Posted on 05/25/2002 8:58:54 PM PDT by NetValue
Just saw another thread that says the police are close to ruling out this as a random murder.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The discovery of Chandra Levy's remains in Rock Creek Park answered the most basic question about her disappearance: Was she dead or alive? But it doesn't answer all of them.Here, in question-and-answer format, is a look at some outstanding questions about the police investigation into what happened.
Q: Was Levy killed?
A: In all probability, yes, police say. Levy, 24, was young and fit, and her skeletal remains were found "off the beaten path" in rugged terrain, Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said. In addition, police have recovered Levy's knotted leggings near her remains, suggesting she may have been tied up, according to a person close to the investigation.
Q: Do the remains yield enough clues to determine a manner and cause of death?
A: Dr. Jonathan Arden, the city medical examiner, has not said. Many, but not all, of Levy's bones have been turned over to Arden. Skin and other tissue apparently have been lost to the elements, since police believe her body had been in the park since at least the fall. Generally, working with only bones, forensic pathologists can determine when someone has been shot, stabbed or beaten because the bones will hold some evidence. Strangulation may be harder to determine. Police are awaiting an official ruling from Arden, perhaps as early as Tuesday.
Q: What other evidence did police recover from the scene?
A: Other items of clothing, including a sports bra, tennis shoes and a sweat shirt. They also found a portable radio and headphones nearby. Police have not identified all the evidence found at the site, which has been described as an "archaeological dig."
Q: Did Levy die where her remains were found or was her body brought to the park after her death?
A: Police have not said what they suspect. Among the things they are trying to determine is whether Levy approached the site from below, which requires a steep, 100-yard climb from the nearest road, or from above. A picnic area and parking lot are a couple of hundred yards away. One possibility is that her body was rolled down the embankment.
Q: Is there any significance to the discovery of knotted leggings?
A: Again, police are not commenting. But the leggings could have been used to restrain Levy, possibly during an assault or her murder, forensics experts said.
Q: Why would Levy have been in the park?
A: There are several possible explanations. Police believe Levy disappeared sometime after 1 p.m. on May 1, 2001, a Tuesday. Her apartment is only a few blocks from an entrance to the park, which slices through northwest Washington. Gainer said Levy did not routinely jog outdoors, preferring to exercise in a gym. But, he noted, she had canceled her health club membership the night before and could have been looking for a way to exercise that day. Another possibility is that Levy was meeting someone in the park. She looked up the park's Klingle Mansion on a Web site on May 1, 2001, the last time she used her laptop computer. The mansion is less than two miles south of where her remains were found.
Q: Do police have a prime suspect?
A: No, said Deputy Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer. Technically, they don't yet have a crime. They may reinterview some of the people they talked to after Levy disappeared, including Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., and Ingmar Guandique, who was convicted of assaulting two joggers - both believed he wanted to rape them - in the park last year.
Condit, through his attorney, expressed his condolences to the Levy family. Police have said repeatedly he is not a suspect. The Levys' attorney said they still believe Condit knows more about Levy's final days than he has said. Condit has acknowledged talking to her two days before she disappeared, but said he has no idea what happened.
Guandique, 20, a Salvadoran immigrant, said nothing to implicate himself in Levy's disappearance when police first interviewed him last year, Gainer said. One difference between the other women and Levy is that they are tall and blonde. Levy was shorter with dark brown hair.
Q: Condit was among those raising the prospect of a serial killer on the loose in Washington. Do police share that view?
A: They do not, and can establish no connection between Levy's death and previous unsolved killings or mysterious deaths of young women.
Q: What about Levy's parents?
A: They have not spoken publicly since Levy's remains were found. A memorial service is planned for Tuesday in California. It was not known if they would appear in public before then.
On the Net: Washington police Levy investigation: http://mpdc.dc.gov/serv/solvers/missing-persons/levy.shtm/
Condit returned to his office at 3:30 PM for meetings and phone conversations with constituents.
