MURDERED: Chandra Levy

Summary

Podcast Summary: "MURDERED: Chandra Levy"

Clues with Morgan Absher and Kaylan Moore | Crime House Original

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Introduction

In this gripping episode of Clues, hosts Morgan Absher and Kaylan Moore delve into the enigmatic and tragic case of Chandra Levy, a young federal intern who vanished in Washington D.C. in May 2001. The episode meticulously unpacks the timeline, key players, critical clues, and the unresolved questions that continue to shroud this high-profile disappearance.

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Chandra Levy’s Disappearance

[00:42] Kaylan Moore:

"In May of 2001, 24-year-old Chandra Levy vanished in Washington D.C. without a trace. No witnesses, no clear leads. Truly just a young woman who was a federal intern gone."

Chandra Levy, a dedicated and academically driven intern with aspirations toward the FBI or CIA, was preparing to return to her life in California after completing her internship at the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Her sudden disappearance sparked not only a puzzling mystery but also a significant political scandal.

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Initial Investigation and Clues

[07:44] Morgan Absher:

"Our first clue in this case are these phone records."

Chandra's parents, concerned by her lack of communication, reported her missing after five days without contact. Upon investigating her apartment, police found her suitcases open and her wallet left behind, suggesting an abrupt departure. Despite the absence of forced entry or signs of struggle, Chandra did not return, prompting her parents to intensify their search by reviewing her phone bills. This led to the discovery of frequent calls to Congressman Gary Condit's office, unveiling Chandra's intimate relationship with the seasoned politician.

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Gary Condit’s Involvement

[09:05] Kaylan Moore:

"I've seen pictures of him. That is very generous of her to have said."

Gary Condit, a long-serving U.S. Congressman from a conservative-leaning district, became a person of intense scrutiny. His marriage to Carolyn and his influential role in politics did not shield him from allegations of misconduct. Through conversations with a family friend, Chandra's mother learned of Condit's past affairs and controlling behavior, raising suspicions about his possible involvement in Chandra's disappearance.

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Search Efforts and Discovery of Remains

[33:02] Morgan Absher:

"So on the morning of May 1, Chandra was searching quite a few things. She was looking up Gary Condit..."

Despite extensive searches in Rock Creek Park, where Chandra was last believed to have been, no remains were found initially. It wasn't until May 22, 2002, over a year after her disappearance, that Chandra's remains were discovered by a passerby in the park. The scene included scattered bones, torn clothing, and a human skull, although forensic evidence was severely degraded, leaving investigators with limited information about the cause of death.

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Guandique’s Arrest and Trial

[54:10] Morgan Absher:

"Also helps that this is the second informant. We also have Alvarez way back, first."

In 2008, Ingmar Guandique, an inmate previously convicted of attacking two women in Rock Creek Park, came under suspicion after another inmate claimed that Guandique confessed to Chandra's murder and implicated Gary Condit as the orchestrator. Despite unreliable polygraph results and conflicting testimonies, Guandique was charged in 2009. The trial in 2010 hinged on circumstantial evidence, including Morales's affidavit and Guandique's criminal history. However, the absence of forensic evidence linking him directly to the murder cast doubt on the prosecution's case.

[57:53] Kaylan Moore:

"He is sentenced to 60 years in prison."

Ultimately, Guandique was convicted and sentenced to 60 years, although significant doubts remained due to the lack of concrete evidence.

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Appeals and Case Closure

[62:58] Kaylan Moore:

"But even with all of that in mind, prosecutors feel like they're not going to win the case when it's brought to trial again."

In 2016, Guandique's legal team appealed the conviction, citing unreliable testimonies from prison informants. A supposed confession tape emerged, but its authenticity was questionable, leading to the dismissal of charges. Guandique was deported back to El Salvador in 2017, leaving the case unresolved and officially closed, though it remains a subject of public speculation and debate.

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Conclusion

[65:40] Kaylan Moore:

"But still, even with all of that in mind, prosecutors feel like they're not going to win the case when it's brought to trial again."

The Chandra Levy case remains one of America's most perplexing and controversial disappearances. Despite the conviction of Ingmar Guandique, lingering questions about Gary Condit's potential involvement and the lack of definitive evidence continue to fuel public intrigue. Chandra’s parents, Robert and Susan Levy, have chosen to honor her memory by staying open to new information and refusing to seek false closure, embodying resilience in the face of unresolved tragedy.

[69:44] Morgan Absher:

"But for now, it's time to close this case file. Reflecting on this story, I think the best thing to do is follow Robert and Susan Levy's lead."

The episode underscores the complexities of high-profile investigations, the interplay between politics and justice, and the enduring quest for truth in the absence of clear answers.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps:

• Morgan Absher [07:44]:

  "Our first clue in this case are these phone records."

• Kaylan Moore [09:05]:

  "I've seen pictures of him. That is very generous of her to have said."

• Morgan Absher [62:58]:

  "Which, this is all so wild to me because if you look at who this informant in her own way, this person who recorded these tapes...”

• Kaylan Moore [65:40]:

  "But still, even with all of that in mind, prosecutors feel like they're not going to win the case when it's brought to trial again."

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Final Thoughts

The Chandra Levy case, with its intricate web of personal relationships, political implications, and investigative challenges, continues to captivate and unsettle. Morgan Absher and Kaylan Moore adeptly navigate through the complexities, presenting listeners with a comprehensive exploration of the clues, controversies, and enduring mysteries that define this tragic story.

For further discussions and to share your thoughts on this case, follow Clues Podcast on Instagram @CluesPodcast and YouTube @CluesPod.

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Disclaimer: This summary is based on the transcript provided and aims to present the content accurately. Any discrepancies or interpretations are unintended.

Transcript

[Morgan Absher]

Foreign. This is Crime House.

[Kaylan Moore]

They know Chandra and this is so unlike her. To the police, this starts looking like it's an orchestrated cover up.

[Morgan Absher]

If Chandra did go to Rock Creek park and didn't come back, chances are she died there.

[Kaylan Moore]

There's a bunch of ripped up clothing and a human skull.

[Morgan Absher]

Hi, guys. Welcome back to another episode of Clues. I'm Morgan Absher.

[Kaylan Moore]

And I'm Kaylan Moore. And today we are covering the case of Chandra Levy. In May of 2001, 24 year old Chandra Levy vanished in Washington D.C. without a trace. No witnesses, no clear leads. Truly just a young woman who was a federal intern gone.

[Morgan Absher]

Her disappearance would not just uncover a tangle of mystery, but also a major political scandal. One that would grip the public for years. But behind the scandal was a much darker question. What really happened to Chandra Levy? More on this case and the clues that defined it. Right after a quick break, summer's here and Nordstrom has everything you need for your best dress season ever. From beach days and weddings to weekend getaways in your everyday wardrobe. Discover stylish options under $100 from tons of your favorite brands like Mango Skims, Princess Polly and Madewell. It's easy too, with free shipping and free returns in store order pickup and more. Shop today in stores [e-mail] or download the Nordstrom app.

[Kaylan Moore]

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[Kaylan Moore]

Okay, Morgan, we're diving into a big one today.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, this one has me spinning. I feel like after going through all this evidence, I'm kind of torn on what I think. So I'm, I'm itching to get through it and really break down these clues with you.

[Kaylan Moore]

This is one where we're really going to be looking at the comments. I feel like.

[Morgan Absher]

Oh my God. Yeah.

[Kaylan Moore]

Like I am spinning so much just from reading all the research that I feel like I can't see the forest for the trees.

[Morgan Absher]

So that's me.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah. Anyone who is watching this episode, listening to this episode, wherever you can write comments. I'm just so curious to hear what everyone thinks.

