Chandra Levy's Mom: 'I Know What Happened'

May 23, 2007 — -- It was a missing person's case that stunned the nation.

On April 30, 2001, 24-year-old Chandra Levy, an intern for the federal department of prisons, left her Washington, D.C. apartment -- and vanished.

Within weeks, her name dominated headlines -- particularly after it was revealed she'd been having an affair with then-California congressman Gary Condit.

A year after vanishing, her body was found in a Washington, D.C. park. Investigators determined she'd been killed -- but still don't know by whom.

A man serving a prison sentence for attacking two other joggers in the same park in which Levy's body was found remains a person of interest, but no evidence has been found linking him to her death.

"I have optimism this case will be solved," said former FBI agent Brad Garrett. "You always like a case to be in the eyes of the public because the more it's in the eyes of the public the odds are someone will call you ... keeping a case alive is an important aspect of a cold case investigation."

More than five years after her body was discovered, ABC's Chris Cuomo spoke with Levy's mother, Susan Levy, who is in Washington, D.C. this week and plans to meet with Police Chief Cathy Lanier about the case.

Levy said she doesn't think authorities have done all they can to find her daughter's killer.

"I think there were some mistakes in the beginning," she said. "The beginning of this case was very important to get information and some people were not very forthcoming."

Though Condit has repeatedly denied his involvement in her daughter's disappearance, Levy believes he is still relevant to the case. She also thinks her daughter knew who killed her.

"I'm a mother and like a mother lion I know what happened," she said about her instincts.

Levy said the time spent waiting for word of what happened to her daughter was "like being in a war." Years after the discovery of Chandra Levy's body, her mother has yet to find any closure.

"[The] word closure is poor use of language for all of us who have been victims, there's never any closure," she said. "Probably the only closure you get is when you die because then you're together with you're loved one."