The US Congressman linked to the missing intern Ms Chandra Levy had a previous affair with an 18-year-old who was warned by him to keep the relationship secret, the Washington Post revealed yesterday. The evidence of a third extramarital relationship between Congressman Gary Condit and a young woman will keep the media spotlight very firmly on the man police still insist is not a suspect and will further alienate Mr Condit from his conservative rural base in Modesto, California. Polls there already show a growing disillusionment with the popular congressman.
In the Post, a Pentecostal minister, Mr Otis Thomas, claims that his 25-year-old daughter was involved with Mr Condit in an affair that ended seven years ago. Mr Thomas has spoken to FBI investigators. Mr Thomas, also a gardener, said that while working for the Levys in April, before Chandra's disappearance, he had revealed to Ms Susan Levy, the mother of the missing woman, that his daughter had ended her relationship with Mr Condit in some bitterness.
"I told Mrs Levy that with my daughter it ended badly [and] that I think her daughter should end the relationship with him right away," he told the Post. Mrs Levy confirmed the conversation to the Post and said that she had argued with her daughter about it.
When Chandra Levy disappeared in May, Mr Thomas says his daughter became upset and told him that Mr Condit had insisted to her that she should not reveal their relationship.
Meanwhile yesterday the Washington police interviewed a flight attendant, Ms Anne-Marie Smith, who has claimed that Mr Condit's lawyers asked her to sign an affidavit denying she had had an affair with him. Ms Smith says that her own affair with the congressman had lasted a year and ended after Ms Levy disappeared.
Ms Smith later told journalists that she had informed the police of "a few things that I think that they hadn't realised".
Police are analysing items removed from Mr Condit's flat, which was thoroughly searched on Wednesday with his consent and in his presence. They continued talking to Mr Condit's lawyer about whether and under what conditions Mr Condit would take a lie-detector test.
Sky News was reporting yesterday that police using fluorescent chemicals had found traces of blood and hair in the apartment, "according to reports" which were not attributed.