[Morgan Absher]

Absolutely. I have been on Reddit Subreddit after subreddit after subreddit. I mean, there's so many people that are still wondering what happened. And the way that, you know, science has changed and kind of shed light on newer things, you know, you just never know.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah, totally. And I know our Cluminati, they were asking for cases that they weren't as familiar with. And this was one that I didn't know really anything about.

[Morgan Absher]

I didn't know much. I remember a blip of it because, you know, this was back in. I was in first grade and I remember a little bit in the, in the media about it. But then September 11th struck and it was just like one of those times where it's like everything kind of got swept away by that. Yeah, everything that was going on, but it's like everyone can remember where they were on September 11th. It's like that was such a defining moment. And so, yeah, I remember it kind of being around the same time.

[Kaylan Moore]

That's so interesting. No, I was so like, I hadn't heard about this really at all. So. Yeah, but there's been updates throughout the years. There's still stuff that can be done today. So I think we should get into it.

[Morgan Absher]

Absolutely.

[Kaylan Moore]

So In May of 2001, a 24 year old girl named Chandra Levy had just finished her internship program in Washington, D.C. for an internship with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Within the next two days, she was going to pack up her small apartment in the city and move back home to California. Chandra had taken this internship to fulfill a graduation requirement at USC where she was getting her master's in the School of Policy Planning and Development. And she was super smart, super hardworking. It's hard to move across the country and basically start your life over for just an internship. But that was something she wanted to do because she had her sights on the FBI or the CIA. She wanted to have like a high profile government job.

[Morgan Absher]

She was such a hard worker and so academically driven. Yes, I saw that she graduated undergrad in three years, worked for the police office, like in her town in Modesto, where she's from. Like, she started working there in high school and would wear her little like pool police junior badge to school in high school. Like, she was so dedicated.

[Kaylan Moore]

No, she knew what she wanted and she was doing everything in her power to go get it. So she was taking this internship in D.C. but this day, Shandra was done with this internship and so she was getting ready to travel back home. So on April 30th of 2001, she's in touch with her parents, Robert and Susan, and they're talking about booking a flight. She just canceled her gym membership that day. Again, she's, like, getting ready to leave. And she had plans to walk at her graduation on May 11th back in California at USC. She ended that night by sending her mom an email with, like, all these flight details of what flight she was thinking about taking. But then they don't really hear from her after that. She doesn't call them to confirm her flight info. She doesn't arrive back home. Her parents don't hear from her for five days. And when they try to reach her, they can't. She doesn't pick up the phone. She's not answering emails. So they end up calling the D.C. police, and they report her missing. Officers are able to go over to her apartment for a wellness check. They end up gaining access to the apartment as well. And when they get inside, Chandra's not there. She's nowhere to be found. But when they get inside of her apartment, there's just a few weird things about the scene that they notice right away. For example, she left her wallet behind. And maybe you're like me. There's very few reasons that I would leave the apartment without my wallet. But that's not even the most concerning thing that they see, because there on the ground are Chandra's suitcases, and they're open. It looks like she was in the middle of packing for something but never got the chance to finish. And they look around, and everything else in the apartment aside from those two things, kind of seems normal. There's no sign of forced entry, no sign of a struggle. There's not, like, blood or anything in the apartment. So the officers start thinking, well, she's an adult. It doesn't really look nefarious in here. Maybe she'll just come back on her own. Which is why one of them leaves their card and just writes a note for Chandra asking her to call. When she does come back, they're not very concerned. But when Robert and Susan, her parents, hear this, their hearts drop, because they know Chandra. And this is so unlike her. It's really unlike her to not contact them for five days. And they feel it in their gut that something is wrong. So they decide to take matters into their own hands. And Robert just starts making phone calls. He calls her job, he calls her internship. He calls the FBI. He calls hospitals around Washington, D.C. and no one knows where Shandra is. And so what are they supposed to do at that point? The cops aren't really looking for her they don't seem concerned. Her internship is over, so no one she worked with has any idea where she is. So her parents do kind of the only thing they can think of, and they start looking through her phone bills, hoping that that will give them any hint as to what happened. And that ends up holding a major clue.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, our first clue in this case are these phone records. Luckily, Chandra was still on her parents plan, and so they were able to get access to Bill pretty quickly. The phone bill showed a bunch of numbers that she had called recently, and there was one number in particular that she was dialing a lot. So her mom, Susan, gives it a try. It rings a few times and then goes to voicemail. And that's when Susan realizes this phone number belongs to the office of US Congressman Gary Condit. Which worries her because she knows Chandra had a pretty, let's just say, intimate relationship with Gary Condit. And when Susan sees that Gary's office is the last place her daughter called, her heart drops because she's learned some pretty scary things about the Congressman recently. I know how you all feel about tangents, but we need a sidebar real quick on Gary Condit in May of 2001, when Chandra goes missing. He's 53 years old, and he's been in Congress for about 12 years. He's been married to his high school sweetheart, Carolyn, since he was 18, and they have two kids together. Condit's a Democrat, but he represents a fairly conservative area, not afraid to go against his party, and. And that makes him appealing to a lot of his constituents. He's also a pretty big deal, working closely with Vice President Cheney. And there's whispers that he could actually make a serious run for the presidency someday. And Chandra found something about him really appealing. She also thought that he looked like her celebrity crush, Harrison Ford.

[Kaylan Moore]

I've seen pictures of him. That is very generous of her to have said.

[Morgan Absher]

I will agree, but she had the love goggles on.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

But Susan learned there was something very dark about Gary Condit. Apparently, just three weeks before Chandra disappeared, her mother, Susan was talking to an old family friend named Otis Thomas. And she can't help but brag about how great Chandra is doing in D.C. as he would as a proud parent. She says not only is she crushing it at her job, apparently she's become friends with a congressman. Well, when Otis hears this, he sort of does a double take. He says, hey, any chance that's Congressman Gary Condit, our Rep. Gary Condit? Susan doesn't know. Chandra hasn't really said Anything. She's actually been somewhat secretive about her man, but Otis says if it is Condit, she needs to get away from him, stat. Apparently, about seven years before, when Otis's daughter was 18 years old, she went to one of Condit's campaign rallies in Modesto. Otis's daughter ended up meeting Gary, who again, still married at this time, but they hit it off. And it wasn't long before Gary and Otis's daughter were having an affair.

[Kaylan Moore]

At years old, very young. Every time I read that is just horrible.

[Morgan Absher]

Very young. Otis didn't have a lot of details to share, but apparently Gary was super controlling, like, to the point where Otis's daughter was so scared of him after the relationship ended that she literally went into hiding because he's one of the.

[Kaylan Moore]

Most powerful people in the country.

[Morgan Absher]

We have all seen scandal.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

That's all Susan needed to hear. As soon as she's done talking to Otis, she calls Chandra. So when Susan asks, quote, hey, by any chance is your congressman friend our local rep, Gary Condit? Chandra's like, yeah, how did you know? Susan, of course, tells Chandra what she just learned and asks her daughter to call off whatever this relationship is between the two of them. Chandra doesn't want to hear it, though. She says she's a grown woman. She can make her own decisions about who she's going to date. And Susan actually does back off. She even promises to keep Chandra a secret, saying she won't tell her father. But now, with her missing and the repeat calls to Gary Condit's office, she's kind of got to tell her husband everything.

[Kaylan Moore]

And once Chandra's dad, Robert, hears about this, he pulls out the phone book and he finds Gary's home number in.

