Readers may recall that as dawn broke over the eastern seaboard on the morning of 11 September 2001, one of the top national news stories of the day concerned the disappearance of
Chandra Levy, an intern for then Congressman
Gary A. Condit (D-CA), with whom Levy was having an extra-marital affair. Polygraphy played a prominent role in the investigation. (See earlier posts in this message thread for details.) The tragic events that occurred later that day swept the story by the wayside.
Today, 22 February 2009, the
New York Times reports that Ingmar Guandique, an early suspect from whom suspicion was deflected after he passed a lie detector test (and his accuser failed one), is soon to be indicted for the murder of Chandra Levy:
Quote:Arrest Said to Be Near in Killing of Chandra Levy
By IAN URBINA
WASHINGTON — Police officials here are close to making an arrest in the killing of Chandra Levy, the former federal government intern whose disappearance in 2001 ended Gary A. Condit’s Congressional career after his relationship with her was revealed, several law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation said on Saturday.
Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier contacted Ms. Levy’s family on Friday to inform them that officials would be pressing charges, probably in the next several days.
Law enforcement officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because charges had not been filed, identified the suspect as Ingmar Guandique, 27, who has previously denied any involvement in Ms. Levy’s disappearance and killing.
Ms. Levy’s killing is one of Washington’s most sensational unsolved crimes and has brought intense pressure on the Police Department. She disappeared on May 1, 2001, and more than a year passed before her body was found in Rock Creek Park.
Mr. Guandique pleaded guilty to assault in September 2001 in two cases involving attacks on women in the park in May and July of that year. He is serving a 10-year sentence at a federal prison in Adelanto, Calif., and is eligible for parole in 2011.
The police recently submitted new evidence to the United States attorney’s office after an inmate serving time with Mr. Guandique contacted them, law enforcement officials said. The inmate said Mr. Guandique told him that he had killed Ms. Levy, the sources said.
In the initial investigation, Mr. Guandique told the police that he had seen Ms. Levy in the park but that he had not harmed her. The police called Mr. Guandique a “person of interest” but said he had passed a polygraph test. City officials familiar with the investigation said that prosecutors had convened a grand jury but that it was not clear how much evidence they had submitted to it.
The news of a possible arrest in the case was first reported by the television stations KFSN and KCRA in California and WRC in Washington.
Ms. Levy’s brother, Adam Levy, 27, who is studying to become a computer animator at Mount Ida College in Newton, Mass., said he found out about the possibility of an arrest Saturday morning.
“I wouldn’t really use the word closure, but it’s justice in a way,” Mr. Levy said. “It’s not going to bring the person back, but it’s justice in terms of a person facing punishment for the crime.”
Ms. Levy’s mother, Susan Levy, expressed a similar sentiment in an interview on CNN. “I want justice,” she said. “No matter what, it’s a bittersweet situation for me as a family member, a mother of a daughter who’s no longer here.
“But I want justice. I want to know that the person that did it is in jail and will not ever do it to anybody else. That’s very poignant.”
Chandra Levy, a native of Modesto, Calif., had been an intern for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington.
The investigation into her disappearance uncovered an affair with Mr. Condit, a Democrat representing the 18th Congressional District, which includes Modesto. Mr. Condit, a seven-term representative who was a senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, was married at the time.
In their original investigation, the police questioned Mr. Condit, who acknowledged that he and Ms. Levy had been in a relationship. He was not considered a suspect, but the negative publicity is cited as the main cause of Mr. Condit’s defeat in his 2002 re-election campaign.
“While very good news,” a lawyer for Mr. Condit, Abbe D. Lowell, said in a telephone interview, “it is a tragedy that the police and media obsession with former Congressman Condit delayed this result for eight years and caused needless pain and harm to the families involved.”
In a statement to the Washington television station WJLA, Mr. Condit said: “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.”
Chief Lanier said in a statement, “This case generated numerous bits of information, which we continue to follow up on.” She declined to comment further.
The news of Ms. Levy’s killing led to widespread speculation that Mr. Condit was involved, which fed newspaper coverage of the case for months. After losing the primary election in 2002 to a former aide, Mr. Condit moved to Arizona. In 2005, he set up an ice cream franchise for Baskin-Robbins and sued several journalists over their coverage of the case.
Liz Robbins contributed reporting from New York, and Jesse McKinley from San Francisco.
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FBI Doubletalk on Condit's Polygraph Results (Read 35478 times)
