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WASHINGTON — Investigators working for Chandra Levy’s parents discovered a human leg bone and twisted wire Thursday near the site where her remains were found in a Washington park. 

Dr. Jonathan Arden, Washington’s medical examiner, has determined it is probably Levy’s left shin bone, people familiar with the investigation said. But the bone yielded no clues about how Levy died, they said. 

Police spent a week searching the area of Rock Creek Park, employing cadaver dogs, crime scene technicians and cadets to look for bones and other evidence after a man walking his dog discovered Levy’s skull and other bones on May 22. 

Arden identified the remains as Levy’s using her dental records. He later ruled her death a homicide, but was unable to say how the former intern died. 

The bone found Thursday was about 25 yards from Levy’s remains and showed evidence that an animal could have moved it, said Cmdr. Christopher LoJacono of the Washington police forensics science division. 

But Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, already stung by criticism that police did not find Levy’s body when they searched the park a year ago, said, “It is unacceptable that these items were not located.” 

Two investigators found the items Thursday afternoon in their examination of the steep hillside where much of Levy’s remains and clothing were found. 

Billy Martin, lawyer for the Levy family, said it is “disturbing” that police didn’t find the bone and the wire during the search. 

Police are trying to determine if the wire was used to harm Levy, LoJacono said. The wire appeared to be the same kind used by the National Park Service to secure trees in the sprawling park, he said. 

Police said they would search the site again to see if they could find other overlooked evidence. 

Levy disappeared on May 1, 2001, shortly after she finished an internship with the U.S. Bureau of Prisons and before she was to return to California to receive a graduate degree from the University of Southern California. 

Her case commanded national attention because of her relationship with Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif. Police sources said Condit admitted to an affair with Levy. He said he had nothing to do with her disappearance and police have said he is not a suspect.