Scott Higham

As a DC native who well remembers the media frenzy around this case, I was eager to read this book outlining the investigation. The book (and the news stories that spawned it) certainly highlighted the investigative failures that left this case unsolved for so long, and revealed troubling gaps between the various bodies that held pieces of the puzzle that eventually led to a viable suspect. I was also intrigued by the details of some of the news coverage of the case which early on painted Gary Condit as the prime suspect.

I thought the book was a little hard to follow in places as it jumped around between characters and timeframes. I also would have liked less focus on the media elements of the case which ultimately took up a larger chunk of the narrative than I expected. All in all though a great look at an interesting case.… (mehr)

“Finding Chandra” was a fascinating read for me. It was like going back in time…remembering the 24/7 coverage of the missing intern and the possibility that a United States congressman was involved in her disappearance.

This account is very clear and highly detailed…walking the reader through the events of April 2001 through the present as seen through the eyes of those most intimately involved. I had forgotten that the events of September 2001 took this story from front page/prime time all the time to a non-story…and later, that the D.C. sniper story caused the press to abandon the story again.

Chandra Levy died so young and so tragically, and I couldn’t help but ache for her loss of life and the incredible grief that her parents experienced. Any time the reader is allowed a view into their words and actions, their bewilderment and sorrow at the events surrounding their daughter’s death come across loud and clear. I can’t imagine going through what they did…holding out hope at the beginning that Chandra would return to them and then once that hope was dashed, their lack of closure as the case dragged on for so many years. How must have that have felt – having the country witness their pain day after day after day…only to become a shadowy side notes in the fall of that year?

What was also fascinating to me was the details about Gary Condit – the main suspect for so long in Levy’s disappearance. I think, if you asked 10 people on the street who followed the case at all in 2001 – 9 of them would tell you today that they thought Condit was responsible. So much was made of the details of Chandra’s disappearance…and so little was made of the man who is now the strongest suspect of the crime…who is NOT Gary Condit. The congressman certainly doesn’t come across as an honest or honorable man, but at times, I felt sorry for the havoc that his affair had wrought on his family and career.

“…and now it had come to this: his client, a United States congressman, standing in the darkness of a supermarket parking lot, opening his mouth so a detective could stick a long Q-Tip inside and take a sample of his saliva.”

I was engrossed in this story…which in a sense was more a book about a story than a book about a murder. This missing girl and her connection to a person in power held our country in thrall for so long and in a way that hadn’t happened many times before. Now, of course, there are many names that might be places alongside that of Chandra Levy in the 24/7 missing person stories…but this one stands out.… (mehr)