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American Morning

'America's Most Wanted''s John Walsh Discusses Search for Chandra Levy

Aired April 30, 2002 - 08:12   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.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: You often hear that time heals all wounds. But the passage of a year has done little to bring any comfort to the parents of Chandra Levy, who disappeared a year ago today.

As you might know, the investigation remains open. But authorities admit they have no answers as to how the young intern even vanished without a trace from the nation's capital. And in an interview that will air later tonight on "Larry King Live," Chandra's parents, Susan and Bob Levy, talk about how they are coping without their daughter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LARRY KING, HOST: What's, what, Doctor, is the hardest thing?

DR. ROBERT LEVY, CHANDRA LEVY'S FATHER: It's just...

KING: Not knowing?

DR. ROBERT LEVY: Not knowing, but it's just missing her, just not having her and going every day. You wake up in the morning and, you know, you know it's the same thing, she's not, we don't have her, we don't know, you've got to go through another day. At night we can go to bed and we have hope and, you know, we hope well, we're going to go to sleep and have a peaceful time and in the morning when we wake up it's all there again.

And it, it, you know, we're not really used to it, but it's been going on so long that we're just sort of in that, in that frame of mind of not really being happy.

KING: So, when you open your eyes in the morning, Chandra is the first thing you think of?

SUSAN LEVY: Oh sure.

DR. ROBERT LEVY: Yes.

SUSAN LEVY: Yes. And if I got to a store and I hear about somebody else talking or, about their daughter, about their graduation or their wedding...

DR. ROBERT LEVY: Yes.

SUSAN LEVY: ... or, you know, those are, you know, happy times with their children basically I feel like I've been, it's been...

KING: Robbed.

SUSAN LEVY: ... my daughter's gone.

DR. ROBERT LEVY: We've been robbed.

SUSAN LEVY: Yes.

DR. ROBERT LEVY: We've been robbed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: And Larry's interview with Chandra Levy's parents is their first on the anniversary of her disappearance. You can see the full interview tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern time on "Larry King Live."

And joining us now to talk more about the Chandra Levy investigation is the host of the popular TV program "America's Most Wanted," John Walsh, who's joining us from the White House lawn this morning.

A big invite from the president there this morning, John?

JOHN WALSH, HOST, "AMERICA'S MOST WANTED": Well, a very special time for us, Paula. It's our 700th capture. Last week we caught an FBI top ten child molester, which made capture number 700. So we're, this Saturday night's show is going to be a very, very special show, 15 years on the air and 700 captures.

ZAHN: Congratulations.

WALSH: Thank you.

ZAHN: Let's move back to the Chandra Levy investigation. It is still considered a missing persons case. What do you think the chances are that Chandra Levy could be alive this many months later?

WALSH: I think, you know, we hate to give up hope, but the reality is that she probably isn't. And I think lots of people in law enforcement and I think the Levys themselves have come to the conclusion that it would be very unusual if she was alive or came back alive.

I think what's killing them and what they are saying all the time is that not knowing is the worst, not knowing what happened to their beautiful daughter. And, as you know, they're empanelling a grand jury here to look into it, to kind of expand the investigation, because they're truly, they're at a dead end.

ZAHN: Do you think, based on what we know today, Dr. And Mrs. Levy will ever know the truth? WALSH: Well, I don't know. I mean they're coming here tomorrow night to have a candlelight vigil to try to keep her memory alive. I don't know if they will ever know the truth. But I still, my, I still have strong feelings that it's a serial predator in the Dupont Circle area.

Christine Mirzayan, a former Capitol Hill intern who looked very much like Chandra Levy, went missing on her way home from a barbecue and her battered body was found in a canal in Georgetown, very close to Dupont Circle. Joyce Chiang, an INS lawyer, about 27 years old, again, looked very much like Chandra Levy, slim build,

dark hair, as a matter of fact, lived very close to Chandra Levy, her body was found 80 miles down in the Potomac River after she had been missing for three years.

I think that those unsolved homicides are related and I think that there's a serial predator at large. He may not still be in the Dupont area, but I think that that person had something to do with Chandra Levy's disappearance because those two homicides are still unsolved.

ZAHN: I know you've had a chance to talk with a number of homicide investigators. How seriously are they taking this possibility that a serial predator might have been involved in her disappearance?

WALSH: Well, they are taking it seriously and they're talking to sexual predators, people that are in the sex offender registry that may have lived in that area that are on parole or probation. So they're not giving up hope. They're working. They're working lots of different leads. But so far it's just been a complete dead end.

