into the room. Did you get a sense of any tension at all when he noticed the cameras and when the rest of his colleagues there did?

KARL: Yes, I mean it is probably of some comfort to Gary Condit that even while he's besieged by media at his every turn that when he comes into this particular committee hearing, the Agriculture Committee, you know, such an important committee, a great committee assignment for him -- he is the number two Democrat on the committee -- that he is sitting next to Colin Peterson who, as I said, is really one of the, one of his closest friends on Capitol Hill.

HARRIS: All right, well, we sure appreciate that report, Jonathan Karl. I guess you're -- are you going to stay in there for the whole meeting?

KARL: I'll stick around for a good chunk of it.

HARRIS: All right, well, give us a call back if something happens. Jonathan Karl reporting there live from that committee hearing room in the Agriculture Committee in Congress. We'll keep our eye on that story as that develops.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Sounds like he will now, be sticking around. Of course, this is a two part story, one, Gary Condit, the main part, though, the search for Chandra Levy, which today is very much focused on Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. Once again, here's our Eileen O'Connor, who is handling that part of the story -- Eileen?

EILEEN O'CONNOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Daryn, the police, 28 police cadets have just come through this area. They were searching all along this creek bed, all along here. They're going through the rocks along the creek bed far in the distance. They've moved on farther down. Now, this area itself is called Piney Branch Parkway. They're also going through all that underbrush you see along the edge of the road. And what they say they're looking for, obviously, are signs -- disturbed earth, for instance, where someone might have tried to bury a body or perhaps signs of a body.

They also have been looking for pieces of clothing. And, in fact, lawyer earlier they did find some pieces of clothing and what they say is a box cutting knife, one of those with a nice little razor edge to it. Blue running shoes is what they found, used blue running shoes. Also, they found what looks to be a Nike running shoe box close by. We don't know if the two are related.

And again, also, police say this is a huge park. There's a lot of joggers here and there's a lot of homeless people. So a lot of these items will be found, they say, and they may not relate to the disappearance of Chandra Levy.

Now, why are they interested in this area of the park? Because Chandra Levy was interested in it and showed that interest the morning of her disappearance by pulling up some maps on her computer off of the Internet of this area of Rock Creek Park. And so the police say that they are going to search this section along Piney Branch Parkway today, going along this edge and back through this edge, an area, by the way, very popular with joggers. And joggers that we spoke to earlier say that while they do take precautions, mainly running during daylight hours, even with this search going on, they're not unduly alarmed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED JOGGER: I've never felt uncomfortable, really, if you go in the times that are normal hours. So, but I do think it's strange that there's 140 other missing people in D.C. and there are no attention for them at all. So, I mean I feel for Chandra Levy's family, but also what about the other people? There's so much media attention for this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'CONNOR: Now, police officers say that they will continue to search Rock Creek Park and these areas from here back to Chandra Levy's apartment. They say a thorough search could take up to two weeks -- Daryn?

KAGAN: So, Eileen, just to give us our bearings here, as I understand it, you're about two miles from Chandra Levy's apartment, is that right?

O'CONNOR: Yes. We're two miles north of Chandra Levy's apartment, which was in the center of Washington, D.C., in a popular area called Dupont Circle. And, as you know, they did search part of that area yesterday and, in fact, they found two sets of bones, but they say, police say that they have tested those bones and they are pretty sure that they are animal bones -- Daryn? KAGAN: And then how far are you from that area that we also were talking about yesterday, that -- I think, the Klingle Mansion, the mansion?

O'CONNOR: Well, Klingle Mansion is basically about a mile and a half from here, which is the area that they searched yesterday. And again, the reason was that she had, in fact, brought up a map of that area. Now, Klingle Mansion was kind of confusion to police because it's not a place that people visit. It's an administrative office for these -- this park. So it was confusing to them as to why she might have been curious about Klingle Mansion -- Daryn?

KAGAN: And then also other searches going on today, not just at this park, Eileen, but also at another park in Washington, D.C.

O'CONNOR: Absolutely, Fort Dupont, which is in Southeast Washington, and they say that they are searching along that area. And as you know, Daryn, they also finished their search of buildings, some 240 abandoned buildings close to Chandra Levy's apartment, and they say that they have finished that search. They used cadaver dogs in that search. And, in fact, police had said that if they felt it was necessary they might bring the cadaver dogs over here to Rock Creek Park to aid in this search -- Daryn?

KAGAN: Eileen O'Connor, very informative. Thank you very much.

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