[Morgan Absher]

Modesto in the Yellow Pages. Just as easy as that.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah. And he's going to call it. He has a bunch of questions. When he does, Gary's wife actually answers Carolyn, and Robert tells her the situation, sort of. He knows that this is a really tough line to walk, even though he's furious right now. He has the wherewithal to be like, listen, they're not going to talk to me if I just start making accusations. So he's pretty vague with his wife about what's going on. But basically, he says he's calling because his daughter is missing and he needs the Congressman's help. And that actually makes sense because he is technically their representative. He would be the person to call in a situation like that. So Carolyn says, yes, of course. I'll pass on your message right away. She seems Legitimately concerned. And she hangs up. And then a few minutes later, Robert's phone rings, and it's Gary Condit himself. And I have to say, again, he's furious in this moment, but he does a really good job of holding it together. He doesn't say anything about the affair. He doesn't make any accusations. He doesn't ask where his daughter is. He just tells Gary that his daughter is missing and that his office was one of the last places she called. Basically, he's like, from one dad to another, do you know anything? And Gary keeps it really close to the vest. He doesn't say much. He says he doesn't really know Shandra that well. Like, one time she asked him for career advice, but that was basically it. He's got zero idea where she is, but he promises he's going to make some calls to the police. Except Robert and Susan don't really buy this story from Gary, but they also aren't going to push the issue further with him on the phone in that moment. Instead, after they hang up, they call the D.C. police and they talk to a detective named Ralph Durant and share their suspicions. And they know that this is a pretty wild story to tell the police. I mean, Gary Condit is a U. S. Congressman, after all. But to Durant's credit, he does take them seriously. And the next day, May 7, he calls Gary at his office and he asks Gary to make a formal statement. And then the two of them meet on May 9, and surprise, surprise, this time, Gary Condit's story does seem a little bit different. He says, well, actually, he first met Chandra in the fall of 2000, shortly after she moved to D.C. for this internship. And Chandra was helping a friend look for internships, and they gave Gary's office a call. He ended up giving them a tour. And a picture they took that day becomes one that's, like, plastered all over the media.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, it's pretty front and center.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yes. So he does admit to the police that he and Chandra got close after that, whatever that means. He does not really go into detail on that, but he does say they were so close that she did end up spending the night at his place a few times. But he will not say that it wasn't affair. He doesn't really want to give that information up. So he just says, quote, I don't think we need to go there. And you can infer what you want from that.

[Morgan Absher]

What does that mean?

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah, you can infer what you want. I mean, that's like a. That's a really important piece of this investigation. And he's just telling the police, use your imagination and see what you can figure out.

[Morgan Absher]

I mean, I would assume something shady was going on based on that response. Yeah, especially when her aunt starts talking to police as well. See, her aunt was someone Chandra really confided in. This was the person she went to and just kind of shared everything. And so her aunt comes forward and tells police everything Chandra told her about her man. While Chandra was trying to be really secretive about this, she did first say that he was high profile and it was best not to be seen together. But as time went on and you know, she shared more with her aunt. She did accidentally let it slip who it was. And then cat being out of the bag and all, she shared even more. She told her aunt that her man told her not to carry her identification on her when they went out. If they were riding in the elevator at his condo and someone else got in, Chandra would have to get off at a different floor to pretend like they weren't together. Just a bunch of odd little things to ensure that they weren't caught. Something, though that really jars me is that on April 29, just two days before going missing, she called her aunt and left a message on her answering machine. Quote, I have some really big news. Call me. She didn't sound upset, and there's phone records that she also called other people that day, including Condit. Again, just super shady.

[Kaylan Moore]

And we don't know what that news was.

[Morgan Absher]

We have no idea.

[Kaylan Moore]

So the police really start feeling like something shady is going on. They don't know exactly what, but this is just starting to look a little weird. So you can't really arrest someone for having an affair. And if they're going to make any accusations against Gary, they have to be extremely confident in those accusations. So they end up getting a full search warrant for Shonda's apartment, and they go back over there on May 10th. It's been over a week since her parents last had contact with her. And the police turn the place over. Like their last visit. They feel like Chandra definitely was planning on coming back. She'd left not only her wallet, but they found her id, her cell phone, and uncashed check. There was just a bunch of stuff in there that seemed like she was coming back for it. But the question still remained, where did she go?

[Morgan Absher]

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[Kaylan Moore]

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[Morgan Absher]

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[Kaylan Moore]

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[Morgan Absher]

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[Morgan Absher]

Brings us to our next clue. Chandra's answering machine. When officers go in and start investigating her apartment, they see that it's blinking. It's full. Completely full with 25 messages on it. They listen through them all and two messages really stand out to them. Both were from May 3rd and they were both from the same man. Can you take a guess who they're from?

[Kaylan Moore]

Oh, I think I know who it was.

[Morgan Absher]

Everyone out there is just screaming we know who it is. Apparently Condit was wondering where Chandra was. The first message was left at 11:45am that day. He said that he'd been busy the last few days and asked Chandra to call him back. Then at 6:30 Gary called again to check on her. So now police are thinking, okay, he totally lied to us. You're a mentor. Not that serious. But you're calling her at home again and again trying to figure out where.

[Kaylan Moore]

She is, multiple times in the same day trying to figure out where she is.

[Morgan Absher]

Clearly the relationship is a bit more.

[Kaylan Moore]

Intimate and she had called him after she was calling people saying she had big news. Like he was someone that she felt like she had to share big news with.

[Morgan Absher]

I mean, she disclosed to her aunt what their favorite ice cream flavor they shared was.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

What they would eat, how they would sneak out, and he would be incognito. Like, she was sharing details that seem like their relationship was substantial. And we're gonna play these calls for you guys, but I want to let you kind of see your thoughts on him before we. We go any further, because I want to see what you think about his voice and things like that.

[Kaylan Moore]

6:30.

[Morgan Absher]

I haven't heard from you.

[Kaylan Moore]

Maybe you're out of the. Out of the country or something. Anyway, give me a call. Pick up this. Message me a rundown on kind of what your schedule is.

[Morgan Absher]

Things are looking pretty good for me today anyway. Okay. You heard the calls. It seems like he's genuinely worried to me. It does.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

It doesn't seem like someone who's, you know, calling like we've had in other cases to kind of give themselves an alibi or fake messages. So it.

[Kaylan Moore]

But also politician.

[Morgan Absher]

He's kind of.

[Kaylan Moore]

That his whole job is just sounding sincere.

[Morgan Absher]

And there's that. Unfortunately, it is really hard to pin down any specifics about Chandra's disappearance because two crucial things go wrong with our investigation here. A little bit of our first botch. Investigators aren't able to access Chandra's laptop right away. The hard drive for this computer was actually corrupted by a police sergeant who tried to access it. And no, you guys, he was not a trained technician. And I've seen in some sources that they use the word corrupted, but he actually just deleted the whole search history.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah, exactly.

[Morgan Absher]

So that is gone. There's no way to check her emails, her search history, no way to know what she was really looking at or any sense of when she even used her computer last. The second thing is police also can't check the apartment complex's surveillance footage. They can't see when she came or left her apartment. They have no idea when she actually left. You see, by the time they went back to review this footage, it had already been wiped clean. Because the system rerecords over itself every seven days.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah. It was when it was tapes, and they would just have to rerecord over everything.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. I mean, even my modern security thing at my dad's condo only stays for two weeks.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah. Wow.

[Morgan Absher]

It goes quick. So they really have no idea when Chandra left or where she was going, if she was with Anyone, which is.

[Kaylan Moore]

Frustrating because they were already at her apartment.

[Morgan Absher]

I know they were there.

[Kaylan Moore]

They were there days after, days before, and they would have been able to access it and see what was going on.

