Missing Intern Search Intensifies

W A S H I N G T O N, May 18 -- Police were planning to return to the apartment of a missing intern in search of elusive clues as a new detail suggested she may have been dating someone tied to Congress.

Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old University of Southern California graduate student who had finished an internship at the federal Bureau of Prisons, vanished two weeks ago — just before she was to return home for graduation.

She was last seen canceling her membership at a city health club. At her apartment in Washington's trendy Dupont Circle neighborhood, detectives found neatly packed luggage and few clues. Nothing of value appeared to be missing. There were no signs of a struggle.

Mystery Man

But her hometown newspaper, the Modesto (Calif.) Bee, reported Levy mentioned a boyfriend in an e-mail to a friend last Dec. 23.

"Everything else here in DC is going good," she wrote, according to the Bee. "My man will be coming back here when Congress starts up again, I'm looking forward to seeing him."

The Washington Post this morning quoted a senior police official as saying Levy had visited the apartment of her congressman, Rep. Gary Condit, "more than a couple of times." But Police Chief Charles Ramsey today took the unusual step of retracting that statement. The quoted official, Ramsey said, was misinterpreted.

"He was confirming that the department was aware of this unsubstantiated rumor as it is aware of numerous other unsubstantiated rumors surrounding this investigation," Ramsey said in a prepared statement released by police. "At this time, there is no concrete evidence to confirm these various rumors."

ABCNEWS.com visited several of Condit's neighbors today and none of the tenants recalled seeing Levy around the neighborhood or in the four-story apartment building. Each of the tenants, however, recalled being contacted by a homicide detective who canvassed the building with pictures of the missing woman.

Police have questioned Condit, D-Calif., and members of his staff, but downplayed the interviews.