Who Killed Chandra Levy? A congressman and an undocumented migrant were the main suspects

Chandra Ann Levy was a 24-year-old graduate student who was working as an intern at the Federal Bureau of Prisons when she disappeared on May 1, 2001. She also happened to be having an affair with a married member of Congress.

A series of mistakes and miscommunications within the District of Columbia police severely hampered the investigation. A failure in communication during the initial search meant Levy’s body lay undiscovered in Rock Creek Park for 12-months.

When her body was finally discovered, her skeletal remains were too badly decomposed to provide much in the way of evidence.

Police put too much focus on the fact that Levy had been having an affair with a California Congressman Gary Condit and initially dismissed information that Ingmar Guandique had previously been charged with attacking women in Rock Creek Park.

Congressman Condit’s alibi was the vice-president

Police dismissed Condit as a suspect quite early on in the investigation as he had a rock-solid alibi: he had been in a meeting with the vice-President at the time of the murder.

The case remained quiet for a number of years until, in 2009, police finally arrested Ingmar Guandique, a Salvadorean undocumented migrant, and charged him with murder. He was sentenced to 60-years in prison in 2011.

Ingmar Guandique’s conviction had rested on the testimony of Armando Morales, who had taken to the witness stand in November 2010, to say that Guandique had admitted to killing Levy. All the other evidence had been circumstantial.

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Morales had portrayed himself as a former criminal who had now seen the error of his ways and reformed. However, six years later, a recording emerged of Morales bragging about shooting gang rivals, obtaining hand grenades, and making prison shanks out of melted foam cups.

Prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to charge Ingmar Guandique

On the recording, Morales also spoke about his plans to ambush another man he felt had wronged him. These were hardly the words of a reformed and trustworthy individual.

This recording caused prosecutors to dismiss charges of murder against Guandique, stating they could no longer prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty. Ingmar Guandique was subsequently deported.

More from Investigation Discovery.

Follow the links to read about more crimes profiled on ID.

Kortne Stouffer went missing from her home after a night of partying with her friends in Palmyra, Pennsylvania, in 2012. The 21-year-old disappeared without a trace; all her belongings, including her pet dog, were left in her home.

Also profiled on ID was the tragic case of 13-year-old Tabitha Tudors who went missing as she walked to the bus stop near her home in Nashville, Tennessee in 2003. No trace of her has ever been found.

Who Killed Chandra Levy? airs at 9/8c on Investigation Discovery.