Charges dropped against man accused of killing Washington intern Chandra Levy
Source: Washington Post
By Keith L. Alexander
@keithlalexander
July 28 at 2:34 PM
District prosecutors have dropped charges against the man who had been accused in the murder of Chandra Levy, saying in light of new information it has concluded it can “no longer prove the murder case.”
Prosecutors did not detail what that information is, saying only that it was received in the past week. The suspect, Ingmar Guandique, was set to go to trial in October.
Levy was a 24-year-old intern with the Federal Bureau of Prisons when she disappeared May 1, 2001. The case gained national attention because police investigators at first looked closely at former California congressman Gary A. Condit, with whom Levy had an affair. Authorities later ruled him out as a suspect.
Levy’s remains were found in 2002 in Rock Creek Park. Guandique, who had pleaded guilty to attacking other women in the park, was charged. He was found guilty of Levy’s murder following a 2010 trial, but his conviction was overturned last year and he is set to be tried again in October. ... Guandique, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, has been jailed awaiting retrial. After his release, he will be handed over to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, where he faces removal proceedings.
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/charges-dropped-against-man-accused-of-killing-washington-intern-chandra-levy/2016/07/28/36f36630-54ee-11e6-bbf5-957ad17b4385_story.html
This was the story of the summer of 2001. That and the fire in the Howard Street Tunnel in Baltimore.
This story is of national interest, as a member of congress was a suspect at first.
Chandra Levy
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Personal life
Business
After his departure from office, Condit moved to Arizona and operated an ice cream store franchise. He was a civil defendant for costs due to the franchise failures and is defending a civil suit for fees and costs. He is now serving as president of the Phoenix Institute of Desert Agriculture.
This case is DC's version of the Black Dahlia.
There's a connection to Alexandria too. I was reminded by a comment to the WaPo article. Condit drover over here and threw something in a trash can, believing that he would not be recognized here.
About three hours before police started to search his apartment, the congressman and one of his top aides, Michael Dayton, drove to Alexandria in Dayton's black Volkswagen Jetta.
About 8 p.m., the Jetta pulled up to the curb at Route 1 and Vernon Street, near a McDonald's. Daniel Olson, a law firm temp who lived in the neighborhood, was driving home when he saw a man he recognized as Condit step out of the passenger side of the car. He watched Condit stroll over to a trash can, push something deep inside and return to the Jetta, which pulled away.
Olson was intrigued. He would later tell police that he walked over to the trash can and looked in. He saw a little black square, the size of a computer disk, and pulled it out. It was a black cardboard box for a Tag Heuer watch. The box was torn and flattened. Inside, Olson found a manual and a warranty, but no watch. He brought the box to his apartment and showed it to his roommates.
The next day, Olson tossed it back into the same trash can and went to work, where a colleague who once worked for the Baltimore Police Department urged him to call the D.C. police. Detective Lawrence Kennedy drove to Alexandria and retrieved the box, the manual and the warranty. Police determined that the box had contained a watch that Joleen Argentini McKay, a former member of Condit's congressional staff, gave to him.
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