She's been missing for months. I don't think there's any question that she's probably dead, but what do you think happened? Stalker boyfriend (other than Condit)? Suicide? Random run-in with a bad guy? Evil murderous congressman? Or jealous wife?

Okay, I made that sound more lurid than I really should have. But seriously, this is a very creepy case, and it's especially weird that the police seem to have no clue what happened to her. Any thoughts?

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

Answers

I'm in California and one of my best friends owns a company who does political reports n stuff...Condit is one of her clients. I really don't think he had anything to do with it...my suspicions lie with a a stalker or something completely random. Sadly, I think it's highly doubtful they will find her alive...if they find her. My heart goes out to the family.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

It's actually not particularly unusual that they don't know what happened to her. DC has, according to another story I read, approximately 800 people on its missing persons list at the moment.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

I think she's dead. I think she was having an affair with Condit. I don't think he killed her or had her killed.

Other than that, though, it's so hard even to speculate. Well, okay, it's not hard to speculate. It's hard to narrow down the speculations. I haven't heard anything that makes me think it was suicide, really, including that her purse or whatever was left. I think somone killed her, and I think it was either some random bad guy or just possibly, for a little intrigue, some enemy of Condit's, trying to make a point. Or maybe I read too many books. In any case, the wife or some other boyfriend don't seem as likely to me. You know, with all my law enforcement expertise. That's a joke.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

Unless it was a total wierd crime-of-passion sort of thing I can't imagine him having her bumped off. I mean, obviously if she goes missing someone will miss her. Obviously it would be a big scandal. If he actually had her killed or even had killed her himself I would imagine that there would be a frame-up or it be made to look like a car accident or something.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

I didn't think Condit had anything to do with her death until he told the police that he'd broken off his "friendship" with her a couple of days before she disappeared. He's clearly gone to great lengths to conceal his extramarital affairs, and a jilted and upset young former lover could pose a serious threat to both his marriage and his career. I can see how some unscrupulous person in that situation might be tempted to deal with the problem by having her killed. But who knows?

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

I say suicide or JAICDP - Just Another Innocent Casualty of the Democratic Party. Either that or she ran away to Mehico to be with Juan the gardener after the tragic pelican nose busting rollercoaster incident. Damb demoncrats.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

Yep, I'd say the most likely explanation is that he killed her.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

The only thing that makes Condit suspicious to me is that he won't speak about her. I live in JonBenet Land and we all immediately were sure the parents did it, merely because they wouldn't speak to the police. I don't think he did it or had it done (because I see no reason to think so), and I don't think he has the police in his pocket just because they won't take out a search warrant. He's not a suspect; hence, no reason to warrant. I *do* think that he makes himself more suspicious, again, by not merely opening his doors w/o a search warrant (although, Beth the Lawyer, if he just invited them in and said "Nah, you don't need a warrant, just c'mon in," and they found something, would that be admissable?). Whether or not he had anything to do with the disappearance and probable death, if she ever was in his apartment, there might be a lead in it.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

As to Condit's lack of forthrightness with the *press* (which is what all the coverage is about)- umm, it's none of the public's damn business. He wants to screw around, that's his choice. And so long as he provided the information the DCPD asked for that could help them find her, screw the Washington Post and Hard Copy.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

I may have dreamed this (NPR is the wake up setting on the alarm clock), but didn't the press report a few days ago that an email had been sent from her apartment AFTER she disappeared? If so, who sent it and to whom did it go? I found it curious that I only heard this once since it seems fairly significant (hence my suspicion that it might be a dream).

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

It will make you wonder if we will ever know....Condit's attorney was on Good Morning America, and he is slick...no one question answered, just alot of going through the motions etc.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

Oh god, I am SO SICK of this case. I'm sure she's dead, but I don't really have a theory about how. I'm pretty sure Condidt didn't do it, at least with what we know now. More likely a random run-in with a bad guy.

I just hate this thing of how people are emailing the story around and it's all over tne news again and again, just in case somebody saw something.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2001

For anyone who's interested, Condit has an opening for a new intern.

-- Anonymous, July 07, 2001

I think Condit was borking her, he broke it off, she was quite upset and went for a walk, and someone with the propensity to notice things like young women being upset cozened up to her, and killed her. Ted Bundy was famous for that sort of thing, he was good at reading vulnerable women, and even better at hiding their corpses. Chandra Levy is probably in some distant Virginian or Marylander woods, and we'll never know what happened to her until the foliage falls away and a couple of hunters wander across her remains.

That, or I've been reading too much Ann Rule.

-- Anonymous, July 07, 2001

Beth, Chandra Levy was an intern for the Bureau of Prisons, not Condit's office. Condit represents her hometown district in California.

