Condit Says Missing Intern Did Not Stay at His Apartment

Stung by new reports linking him to a missing Modesto woman, Rep. Gary A. Condit (D-Ceres) insisted through aides Thursday that Chandra Ann Levy had not stayed overnight in his Washington apartment. Condit’s aides denied a report that he had told District of Columbia police detectives about visits by Levy--an account that took both her parents and Modesto investigators by surprise.

“It’s sheer, pure invention,” Mike Lynch, Condit’s chief of staff, said Thursday from the congressman’s Modesto office. Lynch--who said he had talked to Condit about the matter Wednesday--and other aides repeatedly denied that Levy and the congressman were romantically involved.

Lingering intrigue about Condit’s dealings with the missing government intern intensified as her mother, Susan Levy, said Thursday that she was “frightened and scared” by the lack of apparent progress in the monthlong investigation.

“I have to believe that she’s OK,” Levy said. “I have to keep my faith. It’s like a nightmare.”

Police have yet to determine how Chandra Levy, 24, disappeared April 30 after leaving a Washington sports club. After examining Levy’s financial and personal records, interviewing acquaintances and scouring her neighborhood and a park trail where she often walked, investigators here still are unsure whether a crime was committed.

D.C. Metro Police have been tight-lipped about the investigation, a stance that hardened last month after reports surfaced speculating about Condit’s relationship with Levy. Condit, who is married, has described Levy as a “good friend” and has offered $10,000 as part of the $40,000 reward for information about her disappearance. Washington police officials have said that Condit is not a suspect.

Sgt. Joe Gentile, a police spokesman, declined to discuss a Washington Post report citing unnamed authorities who said Condit told detectives that Levy had spent the night in his apartment. Despite Condit’s categoric denials, Erica Johnson, an assistant city editor at the Post, said the newspaper would “stand by” the account.

Condit maintains an apartment in the Adams Morgan area, a gentrifying community of shops and apartments immediately northwest of downtown Washington.

In Modesto, a spokesman for the Stanislaus County sheriff’s office, which is working with Washington police and the FBI, said investigators there had heard nothing from D.C. detectives about the alleged new Condit-Levy link.

“I would assume that if D.C. had learned that, they would have shared it with us,” said sheriff’s spokesman Kelly Huston.

Susan Levy, who was in New York rushing between network news shows to heighten public awareness of her daughter’s case, said she too was taken aback by the account--which also reported that Chandra Levy had told an unnamed relative that she was “romantically involved” with Condit.

The mother said Thursday that in the last month she had “heard stories” suggesting a relationship between her daughter and Condit. She said she was trying to “stay focused” on her daughter’s case, and “not on scandals.”

Susan Levy added: “It would be a concern to us if [the latest report] was true and we hadn’t been told about it.”

Several former veteran Washington homicide investigators said that the department might have strong reasons for not divulging that information--even to fellow investigators or Levy’s parents.

“The problem,” said one who declined to be named, “is that they might not want that out because it’s obviously loaded stuff. . . . it just muddies up the water at this point.”

Condit has been questioned repeatedly by investigators, said Lynch, who declined to give details of those contacts. The congressman has been “completely cooperative,” he said.

“He has been talking with police throughout the investigation, answering everything they’ve asked him,” he said.