www.justiceforchandra.com

[lynn]

I just joined this site and have been reading some of the posts on Chandra. I also just finished reading Murder On a Horse Trail. A gift from a friend. I was very impressed with this book and thought it was an excellent discriptive of all that had happened. I also felt as if I was right there with the author when he drove to Luray and visited Rock Creek Park.


Before I make any kind of comments about this murder I want to read more of the posts. The ones I have read are very intresting. I also plan on re-reading MOHT as I go over the posted comments.

Just one comment:
I wish the young women planning to go to DC to do the kind of work Chandra did would read Murder on a Horse Trail. Maybe they would be less likely to become involved with someone and be safe.
lynn
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Lynn

[rd]

welcome, lynn, and thanks for the kind words. I hope you have a chance to share your thoughts as you take another look at MHT.

Coming up on five years since Chandra disappeared. Lots of unanswered questions since then.

rd

[rd]

ModBee has a five year remembrance column from Jeff Jardine on Chandra here at http://www.modbee.com/local/v-dp_morning/story/12120162p-12869303c.html

No new information in it, but emotional.

I am seeing a phrase consistently from reporters now. Most are a groupthink bunch so they tend to line up behind politically acceptable phrasing. This phrase is apparently de rigeur now:

Then her remains were discovered in a Washington, D.C., park not far from her apartment.

I welcome any of the reporters latching on to this trendy observation to walk from her apartment to where she was found in Rock Creek Park as I did and tell us how "not far" it is. I doubt any of them who did it would continue to use it.

rd
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ralph@ee.net

[rd]

Here's an interesting first hand report from Michael Doyle, definitely not a groupthink reporter.

rd

from www.modbee.com (fair use)

http://www.modbee.com/local/v-dp_morning/story/12120160p-12869298c.html

'Condit Country' moves to new ZIP code
Family members say they've been hurt by relentless hounding
By MICHAEL DOYLE
BEE WASHINGTON BUREAU
April 30, 2006

PHOENIX — "Condit Country" has a new meaning now.

Once, Gary Condit employed the phrase in his re-election campaigns. It suited the congressman from California's San Joaquin Valley.

Now, while retaining ownership of their home on Acorn Lane in Ceres, Gary and Carolyn Condit have relocated to the Arizona desert.

In April 2003, public records show, the couple paid $238,000 for their four-bedroom, 2,265-square foot home in northern Phoenix. They soon added to the home, which is in Carolyn's name, with the purchase of additional property, including land in Arizona's Coconino County near Flagstaff.

A Bee reporter flew to Phoenix on Monday and showed up, unexpectedly, at the Condits' front door.

Perhaps Gary, who had refused to talk to the Washington, D.C.-based reporter for the past five years, might relent in person.

No such luck.

Gary's mother, Jean, answered the door, and was not happy once the reporter introduced himself. Neither was Gary's father, Adrian, a retired Baptist minister.

Both showed their anguish as they came out of the house and talked on the front porch. They were gracious — hospitable, even — but forthright about the pain they've felt; caused, they said, by the media's relentless hounding of their son.

"It's hurt the whole family," Jean Condit said.

A few minutes later, Condit's wife, Carolyn, opened the front door, and saw the reporter. She looked surprised. Condit's mother advised her to close the door and stay inside. Condit's parents said their son was out of the state. They also wondered why the reporter would want to talk to Condit, and why Condit would ever want to talk to the reporter.

After the 15-minute discussion, the reporter left the house. Shortly after, the family members climbed into a white car with California license plates and left. A man was driving; earlier, he had kept himself out of sight while the reporter was at the Condits' front door. The reporter got the impression it was Condit's son, Chad, who is in business in Arizona with his family.

Later in the day, the reporter headed to a Baskin-Robbins ice cream franchise that the family owns.

At the standard-looking store in a strip mall near an Arizona State University satellite campus, a store worker was listening to Nirvana.

A sign outside advertises the mall's other stores: Hair & Nails, Smoke 'n Stuff and Charley's Place, which is offering a $2 happy hour.

Chad Condit told CNN interviewer Larry King last year that "I scoop from time to time. I scoop and close and mop the floor."

The reporter asked if Chad or Gary Condit were in. The young woman said she didn't know when they would be in; perhaps in the evening, she said, after she left.

Copyright © 2006 The Modesto Bee

[rd]

From this, it sounds like Condit and Cadee are apparently back on Acorn Lane. Is Condit thinking of running for office again, or is it past filing deadlines this year?

rd
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ralph@ee.net

[rd]

lynn wrote by email and wanted me to post this for her:

I finished the book. Darn you described Rock Creek Park so well I actually did feel as if I was right there with you. Excellent job.

It just blew my mind that you actually went to the site where Chandra's remains were found. WOW!!!!! Hey are you also an undercover agent or policeman??????

But most of all what was it about this situation that you got so deeply involved checking it out? I really believe someone had her done away with. But I do not think she was murdered where she was found. I do believe her body was dumped there later and as a matter of fact my personal opinion is that it was dumped at the time of 911 everyone was so involved with that situation that I feel no one was paying any attention on what was really going on at Rock Creek Park.

Do you think it will ever be solved? Do you think Condit is mafia? So many questions and so sorry for her and her parents.

lynn

[gozgals]

RD: Thank you for sharing Lynn's letter with us. I'm glad to get her perspective on your book too, and her feelings on the case.

I must also add I do agree with some of what she pointed out and must say, YOU did, and do an excellent job. I would love to see the media interview you and hear your facts and appreciate the job you have done exploring this case. One day maybe that will occur.

