Washington police plan to search US politician Mr Gary Condit's apartment, give him a lie-detector test and get samples of his DNA for clues to the disappearance of Washington intern Ms Chandra Levy, the police chief said last night.
Eleven weeks after the 24-year-old Californian woman was last seen, Washington Police Chief Charles Ramsey said he planned to take Mr Condit up on his offer of assistance in the high-profile case.
Relative to the collection of DNA samples, search of the apartment and taking a polygraph examination, Mr Ramsey said, we want to take him up on that offer. He was referring to an offer on Monday by Condit's lawyer.
Police entered Mr Condit's apartment around 11:30 p.m. (3.30 a.m. Irish time) according to a CNN report. Police were unable to immediately confirm the report, but the network showed brief television footage of investigators entering the apartment.
MrRamsey repeated his department's earlier assertion that Mr Condit - a 53-year-old Democrat from central California - was not a suspect in any crime. The chief said police were working with Mr Condit's attorney, Mr Abbe Lowell, to arrange dates, times and locations in a day or two.
MrRamsey said a lie-detector test would provide details of the exact nature of the relationship, any information they might have about state of mind, any locations where he feels she might want to go.
Ms Levy's parents demanded the polygraph test on Monday, and their attorney Mr Billy Martin said it could provide powerful details about Ms Levy's mood when she disappeared.
"If (Condit) was having an intimate relationship with her at the end of April, beginning of May, he of all people would know her state of mind", Mr Martin told reporters. "We'd like the congressman to tell us not just when and where he met with her, but what they talked about and what was her mood. That could be very powerful in this investigation."
Mr Martin said the family believed Mr Condit should have come forward earlier, adding that the family felt Mr Condit had lied when he denied having a relationship with their daughter in a telephone call with Ms Levy's mother Susan in early June.
Mr Condit’s spokesman noted that Mr Lowell had offered on Monday to open the Congressman’s apartment, telephone records and offer any other cooperation to assist investigators.
Although police do not consider Mr Condit a suspect, authorities have interviewed him three times. His wife, Carolyn, has also been interviewed.
In the first two interviews, Mr Condit reportedly described Ms Levy as a friend, but in a late Friday interview, the Washington Postand others reported he told police that the two had a romantic relationship. Mr Condit has generally avoided the media since Mr Levy's disappearance was first reported, soon after she was last seen at her health club on April 30th.
Her internship at the Bureau of Prisons had just ended and she told her family she was heading back to California. She has not been heard from since.Her aunt,Ms Linda Zamsky, served as her confidant during her internship and said in a statement Ms Levy told her she was having an intimate relationship with Mr Condit.