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Levy Family Still Hoping For Answers

 
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maryland missing



Joined: 08 Sep 2003
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Location: near Frederick

PostPosted: Sun May 01, 2005 8:14 am    Post subject: Levy Family Still Hoping For Answers Reply with quote

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/30/AR2005043000784.html
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propria



Joined: 20 Sep 2002
Posts: 630
Location: northern illinois

PostPosted: Tue May 03, 2005 2:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

thanks so much for that link ... the story is not terribly long, so i'm going to post it here for the convenience of those who might not take the time to open the link.

**********
By Petula Dvorak and Allan Lengel
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, May 1, 2005; Page A07

Susan Levy is about to get back some of her daughter's belongings from police, small tokens from the young woman's life. But what she really wants are answers to a puzzle that police have yet to solve: Who killed Chandra Levy?

"In my case, every time there is someone missing, or a murder, I remember. I relive the trauma. It doesn't go away," she said during a telephone interview from her home in Modesto, Calif.

Four years ago today, federal intern Chandra Levy visited several Web sites, including those for Rock Creek Park, Baskin Robbins ice cream and Amtrak. Dressed in workout clothes, she then left her Northwest Washington apartment for the last time.

The 24-year-old's skeletal remains were found in Rock Creek Park by a man searching for turtles on May 22, 2002. Her leggings were knotted at the bottom of both ends, pointing to a possible sexual assault.

The mystery attracted international attention amid revelations that Levy was having an affair with her hometown congressman, Gary A. Condit (D-Calif.), who authorities say is not a suspect. Condit, who later lost a bid for reelection, has said he knows nothing about Levy's disappearance or death. He divides his time between California and Arizona, where he owns several ice cream parlors.

There have been few public signs of activity by FBI and police investigators assigned to the Levy case. It is classified as a "cold case" by D.C. police, but authorities said their investigation is ongoing. They are continuing to look at sexual offenders and other possible suspects, according to law enforcement sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.

Condit's former bodyguard, Vince Flammini, who was interviewed by FBI investigators in the past year, said: "They showed me a picture of a guy I'd never seen before and asked me if I've ever seen this guy around Gary [Condit]. I couldn't help them. I didn't know the guy."

Steve Mandell, an attorney representing the Levy family, said relatives are planning to launch a Web site in about a month to create a depository for new tips in the case. [is it just me, or does this look like the answer to a lot of prayers here???]

Mandell met recently with an FBI agent and an assistant U.S. attorney to discuss the case and retrieve some of Levy's possessions that had sentimental value to the family but were no longer needed in the investigation. He plans to return them to the family when he meets with the Levys this month.

"The case continues to be pursued," Mandell said. "I do feel that we're going to keep at it until it is resolved."

Condit and his wife, Carolyn, have settled three libel lawsuits filed against news organizations that they claimed defamed them while pursuing the story. The settlements came from suits against the National Enquirer and other supermarket tabloids and Vanity Fair columnist Dominick Dunne. The terms have not been disclosed.

Condit's attorney, L. Lin Wood, said the settlements provided Condit with "some sense of vindication." Wood said the former congressman will be cleared for good in the public's eye once the killer is captured.

An arrest is what Susan Levy hopes for every day. "I will never give up hope," she said.

Staff researcher Bobbye Pratt contributed to this report.
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MrRich



Joined: 26 Aug 2003
Posts: 52
Location: Tulsa, Ok

PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2005 2:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Steve Mandell, an attorney representing the Levy family, said relatives are planning to launch a Web site in about a month to create a depository for new tips in the case. [is it just me, or does this look like the answer to a lot of prayers here???]


It's probably just you. Tips can always be phoned or emailed into the DC police or any one of numerous existing websites. I think this website is simply being created and announced to keep Chandra's name in the spotlight. Highly unlikely that a new webiste would produce anything substantive IMO.

-Rich
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propria



Joined: 20 Sep 2002
Posts: 630
Location: northern illinois

PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2005 2:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

>>> I think this website is simply being created and announced to keep Chandra's name in the spotlight. <<<


that's what i think, too ... and that's what i consider an answer to our prayers. nobody here is looking for a miracle that suddenly fixes everything that is wrong with this case ... and that most assuredly would require a miracle, indeed ... we're simply hoping and praying that somebody somewhere will just keep on keepin' on until chandra's death is fully investigated and her murderer brought to justice.


nanci
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peripeteia



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
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Location: Nova Scotia

PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2005 7:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Rich:

Considering the way that the police have handled this case which is very poor, I think that the Levees are very wise to continue their own investigation no matter what method they employ. It can do little harm and I'm sure that they do not mind the expense. Nothing ventured, nothing gained....
kate
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benn



Joined: 19 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Wed May 04, 2005 11:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hello anyone,

There is an advantage in having more than one location receiving information. One location might treat the information a little differently from another location. If you have good information and no one knows what to do with the information then maybe that is the time to find another location to report to.

benn
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benn



Joined: 19 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Thu May 05, 2005 7:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

http://slate.msn.com/id/2073111/

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flatfoot An NYPD detective's eye on crime.

