Fifteen years after D.C. police investigated him in the disappearance of Washington intern Chandra Levy, former Congressman Gary Condit broke his silence to Dr. Phil on Thursday.
Condit still refused to say if he ever had sex with the 24-year-old California woman.
The former California Democratic congressman is promoting a new book, “Actual Malice: A True Crime Political Thriller.”
He slams the media and what he said was an incompetent police investigation. Police said he's clearly innocent in the murder of Chandra Levy.
But even in his answers on Dr. Phil, one could see why police were looking at him.
Condit had a hard time explaining how many times he’d met Levy.
“I saw her one time outside the office, at a restaurant. And she came by my condo one time,” he told Dr. Phil. “She came by your condo once?” Dr. Phil responded. “Maybe twice," Condit admitted.
But in the book, he said she visited him a “handful” of times.
“Could have been four to five times,” he said when reminded of that fact. “I remember two times.”
The book hints at something more.
In it, the lines read, “Gary opened the front door. Chandra was dressed in a flattering gown that hugged her body, her hair was pulled back. Gary hadn't seen her this way before.”
“Why won't you answer the question whether you had sex with Chandra Levy?” Dr. Phil asked.
“I think people are entitled to some level of privacy,” Condit said. “We have lost our common decency in this country.”
Back in 2001, just before the 9/11 attacks, police investigators, the press, and the public all focused on the salacious possibility that the congressman had murdered an intern.
“Where did you hide the body?” Condit said people shouted at him. “Murderer!”
They were all way off track.
“To the exclusion of the obvious,” said Condit’s co-author, Breton Peace. “There's another man attacking women in Rock Creek Park, and Chandra Levy is an active runner.”
Years later, Ingmar Guandique was tried, convicted, won a new trial, and eventually saw the charges dropped because of questions about the credibility of a prosecution witness.
“Did you have anything to do with the death of Chandra Levy?” Dr. Phil asked Condit.
“Not one thing,” he replied.
“Did you murder her?” he asked.
“No,” Condit said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is now trying to deport Guandique. But he's afraid he'll be killed if he's returned to El Salvador.
A law enforcement source said that he attacked a woman on a trail in El Salvador, and fled to the U.S. after her family came after him.
Investigators said they're still absolutely certain Guandique is the real killer. But the mistaken early focus on Condit may mean Chandra Levy and her family never see real justice.
