There is no forensic evidence that ties Ingmar Guandique to the May 2001 slaying of federal intern Chandra Levy. Whether that means Guandique is a calculating killer who chose to attack Levy in a secluded area of Rock Creek Park, where her body would not be found for a year, or is innocent in her death is what a D.C. Superior Court jury will decide.
Closing arguments took place Tuesday in Guandique’s monthlong trial on first-degree felony murder charges, and the jury begins deliberating Wednesday morning.
“He is responsible for there not being any DNA evidence,” prosecutor Fernando Campoamor-Sanchez said, noting the isolated area where Levy’s body was found.
But Guandique’s lawyer, Santha Sonenberg, stressed that the 24-year-old Federal Bureau of Prisons intern’s DNA was not found on Guandique’s clothing.
“Her DNA wasn’t on any of his items because he didn’t struggle with her,” Sonenberg said. “He wasn’t there.”
Prosecutor Amanda Haines pointed out the similarities between Levy’s slaying and Guandique’s assaults on two other women in the park.
All the victims were young women who were exercising, and the attacks were in secluded wooded areas, Haines said.
Both sides emphasized testimony of the cellmate, Armando Morales, in court Tuesday.
Morales testified that Guandique told him he attacked Levy from behind, but said he did not know she was dead.
“If you believe Mr. Guandique, she lived,” until she died of starvation, dehydration or exposure, Haines said.
“You know what happened in those woods was ghastly,” she told the jury.
But Sonenberg questioned why Morales waited until he heard on the news in 2009 that Guandique was about to be charged in Levy’s death to come forward.
“It’s easy to frame someone when there’s a lot of media attention,” Sonenberg said. She said Morales didn’t know details about the case that could have only come from the killer.
Sonenberg also raised questions about how then-U.S. Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif., with whom Levy was romantically linked, has responded to the investigation into Levy’s disappearance.
“He does things like a guilty man,” Sonenberg said, saying Condit didn’t cooperate with police and invoked his Fifth Amendment rights when testifying before a grand jury in April 2002.
