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17 Years Later, Chandra Levy’s Death Remains a Mystery Marcia Clark Wants to Solve
At one point, the case of Chandra Levy‘s 2001 death seemed all wrapped up: Ingmar Guandique had been convicted of her murder and sentenced to 60 years in prison. But Guandique’s charges have been dismissed, and he’s been freed from prison. OK, so did Gary Condit kill Chandra Levy? Apparently not. With both men seemingly exonerated, the mystery still stands.
With so much uncertainty, famed prosecutor Marcia Clark reexamined the case on the April 12 episode of A&E’s Marcia Clark Investigates the First 48, saying she wants answers for Chandra’s family.
Who was Chandra Levy?
Chandra, a 24-year-old woman interested in a career in the FBI, was an intern at the Federal Bureau of Prison in Washington, D.C. and a master’s student in public administration at the University of Southern California. “She had these high political internships,” mother Susan Levy told ABC News in 2016. “She was an honor student, had good grades…maybe a student aggressive enough to go after these really good positions.”
How did Chandra Levy die?
Chandra went missing on May 1, 2001. Investigators discovered she had searched the web for information about D.C.’s Rock Creek Park, but it wasn’t until a year later that her body was found there. Chandra’s skeletal remains convinced the medical examiner she had died by homicide.
At the time, a Salvadoran man named Ingmar Guandique had been arrested for assaulting two women at knifepoint at the same park around the time of Chandra’s disappearance. Guandique was charged with Chandra’s murder in 2009 and convicted the following year — with prosecutors speculating he had attacked her, tied her up, and left her to die — but he was granted a retrial in 2015 amid accusations of prosecutorial misconduct. The U.S. Attorney’s Office then backed down, and a judge dismissed Guandique’s charges in 2016. And in 2017, Guandique was deported to El Salvador.
Did Gary Condit kill Chandra Levy?
Gary Condit, who was a California Congressman at the time, became a focal point for the Chandra Levy case because she and he allegedly had an affair before her disappearance. (He was 28 years her senior, and he was married.) But Condit had an alibi — he was in a meeting with then-Vice President Dick Cheney on May 1 — and he was never named as a suspect. Still, he lost his bid for re-election in 2002, likely as a result of the scandal. With Condit exonerated and with Guandique freed, Chandra’s murder remains unsolved.
Was Chandra Levy pregnant?
Amid the media storm in the months following Chandra’s disappearance, the National Enquirer quoted a source close to the investigation who said (per Daily Mail), “Authorities have information that Chandra told at least one friend that she was pregnant — and she said the baby was Condit’s.” But the autopsy on Chandra’s remains couldn’t confirm she was pregnant at the time of her death.
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