Convict charged in Chandra Levy death

by Josh Meyer

Federal authorities say a Salvadoran illegal immigrant already in prison for assaults on women was charged in the 2001 slaying of federal intern Chandra Levy, whose disappearance and death here in the capital ended the career of a prominent California congressman.

A Washington, D.C. Superior Court judge signed the warrant charging 27-year-old Ingmar Guandique with first-degree murder for allegedly killing Levy on May 1, 2001, in Rock Creek Park, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor said at a news conference.

``Today marks a significant step forward in our effort to achieve justice for the Levy family,'' said Taylor, whose federal prosecutors handle most murder cases in the district. Guandique is charged with first degree murder because he allegedly killed her in the commission of a sexual assault, according to authorities and the charging document.

Taylor and other authorities said Guandique killed Levy as she walked or jogged in a remote part of Rock Creek Part in the northwest quadrant of the city. An intensive police search failed to find her body; a dog walker found her bones a year later. Her parents have pressed authorities to solve the case ever since.

Guandique faces between 30 and 60 years in prison if convicted. Prosecutors believe Levy, a 24-year-old former intern for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, was a random victim, just like two other women that Guandique was later convicted of assaulting in the park at around the same time, authorities said.

Guandique, who has maintained his innocence, is serving a 10-year sentence in a federal prison in Adelanto, California, for those attacks at knifepoint.

His only comments on the Levy case came in an interview with the Washington Post, which ran a long investigative series last summer on the case and the investigation by the police and FBI. The series identified Guandique as the leading potential suspect, and quoted him as saying he welcomed an aggressive police investigation because he believed it would clear him.

"Regarding the case of the girl, Chandra Levy: I don't know anything about that case. In 2001, the FBI went to see me when I was in the [D.C. jail]. That was when I learned about that girl," Guandique told the paper. "I have nothing to do with the death of that girl. I am innocent and I am not afraid of the police investigation."

Taylor said today that authorities here are seeking to have Guandique sent to Washington for prosecution as soon as possible.

Two weeks ago, Levy's parents, Robert and Susan Levy of Modesto, Calif., said that Washington, D.C. police had told them that they believed they had finally solved the case. At the time, law enforcement sources said the police had finally gathered what they believed to be enough evidence to charge Guandique, who had been their prime suspect all along.

The Levys could not be reached for immediate comment today. Gary Condit, the Ceres Democrat, who lost a re-election bid after his reported affair with Levy surfaced after her disappearance, also could not be reached for comment.

Condit was interviewed by authorities after Levy's disappearance, but he was cleared as a suspect early on in the investigation, which has continued for nearly eight years.

He lost his re-election bid in a March 2002 primary, and has denied accusations by the Levy family and others that he failed to cooperate fully with police investigating Levy's disappearance in an effort to hide their relationship. A married father of two, Condit said in a 2001 televised interview that he and Levy had a very close relationship, but denied having anything to do with her disappearance.

Condit later settled libel lawsuits that he filed against some media outlets that he said had damaged his reputation by suggesting he was somehow linked to Levy's disappearance or death.

Two weeks ago, Condit issued a statement saying that if the pending murder charges were true, "For the Levy family, we are glad they are finally getting the answers they deserve. For my family, I am glad that their years of standing together in the face of such adversity have finally led to the truth.''

"It is unfortunate that an insatiable appetite for sensationalism blocked so many from searching for the real answers for so long," Condit said in the statement released to a local TV station. "I had always hoped to have the opportunity to tell my side of this story, but too many were not prepared to listen. Now I plan to do so, but I will have no further comments on this story at this time."

Over the years, Washington police have been sharply criticized for their handling of the case, including an initial focus on Condit that some critics said allowed them to miss important clues that pointed to Guandique.

"It dawned on me that there's very little I can do or anyone else can do for the Levys other than to offer them justice," Washington Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier said at today's news conference. "This has been a long time coming."

(Undated file photo released by the D.C. Department of Corrections of Ingmar Guandique. (AP Photo/DC Dept. of Corrections, File)