Chandra Levy’s case remains unsolved 25 years later, the detective says the search has failed
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Twenty-five years after the disappearance of Washington intern Chandra Levy, the high-profile case remains unsolved — and is still dogged by questions about whether early mistakes allowed the killer to escape.
The case drew national attention in 2001, fueled by intense media coverage and scrutiny of Levy’s relationship with a sitting congressman. The prime suspect, however, turned out to be a two-time illegal immigrant who was convicted of assaulting other women during Levy’s alleged slaying at the same park, according to prosecutors.
Ted Williams, a former homicide detective in Washington, DC and a Fox News contributor who has been following the case for decades, said authorities failed to search Rock Creek Park early, delaying the discovery of Levy’s remains — and potentially weakening the case in light of some evidence.
Fox News Digital has reached out to city police for comment.
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A Washington Metropolitan police officer stands behind a police line at Rock Creek Park in Washington, May 22, 2002. A skull and other human remains were found in the park and later determined to be that of Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old former student who disappeared in May 2001. (REUTERS/William Philpott WP/HB)
Levy’s remains were found in a remote area of the park in May 2002, just over a year after she disappeared.
“They searched parts of Rock Creek Park, but they never went down to the river, which is where Chandra Levy’s remains were found,” he told Fox News Digital. “And the only way those remains were found was that there was a man who came upon the remains, walking with his dog. If he wasn’t there, we might still be looking for Chandra Levy.”
If a thorough investigation had been done at the beginning of the investigation, the investigators may have been able to find physical evidence linking the suspect to the crime, said Williams.
“After 25 years, due to the way and carelessness of the investigation, we are still left with the question of who killed Chandra Levy,” he said.
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Chandra Levy is shown in this undated handout photo from the Washington, DC Metropolitan Police Department. (REUTERS/City Police Department/Handout)
Levy, a California native, was a 24-year-old intern at the Federal Bureau of Prisons. He was last seen in public at a gym near his apartment in Washington, DC, on April 30, 2001. Investigators tracked his Internet use the next morning, showing that he was still alive at 1 pm on May 1.
Chandra Levy, the Washington student who went missing, is shown in this photo. (Mai/Getty Images)
On May 6, his parents called the DC police and their congressman, former Rep. Gary Condit, a Democrat from California who later had an affair with a missing woman.
The affair ended Condit’s political career, leading to his loss in the 2002 Democratic primary for his district. Efforts to reach him for comment were unsuccessful.
“I don’t think the congressman had anything to do with his disappearance,” said Williams.
US Congressman Gary Condit (D-CA) then pushed the media after leaving his Adams Morgan building in the Washington section, July 12, 2001. Condit admitted to police officers that he had an affair with Chandra Levy before his disappearance. (Reuters)
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However, the congressional meeting sparked a scandal that may have distracted investigators, Williams said.
“Because he was a member of Congress, it seems that law enforcement was threatened by his situation, and they could not get much information from him,” he said.
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The police removed him as a suspect and focused on another man.
In April 2009, they arrested an illegal immigrant from El Salvador named Ingmar Guandique, also known as Ingmar Guandique-Blanco, who assaulted other women in Rock Creek Park during Levy’s murder.
Ingmar Guandique pictured in federal custody in an undated photo provided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. When prosecutors refused to bring him to court for a retrial in the murder of Chandra Levy, the alleged MS-13 member was deported to El Salvador. (ICE)
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Guandique, described by the government as a member of MS-13, was accused of stalking a woman in a park the same day Levy disappeared. He was convicted later that year of attacking two other women in a park with a knife, one on May 14, two weeks after Levy’s murder, and the other on July 1.
He served ten years in prison for knife attacks. Jurors later found him guilty of Levy’s murder after a trial in 2010, in part because of the testimony of another inmate who made a confession in prison.
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ICE released this photo of the deportation plane preparing to take off and the announcement that Ingmar Guandique has been deported to El Salvador after prosecutors dropped their case in the murder of Chandra Levy. (ICE)
But his lawyers convinced a judge to grant a new trial in 2016 amid concerns about the credibility of witnesses.
In a surprise to the court, prosecutors decided to dismiss the case due to “unforeseen circumstances” rather than try him a second time. So the case was dropped, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement sent him back to El Salvador.
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“They probably deported the murderer rather than try him a second time,” Williams said. “That’s a mystery too.”
Although he said he still believes Guandique is a key suspect, the case remains officially unsolved after 25 years.
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“It is very clear that the family will never be able to cope with the death of this promising little girl who came to Washington as a student,” said Williams.
Fox News’ Stephanie Nolasco and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
