LOS ANGELES - The mysterious case of Chandra Levy, the 24-year-old government intern who vanished without trace in Washington 10 weeks ago, has taken a new twist. The married Congressman at the centre of press speculation about her disappearance has been widely reported as having admitted having a sexual relationshipwith her.
According to police sources cited by the Washington Post, the Associated Press and others, Gary Condit made the long-anticipated admission during his third interview with investigators from Washington's Second District on Friday night.
The sources said he told the police he had been carrying on an affair with her, and did not break it off as some press speculation has suggested. He also said he knew of no development in her personal life that might help explain her sudden disappearance on April 30.
Mr Condit's admission crowned a week of developments that have made the Levy case the toast of America's tabloid press.
First, a flight attendant came forward to say she too had been having an affair with Mr Condit for a year, and that the Congressman had tried unsuccessfully to swear her to secrecy about it.
Then the police said they were tentatively ruling out suicide as a possible explanation for the disappearance, making it seem more likely that the intern was murdered.
Then, on Friday, Ms Levy's aunt accused Mr Condit of impeding the investigation by failing to elucidate the true nature of his relationship. The aunt, Linda Zamsky, recounted everything she knew about her niece's highly secretive affair with the Congressman.
The aunt's account has not been challenged by Mr Condit, even though his staff have spent several weeks denying that he was anything other than a "good friend" to Ms Levy. He has tried, unsuccessfully, to keep as low a profile as possible, restricting his statements to a bare minimum.
There is still a dearth of information on what really happened to Ms Levy and what, if any, Mr Condit's involvement in the case was.