As for what happened to her, I think there's not enough evidence to favor or exclude any possibilty, at least not that's been made public. I tend to think Condit had nothing to do with it, though.

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001

Although he has suddenly admitted they had an affair....

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001

I was in a rush when I posted the above, let me explain my reasoning.

First of all, the affair thing was blatantly obvious. If he was in a position to deny it he would have simply done so. End of discussion.

So they were having an affair, which has now been confirmed, by the way, by reliable police sources. As of last Friday he has finally confessed to the affair. This allows a number of possibilities involving Condit. Murder to prevent parental responsibility. Murder to prevent blackmail. And the most likely of all, murder in the heat of an argument. Based on statistical probability he's the most likely culprit. Most murder victims know their attackers, for example.

And yet, according to CNN this morning, police spokesman Executive Assistant Chief Terrance Gainer said Condit is not a suspect. Yeah, right. Why have they subpoenaed Condit's telephone records then?

And among the four possibilities they are investigating is the rather laughable "we have to explore the possibility that maybe she's injured or incapacitated and is a street person someplace and doesn't know who or where she's at." Yeah, right. Shouldn't they also be investigating the alien abduction theory? I mean, they have to explore the possibility that maybe she's circling the globe in a UFO right now, don't they? Give me a break.

By the way, isn't it deliciously ironic how Condit hired a high priced lawyer to sue the pants off media outlets for reporting that he confessed his affair to the police (which likely wasn't true at the time) and then finally decided (because he realized he wasn't going to get away with lying his way out of it) to confess his affair to the police?

The guy seems a slippery slimeball. Given everything his high priced lawyer said it seems likely that Condit did not admit to the affair in his first two police interviews. Which begs the question: didn't they ask him? And if they did and he lied, can he be charged with hindering an investigation? Anyway, putting the circumstances together with the man's character, I'd say the odds are better than 50% that he's the culprit. I'd like to know if he had a violent temper, a la OJ Simpson, and I'm betting the police are looking into that as well. "Not a suspect." Balderdash.

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001

Dave, Dave, Dave. You keep saying "high priced lawyer" like it was a bad thing.

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001

The telephone records don't necessarily indicate that he's a suspect-- for instance, if he was close to her, and she'd run away or something, there's a good chance that she'd have called him. Just for instance. The thing is, we don't know, and there are a billion possible explanations.

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001

I have to say, I'm with Dave on this one. D.C. is a high-crime city, but statistically, the boyfriend or husband is the most likely perpetrator when any young woman goes missing or is killed. And it sounds like Condit had ample motive to kill her (yeah, it would have been a stupid thing to do, but Condit has shown that he is fully capable of utter stupidity with his handling of the investigation thus far).

Also, the fact that her body hasn't been found by now makes me suspicious of Condit. Hiding a body is hard work, and you'd think that random killers wouldn't have much reason to go to great lengths to hide the body, whereas killers who have a personal relationship with the victim risk forensic identification.

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001

Alleline: Let's face it, hiring a high priced lawyer is like shouting, "I'm guilty." Innocent people hire cheap ones.

After all, there's no sense wasting money.

(This post may contain elements of satire.)

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001

I'm suspicious of Condit, but not sure he's actually responsible for Chandra's disappearance.

There are a couple of things that bother me.

1) He told police he'd broken off their 'close friendship' recently.

2) He admitted he had a romantic relationship with Chandra and that it was still going on when she disappeared.

Ok, we know he lied.

Is he lying about their relationship still going on when she disappeared? I can see where he'd want that to be the case so it wouldn't look like they were fighting when she disappeared.

Or did they really break it off recently and he is innocent of her disappearance?

Or did they really break it off recently and is responsible for her disappearance?

-- Anonymous, July 08, 2001

Has anyone submitted any wife beater evidence yet, or uncontrollable temper, or the like?

Isn't it true many girlfriend/wife/murderers end up showing troubled relationship history? Making past threats, and so.

I wouldn't give him the OJ summation just yet without some evidence.

But granted he has motive, and someone who might want to protect his career.

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

I'm with Jen Wade (and dare I say it, Dave Van) on this. Who else had the motive to kill her? And isn't this just sounding like an old story we've all heard before? An older politician is screwing the young'un and decides to rid himself of her*? The only thing that would surprise me about this case is if they really did prove him innocent.

*But then again, I think all politicians at the higher levels of government are total lying scumbags, so this seems entirely in character to me.

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

Yeeah, I've got to jump on the Van-Wade bandwagon. Condit's the guy with a motive to kill Levy. I understand it could be a randmo psycho thing, but it also could bean alien abduction. Which possibility do you spend public money researching. Oh, right -- he's a Congressman. Better get out the cadaver-sniffing (lovely term) dogs and dredge the Panama Canal. Then you can ask Rep. Condit what he's been up to. SNAFU.

