Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Levys, D.C. Police React to Latest Tip

Aired August 02, 2001 - 11:11   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.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: The FBI is investigating an anonymous tip about the possible whereabouts of Chandra Levy's body. But so far there are no immediate plans for a search. We're covering developments in the Chandra Levy case on both sides of the country. Gary Tuchman is in Levy's hometown of Modesto and our Bob Franken is in Washington, D.C. -- first to you, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this has become an opportunity for us to watch the process of an investigation that is stymied to the point that police are grasping at any sort of tip in the hope that this would be the one, no matter how far-fetched it appears to be, this would be the one that breaks open the logjam that has developed in this investigation into the whereabouts of Chandra Levy.

It's been more than three months now since she disappeared and investigators get scores of tips, we're told. This particular one, according to the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police, had a shred of credibility to it because what amounts to what they've described as a rambling three single spaced page description about where the body could be found, the anonymous tipster to a Web site described a parking lot that was under construction at or near Fort Lee, Virginia.

Now, Fort Lee is about a two hour drive from here. It's not far from Richmond, Virginia. The police found the fact that there was a parking there where there had been some construction going on, they found that bit of information, enough detail that they wanted to at least look into it further. So what they did, as they routinely do here, is to call the local authorities. That would be the provost marshal on the base at Fort Lee, the provost marshal, of course, being the police chief.

You're seeing some video of the area provided by affiliate WAVY.

In any case, the provost marshal then got into coordination with the FBI. There's an effort going on to decide whether it is worth taking that step of actually digging up the area. But first they want to check the details of this letter to see if it bears out and they need to proceed.

This is the process that they follow. No tip is too outlandish, to put it bluntly, for them to ignore -- Donna.

KELLEY: All right, Bob Franken in Washington, thanks very much. LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, in Modesto, California, Chandra Levy's parents are watching and waiting as they have been. They want to see whether this latest tip does pan out.

CNN's Gary Tuchman is there now with more -- Gary.

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Leon.

Imagine for a minute that you're Chandra Levy's mother Susan. Every day for the past three months has been a living nightmare. So yesterday you go out to lunch with some friends to have as decent of a time as possible. You then come back home and on your lawn is one of your best friends, who's acting as your grief counselor, who gives you important information. And she's standing there waiting for you.

That was the scenario yesterday. Susan Levy came home. Her friend Kim Peterson (ph), the executive director of a missing person's foundation, was standing behind me. She informed Susan Levy about this tip. They hugged. They went inside the house. It was said to be emotional. They came out a short time later, went for a ride.

It was then that Susan Levy went to pick, up her husband, Dr. Robert Levy, who was working at the hospital. He's an oncologist. They came home together. They had some friends come over. A couple of hours later they then came out of their house to go out for the evening.

We talked to the Levys for a short time after they came out. We asked them what they thought about the tip and they each said, "We don't know anything."

And then Susan Levy told us we are going out tonight because we need some time to ourselves. They went out for about four hours. They came back home and now it's another day, another day of this living nightmare that doesn't come to an end for the Levy family -- Leon, back to you.

HARRIS: All right, thank you, Gary.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com