The news that local authorities may have solved the Chandra Levy killing triggered complex emotions among survivors of some of the hundreds of other homicide victims in the city that received much less public — or police — attention.
“It is a source of pain for a lot of victims,” said Jeff Dion of the National Center for Victims of Crime, a Washington-based nonprofit group that advocates for victims’ rights. “There’s a real frustration among victims if they feel that their case isn’t given the respect or importance that it deserved.”
A top law enforcement source told The Examiner on Monday that authorities were still weeks away from charging a suspect in the Levy homicide. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because grand jury proceedings are secret.
The news of a new lead on an old case stirred up some resentment in some people who are still waiting for justice.
“If you don’t have the money to get the lawyer to get the press, and if you don’t have the money to get your friends to put it in the paper, it will be old news,” said Anthony Muhammad, an advisory neighborhood commissioner in Southeast Washington, across the Anacostia River.
Muhammad said he has helped a friend bury two of her sons in separate killings. Both remain unsolved.
Muhammad’s reaction is understandable, experts say.
“When there are lots of resources put into a case, it’s sometimes very frustrating: There is no justice for the little guy,” said Russell Butler, executive director of the Maryland Crime Victims Resource Center, a nonprofit group. “Nobody is upset at all that there’s going to be some justice for Chandra’s family, but it would be nice if more families could have it, too.”
Any news of a cold case — even one unrelated to a loved one’s death — can stir up strong feelings, experts say.
“It really is a double-edged sword. You want to know what happened. But that person is still gone, and they were taken in a horrific way,” said San Diego therapist Connie Saindon, founder of the Survivors of Violent Loss Program, an international support network.
Saindon’s sister, Shirley, was killed in 1961.
Dion said there was no such thing as “closure” from a solved homicide.
Dion’s sister, Paulette, was killed by Ottis Toole in 1982 in Atlanta. The case was open for nearly two years and then administratively closed when authorities named Toole as their suspect. He was never tried for the crime because he was already serving a life sentence on five other murder convictions.
Toole was recently named as the man who killed young Adam Walsh in 1981, a case that sparked nationwide child protection laws and starting the career of Adam’s father, John, as an anti-crime crusader.
“People think, once this case is closed, I’m going to have closure, I’m going to get on with my life,” Dion said. But “it changes and shapes you.”
Examiner intern Lindsay Perna contributed to this report.
The Chandra Levy case
» Oct. 23, 2000: Chandra Levy arrives in Washington for an internship at the Federal Bureau of Prisons. She is 24.
» Dec. 23: Levy sends an e-mail to a friend: “My man will be coming back here when Congress starts up again,” it says. It later emerges that she has had an affair with Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif.
» April 23, 2001: The Prisons Bureau internship ends.
» April 28: Levy tells her landlord in an e-mail that she’s moving back to California “for good.”
» April 30: Levy cancels her membership at the Washington Sports Club.
» May 1: Levy’s parents receive an e-mail from their daughter, talking generally about her travel plans. It’s the last known contact with Levy.
» May 5: Levy’s parents report her missing after three days of desperate calls.
» May-July: Condit is interviewed by D.C. police. Published reports link him romantically to Levy, and he is publicly accused of trying to cover up the affair.
» July 14-18: D.C. police search Rock Creek Park, where Levy was known to jog. Police Chief Charles Ramsey publicly says he doubts Levy will be found.
» March 5, 2002: Condit loses his re-election bid in the Democratic primary.
» May 22: A man is out walking his dog in Rock Creek Park and finds a skull and some human bones. Dental records match Levy.
» May 28: The D.C. medical examiner declares Levy’s death a homicide.
» Sept. 28: Police focus on Ingamar Guandique, right, a Salvadoran immigrant who was imprisoned shortly after Levy’s disappearance on charges that he attacked two other women who were jogging in Rock Creek Park.
» Feb. 21, 2009: Media reports state that D.C. police are seeking an arrest warrant for Guandique in the case.
– Bill Myers