[Morgan Absher]

It would have been there. But I mean, this really only leaves one big person of interest in this case, Gary Condit.

[Kaylan Moore]

So after they searched chandra's apartment on May 10, the D.C. police were now really treating this like a high priority case. And they start searching everywhere. They're going through her neighborhood, through alleys, vacant buildings in the area, even the dumpsters. They're just really trying to search everything, doing their diligence. Yes, exactly. They're using canines, they have helicopters. They're really pouring a lot of resources into this. But there is no sign of Chandra anywhere. And Robert and Susan really want to be sure that the investigation doesn't lose steam because when they do a big search and then they can't find her, usually that's when they kind of start giving up. So to bring the case more into the public eye, they go on Good morning America on May 14, and then two days later they fly to D.C. for some pretty high profile meetings. They talk to the U. S. Senators From California, the D.C. police, Superintendent of detectives, but the one person they don't talk to is Gary Condit. And at this point, Gary's connection to the case had been kept under wraps pretty tight. Most people did not know his involvement with Chandra. But that was all about to change because the day the levies have those meetings, the Washington Post runs a story about Chandra's disappearance. And in that story they don't say anything too damning about Gary, but they do bring up the fact that he added ten thousand dollars from his campaign treasury to the already fifteen thousand dollar reward that the family offered for information that led to her return. And he says in the article they have a quote from him that says Chandra is a great person and a good friend. He said in a statement, we hope she is found safe and sound. And then another intern from Condit's office said that as far as she knew, Levy went to Condit's office only once in October for a brief casual meeting. And Condit could not be reached for comment yesterday. So people from that article kind of start coming to their own conclusions and his office gets flooded with phone calls of people asking if he was involved, if he was having an affair with her. It starts really putting him in the mix of this story. And his chief of staff starts denying everything. But to the police, this starts looking like it's an Orchestrated cover up. And unfortunately for Gary, that Washington Post story completely blows up and suddenly everyone is now interested in this case because it's not just the disappearance of a young woman. It's is a scandal. It becomes this big political scandal. I wanted to make a note here that this is 2001. Like tabloid culture is everything in 2001. They're trying to sell as many tabloids as they can. Like checking out at the grocery store, there were all these headlines about like Gary's involvement. And this starts getting picked up around the country, including in San Francisco where a young woman who in this story we're going to call Lisa, she sees this headline and it starts bringing back some pretty painful memories for her because she also had an affair with Gary Condit in the past. But hers did not end well.

[Morgan Absher]

Which brings us to another clue in this. The other women. After seeing all of these stories about Gary, Lisa says to herself, I have to tell the FBI what I know. So she goes down to the nearest field office and spills everything. And here's what they learn. Back in 1992, Lisa was a 22 year old college student living in LA when she met Gary Condit and they started having an affair. When Lisa graduated in January 1994, Gary even offered her a job in his DC office and he asked her to move into his condo there. While I guess his wife was still back in Modesto. Lisa said of course. And that's when the love bombing seemed to kick into an even higher gear. Gary starts buying Lisa all of this expensive jewelry and she feels the need to get him these expensive watches in return. But on the other hand, Gary's also extremely controlling. She can't even talk to other men. She can't tell anyone about their relationship. They can't even go out in public together. The situation gets so overwhelming that by the spring of 1996, Lisa cuts Gary off completely. And they don't see each other for a few years until Lisa agrees to go and get coffee with him in 1999. It's over a latte that she tells Gary she's married now she's over him and Gary is pissed. He tells her she'll get bored of her husband and one day come crawling back to him. And honestly, it really freaked Lisa out. Especially when In May of 2001, she sees the news about Chandra Levy. About a week or two after Lisa says something, the FBI talked to a woman named Anne Marie Smith, whose story also sounds a lot like Lisa's. She met Gary on a flight In July of 2000, a few months before he started seeing Chandra. And Gary really turned on the charm and. And Ann Marie couldn't resist. But one day, she finds this long, curly brown hair in his bathroom. She knows it isn't hers, but Ann Marie tries to brush it off anyways. But on May 9, right after the police asked to speak to Gary, she gets a really weird call from him. He says that he won't be able to talk for a while. And when the story about his affair with Chandra breaks just a few days later, it all clicks into place for her. Chandra Levy has long, curly brown hair. So on June 1st, Anne Marie sits down with the FBI, and she decides she's not going to cover for Gary. So she tells them everything. And when they ask her if she thinks he's capable of hurting Chandra, she says, honestly, I don't know. I'm not sure where Gary thought all of this was going to go. You know, as you mentioned, tabloid culture was alive and well and just for listeners to note, like, this is shortly after Bill Clinton's affair, something that Gary Condit was very, very vocal about.

[Kaylan Moore]

Do you know what he was saying at the time about.

[Morgan Absher]

I believe he was telling President Clinton to come clean. He put out a statement and demanded for Clinton to be truthful and transparent about the nature of their connection.

[Kaylan Moore]

Oh, my God, I can't. These people.

[Morgan Absher]

Pot, kettle, meat.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yes. Like, sir, I think. And same thing, too, of interns, where it was interns. For Gary, just reading about his relationships with other women, too, it feels like a total control thing. It's. It's really scary, the level of control and, like, being intimidated by other younger men that these women might be dating. And, like, he seems very insecure and is using that insecurity to try and control them. And it's really. It's just upsetting to read about.

[Morgan Absher]

Very.

[Kaylan Moore]

Gary starts realizing around this time that this is not looking good for him at all. He kind of really go, like, doubles down on the, I need. I'm going to come clean and show that I have nothing to hide. So he sits down with police again on June 23. And even in this meeting, he still does not admit to being romantically involved with Chandra. And he repeats the same story that he said before, that she was, quote, a constituent who became a friend. You know, when constituents spend the night at your house all the time. But he does offer the police something that helps him a little bit in this investigation. He gives them an alibi, and he does have a pretty solid one. The police think that Chandra went missing on May 1. That was the last time anyone heard from her. But we know there was, like, a long stretch of time where no one saw her. But they do believe it was probably May 1 that she actually went missing. And not only was Gary's wife in town that day, but his schedule was packed with meetings on Capitol Hill, including one with Vice President Dick Cheney. And if we assume that Chandra did go missing on the first, it looks like Gary was too busy to be involved. He did have all these, like, double checked and confirmed meetings that entire day. But that just means he wasn't directly involved in her disappearance. That does not absolve him of her disappearance at all. So even with this alibi, police are still thinking that it's suspicious that he hasn't come out and said, yes, Chandra and I were sleeping together. At this point, basically the whole world knows, right? It's on every tabloid. But also the people close to Chandra heard it from her, basically herself. And so the police are wondering, why is this guy just hiding all of this? Now is the time to come clean. And so a couple of weeks later, on July 10, they get a warrant to search his apartment. And it's completely clean. There's nothing really suspicious in his apartment whatsoever. But a witness does come forward and tell the police that the same night, just before the police showed up, they saw him throw a little box into a trash can. And it ended up being. The police are able to go into the trash and retrieve this item. It ends up being one of the fancy watches that Lisa, his other. This other girl, he was having an affair with, a watch that she got him. So the police know throughout this investigation, Gary is hiding at least one thing. He's hiding all of his affairs from them. They just aren't sure yet if he's hiding something else. And there's not a ton of other places for the police to search at this point. So they just have to keep looking into Gary. That is, until they get the call that they've recovered the data from Chandra's laptop. And that brings us to another clue. I have been loving cachava. I drink probably a cachava shake every day. And they're not just protein shakes. They're whole body meal shakes. They offer a lot more than just protein. There's like 25 grams of plant protein per serving, 26 vitamins and minerals, 6 grams of fiber, which fiber is my favorite. 85 plus superfoods, plus nutrients and plant based ingredients.

