A RING OF TRUTH (Chandra's Missing Ring)

New York Post ^ | 5/30/02 | NILES LATHEM

[kattracks]

The Levy family says Chandra was never without her gold pinkie ring, seen here in an artist's conception.

May 30, 2002 -- WASHINGTON - Police believe this missing tiny pinkie ring could be the key to solving the Chandra Levy murder case.

[UCANSEE2]

Believing it is possible she took a taxi into the park to meet someone she knew, detectives plan to interview scores of taxi drivers in the coming days, sources said.

Now that it has been over 55 weeks, we can be sure no one will remember anything. Time to do interviews.

[The Great Satan]

"I don't see any reason in the world for him not to cooperate at this point because I think this is going to exonerate him," Geragos said on CNN's "Larry King Live."

Wonder if he made this statement in good faith, or whether he will renege, like he did over the alibi timeline. Oh, wait a minute, he's a defense attornee, silly question, sorry I brought it up.

[kattracks]

Now that it has been over 55 weeks, we can be sure no one will remember anything.

Exactly. Since Chandra had no means of transportation, this couldn't possibly have just dawned on them.

[kattracks]

If "cooperating" was going to exonerate him he would have done it right from the get go.

[The Great Satan]

From the latest update in the Washington Post:

Condit's attorney, Mark Geragos, in recent days has tried to deflect attention from his client by urging police to focus on two other people: Ingmar Guandique, 20, who was convicted of attacking two female joggers in the park shortly after Levy vanished, and Albert W. Cook Jr., who was convicted this year of killing jogger Sue Wen Stottmeister, 48, in the Montgomery County section of the park on Jan. 24, 2001.

Law enforcement officials said the two cases aren't that promising. Guandique was interviewed by investigators and passed a polygraph test, sources said. And authorities believe that Cook did not travel far from his Aspen Hill home and that it isn't likely he would have been in the area of the park where Levy was found.

Gainer said police plan to look at the cases again, but discounted the suggestions by Geragos. "It's pretty obvious if they were prime candidates or suspects, we would be on them like flies on honey," he said.

[Moonmad27]

They say the killer might have taken the ring to sell or as a trophy? How about to disguise who the victim was - especially if someone she knew killed her? Odd they left that out. (As an aside, I can't believe that little ring cost $416 either - if it was bought by her family in Modesto, the jewelry stores there are overcharging like crazy!)

[mewzilla]

Or how about the perp took the keys and jewelry to make it look like a robbery?

[SR71A]

Believing it is possible she took a taxi into the park to meet someone she knew, detectives plan to interview scores of taxi drivers in the coming days, sources said.

Now that it has been over 55 weeks, we can be sure no one will remember anything. Time to do interviews.

IIRC, they did interview cab drivers a year ago. However, the question is why wasn't this ring identified a year ago? If the ring or bracelet is found in a pawn shop, the trail will be cold...I don't know if photographs or driver's licenses are mandatory at pawn shops in the D.C. area or not.

[UCANSEE2]

I think they want to interview cab drivers to see if any remember driving Chandra to the park. It has nothing to do with the missing ring.

[stuartcr]

Finding something as obvious as an engraved pinky ring certainly would be a good red-herring.

[IronJack]

Searchers will find the ring in Mordor, where the shadows lie.

[mombonn]

I can't believe that little ring cost $416 either

I read on another thread that her Mother had it custom-made - had a couple of diamond chips and her initials carved into it. That adds up.

[jwin]

How could she take a taxi? Her money, credit cards, etc were found in her apartment.

[aristeides]

I wonder if the police have any idea where Condit's red car (the one that he tried to hide the existence of from the police) was around 1 PM on May 1, 2001.

[SarahW]

I don't put much stock in polygraphs, esp. when *if* the guy *IS* the perp, he's the type that can lie like rug and generated just about the same about of activity in the needle.

Ingmar IS a prime suspect. I presume Condit is as well.

[Francohio]

Condit Files: Related Contemporary Event

One of Condit's biggest bosom buddies and double-dating party animals in Washington was erstwhile Congressman Kasich, who quit and left DC in one hell of an unseemly and undignified hurry. He skedaddled home to beautiful Ohio and was married and the father of a family in what seemed like days. Although a shoe-in for re-election, he decamped DC faster than a whore from a bible class. Nobody knows why.

As a public-spirited citizen of the great Buckeye State, I volunteer Mr. Kasich (who's not doing anything around here, anyway) for a thorough DNA test, against those mysterious samples found in Condit's foul lair. Now who else were Condit's friends in Congress?

Out Condit's Congressional friends now! Round up the dirty job people from his staff. Let the DNA tests begin!

[SarahW]

Now, if Gainer had said, "It's pretty obvious if they were prime candidates or suspects, we would be on them like a cop on a donut." I would have to take him seriously.

[mewzilla]

Here's another theory: What if the DCPD was supposed to find Chandra's body? That would explain the entry on the computer (which practically said where x marked the spot), the missing jewelry (theft), and the keys (to get into the apt to leave the clue). The body would conveniently have clues (fibers, hair, etc) that would conveniently lead the investigation away from the person responsible (not necessarily the person doing the killing). But all this would be predicated on the Keystone Kops actually finding the body, which shouldn't have been too darn difficult with that handy computer clue and the use of cadaver dogs. Now that so much time has passed the conveniently placed exculpatory evidence may be gone. Or too much might now be known about other suspects to make it instantly useful in blaming a random perp.

Or maybe my tinfoil's too tight. Just a theory.

[miss marmelstein]

Exactly! It took me one episode of "The Sopranos" to figure out that removing rings and other pieces of jewelry from a dead body is an excellent way of hiding its identity. And even if the ring turned up at a pawn shop, it could have been fenced over and over again to distance the person who stole it from Chandra from the person who pawned it. And if I remember correctly, sniff dogs alerted police to the fact that Chandra's trail ended directly at the curb of her apartment building - but only now they decide to interview cabbies??