Remains Found in DC Could Be Levy's -

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Remains Found in DC Could Be Levy's

05/22/2002 2:14 PM EDT, By MARK SHERMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) - A skull and other human bones were found in a park early Wednesday and police are trying to determine whether they are the remains of Chandra Levy, the 24-year-old former intern who disappeared more than a year ago.

"The possibility exists that it's a female based on some preliminary work," Terrance W. Gainer, Washington's deputy police chief, said in a telephone interview from Rock Creek Park. "They have been here for some time."

Gainer said he has no idea whether the remains are those of Levy, but said the park has been an area police have searched extensively for Levy's body. The former U.S. Bureau of Prisons intern disappeared May 1, 2001.

Levy's case drew national attention because of her connections to Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif. Condit reportedly told police that he and Levy, of Modesto, Calif., were having an affair. Condit has denied any role in her disappearance and police have said he is not a suspect.

Condit, who acknowledged a phone conversation with Levy two days before she disappeared, may have been one of the last people to talk to or see Levy. The congressman lost his re-election bid in the Democratic primary in March.

Dr. Robert and Susan Levy met with police when they were in Washington to mark the first year anniversary of their daughter's disappearance. At the time, police told them they had no new leads in the investigation, which remains a missing person case.

Someone walking a dog found the remains around 9:30 a.m., Officer Kelly McMurray, a police spokeswoman, said.

Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey said the remains were found in more than one location in a heavily wooded area of the sprawling park.

Gainer said the medical examiner has been called to the scene and dogs that search for human remains also are being used.

Police searched the park repeatedly in the first few months after Levy disappeared. Her apartment was not far from the park and she often exercised there.

Investigators also found that Levy looked up a Web site for the park's Klingle Mansion on the day she disappeared. The mansion is about a mile south of where the bones were found Wednesday, Gainer said.

[from AP]

-- Anonymous, May 22, 2002

Answers

I'm just about convinced (lacking strong evidence to the contrary) that the body was placed there AFTER all the searching had been done. I just don't see how a search dog could have missed it--you know how good they are. If I'm right, then it means the killer has a very sick sense of humor. Condit doesn't seem to have any humor at all so I have to suppose it very well could be one of his friends-- and not the one who was rumored to have done it and returned to his native Haiti right after the murder.

Where was the body kept in the meantime? I'd guess the traditional freezer. Don't know if forensics could tell that after all this time and the almost complete decomposition of the body. Still, as they say, in the Atlanta murder, even thought the bodies were found in the river, heavily decomposed, there were microscopic fibers and hairs still on the body which helped them convict that guy. If you've read Patricia Cornwell's The Body Farm, then you know how wonderful the forensics people are.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2002


If the body was kept elsewhere the forensics tests will show that.

Tests will definitely show if it has been frozen, but the decomposition of the body would indicate otherwise.

One must remember the season in which they did the search; also the terrain of the area. If it is rough, with lots of ravines and such, it is possible for even the dogs to miss the body.

-- Anonymous, May 25, 2002


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