Chandra Levy murder case finally goes to trial

(HMG Celebrity News) – The May 2001 death of Washington, DC intern Chandra Levy is finally going to trial after years where it looked like a cold case. Levy, 24, of Modesto,CA had just finished working as an intern for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in May 2001 when she disappeared from her apartment. A media frenzy erupted, centering on her affair with then-Congressman Gary Condit.  He denied any involvement in or knowledge of Levy disappearance or death; however, he acknowledged to investigators that they had an intimate relationship. Condit was later cleared and eventually El Salvadorian immigrant Ingmar Gundique was arrested in the attack.  Levy’s mother, however, is not yet completely convinced that investigators got the right man, she told a Washington Post reporter. The trial for Guandique starts this week, and although Levy’s father Robert told the Post he is “pretty sure” that the right man was arrested in the case, her mother Susan points to unanswered questions when explaining that she doesn’t know whether Guandique committed the murder, or whether Condit is completely innocent.

Susan, who works with other families who have missing relatives, plans to attend the trial, while Robert intends to stay in California and continue working with patients at his oncology practice. Robert is haunted by a nagging memory that he felt he would never see 24-year-old Chandra again after he kissed her goodbye a week before she disappeared, he told the Post.

Guandique, a gang member who entered the U.S. in 2000, is serving a 10-year sentence for assaulting two female joggers in Rock Creek Park, during the same time period that Levy was murdered, and at the same park where Levy’s remains were found one year from the time she disappeared. An inmate serving time with Guandique reportedly told investigators that Guandique told him he killed Levy. But Guandique supposedly told police he saw Levy in the park, but did not harm her, and no DNA or witnesses back up the accusation that he murdered Levy. The trial begins today in Washington.