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

Nice proofreading, huh?

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

Levy called her aunt a short while (maybe a day) before she disappeared. She had "important news" but didn't say what; she didn't sound upset. Perhaps she was pregnant, and perhaps she hadn't told Condit yet -- which is why she wasn't upset yet; this is a woman who was deluded enough to believe she could keep this relationship secret for five years and then marry Condit and have his children.

I find it very hard to believe Condit would have her killed, but I bet the police are very interested in knowing every little thing he did in the 24 hours before Levy disappeared. Perhaps Condit was stupid enough to use his cell phone to call a "cleaner"...

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

I keep going back to the 'big news' thing too, and have wondered if it was a pregnancy (which makes it that much more necessary to keep the body from being found).

I wish this whole thing weren't so much like a movie plot, because it's almost impossible not to think in those terms - in which case the perfect 'twist' would be that she was pregnant, pointing directly at Condit, but it turns out that he never even heard about that part and it was his wife or one of his staffers (or an alien abduction) that caused her disappearance, but he got stuck for it in a case of incredible bad timing. heh.

Maybe someone just paid her to disappear?

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

unfortunately, I have a bad feeling about the whole thing. there is something I read in the washington post that sticks in my mind and won't let go. the post reports her landlord saying that she was thinking of breaking her lease to move in with her boyfriend. it also states that she told her aunt her boyfriend was the congressman.

did she really think that she was going to move in with a married man? did the relationship get out of control? did someone start getting nervous? or jealous? like I said, I've got a bad feeling...

beth, since I work in dc, I'll let you know of any random glass breaking...

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

I'm not sure of all the dates, but hasn't it been reported that his wife made a highly unusual visit to DC right around this time? What if the congressman is guilty of the affair, guilty of lying about it...but that it was the wife who Did the Deed?

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

there was an interesting explanation on one of the various radio shows about why he's not yet a "suspect" - which was that once they name him as a suspect, they have to formally read him his rights, etc. and while they're still just hanging out and chatting, they can feel free to catch him in his various statements, etc. admittedly, this doesn't sound quite right to me - the guy has his lawyer next to him at all times anyway, but it is interesting in a formal sense.

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

That's not true. They don't have to read him his rights until he's formally charged. Any investigation can have several people who are considered suspects, meaning that the investiagtors think they might have done it. It's once you move from suspect to defendant that you get the Miranda treatment.

However, if they publicly said he is a suspect, then he might become more guarded and cautious. He's obviously being guarded and cautious anyway, but I can understand them not wanting to make him feel at ease and hope he'll let some clue or other slip, even though it's not likely he will.

I've changed my opinion somewhat since I first posted in this thread. I now do think it's possible that he and/or his wife had something to do with it, and mostly because it's true that a random street thug wouldn't have any great reason or ability to hide the body so thoroughly that it wouldn't turn up in weeks.

It is possible that she was kidnapped by some sexual predator, who might want to thoroughly hide the body to cover up forensic evidence (and who might have driven her across five or six states before doing so.) And it's possible she was paid to disappear, although I'm skeptical that she could avoid the temptation to contact her family or a friend.

Unless the body turns up or there's a confession, I don't know that we'll see a murder prosecution. One thing that's bothering me about all this is that at the heart of it, the case is of a young woman who has disappeared. All of the political intrigue is secondary to that, but it's what's taken center stage.



-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

Scratch the "not" in paragraph two of the above.

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

. They don't have to read him his rights until he's formally charged.

Not exactly. They don't have to read him his rights until they conduct a custodial interrogation. That often happens before you're formally arrested, let alone charged.

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

That's true ... thanks for the clarification, I knew that but had forgotten it.

-- Anonymous, July 09, 2001

I believe he's not a 'suspect' yet because it is still a missing person, not murder, investigation.

For the most part, I think that Condit didn't have anything to do with her disappearance. But I am certainly becoming more suspicious. His handling of this has been so atrocious that it seems like there must be something major he is hiding.

At least Condit's getting his due. He was one of the most outspoken Clinton-bashing Democrats during the Lewinsky to-do. It astonishes me that he could be so righteous about someone else's affair when he's doing the same thing.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Chandra made the mistake of picking the week Condit's wife was in town to tell him she was pregnant and wanted to move in with him. I'd bet his previous affairs were with older, more experienced ladies and the impact of his "in love" young woman threw him into a panic. He may have killed her in a fit of rage or accidentally, but he killed her quickly, weighed her body with some sort of a heavy object and she's in water. I suspect that the cadaver dogs would have more success in a boat than they will have in the landfills.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Dad, you seem to have a pretty specific theory here ... is that just the homicide investigator in you talking, or is there something Mom ought to know?

