Killing of Chandra Levy
Chandra Levy | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Chandra Ann Levy April 14, 1977 |
| Died | ca. May 1, 2001 (aged 24) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Intern |
Chandra Ann Levy (April 14, 1977 – circa May 1, 2001) was an intern at the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C., who disappeared in the spring of 2001 and was subsequently found murdered in Rock Creek Park. The investigation into her disappearance uncovered an affair[1] with then U.S. Representative Gary Condit, a Democrat representing California's 18th congressional district and a senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Though Condit was never called a suspect by police, the uproar led to his exit from Congress. The circumstances surrounding her death remain unclear.
Life and background
Levy was born in Cleveland and grew up in Modesto, California. Her parents are members of Congregation Beth Shalom there, a Conservative Jewish synagogue.[2] She attended San Francisco State University, earning a degree in journalism. After interning for the California Bureau of Secondary Education and working in the office of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, she began attending the University of Southern California to earn a Master's degree in Public Administration.
As part of her studies, she moved to Washington, D.C., to become an intern with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Shortly before her death, this internship was abruptly terminated when her academic eligibility was found to have expired. She had previously completed her degree requirements and was scheduled to return to California for graduation.
Case and scandal
Disappearance and search
Chandra Levy disappeared on May 1, 2001. Her remains were found in Rock Creek Park over a year later.
Police were first alerted to Levy's disappearance on May 6, 2001, when Levy's parents called D.C. police and said they had not heard from their daughter in five days.[3] The same day, police visited Chandra's apartment in Dupont Circle and again over the next few days, finding no indication of foul play. On May 7, Levy's father told the police his daughter had been having an affair with a Congressman, and the next day told police he believed that Congressman to be Gary Condit. The same day, Chandra's aunt called the police and told them Chandra had confided about the affair to her. On May 10, police obtained a warrant and formally searched Levy's apartment. She had visited a web site relating to Rock Creek Park on her computer the morning of May 1, the day she disappeared. On July 25, three D.C. police sergeants and 28 cadets searched along Glover Road in Rock Creek Park but failed to find Levy's remains, which were nearby but outside the police's sweep.
Controversy surrounding her disappearance was a main topic of the American news media, ending only after the September 11, 2001 attacks. All of this contributed to Condit's failure to win his party's re-nomination, and thus re-election to his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.[4]
Levy's parents, Robert and Susan Levy of Modesto, held numerous vigils and news conferences in an attempt to "bring Chandra home." Mrs. Levy later participated in the efforts to find another missing Modesto woman, Laci Peterson.
Condit, a married man who represented the congressional district where the Levy family resided, at first denied that he had had an affair with Chandra. His later statements left open the possibility of an affair. Even though police repeatedly stated that Condit was not a suspect, many in the media, along with Levy's family, felt that Condit was still being evasive and possibly hiding information about the matter. Condit later refused to submit to a polygraph test to be administered by the D.C. police. He also tried to avoid answering direct questions during a August 23, 2001 televised interview with news anchor Connie Chung on the ABC News program Primetime Thursday.[4] Condit later appeared before a District of Columbia grand jury investigating the disappearance.
Condit subsequently lost the Democratic primary election in March 2002, and left Congress at the end of his term in 2003.
Discovery of remains
District of Columbia Police Chief Charles Ramsey announced on May 22, 2002, that remains matching Levy's dental records were found by a man walking his dog[5] and looking for turtles in Rock Creek Park near Levy's apartment in northwest Washington, D.C. police had previously searched well over half the area of the 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) park, which Levy had visited on many occasions, after determining that someone had used Levy's laptop computer to do an Internet search for the park's Klingle Mansion on the day police believed she went missing.
Police stated that they had not searched this particular area before due to its remoteness. Her remains were found a mile (1.6 km) north of the mansion and about four miles (6 km) away from Levy's apartment. After a preliminary autopsy was performed, District of Columbia police announced that there was sufficient evidence to begin a homicide investigation. On May 28, the District of Columbia medical examiner officially declared Levy's death a homicide.[6]
Police interviewed Ingmar Guandique, a Salvadoran national incarcerated for assaulting two women in the park. Washington police chief Charles H. Ramsey called him a "person of interest." Police administered a polygraph test, which he passed.
The Levy homicide remains listed as a "cold case" on the D.C. police website, and the FBI states that its investigation remains open. On July 13, 2008, The Washington Post began publishing a 12-part series on the investigation into her disappearance.
Similarities to Joyce Chiang case
Levy's disappearance came two years after the disappearance and declared homicide, under similar circumstances, of Immigration and Naturalization Service attorney Joyce Chiang. Levy's apartment building was four blocks away from Chiang's former building. Levy's remains were found in a D.C. federal parkland area, as were Chiang's belongings, before her body washed up in a nearby river. Both were young, brunette women of petite stature. These similarities have led to various theories that both women were killed by the same person.[7]
Criticism of media coverage
The Levy case was the subject of a great deal of media coverage in the summer of 2001, especially on U.S. cable news networks such as CNN and Fox News. Following the 9/11 attacks, media critics and the cable news executives themselves cited the Levy case, as well as the concurrent sensational coverage of a supposed string of shark attacks, as being evidence of the media echo chamber in action,[8] as well as illustrating the vacuity of U.S. news coverage immediately preceding a major attack on the country.[9]
References
- ^ "Police sources: Condit admits to affair with Levy". CNN. July 7, 2001.
- ^ Besser, James D. (July 20, 2001). "Chandra Levy's Jewish Angle". Jewish Journal. Retrieved 2006-12-18.
- ^ Horwitz, Sari (July 13, 2008). "Who Killed Chandra Levy?, Chapter One: A Young Woman Disappears". Washington Post.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Horwitz, Sari (July 22, 2008). "Who Killed Chandra Levy?, Chapter Nine: Media Frenzy". Washington Post.
{{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help); Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ Twomey, Steve (May 23, 2002). "Chandra Levy's Remains Found in Park By Dog". Washington Post. p. A01.
{{cite news}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "Coroner says Chandra Levy was murdered". Associated Press. May 28, 2002. Retrieved 2006-08-09.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Unexplained Death: Joyce Chiang". Unsolved Mysteries. June 10, 2002. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Rutenberg, Jim (May 24, 2002). "Media Report: World Events Bring Restraint in Levy Case". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ Nizza, Mike (July 11, 2008). "Like It's the Summer of 2001: Sharks and Chandra". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-07-13.
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See also
External links
- "Who Killed Chandra Levy?" A twelve-part series from The Washington Post
- "Levy Disappearance Remains A Cold Case", America's Most Wanted
- "Homicide Investigation—Chandra Ann Levy", Metropolitan Police Department
- JusticeforChandra.com
- Chandra Levy coverage, Modesto Bee
- "Chandra Levy Murder", CourtTVnews
- Template:Find A Grave
- "Chandra Levy killed by illegal alien?", WorldNetDaily