Police may be close to arrest in Chandra Levy case

ploto · 02-21-2009

Not that long ago, this case got brought up in conversation here.

Police are close to making an arrest in the Chandra Levy murder case, one of Washington's most infamous cold cases, CNN affiliate KGO-TV reported Saturday.

Police told Levy's parents Friday that an arrest was imminent, the San Francisco, California, television station reported.

Media reports said police were planning to arrest Ingmar Guandique, an inmate in the District of Columbia prison system.

Washington police did not return CNN's calls seeking comment.

"We appreciate all the hard work they did," Susan Levy, Chandra's mother, told another CNN affiliate, KXTV in Sacramento, California. "You want justice. You want the person incarcerated. It is still painful no matter what. Your child is dead and gone. But we are glad the police are doing something and making a difference."

Levy, 24, went missing April 30, 2001. Her remains were found May 22, 2002, by a man walking his dog in a remote area of Washington's Rock Creek Park.

The search for Levy and massive publicity that accompanied it stemmed largely from her connection to Rep. Gary Condit, D-California.

Condit and Levy, a federal Bureau of Prisons intern from Condit's district, had an affair, and police questioned Condit many times in connection with the murder. Police never named Condit as a suspect.

Condit, a member of Congress since 1989, lost the 2002 Democratic primary and left office at the end of his term. He later reportedly moved to Arizona.

Guandique was mentioned in a Washington Post investigation into the murder published last year.

The newspaper quoted former investigators in the case who said Guandique was convicted of assaulting two other women in the park where Levy's body was found.

Guandique admitted seeing Levy in the park, the newspaper reported.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/21/...evy/index.html