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

(For what it's worth: family minds think alike, and my suspicions are very close to yours, Dad.)

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

The alternative but similar question is - was this one of those "Ok, I'll tell my wife I'm leaving her next time I see her", and Chandra THOUGHT there was good reason to think she was moving in that weekend - also explaining the upcoming 'big news'. And then either he chickened out and they argued (with her winding up dead), or the wife decided not to just meekly say 'okay, dear' when she was told and SHE took out the mistress?

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Who needs landfills when you've got the Potomac, Anacostia, and the bay all within a short drive?

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Or -- and I confess that this is my favorite speculation even if I don't believe it -- Chandra, her mom, the flight attendant and his wife are all teaching him one huge ol' lesson, and she's down in the Bahamas watching this play out on the news and laughing her ass off while they slowly tighten the screws and watch him twist in the wind.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Lynda, that sounds like it could be the plot of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels II.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Or Ruthless People 2.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Searching his apartment, taking DNA samples, mean nothing. They may find the DNA of a dozen or more flight attendants etc but it's meaningless. She wasn't killed there. His wife was there when his beeper went off and he responded to Chandra's call. She ran out to the car leaving everything inside because she knew him and only expected to be gone for a couple of minutes. They were driving around when she broke the news....He pulled over, they argued, she screamed and cried when she realized his commitment came up somewhat short. In a fit of anger, frustration and rage he asphixiated her or broke her neck.

The search warrant for his car would be more meaningful. Talk to his service people, find out what heavy stuff he kept in the car, chains, bowling ball etc. Then see what's missing or has been replaced.

Interview his wife, neighbors, check his cell phone, beeper records for calls that night. See when he left, when he returned, then do a time line and see what bodies of water he could have been in range of during that time period and check them with cadaver dogs. She's in the water and she's weighed down.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Beth, when I finally off Megan, keep your dad occupied. Conversely, if Megan happens to off me first, my estate will pay for his ticket here.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Heh. Yeah. I'm creeped out that his theory sounds so damn plausible. I'm calling my mom right now ...

(For anyone who's confused, that's my dad, and he was a homicide investigator for upwards of 25 years.)

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Wow, Mr. Campbell, you should have your own detective show.

Can cadaver dogs really smell bodies underwater?

Do you think in the dog world, seeing eye dogs look down on cadaver dogs for having such a gross job?

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Cadaver dogs are pretty damn amazing.

I think search and rescue dogs pretty much look down on all other kinds of dogs, including seeing eye dogs. They're like superheroes.

-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

You mean there are canine cliques?

They're searching his apartment right now, btw ... pretty pointless now when he's had weeks to get rid of anything incriminating, and plus I think your dad's theory makes tons of sense.

However, the bodies of water he'd have been able to reach in any reasonable amount of time by car are also accessible (as far as I know) only from roadways that are pretty heavily traveled even late at night. That's the only weakness I can see, that he'd take a heavy risk of being seen dumping the body even if it were 1 or 2 a.m.



-- Anonymous, July 10, 2001

Bloodhounds are cute.

I had a friend who did search and rescue in the Allegheny Forest, and she was my hero. So I guess that makes sense.

Of course, if you're talking Cadaver dogs that probably don't do much rescuing.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

This story is getting play even in England. I was looking at something else and found the story in This Is London, of all places. (I hadn't heard that six women were alleging that they had affairs with Condit in any US media. And now the flight attendant's attorney is alleging that she found clues that Levy and Condit were into seriously kinky sex.)

Condit's new spokeswoman is trying to push the idea that he's entitled keep his private life private, but it seems to me that you can't hold that position when keeping your private life private may have actively interfered with a police investigation.

It would be interesting if Levy were voluntarily off somewhere, jacking him up because of something he did or didn't do or say. Unfortunately, she could never come out of hiding; I suspect there'd be all sorts of federal charges against her for not stepping forward to stop the investigation when it started.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

The other thing from that UK story is the 3/4 length shot of Levy. I had seen the same picture again and again, but always cropped like a high school yearbook photo. Turns out the girl wasn't chubby like I thought.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Oh cool, maybe I get to say I told you so eventually. (well probably not)

But anyway, the news report just said Condit has agreed to a lie detector test and DNA samples.

Because despite the likelihood of him doing it, I still haven't heard any evidence point to "past history" of being an abusive boyfriend, making threats, etc. (see earlier post)

Sure he's not totally honest (that would be no new news for politicians)

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

Damn instant news wasn't right about the LD test. Conditions haven't been agreed to, as yet.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

I think it's probably telling that the police didn't say anything after searching the apartment. Seems like if they'd found nothing, they would have said so. But it appears they found at least some things they want to examine more closely.

