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American Morning

The Search for Chandra: Is Investigation Becoming Low Priority for Law Enforcement Officials?

Aired July 19, 2001 - 11:04   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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: The latest now on the search for missing intern Chandra Levy: As the meticulous search drags along, federal authorities turn the case over to special long-term probe team.

For the latest on this development, let's go now to our national correspondent Bob Franken. He is live in Washington -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what this represents, Leon, is a belief that this could stretch out for a long while. Of course, it's been 80 days since Chandra Levy disappeared.

So the FBI, which is the secondary investigative unit involved in this, is taking it over to that unit. The primary organization, of course, is the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police. And there have been some reports that FBI officials and others are critical about how much emphasis -- an inappropriate amount -- the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department has put on Congressman Gary Condit.

Gary Condit, of course, is being followed by the media certainly -- his every move -- because of his relationship with Chandra Levy, one that police source say he has now acknowledged to investigators was a romantic relationship. But as far as the police department emphasis on Condit, that was responded by the police chief, Charles Ramsey, who appeared on CNN affiliate WUSA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES RAMSEY, D.C. POLICE CHIEF: I have spoken with officials at FBI. They made no such comments. I have no idea where they came from. And not only that, we have not been placing the emphasis on Condit. The media has been placing the emphasis on Congressman Condit.

We've said the entire time that we have a much broader investigation. He's one of 100 people that we've talked to. It certainly has drawn a lot of attention. But for that now to become the D.C. police doing it is kind of baffling to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKEN: Of course, the main emphasis right now for Washington, D.C. police is its very, very inch-by-inch search of some of the wooded areas around Washington -- in particular the area near where Chandra Levy lived, Rock Creek Park, a favorite place for people who are joggers and the like. Chandra Levy, of course, was known for her being -- emphasizing physical fitness.

You can see it is very overgrown. The police are now into their fourth day of conducting a search. This park in particular is 2,800 acres. So it could it take a couple of weeks. And it's not the only area being searched. On the opposite end of the city, on the southeast section, there are several areas that are known as places where oftentimes there are high crimes.

And police are searching, as we know, for the body of Chandra Levy, in the hope that they don't find the body of Chandra Levy, still clinging to the hope that there may be more optimistic ending, that perhaps she is in hiding or is on the streets somehow and is still alive. Of course, it's 80 days. And for many people, the hopes are dwindling -- Leon.

HARRIS: All right, thank you very much, Bob Franken. We'll talk with you later on -- Daryn.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: And for more insight into the Levy case, we're joined by our CNN consultant and former D.C. police detective, Mike Brooks, who has been very useful in helping us understand what is taking place in Washington, D.C.

First, let's start where Bob Franken's report started, with the move within the FBI to reclassify Chandra Levy's case. Why did they do that? What does it mean?

MIKE BROOKS, CNN CONSULTANT: Well, just they assigned it to another squad.

The initial squad that got the case was the reactive squad for the Washington field office to respond to bank robberies, kidnappings, those kind of things, missing persons -- also critical missing persons -- when another agency asked them to help.

But the squad it has been transferred to is a more long-term investigative squad. And that's basically the only reason. They're not downsizing it on the FBI side. They're not pushing the MPD out -- MPD is part of this squad -- not at all.

KAGAN: So, if you are Chandra Levy's family, should you be discouraged or frustrated by this?

BROOKS: Oh, no.

KAGAN: It's like it's getting lesser importance.

BROOKS: No, no, it's not getting lesser importance at all. And that should be emphasized, that it's not. And this squad is a very experienced squad. They have some excellent investigators on there, both of the FBI and metropolitan police. And so no one should have any worries at all that this is being handled not the way it should be. It's -- they're experts. KAGAN: Of course, the metropolitan police, the D.C. police is still the lead agency on this case. They now have their hands on the lie detector test that Congressman Gary Condit took with his lawyer, with a person of their choosing -- a lie detector professional of their choosing.

Police are kind of letting it leak out that they are not very happy with that test. Why not? What's wrong with it?

BROOKS: Well, as an investigator, I would not be happy with it either. I would want to ask my own questions. The polygraph examiner -- no matter how good he is -- Barry Colvert, the examiner for this particular one...

KAGAN: Who is well-known, by the way.

(CROSSTALK)

BROOKS: Absolutely -- probably one of the best polygraph examiners the FBI had at one time.

But even though, he's not privy to all the facts of the case, where a law enforcement examiner would be. An FBI examiner, they would be privy to the case and would know more about the intricacies of what's going on. And they would be able to ask the right questions and ask the follow-up questions also. So, as an investigator, I would not be comfortable with it either.

KAGAN: Give us some insight into what the police are doing. We've been watching live pictures here as police just turn over a leaf, as they find a pair of shoes; they find a knife. All these things appear to be totally unrelated to the Chandra Levy case itself.

Are these things that police should have been doing at the beginning? Or did police bungle this case at the beginning and not handle it and give it the kind of attention it should have been given?

BROOKS: No, police did not bungle it at all. Initially, they...

KAGAN: But there's that criticism out there. You know that.

BROOKS: Absolutely. There is. And I've heard it over and over again. And some of the critics, I want to tell them, they don't know how an investigation is handled. And that's the problem.

Initially, the area around Chandra Levy's apartment -- because, again, her apartment is about two blocks from Rock Creek Park -- that particular area was searched when she was initially reported missing as a critical missing person. Now they are just expanding that area a little bit.

The areas along the towpaths, the bridle paths, that people travel on a regular basis, those areas also were looked at by the metropolitan police and U.S. Park Police. But they are going back over them again to make sure they didn't miss anything. KAGAN: Well, does it get to a point where it is too late, though? I mean, something that they could have found in the first week, it won't have the same scent? You won't be able to pick up, I'm thinking, even if it is a body.

BROOKS: Well, not necessarily so. They can go back -- let's say, during the initial search, they didn't find anything. Now they go back. Someone could have brought a body and put it somewhere else in the park since the -- she was initially reported missing.

So this is what they're looking for. They're looking for any kind -- anything of evidentiary value. They're looking for any shallow graves, those kinds of things. And if they do find a shallow grave, again, they just won't go and dig it up. They do have at their disposal ground-penetrating radar that they can bring in for the FBI lab, take a look, see if there's any anomalies underneath the surface of the leaves, of the earth, and then go through it basically like an archaeological dig -- that again, if they find something like that -- and we're hoping that we don't have to do this

(CROSSTALK)

KAGAN: Not that, but yet some kind of clue -- we are hoping something does show up.

BROOKS: Exactly. Right.

KAGAN: Mike Brooks, thanks once again for being with us.

BROOKS: Thank you.

KAGAN: Very good.

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