www.justiceforchandra.com

[jane]

Hi magpie - glad to see you posting here! We seem to have 2 threads going on the topic, so either post here or in FBI revisits. Hope the problem with the server for crimescenes is solved soon!

[rd]

Welcome magpie. Great to have you here with us. Hope your server problem gets fixed. We've run across that on other sites and had it here once or twice.

Thanks again for your transcription. Here's a news alert that just came in:

from fox40.trb.com (fair use)

New Leads In Chandra Levy Murder Case

Joe Orlando

August 30, 2004, 8:49 PM PDT

MODESTO -- "I'm shocked and surprised."

That's the reaction of most Modesto residents we talked with about the new information in the Chandra Levy murder case.

For much of the nation, the former intern has faded from memory in the two years since her body was found in a Washington D.C. park.

But people in Modesto will never forget the case.

"Yeah, it must be hard for her for the family. Hopefully this is a good lead and they'll be able to solve this mystery once and for all," says Modesto resident Amber Hills.

Fox News in New York has learned recent tips to law enforcement caused the FBI to revisit several old leads.

We're told agents have been re-interviewing people questioned earlier, showing them photos of a Maryland man who has done work for the Defense Department.

Sources tell Fox News that man had a reputation of throwing parties attended by several members of Congress.

We're told Vince Flammini, former limo driver for retired congressman Gary Condit, is one of those recently questioned. But he reportedly told FBI agents he didn't know the Maryland man.

Police say Gary Condit had a relationship with Chandra Levy, but has never been linked to her murder.

"If it was my daughter, I'd want to find out every lead I possibly could ya know, because if there was more leads or somebody else involved, I want them found and prosecuted," says Modesto resident Henry Guerrero.

Chandra's parents didn't want to talk about these new developments. Neither did Kim Petersen with the Sund/Carrington Foundation.

Petersen has spoken for the family in the past.

Most we talked to in Modesto feel for the Levy family, and they hope this latest information will lead to some sort of closure for them and all involved.

Copyright © 2004, KTXL

[magpie]

Thanks to everyone for the warm welcome! I have about 6 windows open in my task bar and got myself confused about what I was doing for a moment.... So I am taking a break here with all of you!

Hi jane, good to see you. If you see any CS folks in your travels, let them in on what's happening with the servers for me?

Hi blondie! I'm sorry but I didn't catch Rita's show on Sunday. I saw Laurie Dhue on Sunday and she just gave a short synopsis of what Rita said on Saturday night. I wish I had seen it though. I'll start watching for reports now that I am a member here.

Hello rd, and thanks for the warm welcome. Looks like I might have a couple of days to learn my way around here. I tried to look at the link for one of your books today, but everytime I would start to read, I got called away. It looks very good though!

I'm so hopeful that this case is really starting to open up again. When Chandra disappeared, I watched every TV report I could find and googled every news report I could find. That was before I discovered forums though, where we can share ideas and information. It's just wonderful to discuss cases with other people.

OK, back to the salt mines. See you all later!

[rd]

Hi magpie, look up at top at "you have 1 message" and click on it, I sent you a message. Thanks and hope you get a chance to read Murder on a Horse Trail and discuss with us.

rd

[rd]

A copy of my email to Kerry Dougherty of The Virginian-Pilot concerning her annual articles on the 26 year old disappearance of Barbara Jean Monoco from Virginia Beach and the attempt to not let that cold case be forgotten, and more importantly, be investigated. Article in the Va. Beach Disappearance Cold Case thread in Latest Discussion.

rd



Hi Kerry,

I saw your article on Barbara Jean Monoco's disappearance and posted it to my web site www.justiceforchandra.com along with this email. It is exactly that feeling that Chandra Levy's case would become a cold case despite the usual assurances for any number of years that the case is "under investigation" without hearing of anyone who was asked a question in the so called investigation that prompted me to write Murder on a Horse Trail: The Disappearance of Chandra Levy.

I was determined that if police wouldn't pursue answers to the many puzzling questions surrounding Chandra's disappearance, then I would make sure the public was aware of those questions and the context in which they arise. I was hampered by publishers not wanting to publish books about open cases and their multi-year process of getting a book published and into bookstores, so I also had to publish the book as well as write it to get it out there this year.

The effort was worth it. After months of trying to get the book into the hands of investigators and district attorneys who can make a difference, some awareness that Chandra's case has questions that were not being investigated has been raised among readers, maybe with some in law enforcement as well, who knows?