An interesting observation on the news coverage ... while the story has been covered ad nauseum in many newspapers and television networks, the CBS Evening News has said nothing about it, and the ABC Evening News has reported on it only once ... or at least as of the date of the above article, two days ago.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

I caught something briefly on tv tonight, and it was that Walsh guy from America's Most Wanted, saying they were going to run the story, but with the theory that she is the third victim of a serial killer, as she is the 3rd intern to disappear, and all of the victims they link are petite brunette interns.

Creepy.

-- Anonymous, July 11, 2001

I'm surprised no one posed the solution I've heard most: she was depressed and committed suicide; she was still lucid, so she did it in a way that would make it undetectable; hence, the ex lover will always be under a cloud. Seems so obvious (especially when I don't know anything about the case except my own and others' speculation.)

c

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

The police are saying they've mostly ruled out suicide (it was high on their probability list earlier) due to no body having been found - apparently, that's very difficult to pull off in a suicide.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

Yeah, the only way I can think of to hide your own body would be jumping off a bridge or something, while wearing an anchor of some sort. Very hard not to be seen, I'd think.

Besides, that scenario doesn't ring true for what we know of her state of mind. I think she would have left a note.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

Maybe she fell down an elevator shaft... onto some bullets.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

it seems to me that a pregnancy is the most likely angle. I have a feeling that ms. levy had never had a "real" relationship before, which makes condit's indiscretion all the more disgusting and manipulative. if she were all wrapped up in the intrigue of carefully catching cabs and whatnot, it's obvious that she would see the pregnancy as some kind of bonding, or mark of their love, and if she revealed this to condit, it seems likely he wouldn't agree.

what if chandra told him she was pregnant, he freaked out on her, and she committed suicide in front of him? maybe it's unlikely, but he might be driven to hide her body even if he didn't kill her to avoid the ensuing scandal and/or suspicion of murder.

also - the reason he's not a "suspect" is that there can't be one in a missing persons case. I'm sure that the minute the nature of the case changes, there will be only one name on the short list. so to speak.

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

Are interns this vulnerable as a rule? How many congressmen and politicos take interns as a perc? (Wasn't it a few years back that Barney Frank's intern or boyfriend or something was running a prostitution ring with interns? Oh boy, am I gonna get corrected on that one, but there was SOMETHING going on that involved sex and interns.)

I guess my question is -- how isolated do you think this is?

And how crazy did Condit have to be? In light of the Lewinsky mess, and everybody agreeing that Clinton's biggest mistake was getting involved with a young girl who would "fall in love" with him -- how crazy did Condit have to be?

As for my theory -- well, has antbody dragged the Chappaquiddick? (spelling wrong, I know)

And I'm like whomever asked first -- can cadaver dogs smell bodies that are in the water? How deep?

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

A friend of mine has a great theory:

She got pregnant, told Condit, and he said "oh my god, that can't happen. here's some money, you have to go have a quiet abortion."

She was surprised and furious that he wanted her to have an abortion. She took the money but instead of getting the abortion, went someplace far away and is hiding, watching him squirm.

That doesn't explain why she'd upset her parents by doing this, and probably wouldn't work because now everybody in America is looking for her. but it's a fun theory, isn't it?

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

Jeez louise, is there anyone he DIDN'T sleep with?

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

In an effort to answer my own question, I found the following, which evidently didn't involve interns at all:

Frank's case was the last time the House attempted to censure a member for bad behavior. It was 1990, and he ended up being reprimanded, a lesser punishment, for improperly using his congressional office to aid an acquaintance, male prostitute Stephen L. Gobie.

Frank, who once had paid Gobie for sex and later hired him as a personal assistant, fixed parking tickets, some accumulated by Gobie, and wrote a misleading memo for Gobie. Frank, who revealed his homosexuality in 1987, said he had been trying to reform Gobie. (The only other acknowledged homosexual in Congress is Rep. Jim Kolbe, R- Ariz.)

-- Anonymous, July 12, 2001

Condit has passed a polygraph administered by his attorney's polygraph operator. Over a period of nearly thirty years I watched two "highly qualified" polygraph operators in the same office disagree with each other's results more than fifty percent of the time. It borders on witchcraft and other than its use as a manipulative tool of an investigator, the results of a polygraph are meaningless. The courts, in their wisdom, do not recognize polygraph examinations.