[Morgan Absher]

These shakes are so good. There's five flavors to choose from. Chocolate, vanilla chai matcha and coconut acai. The matcha has surprisingly been my favorite. It's my new go to in the mornings.

[Kaylan Moore]

Do you just do it with milk?

[Morgan Absher]

Oat milk. Oat milk. Because I'm dairy free.

[Kaylan Moore]

Okay.

[Morgan Absher]

And it is so good and it's honestly so satisfying. It's like a little treat for breakfast.

[Kaylan Moore]

I've been making mine with. I do coconut water, oat milk, vanilla cachava, then a little bit of banana, a little bit of peanut butter and some yogurt and it's like it's a whole meal. I don't need to go to your place. Oh, it's so delicious.

[Morgan Absher]

My favorite part about cachava is they have no artificial flavors, no colors, no sweeteners, non gmo, no soy, no animal products, no gluten, and no preservatives.

[Kaylan Moore]

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[Morgan Absher]

So once they get into this hard drive that one of their own corrupted, the police learn a lot about what Chandra was looking into and maybe shed light about where she could have gone. So on the morning of May 1, Chandra was searching quite a few things. She was looking up Gary Condon, going to his page, looking for information on him and his wife. She searched Baskin Robbins, was looking into the weather. But one thing stood out right away. The night before, she had looked up a place called Rock Creek Park. Went so far as to look up a map of the park and seemed like she was trying to really get an understanding of trails. And to give you guys a bit more information, like this is a 1700 acre recreation area in the middle of D.C. like, this is a huge park and there's a big creek that runs through it, hence the name. And it's got a ton of jogging paths, horse trails. There's even like a mansion on it, like this historical landmark, really big, pretty Park. But as pretty as it is, it can also be a little rough. It's dense and rocky. The water in the creek can get pretty high. So when detectives find these searches on her Internet history, they're happy about the new lead. But if Chandra did, did go to Rock Creek park and didn't come back, chances are she died there. So they send all of their resources out there. They get this massive search together, and on July 25, they end up at a place called Grove 17 along Glover Road in the park. It's a Pretty big team, 28 officers. They stand in one big line, shoulder to shoulder to make sure they really don't miss a single thing. And they're told to search 100 yards off Glover Road. They look all morning, but they don't find a single thing. So that afternoon, they all get on a bus and head to a different part of the park. They are determined to keep looking for her, but neither Chandra or any evidence is found.

[Kaylan Moore]

And while all of this is happening, Gary Condit is struggling to save his reputation. The police are kind of starting to accept the reason he's acting so weird is primarily because he wants to protect his career and his personal life. But they aren't ready to clear him as a person of interest just yet. And as a last ditch effort to save his reputation, he agrees, which we've talked about this in cases before. He agrees to an interview with ABC's Connie Chung on August 23, which this is something we talked about with Scott Peterson, like going on air to clear your name. Unlike most of Connie's interviews, which were pre taped, edited, this one is live, and it's right in the middle of prime time.

[Morgan Absher]

Wow.

[Kaylan Moore]

Almost 24 million people tune in to hear what he has to say. That is Game of Thrones numbers.

[Morgan Absher]

I literally got the chills at that. Like, I don't.

[Kaylan Moore]

People are invested in this story.

[Morgan Absher]

What was he thinking?

[Kaylan Moore]

And it's gonna be live. So anything that happens, it's out there on the air. I've watched this interview. It starts off okay. He is firm in his denial that he has anything to do with Chandra's disappearance. He doesn't say anything about the affair. He does come off as genuine as wanting to help find where she is and being concerned about her. But Connie Chung is a great interviewer and she does not want to let him get away with anything. And she can tell that he's not being honest about the information he's coming forward with because she has all of these receipts on how many times Chandra had called him the day she disappeared, how many times he had called her. And he keeps saying things like, oh, I wasn't really in contact with her. Like she was a nice girl, but I didn't know her that well. And Connie's like, well then why was she calling you on the day she disappeared? Why did you call her two times afterwards? He's like, oh, I don't remember making those phone calls. She's like, well, I have the receipts right here on how many times you called her, who left voicemails for her, left these voicemails. And the more she pushes into him and will not accept the answers he's giving, the more he's sweating. And you can see his whole demeanor change in this interview. And he's just kind of this like shrunken shell of a man by the end and it starts making him look really shady. This is kind of a career ending interview that he does. And it's honestly about to get worse for him too. This is not even the worst part of all this because even more information about Gary is about to come to light and it's to going gonna kind of be the nail in the coffin for him. So in mid September, the U.S. attorney's office in D.C. gets this phone call. It's from a lawyer who represents an inmate at the Washington D.C. jail named Ramon Alvarez. And he has something he really wants to say about the Chandra Levy case. Alvarez is friends with another inmate, this guy named Ingmar Guandike. And the two of them really got to bond while they were in jail together. Alvarez was awaiting sentencing for an armed sexual assault. And 19 year old Guandique had been convicted of attacking two women at Rock Creek park, the same park Chandra was searching the night before she disappeared. And apparently Alvarez says there's more to Guandique's story. That's not the full extent of the crimes he was committing. According to Ramon Alvarez, Guandique had told him that he also had killed Chandra Levy. And Guandique claimed, at least according to Ramon, that Gary Condit paid him to do it.

[Morgan Absher]

Whoa.

[Kaylan Moore]

We talked about this at the beginning, but this is actually the point in the investigation where 911 happens. And every single resource in this country is dedicated to that. All the newspapers, all the journalists, all the police, everything, especially in dc.

[Morgan Absher]

Oh my gosh.

[Kaylan Moore]

All of those resources turn towards the terrorist attacks. And this bombshell came out right after those attacks happened. So there weren't many people to take this tip seriously. But even though there's not a lot of resources to dedicate to this, they kind of can't ignore the accusation that a U.S. congressman paid someone to kill his secret girlfriend. So some police reach out to the lawyer and ask for just a little bit more info. And this is what they learned. Apparently, Guandique said he was walking around his neighborhood in D.C. and all of a sudden a car pulled up next to him and the driver rolled down his window and it was Gary Condit. And he asked if Guandique would kill a woman in exchange for $25,000. Then he handed Guandike a picture of Chandra and told him that she liked to go jogging in Rock Creek Park. And Guandique says, yeah, I'll do it. And we can pause here because this story sounds totally far fetched to me. The fact that a congressman would just drive up to a random person on the street and roll down his window and be like, dude, do you want. Would you kill someone for $25,000? Is outrageous to think, yeah, we have a few notes on Guan dk. Like, it's not outrageous to say that maybe Guan DK was on someone's radar as, like, a criminal that could be used for hire. He did have, like, a criminal record at that point. He was working, but had, like a low paying job. So it wasn't unrealistic that maybe he needed money. He also was in a gang and was known to be in a gang. So people have suggested that it's not out of the question that someone within Gary Condit's circle knew about Guan TK and suggested that Gary could hire him to kill a person for him.

[Morgan Absher]

It does seem absolutely wild, though.

[Kaylan Moore]

But it sounds outrageous.

[Morgan Absher]

But as we've learned from some of the cases we have covered, like, sometimes reality is stranger than fiction.

