Police Dogs Search Woods for USC Student

Police dogs searched the woods near the Washington apartment of a missing USC graduate student Wednesday as the FBI joined local authorities in investigating the woman’s disappearance more than two weeks ago.

The student, Chandra Ann Levy, 24, was last seen April 30, shortly after she completed an internship at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in the nation’s capital. Searches of her apartment in northwest Washington showed that she had packed her bags in preparation for a trip, authorities said.

Levy’s parents, Robert and Susan Levy of Modesto, told police they had not heard from her since May 1. The Levys, who met with police Wednesday in Washington, said they were frustrated by the lack of answers but felt comforted that investigators were doing everything they could.

“I just want her home,” Susan Levy said.

Meanwhile, police have repeatedly interviewed Rep. Gary Condit (D-Ceres), who represents the Levys’ home district and describes himself as a friend of the missing woman.

Condit said in a statement that she often visited him in his office, where a close friend of hers, Jennifer Baker, had an internship.

Levy, who hoped to become an FBI agent, had mentioned to several friends that she was seeing someone romantically. According to Associated Press, Baker said Levy told her that she “had a boyfriend in the FBI back in November. She never told me what his name was or what he looked like.”

Other friends said Levy had mentioned a “boyfriend in politics” she couldn’t talk about. One of her classmates, Michelle Yanez, said Levy wanted to extend her stay beyond her internship because of the relationship, but her parents “wanted her to come home.”

In his statement, Condit denied any romantic involvement with Levy, saying he had helped to get police involved in the search for her. The congressman has placed $10,000 from his campaign treasury into a reward fund for information on her whereabouts, bringing to $25,000 the total reward.

“Police have told us it’s a very odd case,” said Mike Dayton, Condit’s administrative assistant.

The investigation has ruffled the feathers of the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, which was asked by the family to collaborate with Washington police. But spokesman Kelly Huston said police told a sheriff’s detective who had come to Washington to return home.

Huston said, “It’s a little odd because we obviously have access to people out here that knew her.” However, Washington Police Sgt. Joe Gentile said his investigators did not need the assistance, adding that the Stanislaus officials “don’t have any enforcement authority in the District of Columbia.”

Gentile said the FBI has joined the case largely to arrange contacts for interviews in California and to use its “national resources.”

Even though this is a missing-person case, Gentile said, authorities are not ready to rule out kidnapping or other foul play.

Gentile refused to say whether any fingerprints, blood or strands of hair were found in the apartment where Levy lived alone, although authorities have reported there were no signs of a struggle.

“We’re not ruling anything out,” Gentile said. “We’re trying to identify anyone she has known, whether male or female, as well as any art theaters and restaurants she may have frequented.”

Gentile said that as a precaution, police with so-called cadaver dogs trained to detect dead bodies have searched a small patch of woods near Levy’s apartment in the Dupont Circle section of Washington. Similar searches were conducted along portions of the nearby Anacostia and Potomac rivers, he said.

“It was not based on any tips; it was routine,” he said.

Levy was one of hundreds of students who flock to the nation’s capital each semester for coveted internships at congressional offices and federal agencies.

Friends have found it incredible that Levy, whom they describe as well-adjusted and highly intelligent, failed to show up at USC commencement exercises Friday to receive her master’s degree in public administration.

They described her as a shy person who initially hated Washington because she wasn’t making friends. But her attitude changed over time, and she grew to like the city and was happy there, friends said.

Baker said she has tried to spread the word about Levy’s disappearance over the Internet. Baker now works as a legislative assistant in Sacramento.

She expressed puzzlement Wednesday that police continue to treat the inquiry as a missing-person investigation. Declaring that it seems to be more than that, Baker said, “With this sort of thing, I say leave no stone unturned!”

Levy was so secretive about the identity of the man she was seeing that it worried her close friends in California. It was uncharacteristic for Levy to be secretive about anything, Baker said.

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Times staff writer Wendy Thermos in Los Angeles contributed to this story.