A jailed laborer from El Salvador has been charged with first-degree murder in the 2001 slaying of federal intern Chandra Levy.
A judge on Tuesday signed an arrest warrant for Ingmar Guandique, 27, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence in California. He was convicted of two assaults in Washington, D.C.’s Rock Creek Park that occurred around the time of Levy’s disappearance. Levy’s remains were found in the park. “We believe Levy was a random victim of Guandique, who attacked and killed her as she jogged in Rock Creek Park,” said Jeffrey Taylor, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia. If convicted, Guandique could face a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 30 years and a maximum of 60 years, Taylor said. Watch the police announce arrest » The publicity surrounding the Levy case was largely a result of her connection to then-Rep. Gary Condit, D-California. Condit and Levy had an affair and police questioned Condit many times in connection with the murder. A California native working as an intern for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the 24-year-old Levy disappeared May 1, 2001. Her remains were found in May 2002 by a man walking his dog in a remote area of the park. Timeline of Levy’s disappearance » Guandique has been imprisoned at the Federal Correctional Institution-Victorville, a medium-security facility north of San Bernardino.
Officials hope to transfer him from California to the nation’s capital in 45 to 60 days. He’s serving his current sentence on the two assault convictions in California because there are no federal prisons in Washington, D.C. Those convicted of federal crimes in the capital are sent to federal prisons across the country.
According to officials at Tuesday’s news conference — and the affidavit supporting the arrest warrant for Guandique — circumstantial evidence played a large role in the case. There was no evidence anyone witnessed Guandique and Levy together. According to the affidavit, a witness last month said Guandique told him he was involved in the killing, and when news emerged at that time that his arrest in the case was imminent, he told another witness something akin to “(expletive) it’s over. They got me now. What am I gonna do”
