Image by Wikipedia

A disgraced ex-Congressman has broken his 15-year silence on the 2001 murder of Jewish Washington D.C. intern Chandra Levy — a crime that once gripped the nation.

Gary Condit, a conservative Democrat who was believed to have had an affair with the slain intern, denied having anything to do with the slaying — and complained that his link to Levy all but ruined his life.

“As I would walk through the airport, people would walk up to me and ask, ‘Where did you hide the body?’ or yell across the room at me ‘Murderer!’ ” Condit, 68, said in a preview of his new interview on ‘Dr. Phil,’ the New York Daily News reported.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Condit and co-author Breton Peace also released a new book about the case entitled “Actual Malice: A True Crime Political Thriller.”

The ex-lawmaker, who lost his seat after the affair, blamed cops for botching the probe.

“It went wrong in every way you can conceive,” Condit said of the investigation in the sit-down with Dr. Phil McGraw. “These guys were going to set me up. They were going to frame me for something. There was something going on that was beyond my control, and it was moving pretty fast.”

Levy, who grew up in Modesto, California, vanished in the summer of 2001 and her disappearance transfixed the nation before the September 11 terror attacks wiped it off the front page.

Suspicion fell on Condit, but he was never charged or formally named as a suspect by cops.

Levy’s body was later found in a nearby park where she may have been jogging.

Despite a lack of any physical evidence tying him to the crime, an ex-con was tried and convicted for her murder, largely on the basis of a supposed jailhouse confession to a fellow inmate.

He was later cleared when the snitch recanted.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount