The Disappearance of Chandra Levy: The Intern, the Congressman, and a Case That Unraveled

On September 11, 2001, Bob and Susan Levy were packing for a flight to Chicago, where they were scheduled to tell their daughter's story on Oprah before continuing to New York for the Today show. The congressman's son was preparing to defend his father on The View. For four months, America had asked two questions nonstop about 24-year-old intern Chandra Levy: Where was she, and was sitting congressman Gary Condit involved in her disappearance? At 8:46 a.m. Eastern time, American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. The interviews never happened. The satellite trucks that had been camped outside the Levys' home all summer pulled away. By the end of the day, the story that had consumed America vanished — but what happened to Chandra Levy did not.

The Final Morning and What Was Left Behind

Chandra Levy grew up in Modesto, California, the daughter of an oncologist known for taking difficult cases and an artist. From high school, she wanted a career in law enforcement — she joined the Police Explorers program, studied criminal justice at San Francisco State, and pursued a master's at USC. In fall 2000, she took an internship at the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C., subletting a studio apartment in Dupont Circle.