The Tipping Point
An NYPD detective on the wonders—and hassles—of public tip lines.
By Lucas Miller
Posted Thursday, Oct. 24, 2002, at 2:49 PM PT

The resolution of the sniper case seems like a triumph for law enforcement tip lines: Thanks, in part, to the hotline the FBI set up to accept tips from the public on the whereabouts and identity of the Washington snipers, the police now have two promising suspects in custody. But tip lines can be a hard-to-manage business, and this case highlights their difficulties as well as their merits.

For one thing, these lines generally accept—and often depend on—anonymous tips. The most credible and useful leads are usually the ones backed up by a name: Not only can you assess the credibility of your tipster, but if you think of a new question for him at 5 a.m., you can call and ask for details. But beggars can't be choosers: Anonymous information is better than none at all, of course, and with a case as mysterious, frustrating, and deadly as the sniper one, law enforcement needs every bit of information it can get.

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What makes anonymous information a little more valuable is that the law allows some leeway in how police can use it. If I get a call from a husky voice telling me that you are the killer, I cannot simply arrest you and then testify at your trial that Deep Throat told me you did it. But I can spend some more time following you, ask you questions, and get my boss to OK the overtime so I can go through your trash. Or so I can look for your car in Maryland rest-area parking lots.

How an agency sets up tip lines differs from organization to organization and incident to incident, but there is a nonprofit group called Crime Stoppers International that will set one up according to local established guidelines. Normally, phone calls come into a central location and are answered by agents or cops. The operator will ask if the caller wants to leave a name and number and if he will speak to investigators if they have more questions. If not, the operator will simply take whatever information the caller wishes to give. Then local investigators will examine the tip to see if it is worth passing along. Crime Stoppers assures its tipsters that their calls will not be traced, and the organization frequently offers rewards for information. Money can even be awarded anonymously by using a serial number Crime Stoppers gives to callers. These serial numbers are unique and can be used again and again—in fact, when a cop is trying to obtain a search warrant, it helps to tell the judge that Tipster No. 2,478 has proved reliable in the past.

When the FBI sets up a hot line, it generally uses brand new agents still assigned to the FBI academy in Quantico, Va. But necessity may require improvisation. In the sniper case, local police officers, civilian employees of the FBI, and members of other federal agencies were put on caller duty as well. And no wonder: An FBI spokesman stated that during the investigation, FBI tip lines were getting up to 15,000 calls a day on 75 phone lines.

He did not specify how many tips were valuable or even had been investigated. But this volume is another one of the chief problems with tip lines: A big case will generate an overwhelming number of calls and, hence, an overwhelming number of bad tips.

In the sniper case, wide dissemination of the tip line number was key—essential clues came from as far away as Alabama and Washington state. But as a result, investigators had a staggering number of tips to consider. At this level, a red herring can lead to thousands of misguided calls. Take a look at the Web counterpart to the FBI sniper tip line, which is still requesting clues about a white van—which looks, so far, to be irrelevant to the case. I bet that out of those 15,000 calls a day, 14,000 of them came from paranoid neighbors calling to report the unfortunate owner of a white Dodge Caravan down the block.

And the bigger the volume of calls, the harder it is to process them well. The Washington Post reported that the sniper himself may have called the tip line up to four times without success. Three times he couldn't get through, and once he was disconnected. This lapse has been attributed to the inexperience of the personnel manning the phones. The NYPD attempts to ensure correct assessment of the importance of calls by assigning a member of the investigation's detective squad to the phone center. But one detective can't man every phone, and an officer unfamiliar with a case can easily miss clues that would allow him to recognize a rambling, garbled call as a vital tip or even a confession.

The calls in the sniper case were answered at the FBI's Washington Field Building, and callers often had to wait before they got a live representative on the phone. Senior FBI agents reviewed tips as they came in. Until investigators realized that calls from the sniper might have been missed, the individual operators could disregard a call if they felt it was useless, and the calls were not recorded or equipped with tracing technology. The lines did have caller ID, but it was up to the individual phone operators to jot down the incoming number. Sometimes they did, sometimes they didn't, and sometimes the number was blocked. Only when the FBI realized the probable errors did it institute tracing and recording. It also started to accept and retain all tips, which of course dramatically increased the number of lousy ones. The majority of those tips were sent to the main command post in Montgomery County for distribution to the appropriate region.

A few days ago, Montgomery County Police Chief Charles Moose politely suggested that not all well-intentioned calls were helpful. For example, he explained, tips that "suggest we go to every gun store on the Eastern Seaboard" would probably be disregarded. His unwillingness to refuse any tips except ridiculously broad ones was smart and necessary. The tactic worked, and we can only hope that law enforcement will continue to find similar needles in noisy haystacks.

Lucas Miller is an NYPD detective.

Slate
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An NYPD detective on the cops' best chance to nab the D.C. sniper.
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The 411 on sleazy law-enforcement solicitations.
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benn
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peripeteia



Joined: 22 Sep 2002
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PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2005 5:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I received a reply from the tip site the other day, only two days after I wrote a letter, they said I'd be contacted to arrange a meeting if I had any useful information to offer. I advised that the information sent was useful, lol, and that it would be rather impossible to meet with me on the other side of the continent. It is impressive that a reply was sent and so promptly, considering the thousands of letters that we have collectively sent over the years and how few responses we have received.

Well here is hoping that this site will glean some new information. rd of course reference was made to visit this site and hopefully you might be contacted to offer some assitance in their endevours to seek justice for Chandra.
kate
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