There was some recent heartening news of old leads being revisited in Chandra's case, and like with your columns, that's all we're trying to do.

regards,
Ralph Daugherty
author, Murder on a Horse Trail: The Disappearance of Chandra Levy

[Kortnie]

Hi magpie! I used to be the New Kid on the Block here. Welcome to you and looking forward to your input. This is a good forum. Not only that, it's a little like family!

rd, thanks for the details. Aren't you THRILLED about your book selling out?!!!!!! Yes, I did see the 11-13 day delivery. Cool. Cool. Cool.

Magpie, if you aren't able to get rd's book, I'll be glad to lend you mine. Dallas is just a short distance from Baton Rouge and I'll be happy to send it. Kortnie

[laskipper]

Levy's parents, neighbors, and an ex-boyfriend believe that theories 2) and 3) are preposterous, the Los Angeles Times reports. And the New York Post reported that police have begun shifting their focus away from those possibilities. Cadaver-sniffing dogs are being used to investigate landfills in the Washington area. The dogs have already searched Levy's neighborhood, D.C.'s riverbanks and parks, and the neighborhood of Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif. Police say this is a normal expansion of a missing person's investigation. (In a sign of internecine warfare among D.C. government agencies, a Washington Public Works Department official told the New York Daily News it would be almost impossible for a body to disappear into a dumpster. The contents of dumpsters are sorted at a waste transfer center before heading off to landfills.)

http://slate.msn.com/printable/current/07062001.doc Fair use

Is it true that dogs covered Rock Creek Park?

[rd]

The link blew up when downloading. What is theories 2 and 3? or 1 for that matter? Was there recent mention in LA Times and the others , skipper?

Dogs did not cover RCP. Just used around Klingle Mansion in July and down by the river Anacostia earlier on.

rd

[rd]

A Q&A on the news from Minneapolis newspaper www.startribune.com (fair use)


Q&A on the news
September 1, 2004


Q Was the Chandra Levy case ever solved? It was in the headlines for months when she disappeared in Washington, but I didn't see any further reports after her remains were found.

A After Levy's skeletal remains were discovered May 22, 2002, in Washington's Rock Creek Park, her death was ruled a homicide. No one has been arrested for the crime.

Levy, a 24-year-old from Modesto, Calif., who had just completed an internship at the Bureau of Prisons, disappeared in 2001. She had been linked romantically with then-U.S. Rep. Gary Condit (D-Calif.), who initially denied any relationship.

He later didn't deny published reports that he had admitted to police, in their third interview with him, that he did indeed have a relationship with Levy.

The latest development in the case revolved around lawsuits Condit filed against several tabloid newspapers. They reached a settlement.

[rd]

Here's an update from Doyle. This is a shocker. Settlement of a $209 million lawsuit. I know National Enquirer had Murder on a Horse Trail. Did it help force a settlement?

rd

from www.knoxstudio.com (fair use)

Condit settles suit against tabloids

By MICHAEL DOYLE
McClatchy Newspapers
September 08, 2004

WASHINGTON - Former congressman Gary Condit has settled the multimillion-dollar libel lawsuit he filed against three tabloid newspapers he says ruined his reputation.

In an agreement quietly filed with a Florida court, Condit and the publisher of the National Enquirer, Globe and Star newspapers ended the case in which Condit had originally sought $209 million.

"My client is satisfied with the settlement," Condit's attorney, L. Lin Wood, said in an interview Wednesday, adding that "the amount of the settlement and all terms and conditions are confidential."

Wood said the settlement was reached "over the course of several days," in negotiations handled via telephone. Though the settlement was made final in Palm Beach County Circuit Court on Aug. 18, no public announcement was made at the time and no further judicial approval is required.

"All I can say is the case has been settled," Katharine Cloud, a Tennessee-based attorney for American Media Inc., said Wednesday.

Based in Boca Raton, Fla., American Media is the umbrella company that publishes half a dozen tabloid newspapers as well as a number of physical fitness magazines. It's a big and growing firm, with estimated sales revenues of $399 million in 2003, according to Hoover's Online, a business information web site.

Though profitable and widely read, the firm's papers have also been the target of some of the nation's highest-profile libel lawsuits, filed by celebrities like Carol Burnett. Condit's wife, Carolyn, has already settled her own $10 million lawsuit against the National Enquirer; the dollar amount of that earlier settlement remains confidential, though the newspaper included a one-paragraph public apology.

Wood said he did not ask for a similar apology as part of the latest settlement with the tabloids.

"I'm not surprised that they would settle," said Lucy Dalglish, executive director of Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. "My experience tells me that if you can demonstrate that an error was made, and there is no classic libel defense that can reasonably be sustained, media companies will compensate someone who has actually been harmed."

Dalglish added, though, that "the financial terms in cases like this are usually a lot less than you might think," and she suggested that "thousands rather than millions" of dollars might be a likely settlement amount.