[Kaylan Moore]

No, Totally. And actually, the U.S. attorneys in D.C. do take this tip seriously. Okay? They have every chance to say that this is totally outrageous. And they're like, no, we are going to look into this. So they go and they speak with Guan DK in jail, but he denies all of this, of course. So they end up scheduling polygraphs for both Ramon Alvarez, who informed them, and Guandique Alvarez is up first. And they ask him two really important questions. One, did Guandique tell you he stabbed Chandra Levy? And two, did Guandique tell you he received 25, 000 from a congressman for stabbing Chandra Levy? Alvarez answers yes to both. And in both instances, he's found to be lying. In Guandigi's polygraph, he's asked if he had anything to do with Chandra's disappearance. And his answer, he says no, is deemed, quote, not deceptive. To be fair, polygraphs have a lot of problems. They rely on physiological responses like heart rate and breathing. They basically operate by believing that when someone lies, they're stressed. So they measure if someone's stress responses are activated when questions are asked. And obviously, there's a ton of problems with this because people can, like, breathe and make themselves relax. People also just get stressed about taking a polygraph test, and then all of their stress signals are going off, and it, it looks like they're lying. I mean, we talked about this. They're not admissible in court.

[Morgan Absher]

You'd get more into the science of it because it is something that's like, I've myself have asked, like, why are we having people take these if they are so flawed in a sense?

[Kaylan Moore]

Like, they're still used a ton. Yeah, yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

And so it is, it is interesting.

[Kaylan Moore]

I mean, there's also the fact too, that they asked these questions in English and Guandiques first language is not English. So there's also just the translation issue of maybe he didn't know what he was being asked, and then his body's not going to respond the same. Yeah. Respond to the same stress signals.

[Morgan Absher]

And also the delay. If you think about an English speaker asking this question, translator then hears it, translator then relays it. There's such a time delay. I feel like even that, like you're just kind of sitting there like you, you're going to respond differently than instantly directly being asked a question.

[Kaylan Moore]

I know. And they had the opportunity to get a translator, and they still didn't. They just asked him the questions in English.

[Morgan Absher]

So that's interesting to me.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah, it's. It's a little confusing as to why they did it that way. But in this case, the authorities don't press the issue. Like I said, they're really busy. And that means the investigation kind of goes back to square one. But after this, Condit's name is cleared, this was really the only, I guess, circumstantial evidence that Condit had some direct influence in her disappearance. And, like, it was deemed to be unusable. So his name is cleared, and now there are no suspects in this case anymore. On top of that, they also don't know where Chandra is. Months go by, there's no progress in the case. The horrors of 911 are still very much on the front page of every newspaper and using a lot of the resources that might have been able to go to this case. But Chandra's Parents Robert and Susan are not giving up on this fight. And they actually end up getting this huge breakthrough in the case when they least expect it. On May 22, 2002, a little over a year after Chandra disappeared, her parents appear on the Oprah Winfrey show to bring some attention back to the case. And that exact same morning, a guy goes for a walk in Rock Creek Park. He's on this path called the Western Ridge Trail, which travels along a steep ravine. And all of a sudden, he notices something down in the leaves. There's this, like, flash of red. He walks down the hill to get a closer look, and he realizes that there's a bunch of ripped up clothing and a human skull.

[Morgan Absher]

So on May 22, 2002 remains are found. The man immediately calls the police, who rush over and search the hillside. And they find bones pretty much scattered everywhere. They also find sunglasses, a USC T shirt that was turned inside out, one running shoe, a pair of underwear, a pair of black leggings, a sports bra, and a cassette player. And they happen to have Chandra's dental records on file, thanks to her parents. And so when they run them against the remains, indeed it is Chandra Levy. It seems pretty clear that she'd gone out for a jog the day she died. But now investigators are dealing with a couple of new questions, like how did she die? And why didn't they find the remains sooner? Especially since they had a search team combing this very same park. In terms of the first question, it's really hard to know. The remains have been out there for so long at this point that they can't really determine a cause of death. There's no soft tissue. Doesn't appear to be any DNA from the killer, no hard evidence. They actually didn't even find Chandra's own DNA on the clothes. That's just how bad the elements have treated this evidence. But there's one thing that gives detectives some insight. The leggings found at the scene were actually knotted at the bottom. And if you're watching on YouTube, you will see a picture of this again. Go to our Instagram if you want to see it. It is very deliberately knotted. It's not.

[Kaylan Moore]

It's.

[Morgan Absher]

You took off your legs and it's.

[Kaylan Moore]

Like below the knee. Someone tied them into knots.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah.

[Kaylan Moore]

And it is so. I cannot make sense of those leggings any time I look at them.

[Morgan Absher]

No, it is illogical to me. Investigators thought it looked like someone might have used these leggings to restrain Chandra either by her wrists or ankles. And they consider this evidence that she had been sexually assaulted before she was murdered. But because it's been so long, like, there's not much for them to go on here. But back to that second question. How did they miss her? You know, they were right there when they conducted this initial search. Well, it actually turns out there was a miscommunication with the search guidelines. Remember how the search party was told to go a hundred yards off the road? Yeah. They were actually supposed to go 100 yards off the road. And all of the trails. This trail was right by Grove 17, where they had searched on July 25, the year before. And the fact is even more tragic when you note Chandra's remains were found just 79 yards off the trail. They likely would have found her. And so heartbreaking, just the fact that, like, there could have been so much evidence there. I mean, I imagine someone tying in knots, like, they're. You're gonna leave DNA if you didn't wear gloves, and just.

[Kaylan Moore]

Do you think there's any chance that someone else had found her body at a different point and tied the leggings after she had decomposed? Maybe.

[Morgan Absher]

I wonder. I'm not sure. I. It feels like, because the clothes were already, like, inside out. Like, other things like the shirt and whatever, that this was done at the same time.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah. Yeah. No, but I think you're right.

[Morgan Absher]

I'm not sure.

[Kaylan Moore]

It's just so strange. I just really can't make heads or tails of it.

[Morgan Absher]

So strange. And sadly, that is, like, despite their best efforts and this. This search and these, you know, investigators do really seem to be doing their diligence. This is a pretty big botch in this one.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah. So after finding Chandra's remains, even though there wasn't DNA on them, there wasn't a lot there that they could go off that pointed to a specific person. There kind of was a huge piece of this case that was put together by finding the remains. Chandra was found in Rock Creek park in jogging clothes, and Guandique was currently in jail for attacking two women who were out jogging in Rock Creek Park. That's huge. So the police know that they have to look at Guandique more, and they start digging into where he was around the time that she went missing. And it turns out that on May 1, the day Chandra was believed to have gone missing, he missed work. Some journalists from the Washington Post actually learned that around the same time, Guandike was spotted with a busted lip, a bloody blemish in his eye, and scratches on his throat. They also learned that the women who survived his attacks in the park had done so by fighting him off. And they were able to escape with their lives. So they're thinking maybe Chandra wasn't as lucky. But so much time had gone by. And like I said, there was nothing else at the crime scene that pointed to anyone. There was no DNA, no fingerprints, no hair, no clothing, nothing. So although it was highly suspect, it just wasn't enough to charge Guandike with Chandra's murder. And the case really goes cold after that. For six years, the case is cold. But it doesn't mean that Chandra was forgotten. Journalists at the Washington Post kept investigating her case. They were still writing articles about it. And with more time and effort, they're actually able to learn a lot of new information. And they publish a story In July of 2008, over seven years after she disappeared. And it breaks the case wide open.

[Morgan Absher]

So this 2008 Washington Post series on Chandra Levy adds some shocking new details to the case. The first one has to do with May 1, the day that Chandra actually disappeared. You see, it actually turns out there's another woman that went jogging in Rock Creek park that day. And while she was on the trails, she noticed a strange guy following her. Thankfully, she managed to outrun him and nothing bad happened. So she didn't report it. You know, we all do that.