An afternoon radio talk show on Thursday spent a great deal of time examining a possible Hells Angel connection to Condit and discussing witnesses who have been threatened and are in hiding. Apparently, the connection to the Angels originated in the first interview of the flight attendant by the FBI. Condit is said to have told her he was attending a birthday party for a cop killer Hells Angel. If so, this seems strange since he has a brother who is, or was, a high ranking Central Valley police officer. The threats apparently extend from a former eighteen year old lover to the mayor of Modesto. If 1/10th of this is true it's pretty weird.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

I have to admit Condit's lawyer is making all the right noises. That's what he is paid to do, though, so it has to be taken with a grain of salt or two.

I thought this whole polygraph thing was going to end with the lawyer and police unable to come to terms. You know, something like, "Condit wanted to submit to a polygraph test but police were being unreasonable."

So he had the test. However, going by current reports it looks like this polygraph test was nothing more than a stunt. As usual, what is not being said is likely more important that what is being said. Conspicuously absent are reports of police involvement. Unless police experts were allowed to witness the test and review the results it has absolutely no teeth whatsoever.

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

Exactly as I suspected. This from Salon:

Assistant Police Chief Terrance Gainer called the test "self- serving." He said the lawyer, Abbe Lowell, had not worked with police to come up with questions and agree on an expert to administer the test.

It's just grandstanding.

In my mind, it just makes Condit look more guilty. If he's going to take the test, why not take it with police?

-- Anonymous, July 13, 2001

I saw Abbe Lowell's press conference on C-Span, and he insisted there had been no negoiating with the DC Police, "no back-and-forth." The polygraph test was valid, he said, because they hired "the person who trains other FBI agents on how to administer it." And he implied, without actually saying, that the proper baseline questions had been asked, and said they would be releasing all of the readings and data to the police.

He also spent a lot of time scolding the reporters present and the media in general and urging them to focus on the "untold numbers of other people who might really have a lead."

-- Anonymous, July 14, 2001

My theory took a major broadside this morning when the DC police chief told Wolf Blitzer that Condit doesn't have a car in DC but uses a staffer's car. The chief wouldn't answer Blitzer's questions about searching that vehicle.

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2001

My alternate theory is that she was pregnant and in love with him (as she had talked about marrying him in five years) ... she talked to him after finding out she was pregnant, and he made it clear she was just one in a long line of flings for him and would never be anything more -- older man, vulnerable, much younger woman with stars in her eyes easily taken advantage of, it's an old story and seems consistent with more recent revelations -- and she committed suicide in despair.

Of course, the complete absence of a body or any clues pointing to one is a major hole in that line of thought. The alternate to the alternate would be that she was too ashamed to tell her parents she was pregnant by him, and chose not to have an abortion, and simply went into hiding until she has the baby. But now given the amount of attention that the case is attracting and the worry she's putting her parents through, I think she'd have made contact.

The alternate to the alternate's alternate is a variation on something LyndaB said a few days ago ... maybe she's enjoying watching him twist. And maybe her parents do know where she is, although they'll all be in some serious trouble if they know and aren't telling and anyone finds out.

But apparently she never made a reservation to come home, and was evasive when her mother tried to find out when to expect her home.



-- Anonymous, July 15, 2001

Have you seen the composite photos that police have released? They're pretty funny. MSNBC.

"Hey Nancy, where's Sluggo?"

-- Anonymous, July 15, 2001

Hey, can one of you legal beagles answer this question? A few months back, a Peace Corps volunteer went missing in Bolivia (still has not been found), and the FBI was brought in. Official PC news releases quote the acting head of the PC as saying that because this was a missing person case, with no evidence of foul play, the volunteer's e-mail account could not be accessed. Yet I just read that police determined Levy's last web surfing pages. Did this involve simply accessing her laptop computer and checking the cache, or did they actually get into her account, and if so, why were they allowed to do so?

Also, does anyone know whether Levy had a passport, whether it was found, and whether she had any connection to foreign countries (i.e. had done a junior year abroad)?

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2001

Good god! I think you go to hell for making such things! If I didn't know better, I'd have thought them an obvious hoax attempt.

Do me a favor, if I ever turn up missing, for the love of God, DON'T do such nonsense to my photo. Find me, don't find me - fine. Just don't put those poodle weird hair-dos on my photo. You'd have to be dead to do that to your hair.

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2001

Back-alley abortion (against her will) gone awry? It's so crazy at this point, we could just practice writing suspense-novel-endings and eventually hit on something. Once he lured her to the car, he drugged her and took her to someone. And after the tragic complications, they disposed of the body because it was an illegal operation to start with? Or somehow got her a pauper's burial because she had no ID and whoever brought her had disappeared?

Sorry, I know I'm being, uh, "flip, young lady" as the momfish used to say.

