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CNN Sunday Morning

Reporter's Notebook: Chandra Levy's Disappearance

Aired July 08, 2001 - 09:31   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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And we continue now with our "Reporter's Notebook" and your e-mail questions about the Chandra Levy case. Joining us again is CNN National correspondent Bob Franken. Bob, as you can imagine we've had a flurry of questions for you.

This comes from Robin Cohen, White Plains, New York, "Is there any punishment for the congressman as a result of withholding information? Isn't it possible that he slowed down the investigation?"

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are some people who are saying that -- that, as a matter of fact, he impeded it. But is that punishable? I seriously doubt it if you're talking about, "Did he break any laws?" There is a law against lying to investigators both federal and local and he is not accused of doing that.

He is accused of -- on previous occasions of not answering questions, not being willing to answer certain questions to their fullest extent. What was singular about the Friday night encounter with the police is that even with his lawyer present he took every question and one of the first ones was, "Did you in fact have a romantic relationship with Chandra Levy?" And according to our sources his answer this time was, "Yes, I did."

PHILLIPS: Carol Thompson from Tyler, Texas wants to know, "Does Chandra Levy have a car in D.C.? If so, where is it?"

FRANKEN: Did not have a car. She traveled by Metro. That was one of the things that we found out. How did she get around when she didn't use the Metro? That's one of the questions that police are asking. But, no, she -- the Metro, for those who don't live in Washington, is our subway system.

PHILLIPS: Yes, I've used it many a times -- it's quite a system. Thank you, Bob. All right, we're going to go for a call now -- Kansas City, Kansas -- Teke has a questions for you. Go ahead, Teke.

CALLER: Hi, how are you guys doing? Do you think that he not maybe only hindered the investigation but any possibility of actually finding out what happened to her because he didn't tell them immediately everything he knew? And why didn't he really do that when you're talking about somebody's life? FRANKEN: Well, I suspect what the police would tell you or the critics would tell you is that he slowed things down. Has he hindered any possibility of ever finding her? I think that they would consider that a bit of an exaggeration.

And why didn't he tell? One could only speculate that it was out of embarrassment, out of concern for his family -- the normal reasons that somebody would try and keep something like this secret. Ultimately, he found that he had no choice and he decided that he would, as our sources told us -- would, in fact, acknowledge to the police that he did have the romantic relationship.

PHILLIPS: This question in an e-mail comes from Bert, "Why is Condit not a suspect -- usually a lover or husband is always a suspect?"

FRANKEN: Well, let's start with the fact that in order to have a suspect you have to have a criminal investigation and there is none here. The police have gone out of their way to say that they have no indication that Gary Condit contributed at all to foul play, which would be necessary for the criminal investigation, therefore he's not a suspect. Could that change? Of course it could change. But they're really adamant in stating over and over he is not a suspect.

PHILLIPS: Jay, from Nashville, Tennessee, wants to know, "Has more thought been given to Chandra's disappearance having a connection to the other intern who I believe was killed?"

FRANKEN: We're talking about somebody who was not an intern, actually -- she was a very young lawyer -- about three years ago -- two and a half years ago -- who disappeared and her body was found several months later. And there has been a discussion about some of the similarities that exist there. The police say over and over they see no linkage -- that there is, in fact, no connection between those two cases. In fact, they've gone through various missing persons cases involving young women in Washington, D.C. and they say over and over they see no linkage.

PHILLIPS: Another call, Bob, for you -- this one from Georgia. Joanne's on the line. Go ahead, Joanne.

CALLER: Yes.

FRANKEN: Good morning.

CALLER: Good morning, sir. I find it real strange -- and I've been following the case pretty closely -- that a young girl, impressionable as she was and apparently in love with this guy -- she has got to talk to somebody. Now she had to make friends in a strange town. Have they not considered talking to the other interns or somebody that she might have confided in?

FRANKEN: Oh, they have talked to so many of here friends with that in mind. They've talked to about 100 people. Most of them are contemporaries, they're colleagues, they're friends she hung out with, they're people who were at the health club the last time she was there. They've talked to any number of those.

What we've been hearing about Chandra Levy is that she really sort of kept her private life private. One person that we have had identified that she talked to was her aunt, Linda Zamsky. Of course you've heard all about her and the conversations that they've had. We're also hearing that she might have told her parents that -- finally that she was having a relationship with Congressman Condit. And now, as we know, he's told police -- she's told -- he has told the police that they did.

PHILLIPS: Bob, here's an e-mail from Dale Friesen and he wants to know, "How will this latest admission by Condit effect future press coverage of this story?"

FRANKEN: You know, that's a really interesting question. What it's going to do today is to allow a forum for Abbe Lowell, who is the attorney for Condit -- the Washington attorney for Condit -- and should I mention here that he will be on the Wolf Blitzer LATE EDITION show at 12:00 Eastern. Wolf, you can thank me for that.

It's going to -- in some peoples' minds -- really tamp things down a little bit because that has become the question that has almost obscured the investigation. Will it mean that this story goes away? I don't think so. We'll have to see, however, now that that big question is out of the way, if it effects the coverage.

PHILLIPS: Bob Franken, live in Washington, thank you so much. We will continue to follow the investigation and all of the new details. Meanwhile, we're going to take a break. We'll be right back.

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