I'm sure you have answered Lynn's questions as you always do in your wonderful fashion.

I, as all of us, wish the Levy family our best, and wish this case had some closure. After 5 years, the pain they feel must be devastating.

I too thank you RD for all you have done. Maybe my memory fails me, and you did answer this, (You probably have), but I too would like to ask you again, what did get you so deeply involved in this case?

Thank you again too Lynn for sharing your thoughts and welcome.

Always

GOZ.

[jane]

Hi Goz - I agree with you, but just want to point out that Dr. Levy says he (and most people in his situation, from what he has noticed) hates the word 'closure'.

[gozgals]

Thank you for reminding me of that Jane. I have heard that before and I'm glad you pointed it out. No-one can ever have closure from such horrific crimes such as the ones that we mention here. I'll have to keep my eye on what I write at times. We sometimes forget how casually the word is thrown around in the media and we pick it up. Closure is not something many get from various incidents in life.

Have a good week and thank you.

Goz

[rd]

It's not closure, but certainly loved ones want to see justice that's a closure of the case, if not of the wounds to the heart.

Thanks for asking about my interest in Chandra's case, lynn and goz. I was just a casual news reader of those extraordinary news stories in June and July of 2001 of a missing intern linked to a Congressman.

I didn't closely follow previous high profile crime cases like JonBenet and OJ, and probably wouldn't have followed Chandra's any closer. But several events in mid-July 2001 changed that.

MSNBC ran a story on the crazy going ons at the now defunct chandralevy.com, with theories about what happened to Chandra getting weirder by the day. I clicked through and found it to be just as advertised.

I registered and started posting. I guess I haven't stopped since.

Then within a day or so the DC police released a list of web sites that Chandra had visited just before she disappeared, and asked for the public's help in making any sense of them as clues to what happened to her.

Being a programmer, it was an irresistable challenge. What was on Chandra's computer, and what clues would they yield to her whereabouts?

At the same time, it was announced Condit was seen throwing a watchbox away in a Virginia public park trashcan, on his way to having his apartment searched by police. And OC Thomas released a statement that he had made up everything about his 18 year old daughter at the time being yet another mistress of Condit, news that had just been reported the previous few days.

I didn't believe his denial then, and I still don't.

The injustices in how the DC police protected a powerful Congressman from being involved in the disappearance of a lowly intern became clearer by the day as people posted information and insight amidst one revelation after another.

The injustices became clearer, but nothing else did. Too many questions to ask to walk away, too many answers to seek. So we asked the questions, and I guess we haven't stopped since.

rd
_________________
ralph@ee.net

[lynn]

Hello,
Thanks GOZ for your comments and also you RD.

I agree with GOZ I wish there would be someway that you could be interviewed and give your opinions on Chandra's case.
My opinion is there are many people out there that would totally agree with you.
I have been reading some of the posts this evening and morning and very intrested in what I am reading.

I guess in signing off it would be have a good day since it is morning.
lynn
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Lynn

[rd]

hi lynn. To the press corp, this is "nothing new". It would take some revelation from someone close to the case to be "something new" to report and, if there were, I'm sure they would be glad to ask some of the good panelists of the past like Ted Williams and Nancy Grace, and insiders like Vince Flammini and Ann Marie Smith, their opinions on it.

In lieu of a revelation, reporting that the DC police and FBI are waiting for someone to call them and confess to Chandra's murder is just not news. The next event up is Garrett's retirement from the FBI in August, and perhaps the state of the cold case will be worth mentioning then.

rd

[benn]

I will just make this comment to any or all. I guess that it is no use to comment anymore here, unless one has a smoking gun in hand or a bleeding murderer.

I guess some of us do think though, and we might even have a new idea once in a while, or an old idea not yet used.

What makes policemen, or other law enforcement agencies perfect? In accounting they have auditors to look at, or look for, the mistakes of others. What prevents law enforcement from doing some auditing of some of their own cases. The police, or FBI, or Sheriff's Department could review some cases from start to finish.

The problem I guess would be that the police auditors might find some mistakes in their own investigations. We all know here some things that the police did wrong on this case, or did not do right. Couldn't they just go back and review their work from start to finish?

Maybe we do need some police auditing systems. Then some other department could look at a police investigation and get a few facts and figures. Of course that would probably all be kept secret and could not be revealed to anyone, so the informaiton obtained might not be any good anyway.

The number of witnesses questioned could be recorded. The names of all persons questioned could be recorded. All lab work could be recorded. Any special news reports could be included in the audit. Who knows, the police might even find out something that they had not seen before.

The bottom line might be that the second set of investigators should not include anyone from the first set of investigators. That seems to be one way they do things in other businesses. Why not try the same thing with Law Enforcement?

benn

[jane]

Auditing murder cases - that's a great idea, Benn. Financial auditors take samples (of invoices, etc.) to check for accuracy and completeness. It would make sense to take samples of murder files each year - maybe from recently closed cases - and have them checked by an independent agent - maybe a retired police officer or prosecutor - to see whether standard procedure was used (and if not, why not - there could be legitimate reasons for omissions sometimes)? Even if the audit only involved a narrow range of paperwork it would be effective - very interesting idea!
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"There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
Christ

[rd]

In Chandra's case you have both the DC police and FBI investigating. Normally you would think two sets of department eyes would provide greater scrutiny to Chandra's case.

But was Chandra's investigation a cover up because neither one would take responsibility for it? Where there is no accountability, there is no accounting for what they have done.

It will probably take a lawsuit to provide accountability.

rd