Condit left his office for a 5:00 PM doctor's appointment
OK so Condit has from 1:00 - 3:30 unaccounted for..?Time for a bike ride..?
He (Condit)keeps a bicycle stashed in his office to take off through Rock Creek Park during legislative lulls.
June 16, 2001: Joleen Argentini-McKay contacted FBI investigators alleging she was pressed by Condit staffer Mike Dayton to not speak about the three year affair she had with Condit when she served on Condit's staff in 1994. After she left his staff the affair continued into 1996. She said Condit swore his love and promised to leave his wife for her. McKay said she now feared for her safety. When the affair ended in 1966 she gave Condit the Tag Hauer watch in its watchcase.
Shouldn't the 1966 be 1996?
Ask Scary Gary.
Chandra was probably wearing the watch. If she was going to meet someone, she would want to wear her watch to tell the time.
I wondered what happened to the bracelet since it wasn't found in her apt, until my husband said, "She must have been wearing it!" It was a cherished gift from her (ugh) "man" so she probably had it on.
If the killer removed both the watch and the bracelet, it points again right to Condit. Both the watch and the bracelet were from him, and he did not want the connection to show up.
Yes, the watch and bracelet could still be there, or perhaps the police haven't released all of the items they found. But if there was no watch and no bracelet with the other items, but her ring was there, it points back at Condit trying to erase any connection that might be drawn between the two of them.
At the time she went missing, he had no idea she had told anybody about their relationship.
More likely though, he took back the bracelet but the watch got lost in the struggle and thus he had to throw away the box in case it was later found in an incriminating place.
Condit lied about that:
It would clear him of murder charges, but absolutely make him more susceptible to obstruction charges.
Even so, why would Condit not fully cooperate with police and then lie about his whereabouts? . He wouldn't admit the affair, with Chandra, to Connie Chung. (He earlier told police on the fourth interview.) What was all that--"Connie, I'm not a perfect man, and I haven't been a perfect husband... ?" The potential for blackmail exists, but that is why Condit still sits on the House Select Committee, for some reason. That could be where they're doing it to him-- blackmail.
I went back to the May 17 comment-- He was referring to May 15 DCPD questioning him about Chandra's disappearance.
Susie Borges Rossi, who claims she had an affair with Condit between 1988 and 1991, tells the National Enquirer this week that he had a "fix-it" team on his staff that was prepared to dispose of a dead body - should the need arise. The plan, says Rossi, was readied in case Condit expired during one of his secret trysts. But, adds the California redhead, "If he knows how to get rid of his own body, clearly he knows how to get rid of Chandra's body."
"He gave me a set of instructions to follow," Rossi said, which included a secret number where she could reach the congressman's "paid operative" - a woman - in case of just such an emergency.
"Don't phone anyone from the hotel room," Rossi said Condit told her. "Leave me where I lay, call a cab and go to a pay phone far away. Then call the woman at the private phone number. She will know what to do with my body before the police or press find out about me."
According to Rossi, the same female staffer had instructions on "which documents in his office to destroy." "I have no doubt that he made Chandra disappear," Rossi told the tabloid.
Sept. 21, 2001 Rep. Gary Condit is named to the House Subcommittee on Terrorism and Security.
"His first move was to send a letter to law enforcement agencies to ask their thoughts on improving homeland security," ABC's News 10 in Sacramento, Calif., reports. U.S. intelligence officials reportedly lobbied to have Condit removed from the sensitive post after his affair with missing Washington, D.C., intern Chandra Levy became public, along with subsequent attempts to cover up other illicit relationships.
House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt told reporters that he was considering removing Condit from the Intelligence Committee after the California congressman failed to be forthcoming about his secret life during an interview with ABC's Connie Chung.
Though concerns about national security have risen exponentially since 3,000 Americans were killed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, Condit continues to hold his Intelligence Committee post.
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