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2001

I tend to go along with the serial or random killer scenario. She is not the first young professional woman to disappear from that part of town and never be heard from again. It's not been that long since the last victim's body turned up in the Anacostia and that's never been solved. She just never showed up to meet a family member.

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2001

Something I heard within the last couple of days that seems to point to Condit is that apparently he would tell her to leave her ID behind when coming to visit him (which sounds creepy to begin with). The only thing missing from her apartment was her keys. Doesn't it look an awful lot like she left to go see him? Or was she just in the habit of leaving her wallet behind? C'mon.

-- Anonymous, July 16, 2001

Re the lie detector:

Talking Points Memo, a blog by political journalist Joshua Micah Marshall, has a number of comments (spread out through this week's postings) on that lie-detector test. In brief, Barry Colvert, the guy who administered the test, also administered the lie-detector tests that cleared Ron Carey, a Teamsters leader caught in a financial scandal -- and despite the clean polygraph, Carey was later indicted. Whoops. Colvert may have also passed Aldrich Ames, Russia's man within the CIA. Oh, and as late as Sunday, Condit's lawyers had not yet passed the complete lie-detector test results along to the DC police.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

I think the most likely scenario is that she was either the victim of a stalker or a random violent crime (although that's much less likely - SOME evidence is usually found after an unplanned murder) and what's left of her body (at this point) is either at the bottom of a very deep body of water or concealed in a very remote area of unused land - neither of which are necessarily in the DC area.

People go missing all the time for no apparant reason. Unidentified bodies turn up all the time. The political angle and the amount of media coverage are the only things that makes the Chandra Levy case different from hundreds of unsolved missing persons cases here in the US.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

Yeah, but most of the people who go missing do so because of someone they knew.

-- Anonymous, July 17, 2001

Have you guys seen this?

Apparently Condit had an affair with an ABC producer, and he lied about a meeting with that producer in the timeline he gave police. Very odd.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

And more on this here. This looks pretty bad, actually.

-- Anonymous, July 18, 2001

earlier this week on the DC news they mentioned that the police were going to release a list of the web sites that chandra visited the day she went missing. has anyone seen this list? I've checked the Post, and nothing. on the news they keep referring to sites relating to condit's different committees.

beth, since I work in dc, I'll let you know of any random glass breaking...

a freaky thing happened the other night. I had gone out to dinner with my husband. we were discussing some of the theories posted on this forum. all the sudden we heard a big crash. a waiter had dropped a whole tray of plates and glasses... then I told him about your pie plate entry. I have to admit, it was a bit spooky.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

Ack! I hope that doesn't mean Condit's coming after one of us next!

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be interns....

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

I asked Jeremy if he thought I'd make a good intern, and he wasn't sure, but he did offer to help me prepare for my interview. And buy me my presidential kneepads.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

Oh. My dad reads this topic. He was just kidding.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

Dude, you are SO grounded.

-- Anonymous, July 19, 2001

Just to be sure the muddle is up-to-date, it seems that Condit's time on the day Chandra Levy disappeared has been accounted for, and that the preacher's daughter who had an affair with Condit maybe didn't have an affair with Condit after all. The latest.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2001

OT: doesn't MSNBC have copy editors? From that link:

Investigators had stepped up there efforts to find him in light of the scrutiny of his brother.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2001

It's also dated for tomorrow, but I let it go.

-- Anonymous, July 21, 2001

The police released a partial list of website Levy visited the day she disappeared. They included Southwest airlines, another travel- related site I can't think of, and a site about traveling in France. Maybe she just took off and wants to be left alone for what ever reason.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2001

Taxi driver or not, I think there is some merit in the serial killer theory. There have been two other young women murdered in DC in the last couple of years who were similar in age and appearance to Levy. Of course the police won't admit it if they are exploring that angle, but it doesn't seem implausible that a serial killer — one careful not to indulge too often — could be at work here, and the whole connection to Condit just an unfortunate coincidence. (I know I read about this just in the last day or two, but I can't find the source now. You'll just have to trust me.)

I'm not sure how important the Web site about travel in France is. She was supposed to be making plans to travel back home to Modesto, so the vists to Southwest Airlines and AmTrak make sense. I really doubt that she would disappear of her own accord, knowing how much turmoil is going on, and not let somebody know she was safe.

For reference, the list of sites she visited that investigators are releasing is here.

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2001

This is funny - I only found out about this case a week or so ago, and that was through watching a US station. I guess that in Canada, it's mainly been ignored -- everyone is too busy moaning about how Toronto "lost" the Olympics.

I think it is likely that she perhaps was taken by a serial killer - the pattern with the other interns is interesting. I guess I'll hover around here and see what new things come up, as you all seem to have direct line into the action!

