Lawyer, parents of missing intern urge congressman to tell cops what he knows.(Knight Ridder Newspapers)

WASHINGTON _ The parents of a young woman who has been missing for seven weeks pressed Thursday for a more thorough police examination of her relationship with a California congressman in a case that suddenly has overtaken politics as the hottest topic in the nation's capital.

Robert and Susan Levy, of Modesto, Calif., said through their attorney that they think police now should investigate the disappearance of their daughter, Chandra Levy, as a criminal matter rather than as a missing person.

"They know their daughter, and Mr. and Mrs. Levy are confidant that their daughter has not just walked away," Billy Martin, a Washington lawyer retained by the Levys to keep pressure on police to investigate fully, said at a news conference.

The 24-year-old government intern vanished at the end of April. Her parents have said that at the time, their daughter may have been having an affair with Rep. Gary Condit, also of Modesto, a 53-year-old who is married and the father of two grown children.

Condit has said repeatedly through his staff that …