Missing intern 'told friend she was pregnant by Condit'

Chandra Levy, the missing Washington intern, told a friend that she was pregnant with the child of married US Congressman Gary Condit, a magazine reported yesterday.

The National Enquirer, a tabloid magazine, said the FBI was investigating the claim as part of its wider inquiry into her disappearance. It quoted a source close to the investigation as saying: "Authorities have information that Chandra told at least one friend that she was pregnant – and she said the baby was Condit's."

The magazine said the FBI and police had obtained Ms Levy's medical files and now believed that her disappearance was "a love crime". The source, in the US Justice Department, which oversees the FBI, said: "A friend told investigators [that] Chandra said she was pregnant. The FBI and Washington DC police have subpoenaed her medical records. One investigator told me: 'We believe Levy was pregnant'."

Rumours that Ms Levy may have been pregnant have been circulating in Washington for many weeks, though without anyone offering any proof. Billy Martin, the Levy family lawyer, said this week that they knew whether or not the 24-year-old was pregnant but had chosen not to disclose that now.

Fuelling the pregnancy rumour has been the revelation from Ms Levy's aunt, Linda Zamsky, that her niece had told her days before she was last seen on 30 April that she had "big news".

Mr Condit has admitted having an affair with the intern. One of his Congressional colleagues has now called on him to resign. Bob Barr, a Republican Congressman, said: "I believe he should resign rather than bring further discredit on the House of Representatives."