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 ven
as D.C. cops finally called a halt to their searches of Washington
parks and wooded areas — and presumably turned their attention
to the city's 1,500 or so unsolved murders — a
new lead surfaced in the Chandra Levy investigation. A D.C.
hardware clerk reported that Chandra asked him to duplicate a set
of keys for her during the first week in May — which would
be after April 30, the last time anyone had previously reported
seeing her. John Woodfolk, who works at Candey Hardware Inc. in
Northwest Washington (near Chandra's health club, where she cancelled
her membership the day before she vanished), told the police that
a woman resembling the missing intern came into the store in early
May. She ordered a set of keys duplicated, he said, and wrote the
name "Levy" on the envelope in which she was to pick them up. Woodfolk
added that she seemed upbeat and cheerful, and that "she had her
hair pulled back like in one of those photos." He said that he realized
who his customer had been when flyers with Chandra's picture were
posted around the neighborhood, and that he told friends —
but not the police. Asked why he hadn't come forward sooner, Woodfolk
said "I wasn't asked about it." (Huh? Pick up a tabloid, Mr. Woodfolk!)
The police, meanwhile, seemed skeptical, pointing out that while
the clerk claimed that Chandra had paid with a credit or debit card,
store employees were unable to find a receipt — and besides,
Chandra's financial transactions show no credit-card activity after
April 30. Still, the story is suggestive — especially since
the only thing Chandra took with her when she vanished was (drum-roll,
please) her key chain.
 But
Mr. Woodfolk's story hardly matters, when all's said and done, because
the results are in! The people have spoken! A recent article in
The
Onion imagined a world in which the media serves as judge,
jury, and executioner — but the Condit Watch has beaten them
to the punch. You see, according to a highly scientific, rigorously
researched, utterly margin-of-error-proof survey of NRO readers,
Gary Condit was involved in Chandra Levy's disappearance.
Some might say that such a poll measures only opinions, not actual
truth--but to those naysayers, the Condit Watch points out that
this was no Bush-Gore nail biter. A whopping 79.2% of NRO readers
pointed the finger at the California congressman, as opposed to
just 20.8% who thought him entirely innocent. In other words, call
the D.C. police, because this case is closed.
Meanwhile,
perhaps unaware that NRO readers have already reached a verdict,
Salon.com's
Joshua Micah Marshall tackles the question of Chandra's supposed
flurry of last-minute phone calls to Gary Condit, reported in the
New York Post several weeks ago and then debunked
by Michael Isikoff in this week's Newsweek. Writes Marshall:
"The mystery surrounding what, if any, communication took place
between Levy and Condit in the final days before her disappearance
is riddled with confusion and contradiction… Not the least
of which is that the first on-the-record confirmation of last-minute
calls from Levy to Condit came from none other than Condit's first
attorney, Joseph Cotchett." The Post, meanwhile, is standing
by its earlier story, and with Isikoff sticking to his guns, we
have what Marshall calls the "anomaly of separate news organizations
sticking by contradictory reports, with each claiming reliable sources
as the basis of their reports." He then cites information gathered
by Fox News reporter Rita Cosby, which suggests that while Isikoff
is right that there were no Chandra-to-Condit calls from her cell
phone in the last week, there was an upsurge in calls from
Chandra's cell phone to her own answering machine, suggesting that
she was expecting a message, or messages, that never came. Marshall
concludes that "there may be some truth to both reports, though,
like so many developments in this story, it all simply raises more
questions than it resolves." Amen, brother!
As
for Condit himself, the New
York Daily News reports today that he plans to use the
August congressional recess to attend a family retreat with his
wife and two adult children. Abbe Lowell, Condit's attorney, told
the press that Condit "hasn't seen his children since this started.
He wants to sort of get with them and sort of have a family healing…
And then after that, I think he can talk to his constituents." Among
those constituents, of course, are Chandra's parents, who today
told reporters that they warned Chandra on the eve of her departure
for Washington to avoid becoming "a Monica Lewinsky." "And look
what's happened," her mother said. Robert Levy added, "It's much,
much worse." According to the Daily News, Susan Levy also
took issue with people (Marina Ein, anyone?) who accused her daughter
of being a slut, saying that Chandra was "very much in love" with
Condit. "We taught our children morality," Chandra's mother said.
"You can teach a child what you think is correct, right and wrong,
but still, they make their choices." And Robert Levy added, "Or
they're confronted by evil. Whatever you teach them won't help if
evil gets them."
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