ZAHN: So are you ruling out Gary Condit as having had any involvement with her disappearance?

WALSH: Absolutely. The police ruled him out in the beginning. He is not a suspect. The strange double-edged sword about Chandra Levy is none of us would be talking about Chandra Levy now if Gary Condit hadn't lied about having an affair with her and lied to her parents. He cooperated with police. Police cleared him.

But, you know, the sad thing, Paula, is there's about 5,000 missing women in the FBI computer. But I'll tell you what, I bet you don't know one of their names. You know Chandra Levy's name because of her affair with Gary Condit.

ZAHN: Well, let me ask you this, although you don't think he was involved in her disappearance, wouldn't you acknowledging if he had been more forthcoming with investigators about the nature of his relationship with her that that was very valuable time that might have led them someplace?

WALSH: Oh, time is of the essence. In any case of a missing person time is truly of the essence and I think that he'll regret it the rest of his life that he wasn't more forthcoming, especially with the parents and with the police. But he cooperated with the police. Again, it's a double-edged sword. The strangest thing is that if he hadn't lied, probably there wouldn't be this nationwide attention and there wouldn't have been such an incredible search for Chandra Levy.

But time -- you're absolutely right, time is of the essence. I remember back when 20 years ago when our son Adam was abducted. The first thing police do is ask you to come in for lie detector tests. They look at friends of the family. They look at the family. And you have to cooperate. There should be a dual investigation. That's something Gary Condit should have probably done right away.

ZAHN: Because the amount of attention that this case got, has it had any positive impact on any other missing cases that -- missing persons cases that you're tracking?

WALSH: Oh, absolutely. Now I think the media, as we've been trying to educate the media over the years about how important it is to put pictures of missing children on television and to talk about missing children cases, I'm started to see some of those old media reluctance to talk about missing women.

Now we are seeing cases of missing women broadcast on local news and people talking about cases of missing women. I think it's crucial. You know, just to say oh, well, you know, she's 19 years old, she just ran off with a boyfriend or she took off, you know, Ted Bundy killed 29 women. He was executed in the state of Florida. When they look back at those cases, 27 of those 29 women were listed as either runaways or voluntarily missing by police. And the police were dead wrong. What happened to them, they were kidnapped and murdered by Ted Bundy.

ZAHN: Wow, it's chilling to even remember any aspect of that case.

You mentioned that you were at the White House today to mark the 700th capture of "America's Most Wanted." Tell us about this guy, Michael Bliss, that put you over the 700 mark.

WALSH: Boy, I hated this guy. I'll tell you what, this is a wonderful capture for us. Here's a guy that beat three 13-year-old boys with a baseball bat so badly that on the way to the hospital, one of the boys flat lined and almost died. This creep only served eight years. He should have been in prison the rest of his life. He got out and now the FBI says he allegedly molested a 9-year-old girl and actually videotaped it and was going to try to sell the video on the Internet.

So I asked that he be put on the FBI's top ten list. He was. We tried to track him. We kept putting him on "America's Most Wanted." And this wonderful woman at a motel in Los Angeles last week, he came and said hey, can I be a handyman and maybe stay in the motel. She said oh, yes, sure, here's a key, go in your room. She made that call and Michael Bliss was taken down. It was a terrific capture.

And, you know, it's a real honor to be asked by the White House to come here and do our 700th capture show from the White House. ZAHN: And as a man who lost his own son through a violent act, how much satisfaction does it bring you when you nab a creep like this?

WALSH: You know, I was doing cartwheels. It's really sad that we have to profile these creeps. It's amazing to me that he was ever let out of prison after almost killing three boys with a baseball bat. But I'll tell you, Paula, these are the guys I hate the most. And when Michael Bliss was taken down, the crowd, wimp baby that he is, it was just wonderful.

ZAHN: Well, again, congratulations. And I think that you think the public has done the majority of the work on this show, because they've been the extra eyes and ears that have led to the capture of these bad guys and bad women. Again, congratulations, and thanks for joining us this morning. Good luck.

WALSH: Thank you, Paula.

My heart goes out to the levy family. I'll tell you, they're coming here for a candlelight vigil tomorrow night. The not knowing is killing them.

ZAHN: None of us can even imagine what that family has been through.

Thank you, John.

WALSH: Thank you, Paula.

ZAHN: Say hi to the president for us, OK?

WALSH: Yes, I will.

ZAHN: If you have a sighting. OK.

WALSH: Yes, he's a good guy.

ZAHN: Take care.

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