Officially former Washington intern Chandra Levy is not dead, only missing.
And officially Congressman Gary Condit is not a suspect, he is only helping police with their inquiries.
But unofficially, everything points the other way and for Mr Condit, aged 53, the news keeps going from bad to worse.
Yesterday was particularly bad,
with a series of media reports dealing blows to his reputation.
* The National Enquirer ran a story alleging that 24-year-old Ms Levy, whose relationship with Mr Condit broke down two days before she disappeared on May 1, was pregnant. The magazine quotes a source saying Ms Levy had told friends the child was Mr Condit's.
* The Washington Post quoted a Pentecostal minister from Mr Condit's home town of Modesto, in California, that his daughter Jennifer Thomas had an affair with the congressman seven years ago when she was just 18.
Ms Thomas, who was African-American, had a mixed-race son about the time of the affair. In county records, the father's name is not on the child's birth certificate, which said he was born on September 14, 1994.
* The Modesto Bee quoted a 31-year-old former congressional aide as saying she too was romanced by the Democratic congressman.
Police have also stepped up their scrutiny of Mr Condit, starting with detailed searches at his apartment.
Massage oils, a long, brown hair and several mysterious spots were found in the apartment. The mysterious stains are being tested.
Police say privately they don't think anything happened to Ms Levy at the apartment but their suspicions were made clear when they began a search of 80 abandoned buildings in a rundown area of Washington, not far from Ms Levy's flat, using cadaver-sniffing dogs.
They said they were looking for "anything and everything" that might lead them to Ms Levy.
In another move to increase pressure on Mr Condit, police have opened an initial criminal inquiry into whether he obstructed justice or encouraged perjury.
Authorities specifically are looking at a flight attendant's claim that Mr Condit urged her to sign a statement denying a 10-month affair.
Negotiations over whether Mr Condit would take a lie detector test all but broke down yesterday.
His lawyer Abbe Lowell, who has said he did not trust lie detectors, wants to restrict the questions police could ask but police are adamant the questions would have to be wide ranging.
- STAFF REPORTER, AGENCIES
