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American Morning

Police Find Levy Remains Yesterday in Washington D.C. Park

Aired May 23, 2002 - 09:10   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: After more than a year of searching, the police found remains yesterday in a Washington D.C. park. An attorney for the Levy family says the discovery does not solve the murder of what happened to her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILLY MARTIN, LEVY FAMILY ATTORNEY: We're convinced that they are going to turn this now into a full-blown death/homicide investigation. And we're convinced and we're hopeful that we are going to find the person or persons who did this to Chandra, and I'm sure D.C. police want to know the answers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: Michael Doyle has covered the Chandra Levy case from the very beginning. He is the Washington correspondent for the Levy's hometown newspaper, "The Modesto Bee." He's joins us this morning from Washington.

Good to see you again, Mike. Welcome.

MICHAEL DOYLE, "THE MODESTO BEE": Good morning.

ZAHN: There seems to be a lot of finger pointing going on now that Chandra Levy's remains have been found. I wanted to put up on the screen what Gary Condit's attorney had to say about ultimately finding her remains in the park.

He said, "It is certainly not a red-letter day for the D.C. police. If, as reported, she left with only her tennis shoes and her keys and was going jogging, wouldn't you look on the jogging trail? How do you miss somebody? It's mind boggling."

ZAHN: Well, I pose that same question to the chief of the Washington police department. Here's how he reacted to this criticism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF CHARLES RAMSEY, METROPOLITAN POLICE: I'm saying he's ill- informed as usual. This was not by any jogging trail at all. And before he makes comments, he should be more familiar with the circumstances around the case, but then again, that's his job, to try to move as much spotlight away from his client as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZAHN: You've done a lot of work on the strategy Gary Condit's team has used over the last year. What did you make of Mark Geragos' lashing out at the P.D. last night?

DOYLE: Well, I was struck by just what a slashing attack it was. His predecessor Abbe Lowell, a Washington-based attorney, had been much more muted in his comments on the Washington police. Mr. Geragos is a familiar case on cable. He's perfected the art of pretty aggressive soundbites, but to tell the truth, it was a comment fairly reflective of a view that we've heard before from Mr. Condit's camp, which is that the Washington police have missed some clues, that there may be things to be looked at, like a serial killer, that point, steadfastly away from any congressional involvement. So it seemed to be a ratcheting up of a message whose core we've heard before.

ZAHN: A ratcheting up, but isn't there any merit to the criticism at all? Because the police chief shot back, hey, wait a minute, you know, this guy should be better informed. She wasn't even found on the jogging trail. She was found I guess under a couple of feet of underbrush that had grown up.

DOYLE: Well, it is our understanding that the -- as Bob Franken was reporting, the remains were discovered well off the beaten path, and they were covered up. The police did search in the area. I think the chief is understandably defensive about the quality of the work that has been done under extraordinarily tough circumstances. I think only at the end of the day, when we can see all the facts of the investigation will we know sort of who has the upper hand in terms of the facts on this.

ZAHN: There, Michael, were reportedly items of clothing and jewelry, possibly a walkman found, not far from the skeletal remains. What does that indicate to the people you've spoken with about this investigation?

DOYLE: Well, I think people are waiting to see more what the medical examiner will determine, with the help of two forensic anthropologist from the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. They are looking at all the remains, and they'll have to determine not just the cause of death, but also whether she was -- if she was killed, whether she was killed in a place apart from where she was found, and I think only when all of those circumstances are determined, will we be able to piece together the individual data points, like fact of a walkman. It certainly suggests she was out for a fairly casual stroll or exercise run.

ZAHN: And we have known for a while that she exercised frequently. What have you find out about her pattern, particularly when she jogged outside? Is this an area she was known to frequent?

DOYLE: That's an excellent question, and I don't know the answer to it. She was a member of a sports club, which was several blocks from her apartment, which was also the last place she was publicly seen. We know that she visited an Internet site that listed one of the areas in Rock Creek Park on the day of her disappearance. I honestly don't know her general jogging routine, or whether she was a habitual runner in the park, and, again, hopefully that will be something that the police will pin down.

ZAHN: Michael, finally, have you spoken with the Levy family since this horrible news?

DOYLE: No, no, nobody has, save for Chief Ramsey from the Washington Police and their attorney. Right now the Levy family is in seclusion in the Modesto home. They're likely to remain in seclusion for some time. And we are on the outside looking through a very darkened glass. We can only speculate with small bits of evidence as to what's going on in their lives right now. I wouldn't expect that reporters will be talking to them directly for some time.

ZAHN: All right, Michael Doyle, as always, good to see you. Thank you very much for joining us this morning on AMERICAN MORNING.

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