Chandra Levy murder could be pinned on inmate, not Gary Condit

News reports this morning suggest that Washington, D.C. authorities may be close to charging an inmate named Ingmar Guandique with the 2001 murder of Federal Bureau of Prisons intern Chandra Levy, whose remains were found in Washington’s Rock Creek Park in May of 2002.

According to a story from CBS, Guandique is currently behind bars for assaulting two women joggers in Rock Creek Park, and “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.”

Many of the reports today cite stories from WRC, Washington’s NBC affiliate, and also from KXTV, News10 ABC in Sacramento, which has 2001 mug shot of Ingmar Guandique, and also exclusive video of Robert and Susan Levy, Chandra’s parents, speaking last night:

Levy’s disappearance led to the loss of a congressional seat for Rep. Gary Condit, a Democrat from California’s 18th congressional district, who was the subject of intense suspicion after he was said to have had an affair with Levy. The scandal derailed his political career and was followed by additional trouble involving his brothers, as well as his litigation against Dominick Dunne and the Sonoran News, and prosecution of his son and daughter for alleged PAC fraud.

As of March 2006, Condit was reportedly living in Glendale, Arizona, where he was involved in a franchising dispute with Baskin-Robbins over his two ice cream shops there.

For a comprehensive review of the case and the media frenzy that surrounded it, see the 12-part series the Washington Post published last summer, “Who Killed Chandra Levy?” That report, criticized at the time, identified Guandique as a possible suspect that police overlooked due to the glare from the media focus on Condit.