Sex, Power and Secrets

The Murder Of Chandra Levy

Washington DC

Chandra Levy disappeared on May 1, 2001. Her remains were found in Rock Creek Park, in Washington, D.C., over a year later. But, it's not just the disappearance of the young government intern that captured media attention around the world, it was also the affair she had with a married Congressman, Gary Condit, and his denial of the affair that lead to suspicions about him in the public eye.

Robert Levy placed an urgent call on May 6, 2001, stating that he hadn't heard from his daughter for five days. Chandra was on her way home from Washington DC and should have shown up by then.

As the family searched for clues from Chandra's cellphone bills, one number came up time after time. This was the number to Gary Condit's office, who  represented the Levys' district in the Central Valley of California.

Robert Levy got in touch with Condit who said he and Chandra were just friends. It was later revealed that Chandra had confided to her aunt, Linda Zamsky, about the affair she was having with Condit. She, also, confided in others about her affair.

Condit had convinced her, according to reports, that he was going to become a lobbyist, divorce his wife, marry Chandra and start a second family. This was to be a five year plan.

Little did Chandra know that two other women claimed to have had affairs with the congressman. Joleen Argentini McKay, called to let investigators know that she was a junior aide for Condit during the mid-1990s and had a 3 year affair with him. She claimed that Condit had been manipulative and controlling, and that she was concerned about Chandra.

The other was a flight attendant, Anne Marie Smith. Their romance started in July of 2000. They met at hotels and at his condo, keeping the affair very discreet.

During the second week of May 2001, rumors about a relationship between Chandra and Condit began to spread around Washington. Smith said Condit phoned her and asked her not to call him for a while, he would call her.

"Is it your family? Is it your job?" Smith asked.

"No. I can't tell you," he said, she would later recall. "I may have to disappear for a while."

As the rumors ran about Condit's relationship with Chandra, they were quickly being set aside by Condit's aides. Michael Lynch, Condit's chief of staff in Modesto, CA,  told reporters that a romance between the two "totally did not occur."

The more Condit dodged the questions and lied to the public, the more he the public saw him as a suspect. So did the Levys. They believed he was hiding what he knew.

Condit, eventually, agreed to a meeting with DC detectives for a second time. Condit still described Chandra as a constituent who became a friend and said she believed he could help advance her career.

Condit claimed he never bought Chandra gifts, which contradicted a statement by Chandra's aunt who told detectives Chandra had received a gold bracelet from Condit. His other affairs described lavish gifts, also.

Tips were pouring in to the D.C. police department from all over the world at a furious pace, each one stranger than the last. Hundreds of psychics and oddballs were phoning in with their hunches, their visions and their sightings. Some of the tips were plausible. Others were not. All took time away from the case. Police were frustrated. They were spending an unprecedented amount of time on the case and not getting a meaningful break - a witness, a piece of physical evidence, a solid tip from an informant.

Early on, police had found a search Chandra had done on her computer, the day she disappeared. The search was on an Entertainment Guide to Rock Creek Park. Included in the search was information about the park's hiking trails. It also had details about the horse stables, the old Peirce Mill, and the Nature Center and Planetarium - all of them not far from where Chandra's body lay. She could have been looking for a place to walk on a beautiful spring day. She liked to exercise and she loved the outdoors, and she had just canceled her gym membership.

While police were busy playing cat and mouse with Condit, they missed a major lead that was developing. Ingmar A. Guandique had been caught attacking women with a knife in the woods near where Chandra's body was eventually found. The day Chandra disappeared, May 1, 2001, Guandique, a 19-year-old illegal Salvadoran immigrant, did not show up for his construction job.

Guandique was investigated and charged for the attacks and ended up with a 10-year prison sentence. It was during this time that he told at least two people that he killed Chandra Levy. He also kept a magazine photo of Chandra in his prison cell.

Click on the link below to read the affidavit detailing evidence supporting a warrant for Guandique's arrest for first-degree murder.

AFFIDAVIT

Condit's son, Chad told People magazine that, "The media took my dad's name and made something of it that wasn't. He built a reputation over 30 years and in three months that reputation was destroyed. He was tarred and feathered, it's that simple."

I have to disagree with that assessment. Had Condit not had an affair with Chandra, one that was proven by DNA evidence, matched to him, on undewear found in her apartment, his reputation would be in tact. If Condit hadn't been evasive and then lie to the public about his affair, gifts, etc... he wouldn't have been suspect in the public eye. He had been a trusted public figure.

Life is about the choices we make. Condit made his choices and ruined his own career.  IMO

We will be following this case!

Read full resource details...

Terrific detailed article! http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/metro/specials/chandra/ch1_1.html

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20264057,00.html

en.wikipedia.org

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/03/04/chandra.levy.suspect.guandique/index.html

UPDATES

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05-29-09

Guandique Pleads Not Guilty In Chandra Levy Murder

Twenty-seven-year-old Ingmar Guandique was arraigned in District of Columbia Superior Court on six counts, including first-degree murder, kidnapping and attempted sexual abuse. He pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Guandique listened through a Spanish translator during the hearing. He kept his head down and remained silent, except to reply "si" when asked if he understood the charges.

Judge Geoffrey Alprin set a jury trial, expected to last two weeks, for Jan. 27. Guandique's public defender, Santha Sonenberg, asked the judge for more time to prepare, but Alprin insisted on the date.

Read resource details...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/6443576.html

05-27-09

Ingmar Guandique, has been indicted on the first-degree murder of Chandra Levy, and will be arraigned on Wednesday, May 27.

He also faces a first-degree sexual abuse charge, according to the four-page indictment returned by a District of Columbia Superior Court grand jury on Tuesday.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office said Wednesday that the indictment "speaks for itself" and had no further comment.

In April, Guandique made his initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court and charged with first-degree murder. In D.C., suspects must be indicted within nine months of being charged.

Read resource details...

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6434475.html

04-24-09

Ingmar Guandique's Initial Court Appearance

Ingmar Guandique made his initial court appearance, Thursday, in the murder of Chandra Levy.

Defense attorneys claim that the case was based largely on the accounts of "jailhouse snitches" interviewed years after the slaying and used Guandeque's first court appearance as a venue to warn against a "rush to judgment."

Eight of the dozen prosecution witnesses outlined in the affidavit were known to prosecutors for years, Sonenberg said, yet no arrest was made until after others were interviewed beginning in 2008. Of those, three were "jailhouse snitches," she said.

"There is not a single witness to ever see Mr. Guandique and the decedent together and little information unknown to the government in 2002 beyond the made-up claims of unbelievable self-serving jailhouse informants," the attorneys said in a statement after the hearing.

The judge, however, found that police had probable cause to arrest Guandique and scheduled another hearing for May 27. Guandique, who is also serving a 10-year sentence in California for a separate assault, was to remain held at the D.C. jail until then.

Read resource details...

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/23/us-chandra-levy-042309/?california

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/23/AR2009042302672.html

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/washingtonpostinvestigations/2009/04/day_in_court_for_levys_accused.html?wprss=washingtonpostinvestigations