The man accused of killing federal intern Chandra Levy told a former cellmate that he was responsible for her death, but denied sexually assaulting her, the cellmate testified Thursday.
“I killed that bitch, but I didn’t rape her,” Ingmar Guandique told cellmate Armando Morales at a Kentucky prison in 2006, Morales testified.
Morales testified that Guandique, 29, told him that he saw her walking alone in Rock Creek Park. She had a waist pouch, and Guandique was planning to rob her, Morales said. Morales said Guandique told him he grabbed Levy’s neck from behind, and dragged her, struggling, toward the bushes. She stopped fighting back, and Morales testified that Guandique said he thought she was unconscious. Guandique told him that he didn’t know that Levy was killed in the assault, Morales testified.
Guandique is charged with first-degree murder, robbery and attempted sexual assault in Levy’s May 2001 slaying in Rock Creek Park.
In a case in which FBI experts have established that no physical evidence links Guandique to Levy’s death, the testimony of jailhouse informants is expected to be key in building the prosecution’s case.
