District police are close to announcing an arrest in the 2001 slaying of 24-year-old intern Chandra Levy, sources confirmed Saturday.
A source close to the Chandra Levy case said investigators are preparing an arrest warrant for 27-year-old Ingmar Guandique, an immigrant from El Salvador currently serving time for attacking two women in Rock Creek Park the same year Levy disappeared while jogging in the park.
Guandique first emerged as a possible suspect in media reports in May 2002, soon after Levy’s body was found by a man walking his dog in the park. He was a suspect in a series of attacks on young women in Rock Creek Park along the path Levy typically followed on her routine jogs, one source said. The attacks along that route, which happened before and after Levy disappeared, stopped when Guandique was taken into custody, the source added.
Guandique was repeatedly questioned by police, and now, sources said, new forensic evidence has come to light.
Levy’s death ended the political career of California Democrat Gary Condit, who was romantically involved with Levy in the months before she disappeared. It took investigators nearly a year to find her remains, and by then much evidence had been lost.
District Police Chief Cathy Lanier issued a statement Saturday saying the department “has no information available for release in this ongoing investigation.”
On Friday, the intern’s mother, Susan Levy, told KGO-TV in San Francisco that District police had called to inform her an arrest was imminent.
“Your child is dead and gone and it’s painful,” Susan Levy said, “but we’re glad that the police and people are doing something, and investigating, and making a difference so somebody’s not on the street to do it again.”
For months following Levy’s disappearance, police questioned the married Condit. He eventually admitted to police that he and Levy were having an affair. Although Condit was not a suspect, the negative publicity helped put an end to his 2002 re-election bid.
Guandique is currently serving his time in a California prison. If he’s charged in Levy’s murder, he’ll have to be extradited to the District to face the charges.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
