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CNN Sunday Morning

Police Backtracking in Levy Case

Aired July 29, 2001 - 07:13   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.
VINCE CELLINI, CNN ANCHOR: Turning now to the Chandra Levy investigation. She's been missing for almost three months now. Washington police still have few clues. Now, they're backtracking, covering old ground in hopes of finding new leads. And they're hoping to get some insight from Congressman Gary Condit.

Kathleen Koch reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHLEEN KOCH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Thursday night's interview with Congressman Gary Condit lasted nearly an hour and a half. And FBI and police investigators are still sifting through transcripts for critical nuggets of information about Chandra Levy's behavior and state of mind before she disappeared three months ago. Police are also hoping to finish questioning the residents of Levy's downtown apartment building. The majority have been interviewed and provided few leads. It all leaves the former Washington intern's family fearing the worse.

DR. ROBERT LEVY, FATHER OF CHANDRA LEVY: All the scenarios, you know, we go through all of those, you know. A lot of them are pretty, some of them are still possible and positive. And we just hope that, you know, good will triumph. That's all we hope for.

KOCH: Others like Terri Jacobson are hoping for equal attention from D.C. police into what happened to their loved ones. Jacobson's sister Carrie (ph) was found murdered in her bathtub two weeks ago.

TERRI JACOBSON, MURDER VICTIM'S SISTER: Everyone is working on the Chandra Levy investigation and no one has stopped to think that this is a murder right in the heart of D.C.'s revitalizing neighborhood.

KOCH: D.C.'s police chief says his department is able to focus on multiple cases at the same time.

CHIEF CHARLES RAMSEY, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: Well, we can walk and chew gum. We've got a lot of crimes that we're working on right now. We're not taking from one to do to the other.

KOCH: But veteran investigators admit police frequently pay special attention to high profile cases. W. LOUIS HENNESSEY, FORMER D.C. POLICE COMMANDER: The amount of resources put forth by law enforcement is directly in relation to the amount of media attention that the case gets.

KOCH (on-camera): When you have a high profile case, like Chandra Levy's, does that case get more attention than the other missing persons' cases?

ASST. CHIEF TERRANCE GAINER: It's hard for it not given the amount of attention. And clearly, I think, looking at the way we've processed some of these cases and handled them, I'm not comfortable that they've got the level of attention.

KOCH: Police recruits are expected to resume canvassing area parks on Monday. For now, publicly at least, the search for Chandra Levy remains a priority for investigators.

Kathleen Koch for CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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