[Kaylan Moore]

We all do.

[Morgan Absher]

Maybe that was in my head.

[Kaylan Moore]

I'm being dramatic. Like I can't think that everyone's following me.

[Morgan Absher]

Exactly right. But in 2003, she saw a picture of Ingmar Guandike on TV. And she realized then that that was the guy that chased her. So she went to police and reported it. Only they never followed up with her. It's a pretty big misstep again in this one.

[Kaylan Moore]

That's another botch.

[Morgan Absher]

But that's not the only thing the Washington Post uncovered. The reporters also found out that on May 14, the day that Guandique was actually arrested for an attack in Rock Creek park, he was questioned by the park police. And they showed him a picture of Chandra Levy. They told him that she was missing and asked him if he had seen her. And Guandique actually said, yeah, he had seen her before. On May 1, he said he thought she was attractive, but that was it. The park police never relayed this information to the city police. Again, case after case, we have these people not communicating.

[Kaylan Moore]

I know. It's always like the lack. The communicating between the different departments that.

[Morgan Absher]

We gotta get these. We gotta get these guys talking. So all signs are really pointing to Guandike here. And even though he passed that polygraph test and there were some pretty big problems with it that we've talked about, police really start looking back at him.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah, they go and see him in prison after all of this comes out. And once they step into his cell on September 8, 2008, they immediately notice a couple weird things. First, he has some very distinctive tattoos, which made him easier to identify. One of the tattoos was of the devil. One was of Chucky, the doll from the child's play movies. Those are fine to have, but there was another one on his chest that really stuck out to the investigators. And it was a picture of a naked woman with dark curly hair. And they think that this woman looks a lot like Chandra. One of the detectives asked Guan DK if the tattoo was some sort of souvenir. And in response, he just. Just laughed. He didn't really answer the question or say much else. I'll make a note here. I actually don't know if that question was asked in English or if it was asked in Spanish. So it could be that he just didn't know what they were saying. While he was being questioned, the detectives were still looking around his cell at just what he had in there. They actually end up finding a picture of Chandra that Guandike had cut out of a magazine. Even though Guandike wasn't really talking to police at that point, the detectives really know that they have to keep digging into him. And they soon learned that he had talked to a lot of other people about this case. So sometime after that prison visit, investigators speak to someone who they described as, quote, a confession witness. This person tells detectives that Guandique had bragged about killing a young woman with dark curly hair who was running alone on a wooded path. And then the police get in touch with one of Guandique's friends. They had exchanged a few letters a few years earlier, about five years earlier, which wasn't that long after Guandique became a person of interest in the Chandra Levy case. And Guandique, in a letter, said that he spent a lot of time in the park in Washington, D.C. and that he was responsible for killing a young woman. And none of this really compares to the thing that they learned later on in 2009, because that's when they talked to an inmate named Armando Morales. He's serving a 21 year sentence for federal drug and gun crimes. He had been cellmates with Guandike in the past, and the two of them were really close. Morales says that they were basically brothers. After A couple of years, Morales gets transferred to a different facility. He says that this new environment really helped him get his act together. He got a life coach. He found God. He really turns himself around. And so one day when he's in prison, he sees some news coverage of Chandra's case on tv, and he decides, kind of as this reformed man, that he needs to get in touch with police. And he tells them that Guandique bragged a lot about the women he attacked in Rock Creek park, and he told Morales that he killed Chandra Levy specifically. Apparently, Guandique was really detailed with the story he was telling, and it seems like there was a reason that he wanted Morales to hear it, because there were rumors that Guandique had sexually assaulted Chandra before he killed her. And Rebus were not treated well in prison. So it was kind of like he wanted to clear his name, which is why he told Morales that he did not sexually assault Chandra. He only killed her. After hearing this, the detectives really think that Morales is telling the truth. It checks out with a lot of the other things they'd heard from other inmates.

[Morgan Absher]

Also helps that this is the second informant. We also have Alvarez way back, first.

[Kaylan Moore]

One way back, right around the time of the case.

[Morgan Absher]

So it does seem plausible he could be coming clean to people he's close with.

[Kaylan Moore]

No, absolutely. Morales isn't asking for money in return for his testimony. You hear about this all the time with prison informants that they want to be released early, they want money, they want better treatment in prison. It didn't really seem like he was asking for anything for this testimony. It seemed like he just wanted to do the right thing. He said, now he's a follower of Christ and this was the right thing to do. So detectives start getting all of their evidence together, and In May of 2009, they charge Guandique with the murder of Chandra Levy. Finally, they have someone in custody eight years later, and now the trial. Because these things always take a while to get started. So it starts a year and a half after that in October of 2010. But there's a little bit of an issue with it. The prosecution still doesn't have any forensic evidence Time Guandike to Chandra's murder. They ended up retesting Chandra's clothes from the park with newer DNA technology. They ended up finding some DNA on the clothes, but it did not match Guandike. The best thing they have is this circumstantial evidence, the testimony from Morales and the fact that he was seen in the park maybe that day. But shockingly, they end up bringing another witness to the stand, Gary Condit. At this point, Gary is an ex congressman. After his really bad interview with Connie Chung, he ended up losing his primary election and he retired to Arizona. And he's brought in because there was DNA from him found on Chandra. There was DNA of his in her underwear, which when you take everything into consideration that they were having an affair, it's not that weird that that was there. So the DNA expert takes the stand and kind of like clears that up for everyone. Despite this evidence, Gary still is not answering any questions about his affair with Chandra. But it was almost like he was brought to this trial to clear his name. Even more to prove to the jury and to prove to everyone that he was never implicated in any crimes relating to Chandra's disappearance and murder. It's like almost as a refresher. Like, hey, even if you don't think it's this guy Guandique, like, you can't turn around and look at Gary because we've proved that it wasn't him.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. Almost to lock up that reasonable doubt that there is someone else besides Guandique.

[Kaylan Moore]

Like, oh, it could have been Gary.

[Morgan Absher]

They're saying Gary.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yes.

[Morgan Absher]

Like, let's just say it. Now we're bringing him to the stand and we're going to make sure it's clear, like, Gary's not on trial here.

[Kaylan Moore]

They also bring two other people to the stand trial, and it's the two women that were attacked in the park by Guan dk. And when they share their experiences, it really changes the entire tone of the trial. One of the women who was attacked is named Christy and she tells jurors that Guandike, this is how the attack happened. He grabbed her from behind and he held his left hand over her mouth and he held a knife at her cheek with his right hand. And then she said, I was trying to scream no and help anything I could so that someone would hear me and come help. She said, I was going to struggle until I died if I couldn't get away from him. She was able to get away, as we know. And then the other woman came forward and claimed that Guandike followed her on an isolated jogging trail and attacked her from behind. She said she only escaped because she remembered a self defense move and lodged her fingers into Guandique's mouth. He ended up biting her, but it freaked him out enough that he ran away. By the time that Morales took the stand and told the jury what Guandike said to him in prison, his fate was basically Sealed. Everyone figured he had this MO and maybe he just attacked Chandra and she didn't survive. But then the defense gets to tell their side of the story, and things start getting a little bit murky.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. So the defense actually introduces some new details in this investigation that hadn't really been made public until now. You see, in the early mornings on the day Chandra disappeared, one of her neighbors actually heard screams coming from her apartment and called 91 1. It's not really clear whether officers actually responded or not, but this detail did raise the question of whether Chandra was killed in her apartment and then her body was left in the park. They then revealed that when Susan and Robert Levy stopped hearing from their daughter, the police weren't their first call. They actually called Chandra's landlord. They asked him to go check on her and then have her call them back. Not being able to reach her landlord actually ended up leaving a bunch of notes under her door. But when police actually went to go check her apartment during that first initial welfare check, they actually found that the notes were, like, further from the door, like, not somewhere that they would be if you just slipped them in and under, kind of implying that, like, hey, maybe someone else went in. Maybe it was her. The notes got moved.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah, the notes, like, added more to the mystery of it.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, in a way. Like, it just. It was making it seem like someone could have entered her apartment before police went inside. Which would back up the claim that Chandra was killed inside her apartment and then brought to the park.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah. And so this is what the jury hears. They hear both sides, and the trial ends about a month later. The general public is not sure what's going to happen, what the verdict's going to be. A lot of folks actually expected that the jury would be hung. Even the lawyers thought that the jury would be hung. And it takes the jury three and a half days to make a decision. That's a long time for a jury to deliberate.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah.