-- Anonymous, July 22, 2001

S.O .C.

Summer of Chandra. More than you could ever possibly want to know. Interesting viewpoints from DC residents.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001

Cory - add a part abou the Taxi Driver saying that someday a real rain will come and wash all this filth away, and I'm sold.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001

I'm most inclined to buy into the serial killer theory, too.

But I couldn't resist sharing this crap that came through email today.

CONGRESSMAN GARY CONDIT: GAYS, BISEXUALS AND MURDER By: John LeBoutillier

Editor's note: The following article appeared Friday, July 13, 2001 on NewsMax.com. After being a headliner for most of the day, the article was mysteriously pulled without explanation. For the benefit of our readers who have inquired on this matter, here is the article in its entirety. ----- Yesterday I spoke to "RJ” – an inside-the-Beltway source who, over the years, has never steered me wrong. RJ said, "John, do you know the true story of Gary Condit?” RJ continued then proceeeded to outline a scenario for what happened in this case:"Condit has been known inside the gay community here in DC for being a big, big user of gay male prostitutes – especially blacks from the Caribbean who ride motorcycles and love to wear black leather. "Condit lives in Adams Morgan – a terrible commute to and from the Hill – and it is a notorious neighborhood for gays and bisexuals. "Now, here is the dirty little secret behind the disappearance of Chandra Levy: Condit goes both ways. He likes to get sodomized by male prostitutes before having sex with women. The gay sex turns him on and he can then "perform” with women. "Condit had one particular Caribbean male prostitute that he frequented. When it was determined that Chandra had to go, this guy was given the assignment. He picked her up on his motorcycle, took off some where, killed her, and dumped her body. Then, on orders from Condit and with money from Condit, he headed back to Haiti or wherever he came from – far, far away from investigators and the Feds.” The media has heard all of this - but has yet to report it. The other night, both Michael Issikoff of Newsweek and Tom Squitieri of USA TODAY referred to "dark aspects of this story that we can’t report yet.” Other media players are aware of all of this – and more: apparently Condit liked three-ways and even four-ways with himself, the male gay prostitute and two women. Some of his girlfriends obviously knew of this over the years; some participated in the three-way sex. This explains his absolute paranoia over any of the girls ever talking about their relationships with him. And it explains the fear we are now hearing about from not just the flight attendant, Anne Marie Smith, but others, too. This also explains why Abbe Lowell only wants one or two questions asked on the lie detector, such as, "Do you know what happened to Chandra?” Condit probably does not know - on purpose - what the gay male prostitute did with her – so he might very well successfully pass that question on a lie detector test. No wonder Lowell doesn’t want wide-ranging questions. All of this horrible mess would soon be revealed and confirmed. As for Chandra leaving her apartment with only her keys? As RJ put it, "Perhaps the only time a woman would leave her purse behind would be to ride on the back of a motorcycle.” Now, the big questions are these: 1) Is the FBI honestly investigating this absolutely perverted behavior and this scenario? 2) Do the Feds have the guts to pursue such a sick scenario? 3) Does the media – many of who already know much of this – report it – and expose this sick bisexual and gay behavior? Recently the Mainstream Media loves to portray gay victims of violent crime but often ignores gay perpetrators of violent crime. Will the media put aside their Politically Correct view of bi-sexualism and prostitution and tell the truth here? 4) Will the Feds track down this gay male black prostitute – or multiple gay prostitutes – who have had dealings with Condit? If RJ’s scenario if accurate then poor Chandra – and other Condit girlfriends – have fallen into the sickest group of perverts imaginable. No wonder Condit, representing a conservative district, went bananas every time one of his girlfriends talked. Buckle your seatbelts: things are going to explode soon. John LeBoutillier is a former U.S. Congressman and a nationally recognized political commentator. He has been a frequent guest on many national talk show programs, including the Today show, ABC's 20/20, Nightline and CNN's Crossfire.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001

Well, thank fucking god. At long last the press is taking on the murderess sickness of bisexuality and orgies. I know that *I* certainly stopped killing people when I stopped having three-ways.

What a find, pooks. I love the internet.

-- Anonymous, July 23, 2001

"What a find, pooks. I love the internet."

The embarrassing part is that I have the kind of friends (some of whom) would find that credible enough to forward. To ME.

-- Anonymous, July 25, 2001

Just a note on that editorial you linked: dude has obviously never been to "comfortable Modesto." Sure, there are a few nice streets and decent people, but the Central Valley isn't generally known for its lawyer and doctor filled suburbs, winding streets with fathers and girls who give a flying fuck about their reputations. I really hope that guy has a seriously wayward granddaughter.

-- Anonymous, July 26, 2001