The murder of Chandra Levy
Washington, District of Columbia · May 1, 2001
A man was convicted of Chandra Levy's murder and sentenced to 60 years, then the jailhouse informant at the center of the case unraveled, prosecutors dropped the charges and he was deported, which left the killing of a 24-year-old intern officially unsolved for a second time.
Overview
Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old intern at the Federal Bureau of Prisons from Modesto, California, was last known to be in her Washington, D.C. apartment on May 1, 2001. Police found her wallet, credit card, computer and cell phone there; only her keys were missing. The disappearance became a national story, partly because of her relationship with a congressman, whom police repeatedly said was not a suspect. On May 22, 2002, a man walking his dog found her skull and other bones in Rock Creek Park, and the medical examiner ruled the death a homicide without being able to say how she died. In 2009 prosecutors charged Ingmar Guandique, who was already in prison for assaulting two women in the same park. A jury convicted him in November 2010, in a case that hinged on a jailhouse informant, and he was sentenced to 60 years. Then the case came apart. A judge granted a new trial in 2015 after the informant's testimony was challenged, and on July 28, 2016 prosecutors dropped the charges, saying they could no longer prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Guandique was deported to El Salvador in May 2017. In the reporting reviewed for this file, which runs through October 2026, no one else has been charged.
Where it stands
Chandra Levy's murder is officially unsolved, and for a time it looked closed. In November 2010 a jury found Ingmar Guandique guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, and in February 2011 he was sentenced to 60 years, with at least 51 to serve, according to DCist. The case against him was thin on physical proof. The National Registry of Exonerations says no forensic or physical evidence linked him to the crime, and DCist reported that the case hinged on a jailhouse informant who said Guandique had confessed. That informant is where it came apart. The Associated Press reported that the U.S. Attorney's Office began investigating his testimony in 2011, after a California sheriff's department alerted prosecutors to its own interviews with him more than a decade earlier. The ABA Journal reported that in early 2012 prosecutors learned he had previously given law enforcement information about violent crimes, and that this had not been disclosed to Guandique's lawyers. After hearings that were first closed, records were unsealed in February 2013, and the defense said the government's case was predicated on a lie. In May 2015 prosecutors dropped their opposition to a new trial while still saying they believed the verdict was correct, and a judge granted one in June 2015. On July 28, 2016 prosecutors dismissed the case. They cited new information received within the past week and said they could no longer prove the murder case beyond a reasonable doubt, without describing the information. Guandique's lawyers said the informant had been found to have lied, and the registry reports that the informant later admitted he had made up the confession story. Guandique, who was already serving ten years for assaulting two other women in the same park, was handed to immigration officials and arrived in El Salvador in May 2017. The charges were dropped; a jury did not acquit him. In the reporting reviewed for this file, which runs through October 2026, no one else has been charged. The congressman she had been involved with was never charged, and police repeatedly said he was not a suspect. Even where the killing happened is unknown: the medical examiner could not say whether Levy died in the park or was taken there.
Persons of interest
The theories below are reported strictly as attributed to the cited sources. Naming a person here is not an accusation. Individuals are named only where they are deceased, were formally charged, were officially named by authorities, or have been publicly cleared.
- Ingmar GuandiqueTried & acquitted
Prosecutors charged Guandique with Levy's murder in 2009, and a jury convicted him on two first-degree murder counts in November 2010, a case that hinged on a jailhouse informant and had no physical evidence linking him to the killing, according to DCist and the National Registry of Exonerations. He had earlier been convicted of assaulting two women who were jogging in Rock Creek Park. A judge granted a new trial in 2015, and on July 28, 2016 prosecutors dropped the charges, saying they could no longer prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. He was not acquitted at a trial: the charges were dismissed before a retrial, and he was deported to El Salvador in 2017.[12]
- A congressman she had been involved withCleared
Early public attention focused on a congressman with whom Levy had been involved. The Associated Press reported he acknowledged to investigators that they had been involved and that he denied any role in her disappearance. Police questioned him several times and repeatedly said he was not a suspect. He was never charged.[2]
Sources
- Skeletal remains found; police investigating whether they are Chandra Levy's (May 21, 2002)
“found in more than one location in thick woods on the western edge of sprawling Rock Creek Park”
- Levy's body found in park (May 2002)
“When police searched her apartment they found her wallet, credit card, computer and cell phone. Only her keys were missing.”
- Chandra's Death Was Murder (May 29, 2002)
“The cause of death has been qualified as undetermined, the manner of death as homicide.”
- Arrest Near In Chandra Levy Case? (February 21, 2009)
“An inmate serving time with Guandique reportedly told investigators that Guandique told him he killed Levy, but Guandique is said to have told police he saw Levy in the park, but didn't harm her.”
- Suspect charged with murder of Chandra Levy (April 22, 2009)
“At least two of the witnesses claim Guandique told them he killed Levy.”
- Ingmar Guandique Found Guilty In Chandra Levy Murder Trial (November 22, 2010)
“Ingmar Guandique was found guilty this morning for the murder of Chandra Levy in Rock Creek Park in 2001.”
- Ingmar Guandique Sentenced To 60 Years In Prison (February 11, 2011)
“Guandique will serve, at a minimum, 51 years of his 60-year sentence.”
- Saying Prosecution 'Predicated on a Lie,' Attorneys for Chandra Levy Killer Could Ask for New Trial (February 19, 2013)
“The case hinged on a jailhouse informant who said Guandique had confessed to killing Levy.”
- Judge reveals dispute about whether prosecutors withheld critical evidence in Chandra Levy case (May 22, 2013)
“this information wasn't disclosed to lawyers for Ingmar Guandique”
- New trial expected in Chandra Levy murder (May 22, 2015)
“government attorneys dropped their opposition to a new trial for Ingmar Guandique in a four-page motion.”
- Judge grants new trial in death of intern Chandra Levy (June 4, 2015)
“D.C. Superior Court Judge Gerald Fisher on Thursday granted a motion for a new trial in the case of Ingmar Guandique, who was convicted in 2010 of killing Levy.”
- Prosecutors Drop Charges Against Man Accused Of Killing Chandra Levy (July 28, 2016)
“can no longer prove the murder case against Mr. Guandique beyond a reasonable doubt”
- Onetime Chandra Levy murder suspect Ingmar Guandique deported (May 8, 2017)
“The informant who claimed that Guandique confessed to the crime was discovered to have lied, Guandique’s lawyers said.”
- Ingmar Guandique
“eventually admitted that he had lied in court and made up the story that Guandique had confessed to him.”