Levy Parents To Meet With Police
Chandra Levy's parents are in Washington to mark the anniversary of her disappearance and to keep the baffling case in the public's eye.
They desperately want to know what happened to Levy, a former U.S. Bureau of Prisons intern who vanished in Washington a year ago Wednesday. They believe that continued public awareness of the investigation offers the best chance for an end to the ordeal.
"I want somebody to come up with the courage to tell us where she is," Levy's mother, Susan, said.
The Levys, of Modesto, Calif., are expected to meet with Washington Police Chief Charles Ramsey on Thursday. They have given a round of nationally televised interviews and held a candlelight vigil outside their daughter's apartment building Wednesday.
The brief vigil, hampered by gusty winds, attracted neighborhood residents, passers-by and members of the Guardian Angels private safety patrol.
"Not knowing. It's such a horrible thing for her family and friends," Nancy D'Ambrosia, an area resident, said. "I think the not knowing makes it worse."
The Levy's candlelight vigil drew the usual media circus but only about 25 participants, some bearing placards saying "Missing for 365 Days."
Twenty-eight-year old Matt Schneider, who lives nearby, was one of the few who had come to share solidarity.
"I was once an intern in D.C. and I have friends her age," he said. "I'm more nervous about my female friends now and I think people look out for each other more often."
Levy was 24 when she disappeared. She was last seen on April 30, canceling her membership at an area gym. Police believe she vanished on May 1, sometime after spending several hours surfing the Internet on the laptop computer in her apartment.
Her case drew national attention when the name of Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., who represents Modesto, surfaced in the investigation. Condit, 54 and married, reportedly told police he and Levy were romantically involved, but acknowledged only a close relationship in his public comments.
Condit has denied any involvement in Levy's disappearance and police have consistently said he is not a suspect in what officially remains a missing person's investigation. The Levys believe Condit has not revealed all he knows about the case, but they have stopped short of accusing him of complicity in the disappearance.
"If he's able to help, we wish he would," Levy's father, Robert, said.
Paul Katz, Susan Levy's brother, was more emphatic when asked about Condit. "If she'd never met the man, she'd probably still be here today," Katz said.
The U.S. Attorney's office is working on the case and the Levys hired top Washington criminal lawyer Billy Martin and his team of investigators to find their daughter.
In addition, a grand jury has been meeting in secret over Levy's disappearance, trying to decide whether anyone should be charged in the case.
The Levy family's investigators are following "strong leads," said Martin, who believes the intern was not a victim of a random attack, where the perpetrator usually leaves behind physical evidence and a body is soon found.
John Walsh, host of the television show "America's Most Wanted" which tries to track down criminals, has said he believes Levy was the victim of a serial killing in the Dupont Circle area.
Two other women have gone missing over the past few years in the area and the badly decomposed body of one of them was found over a year after she disappeared.
"I think these (Dupont Circle) cases are related and I am just praying that there is some kind of resolution," said Walsh, who began hosting the show after his son disappeared.
Levy's father dismisses this theory. "Police and our investigators don't buy into that, we just don't accept it," he told CNN.