Washington police told the mother of murder victim Chandra Levy that an arrest is imminent in the eight-year-old case, Susan Levy told CNN on Saturday.
Police Chief Cathy Lanier of the Metropolitan Police Department did not reveal the suspect’s name, Levy said. Police did not provide details, and told reporters that no announcement is expected this weekend. “This case generated numerous bits of information, which we continue to follow up on,” Lanier said in a written statement Saturday morning. Earlier in the day, WRC-TV in Washington reported that police were pursuing an arrest warrant for a prison inmate named Ingmar Guandique. Guandique is being held at the Federal Correctional Institution-Victorville, a medium-security facility north of San Bernardino, California, an official there confirmed to CNN on Saturday. Police contacted Levy’s parents, Susan and Robert Levy, on Friday, the couple told CNN affiliate KXTV in Sacramento, California. “No, they didn’t say exactly when … she said it would be really soon,” Robert Levy said, without naming the police officer. “She didn’t say the name yet, but we think we know who it is. I don’t want to say until it’s official, though,” the father said. “We appreciate all the hard work they did,” Susan Levy told KXTV. “You want justice. You want the person incarcerated. It is still painful no matter what. Your child is dead and gone. But we are glad the police are doing something and making a difference.” Levy, 24, used her computer and then left her apartment May 1, 2001, and vanished. Her remains were found May 22, 2002, by a man walking his dog in a secluded area of Washington’s Rock Creek Park. The search for Levy and massive publicity that accompanied it stemmed largely from her connection to Rep. Gary Condit, D-California. Condit and Levy, a federal Bureau of Prisons intern from Condit’s district, had an affair, and police questioned Condit many times in connection with the murder. Police never named Condit as a suspect. Condit, a member of Congress since 1989, lost the 2002 Democratic primary and left office at the end of his term. He later reportedly moved to Arizona.
Guandique was mentioned in a Washington Post investigation into the murder published last year. The newspaper quoted former investigators in the case who said Guandique was convicted of assaulting two other women in the park where Levy’s body was found.
