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American Morning

Family, Police React to Finding of Levy Body

Aired May 23, 2002 - 08:01   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: And up front this morning, the body of Chandra Levy is found in a Washington, D.C., park more than a year after her disappearance. Now police have begun an investigation into the cause of her death.

For more now on how family and friends are reacting to the news, we go to Chandra's hometown of Modesto, California, where CNN's Frank Buckley is standing by -- good morning, Frank.

FRANK BUCKLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

And unbearably difficult day for the Levy family here in Modesto, California, friends of the Levy family saying the that family held out hope to the very end that Chandra would be found alive, right up to the moment that they spoke with the police chief yesterday to get the final word, of course, that their daughter was dead.

Friends did descend on the family home throughout the day yesterday to do their best to try to comfort the family. Also, last night here in the community of Modesto, about 30 people had a candlelight vigil in memory of Chandra Levy. Yesterday, a family spokeswoman said that the Levys would not be having a statement yesterday and they would probably not be having a statement today. But their spokespersons all expressed the thought that the Levys would continue to press forward to try to find out just what happened to their daughter.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, what we would want and what we've been assured by the United States attorney's offices is that this investigation is open and that it's active and that it will continue. We will certainly leave it up to the experts to determine what that next move will be.

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BUCKLEY: So far no memorial plans have been put in place, the spokeswoman for the family telling us that at the moment the family simply has to get through this period; then they will begin to deal with the arrangements for a memorial -- Paula.

ZAHN: Their attorney last night indicated they still view Gary Condit as very much a suspect, like anybody else who had come into contact with Chandra. Any new information on what they're thinking this morning?

BUCKLEY: Well, Paula, they have never said that he, that they have -- they've never accused him of being involved in Chandra's disappearance. But what they have said and what Billy Martin was saying as late as yesterday is that they believe that if anyone has some sense of where Chandra was at the time of her disappearance emotionally, it was Gary Condit. And they would like to hear more from Gary Condit about her state of mind at the time of her disappearance.

ZAHN: And this morning, I asked the police chief the status of how they view Gary Condit, and they said they obviously have no evidence pointing to him as the suspect, but they can't completely erase his name from the case.

Frank Buckley, thanks so much for the update.

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