Posted on 5/28/2002, 9:15:23 PM by InvisibleChurch
WASHINGTON -- Chandra Levy was murdered, by means unknown, the Washington D.C. medical examiner said today in a disclosure that deepened the mystery behind the demise of the 24-year-old intern who disappeared more than a year ago.
"There is insufficient evidence" to establish a precise cause of death, Jonathan L. Arden told a news conference. He said he had not ruled in or out potential causes of death, strangulation among them.
He also said he could not determine whether the young woman died where her skeletonized remains were found, or if she had been brought there after her death.
Arden spoke to reporters about a young Washington intern whose disappearance cost a California congressman, Rep. Gary Condit, his career and gripped the nation for the better part of a summer. Her remains were discovered last week in Rock Creek Park, a sprawling urban green space in the heart of the nation's capital.
Three thousand miles away in California, Levy's parents were holding a memorial service in her hometown of Modesto.
Arden said that tests had confirmed Levy's death as a homicide, meaning that her death had been caused by an assailant.
"There's less to work with here than I would like," Arden told reporters who peppered him with questions. "It's possible we will never know specifically how she died."
"There's nothing else that can be done," as part of his work, he said.
But that wasn't true for the police, who have struggled with the case since Levy disappeared last May 1 and Condit was questioned numerous times.
Rather than a missing person, they now had a murder case.
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Does anybody know if the medical examiner has addressed the speculation that Chandra may have been pregnant?
Can a woman be established as pregnant or not based on examining her bones? (Doesn't seem likely, but perhaps there is some calcium change or something about the bone marrow...) How soon during pregnancy does a fetus develop bones? Would it be reasonable to have expected any such remains to have been found with her skeleton if her intact body was dumped where it was found? Did any reporters ask questions like this?
-- Kiss of the Sith
Let's consider the DCPD's well-known aversion to finding a Congressman guilty of anything. I have read that an enormous number of Congressmen and Senators get pulled over for drunk driving, or assorted traffic violations, and the police let them off. I'm sure DC gets a good percentage of their operating budget from Congress...It could very well be that they would prefer not to find Condit guilty.
Perhaps that explains their excrutiating slowness in declaring this a homicide investigation, finding some suspects, or discussing method of death. Or just maybe they are incredibly incompetent. That is always a possibility.
"The condition of the body, and where it was found." -- Billy Martin
Someone went to a lot of trouble to dispose of Chandra's body.
I did a lengthy web search and was not able to find any significant info on that subject, except one article in which they stated they did not think there were tests that would detect it from the bones alone. Even tried the "dried blood" search to see if they could possibly determine pregnancy from her own dried blood that would surely be on her clothes that were found...nothing significant came up in those searches either. According to reports that her mother made, however, she had her period from April 8 - 14, but someone else on another thread stated that it is possible for a pregnant woman to have a period the first couple of months, so this apparently does not prove anything. So I guess we are back to square one...
Reasoning from experience to the best inference. The mangled remains of her skeleton included a cracked skull that was found in pieces. She was interred in a shallow "grave." Her remains and effects were found in an area of the park that she had no earthly reason for being in -- unless she was taken there by somebody else -- a steep, heavily wooded slope with heavy overgrowth. Aside from her involvement in an adulterous affair with a Congressman, she was known to be cautious in her habits and movements, quite safety conscious. She had everything to live for and no known health problems of a serious nature -- in fact, she kept herself in fine shape. An article of her clothing was twisted in knots, closely resembling similar articles of clothing used in bondage situations. She was involved with a powerful and ambitious individual and possessed information that could seriously compromise him, possibly end his career. That same individual obstructed police investigation of her disappearance and displayed other suspicious behavior following her disappearance.
From the ME's comments, it's safe to assume that toxicology results were negative. Women who committ suicide usually take an overdose of pills. While the damage to the skull seems to imply a blow, we can't conclude that it was the proximal cause of death without soft tissue -- and we don't have any. All the facts add up to murder, even if we don't know the guise in which death came to her.
During pregnancy hormonally induced structural changes occur in the pelvic girdle, and wider pelvic dimensions can be visualized as early as 8 weeks into gestation. But this is done comparatively, ie. from previous observations of the pelvis when pregnancy is first suspected/confirmed. No doctor has stepped forth with such information concerning Levy and, in any case, such changes would be subtle at this point and not yet likely to prompt complaints of discomfort as they typically do in second and third trimesters. Considering the stage of decomposition of soft tissue in Levy's remains, it would be very difficult to assess her pelvis for any remarkable stretching of ligaments. To my knowledge, there would be no other way to confirm suspicions about her "uterine" status at the time of death -- and even then, pregnancy would have to be fairly advanced for these changes to be conspicuous. Given Levy's active lifestyle and the absence of any known complaints of a missed period, back pain or morning sickness right up to her disappearance, pregnancy would be strictly conjectural.
Good they should mention that possability.
The baby could have been removed, post death abortion. It would be damaging evidence for probable cause.
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