Chandra Levy

Chandra Levy
Born	Chandra Ann Levy April 14, 1977(1977-04-14) Cleveland, Ohio, United States
Died	ca. May 1, 2001 (aged 24) Washington, D.C., United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Intern

Chandra Ann Levy (April 14, 1977–ca. May 1, 2001) was an intern at the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Washington, D.C., who disappeared in May 2001 and is presumed murdered after her skeletal remains were found in Rock Creek Park in May 2002. The investigation into her disappearance uncovered an extramarital affair with then-U.S. Representative Gary Condit,^[1] a Democrat representing California's 18th congressional district and a senior member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Although Condit was never called a suspect by police, the cloud of suspicion raised by the intense media focus on the missing intern and the later revelation of the affair led to his loss in his 2002 re-election campaign.

The circumstances surrounding Levy's death remained unclear for many years. On March 3, 2009 D.C. police and federal prosecutors announced they had arrested Ingmar A. Guandique, a 27-year-old illegal immigrant from El Salvador, as a suspect in the case.^[2]

Life and background

Levy was born in Cleveland and grew up in Modesto, California. Her parents Robert and Susan Levy are members of Congregation Beth Shalom there, a Conservative Jewish synagogue.^[3] She attended San Francisco State University, earning a degree in journalism. After interning for the California Bureau of Secondary Education and working in the office of Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, she began attending the University of Southern California to earn a Master's degree in Public Administration.

As part of her studies, Levy moved to Washington, D.C. to become an intern with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Shortly before her death, this internship was abruptly terminated when her academic eligibility was found to have expired. She had previously completed her degree requirements and was scheduled to return to California for graduation.

Case and scandal

Disappearance and search

Levy was last seen on May 1, 2001. The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia were first alerted on May 6, 2001, when Levy's parents called from Modesto to report that they had not heard from their daughter in five days.^[4] Police visited Levy's apartment in Dupont Circle that same day and again over the next few days, finding no indication of foul play. On May 7, Levy's father told the police that his daughter had been having an affair with a Congressman, and the next day told police he believed that Congressman to be Gary Condit. The same day, Levy's aunt called the police and told them that Chandra had confided in her about the affair. On May 10, police obtained a warrant and formally searched Levy's apartment. It was determined that on the morning of May 1, the day she was last seen, Levy or someone else had used her laptop computer to do an internet search for Klingle Mansion, located in Rock Creek Park. On July 25, three District of Columbia police sergeants and 28 police cadets searched along Glover Road in the park but failed to find evidence related to Levy. A second, later attempt also produced nothing.

Controversy surrounding Levy's disappearance became a main topic of the American news media,^[5] and Levy's parents held numerous vigils and news conferences in an attempt to "bring Chandra home." Condit, a married man who represented the congressional district in which the Levy family resided, at first denied that he had had an affair with her. His later statements left open the possibility of an affair. Even though police repeatedly stated that Condit was not a suspect, many in the media, along with Levy's family, felt that Condit was still being evasive and possibly hiding information about the matter. Condit later refused to submit to a polygraph test administered by the D.C. police. He also tried to avoid answering direct questions during an August 23, 2001, televised interview with news anchor Connie Chung on the ABC News program Primetime Thursday.^[5] Only the September 11, 2001, attacks were able to supplant the Levy case in the media.^[6]

Condit appeared before a District of Columbia grand jury investigating the disappearance. He subsequently lost the Democratic primary election in March 2002, the Levy controversy cited as a contributing factor.^[5] Condit left Congress at the end of his term in 2003.

In 2003 Susan Levy participated in the efforts to find another missing Modesto woman, Laci Peterson.

Discovery of remains

District of Columbia Police Chief Charles Ramsey announced on May 22, 2002, that remains matching Levy's dental records had been found by a man walking his dog^[7] and looking for turtles in Rock Creek Park. Though police had previously searched well over half the area of the 2,000-acre (8.1 km²) park, they later stated that they had not searched one particular area due to its remoteness. Levy's remains were found there, a mile (1.6 km) north of the Klingle Mansion and about four miles (6 km) from Levy's apartment. After a preliminary autopsy was performed, District of Columbia police announced that there was sufficient evidence to begin a homicide investigation. On May 28, the medical examiner officially declared Levy's death a homicide.^[8]

Arrest

Police interviewed Ingmar Guandique, a Salvadoran illegal alien who had been previously convicted of assaulting two other women in the same park where Levy's remains were found. District of Columbia police chief Charles H. Ramsey called him a "person of interest." Police administered a polygraph test, which Guandique passed.

The Levy homicide remained listed as a "cold case" until March 3, 2009, when the Superior Court of the District of Columbia issued an arrest warrant for Guandique.^[9] On Wednesday, April 22, 2009, Guandique was charged with Chandra Levy's murder.^[10] On his arraignment, where Guandique pleaded 'not guilty', a trial date was set of January 27, 2010.^[11]

Guandique is currently an inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary–Victorville in Adelanto, California, serving time for his earlier conviction.

Similarities to Joyce Chiang case

Levy's disappearance came two years after the disappearance and declared homicide, under similar circumstances, of Immigration and Naturalization Service attorney Joyce Chiang (now a cold case). Levy's apartment building was four blocks away from Chiang's former building. Levy's remains were found in a D.C. federal parkland area, as were Chiang's belongings, before her body washed up in a nearby river. Both were young, brunette women of petite stature. These similarities have led to various theories that both women were killed by the same person.^[12]

Criticism of media coverage

The Levy case was the subject of a great deal of media coverage in the summer of 2001, especially on U.S. cable news networks such as MSNBC, CNN and Fox News. Following the 9/11 attacks, media critics and the cable news executives themselves cited the Levy case, as well as the concurrent sensational coverage of a supposed string of shark attacks, as being evidence of the media echo chamber in action,^[13] as well as illustrating the vacuity of U.S. news coverage immediately preceding a major attack on the country.^[14] Seven years later, in the summer of 2008, the Washington Post ran a 13-part series billed, in part, as "a tale of the tabloid and mainstream press pack journalism that helped derail the investigation." Although the series was phenomenally popular, reader comments were overwhelmingly negative; Post Metro reporter Robert Pierre wrote that emphasis on a glamorous white murder victim, when "about 200 people are killed in this city every year, most of them black and male," was "absolutely absurd and dare I say, racist, at its core."^[15][16]

The media have also been criticized for their "rush to judgment" in suggesting, sometimes blatantly, that Condit was guilty of the murder, especially in the early days of the investigation.^[17][18][19] Some of the reporters camped in front of Condit's Washington apartment house were quoted as stating they would remain there "until he resigns."^[20][21]

References

Emimen's song "Criminal" lyrics say How can one Chandra be so Levy

External links

• "Levy Disappearance Remains A Cold Case", America's Most Wanted
• "Homicide Investigation—Chandra Ann Levy", Metropolitan Police Department
• JusticeforChandra.com
• Chandra Levy coverage, Modesto Bee
• "Chandra Levy Murder", CourtTVnews
• Chandra Levy at Find a Grave
• "Who Killed Chandra Levy?" A 12 Part Series from The Washington Post revisits the crime and subsequent investigations 7 years after the murder