Starting with the 2001 disappearance of Chandra Levy, American Media's newspapers began focusing intently on the former Modesto, Calif., resident and her relationship with Condit. A one-time Washington intern, Levy was last seen alive April 30, 2001.

Her remains were found in the city's Rock Creek Park in May 2002, but her murder has never been solved.

Condit eventually acknowledged to investigators that he had been sexually involved with Levy, according to anonymous law enforcement sources cited in news accounts that Condit has never denied. Police, though, have repeatedly said Condit was not a suspect in her disappearance.

Nonetheless, the three tabloid papers helped sustain what Wood described in legal filings as a "media frenzy" over Condit and Levy. As noted in the original 45-page lawsuit, filed last December, this coverage included headlines like "Missing Intern was Pregnant! Her Final Showdown with Congressman!" "Condit Did It: Secrets of Chandra's Last Hours Revealed," and "Condit's Goons Killed Pregnant Chandra."

The sources for the tabloids' stories varied. For the "Condit's Goons Killed Pregnant Chandra" story, for instance, the identified source was a "psychic detective" named James Van Praagh, who had opined on CNN's "Larry King Live." There was no other indication that Van Praagh had inside information on the case.

The lawsuit was settled while it was still in a relatively preliminary stage, with Cloud noting that American Media still had pending a motion to dismiss the case altogether. Consequently, the discovery proceedings that threatened tougher scrutiny both to Condit and the tabloids' newsgathering practices never went very far.

"I know Condit settled before he had to answer any questions under oath," said Paul LiCalsi, a New York-based attorney for author Dominick Dunne. "I wonder about any connection between those two facts."

Dunne is now the sole remaining target of a Condit defamation lawsuit, stemming from speculation Dunne offered about the case. Dunne and Condit are scheduled to be deposed the last week of September, with attorneys for both sides saying they're eager to get rolling.

"The essence of the failed (tabloid) accusations are virtually identical in the Dominick Dunne case," Wood said, suggesting that the tabloids' settlement will put more pressure on the author.

While LiCalsi acknowledged he would "love to know what happened in the (tabloid) case (and) what the settlement was," he contended that it should not give Condit's legal team "any advantage at all."

Condit could not be reached for comment. After representing California's Northern San Joaquin Valley in Congress between 1989 and 2002, and losing his seat in the 2002 Democratic primary, he has moved with his wife to Arizona.

The tabloid settlement was nailed down as Wood, a prominent media law attorney based in Georgia, handled other cases, including representing the Colorado woman who says she was sexually assaulted by basketball star Kobe Bryant. In August, the 20-year-old woman filed a civil lawsuit against Bryant; last week, criminal charges were dropped against Bryant

"I've been juggling a few (cases)," Wood said.

[laskipper]

I'll say it's a shocker. I'm disappointed in NE and their legal staff. Seems like they could have done a little work and obtained enough information to secure a different result in that case.

Interesting remarks by LiCalsi. He seems confident. That's a good thing!

Don't you wonder if the settlement had something to do with Lin Wood being busy in Colorado with the Kobe case?

I'll have to see if I can learn more about the settlement.....

[rd]

I'm not disappointed in NE, skipper. Condit again bailed before allowing himself to be questioned under oath. This should send red flags up for law enforcement, that at the moment being the FBI.

Read all the bold and you see NE offered next to nothing to settle. They were still trying to dismiss the suit! They got an offer they couldn't refuse, and I really have to wonder if Lin Wood has the stomach for Condit now. I know Lin Wood has too much integrity for Condit.

rd

[jane]

I know Lin Wood has too much integrity for Condit.

Why do you say that, rd? I don't feel I know that about Wood.
_________________
"There is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; and hid, that shall not be known."
Christ

[rd]

[benn]

>>"I know Condit settled before he had to answer any questions under oath," said Paul LiCalsi, a New York-based attorney for author Dominick Dunne. "I wonder about any connection between those two facts."

>>Dunne is now the sole remaining target of a Condit defamation lawsuit, stemming from speculation Dunne offered about the case. Dunne and Condit are scheduled to be deposed the last week of September, with attorneys for both sides saying they're eager to get rolling.<<

That sounds like LiCalsi has the Dunne case thought out fairly well. It looks like Condit can not answer questions from anyone--since Connie Chung, and the interviews he did then.

The questioning in the Dunne case will be taking place soon, if there is any questioning. Lin Wood has much better money making prospects in a civil suit against Kobe Bryant. There could be another quick settlement with Dunne, but that leaves the Chandra Levy case out in the cold. Let's hope that Dunne gets bold and Condit gets questioned. Of course it is Dunne's money and not ours.

I started to answer sooner, but the Internet, in my area at least, was a little crowded.

benn