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Search for Chandra Levy Reopens Wounds for Family of Joyce Chiang

Left: Joyce Chiang was found dead in the Potomac River in January, 1999. Right: Chandra Levy is still missing.

Brothers do not rule out a connection between the missing women

By Sam Chu Lin

When John Chiang, his brothers Roger and Robert, and their mother left for Washington, D.C., earlier this year, they anticipated an uplifting experience, a part of the healing process. Instead, an old nightmare resurfaced.

That nightmare began on Jan. 9, 1999, when their sister, Joyce Chiang, an INS attorney in Washington, D.C., disappeared. Three months later, her body was found in the Potomac River.

The healing process since then has included the creation of a scholarship award in Joyce’s honor. The Chiangs traveled to the capitol in early May to present the award at a National Immigration Forum dinner. It was there that the family first got word about another woman who disappeared from the D.C. area. Like their sister, she, too, was petite and had dark hair. As the Chiangs sat in their hotel room stunned, they heard her name: Chandra Levy.

“Our hearts just broke,” recounted Roger Chiang. “We knew some of the pain and feelings of anxiety that the Levy’s were feeling, not knowing where your loved one was.”

John Chiang, on his return to California, contacted Levy’s parents.

“I was sick in my stomach for the Levy family,” he said. “They asked that we do whatever we can to bring attention to Chandra’s story, to encourage people to contact the proper officials and to let them know about the people that were helpful to us. We did that.”

Roger Chiang, who lives in Washington, D.C., worked with Levy’s friends to help handle the press and participated in search efforts for the missing woman.

As the story of Chandra Levy and her relationship with Congressman Gary Condit, D-Calif., unfolded, stories about Joyce Chiang reappeared in the media and comparisons were made. John Walsh of TV’s America’s Most Wanted theorized a serial killer might be responsible for the women’s disappearances and their deaths.

Both are described as twenty-something, petite, dark-haired, smart and vivacious. The two also resided in nearby areas.

Joyce Chiang was student body president at Smith College and a member of the Board of Trustees of Georgetown Law School. She begun working for the Immigration and Naturalization Service after law school. Friends and family say she was a beautiful, out-going woman who was excelling in her career.

On Jan. 9, 1999, she disappeared at 9 p.m. after stopping at a Starbucks, nearby the apartment building where Levy lived. A search was launched, and reward money was offered. Her decomposed body was discovered a month later in April, but coroners were unable to determine the cause of death. The young woman was buried in California. The investigation continues.

Chandra Levy, 24, served as an intern for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Her career was also on the rise. Levy was expected to return to Los Angeles and attend graduation ceremonies at the University of Southern California for her master’s degree.

Questions Never Cease

Both John Chiang and his brother Roger, who is the new API director for the Democratic National Committee, went on national television to answer reporters’ questions about their sister. Through speaking out, they hope to correct misinformation — in particular, a D.C. Police statement that their sister was a suicide victim.

Roger Chiang said that theory came from a police official who was not aware of all of the facts and evidence related to the case.

“I have actually met with Chief [Charles] Ramsey’s folks last week as well and asked them to reexamine the evidence in Joyce’s case, so that the statement can be cleared up,” he said, explaining that the D.C. Police were secondary in the investigation of Joyce’s disappearance during the height of the investigation. It is the FBI that has been in charge of the case.

“I am generally satisfied with the FBI,” Roger Chiang said. “I know that they have worked very hard on Joyce’s case. I know that [D.C. Police] don’t have all of the evidence and facts that the FBI has, and so for them to make statements such as ‘Joyce committed suicide,’ and ‘there’s no connection between the [Joyce and Chandra]’ is irresponsible.”

John Chiang also has critical words about the police department. Police investigators, he said, did not pursue certain leads as thoroughly as they should have. For example, he pointed out that there was an inscription discovered in an alleyway near his sister’s residence. It reads: “Good day, J.C.! May I never miss the thrill of being near you,” he said.

“When you have evidence like that and you have no response from the D.C. Police … and their default theory is suicide, it just smacks of insincerity and irresponsibility,” John Chiang said.

He added that “the same thing took place with Chandra Levy a few weeks ago. Like Joyce, they were saying Chandra was hiding or committed suicide. There was no evidence of foul play, so they were not going to take that approach.”

John Chiang has also called on the D.C. Police to reexamine the evidence in the FBI’s hands.

“The FBI strongly suspects foul play,” he said. “How do you have somebody who commits suicide, who is a scuba diver, who doesn’t have a mode of transportation, who is found eight miles away from where she lives?”

Remembering Joyce, Keeping Hope Alive for Chandra

With the disappearance of Chandra Levy in the media spotlight, the Chiangs are reminded of the tragic death of their sister. There is no closure.

“It’s devastating,” John Chiang said. “To have to relive this whole ordeal is incredibly painful. The kids are incredibly concerned about my mom. It’s like the weight of the world on her shoulders.”

Said brother Roger: “My mom’s spirit and religious faith have kept her strong during my sister’s disappearance and after that. The only sense of ending to anything was bringing my sister home and burying her near our father and not having that mystery loom over us.

“This has impacted the family beyond words, in so many emotional ways and levels that really can’t be described. The family has come together based on Joyce’s death to really find good things that we can do to remember Joyce.”

The family has used the collected reward money to establish several scholarships and awards in Joyce Chiang’s name at her alma mater and at the Immigration Naturalization Service. It is more important for them to talk about her giving spirit and her love for other people, than to speak about the possible capture of a suspect. With the passing of time, they know the trail may have grown cold.

Roger Chiang acknowledged the Chandra Levy story has “helped to propel Joyce’s story back into the media, but I don’t really care about that,” he said.

“What really needs to be the focus is — to find Chandra.”