Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Sunday Morning

Chandra Search Spreads to Rock Creek Park

Aired July 15, 2001 - 07:00   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.
BRIAN NELSON, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour with the Chandra Levy case. Washington police are expanding their search for the missing intern, revisiting some old theories about the case and calling on California Congressman Gary Condit to release the results of his polygraph test about Levy.

CNN's Jonathan Karl explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE POLICE OFFICER: How's it look? I mean, don't nobody want to go down there...

JONATHAN KARL, CNN (voice-over): Police brought the search for Chandra Levy to Washington D.C.'s Rock Creek Park. The 2,800 acre park is just blocks from the former intern's apartment. Although police have been over some of this ground before, this time they are expanding the search area and vowing to continue as long as it takes.

A senior police official tells CNN that in the coming week they plan to devote added resources pursuing the theory that Levy was "snatched" by somebody in the vast park located near her apartment.

The officer said, "We plan to put a lot more people into Rock Creek Park."

D.C. police also continued their search of vacant buildings, but again found nothing to give them any clue as to Levy's whereabouts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE POLICE OFFER: So far, our search proved negative at this point in time.

KARL (voice-over): The site of police continuing to search for any sign of Chandra Levy's body is an excruciating one for the Levy family.

SUSAN LEVY, VICTIM'S MOTHER: Another day in hell. Another day waiting for my daughter, and this day was very difficult, to see them searching in empty buildings and places. You see the trash and...

KARL (voice-over): Meanwhile, police have not given up on finding Levy alive. Assuming the possibility she may have intentionally disappeared, police released computerized images to show what Levy might look like if she were disguising her appearance. Police also say they plan to examine the private polygraph taken by California democrat Gary Condit. Condit's attorney says the results confirm Condit had nothing to do with Levy's disappearance and knows nothing of her whereabouts.

But an attorney for the Levy family says because police were not involved in the test, it is not credible.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KARL: D.C. police are saying this morning that they have not yet received the polygraph material from Mr. Condit's attorney, Abbey Lowell (ph). They are saying they would like that polygraph and also all the supporting material, including the preparatory material, for that polygraph test. And they said that once they review that material, they would like Mr. Condit to be available for further questioning.

Meanwhile, the police are also saying that they are revisiting an old theory, a theory that they had knocked down more than a week ago, the theory that possibly Chandra Levy could have committed suicide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRANCE GAINER, ASST. CHIEF, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: We cannot yet discount the fact that maybe she committed suicide. That's while we'll have many officers in the coming days searching other areas of the city, to see if maybe she killed herself and is someplace that we haven't found her. And we have to work on the theory that maybe she is the victim of a street crime, and we still need to try to find her remains.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KARL: You should be hearing more from the D.C. police on this case later because the D.C. police and representatives have fanned out on the national talk shows today, including right here on CNN's LATE EDITION. Back to you.

NELSON: Jonathan, Chandra's disappearance was the focus of "America's Most Wanted" television show last night, and that's often been successful at solving some cases. Are there any early indications that some new evidence has come in this morning?

KARL: Well, the police say they've got nothing yet from the show "America's Most Wanted." But there was something interesting that came out of the interview on "America's Most Wanted" with the Levys, and that was that the Levys said that they, as far as they know, that Chandra Levy had made no airplane reservations for her return home. And in fact, that the Levys said that they were disturbed that she was being somewhat evasive about exactly when she would be flying back home.

NELSON: All right. Thanks to CNN's Jonathan Karl in Washington.

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