[Kaylan Moore]

And in the end, they find Guan Dique guilty. He is sentenced to 60 years in prison. And it seems like Chandra's family can finally start to move on. But then, in 2016, Guandique's lawyers actually file an appeal for his conviction. All because they learned some kind of shocking new information about his case. So it turns out, at least according to some, Armando Morales, the informant, wasn't as reliable as he seemed. They said that he had acted as an informant before, which there's a million different reasons to do that, but it means that he may have come forward with that information just to get his sentence reduced after all. And then one of his friends comes forward and says that Morales actually confessed to her that he had lied about Guandique's confession and that she had caught it on tape. But the circumstances in which she got this on tape are really sketchy. She said that one day she got a bad vibe from him, so she started recording their conversation. Not on an iPhone or anything, but she had, like, an actual recording device on her, which, to a lot of people, seems suspicious. It kind of seemed like maybe they planned to get this stuff on tape. But in her recording, she said that Morales says out loud that he lied about Guandique confessing to him, and that he was doing it so that he could get a reduced sentence or whatever. But when she turns in this tape, it's seven hours long. And nowhere on the tape does he confess that this was a lie, that he was lying about Quantique's confession. And she says it's because it was on a different tape and she just doesn't have access to it anymore.

[Morgan Absher]

Convenient.

[Kaylan Moore]

But no one got that actual confession. But what they do decide based on this tape, from my understanding, they hear Morales's voice. And this is a quote that I have from a defense lawyer. This guy referring to Morales, said he was now reformed, one of Christ's apostles, said Bernard Escrim, a Washington defense lawyer who watched Morales testify in 2010. Quote, but if you listen to him on that tape, he's still the same gang thug he was years ago. It comes down to general credibility. That's what the Washington Post reported. So they just thought that he still sounded like a gang member and couldn't be trusted. They didn't think he sounded like. What do they call him? An apostle of Christ or whatever. Which is really unfortunate because they didn't actually have the confession. They just had the tone of his voice. And it still is so explosive, it actually awards Guan TK a brand new trial.

[Morgan Absher]

Which, this is all so wild to me because if you look at who this informant in her own way, this person who recorded these tapes, if you look more into her and when this is all happening. So Guandique's team file for this appeal in 2016, this person who recorded these tapes was actually working as an actress. And in 2016, she was on a CSI detective show, Criminals at work. And in 2016, she was also on the show House of Cards.

[Kaylan Moore]

So maybe she was conflating the drama of this all. And because it was also kind of like a high stakes political thing, I'm not sure.

[Morgan Absher]

I, you know, again, sometimes reality can be stranger than fiction. Like, I don't know, I don't want to imply a lot. Like, I, I have my thoughts. I'm like, was this a career move? I just, I find it convenient that she had hours of recordings and yet the confession that really mattered wasn't caught on tape.

[Kaylan Moore]

Exactly. But still, even with all of that in mind, prosecutors feel like they're not going to win the case when it's brought to trial again. And so they drop the entire thing. The only real punishment that Guandique gets after this is in May of 2017 and he's deported back to El Salvador.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, we, we don't really have much on Ingmar Guandique after that. Presumably he's still in El Salvador, but there's always the chance that since his charges were dropped without prejudice, the double jeopardy law doesn't really apply. So he could be charged again. But there's a lot of things that would have to happen for that to even occur. He'd have to be found, extradited back to the U.S. there's just a lot there. And honestly, it doesn't seem very likely.

[Kaylan Moore]

I know. And it's, it's really unfortunate because Chandra's father did believe it was Guandike. It seems like her mother wasn't as convinced. I think she went on record after he was recused of all this and said like, oh, I never really felt like it was him or I didn't want us to get the wrong guy.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, I know. I, I read an article. I'm just gonna like, pull it up for all of us so you guys can hear a quote from her parents. So the interviewer actually does ask, what are your thoughts on Gwendigay? And her dad goes, he claimed he was innocent, but I doubt it. Her mom responds after, I don't know a lot of things I wonder. I'm different from my husband.

[Kaylan Moore]

Wow.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. So by the sounds of it, they're both kind of unclear even themselves on what happened.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah. And this is really one of those cases that just doesn't have any clear cut answers. A lot of people still bring up the fact that Gary Condit was shady. They want him to be looked into more. You have the former girlfriends that were afraid of him, but we still don't really have any indication that he hurt Chandra at all. And she hadn't told anyone about any of the controlling things that he had been doing with the other girlfriends. There's also not really any evidence that he did pay someone else to do it. It would be pretty easy to look into Guandique's bank statements and see if $25,000 appeared out of nowhere. And it doesn't seem like that happened.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, it is interesting. I. You know, the one thing that really just does seem odd in this all is, like, Chandra's parents are, like, very, very set that, like, she was so aware of her surroundings. Like, she went out with Mace. Like, she. She knew she had to be careful, and she wouldn't go out and jog by herself. Like, they just found that to be so odd. But, you know, you do have the fact that Gary would always say, like, don't bring your id. She left all of her stuff at home.

[Kaylan Moore]

Maybe she was in the habit of leaving her wallet behind. Or maybe she was. She left that behind because she was gonna go meet him.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah, I mean, it's. It's hard because, like, we're talking about, like, credibility, and, like, oh, this informant doesn't have credibility now because of these tapes. But. But at the same time, you have someone who, despite having DNA found on Chandra's underwear, is still not admitting to an affair, still, like, wrote a book, went on Dr. Phil again, and still is just not being forthcoming about the relationship.

[Kaylan Moore]

Right.

[Morgan Absher]

It's just. It's very interesting. I mean, there's. There's still so much that we could unpack with this and, like, all these implications. And it's like, this is where I got kind of, like, lost in the weeds and down the rabbit hole of Reddit. Yeah.

[Kaylan Moore]

Did you learn more about Gary from, like, the stuff that you had looked into?

[Morgan Absher]

I feel like, for me, I really fixated on Chandra's, like, last Internet search history. She called her aunt and said, I have this big, exciting news. A lot of your heads are going to jump to where I think mine is. I'm either, is she pregnant, or is he going to leave his wife? And she's excited to tell her. Like, my mind goes there. And so when she's searching, like, that morning or the night before, like, looking for news on him and his wife, are you waiting for an announcement that they're getting divorced?

[Kaylan Moore]

Right.

[Morgan Absher]

You know, she. She told her aunt she wanted to marry him. She was gonna live in secret for five years and then marry him and have babies and, like, she saw a life with him.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

There was one search that she had in her history about Baskin Robbins.

[Kaylan Moore]

Right? Yeah. She was looking up Baskin Robbins.

[Morgan Absher]

Gary actually ends up. When he retires, he ends up investing in opening up Baskin Robbins shops.

[Kaylan Moore]

Really?

[Morgan Absher]

What is that about? Like, why would, like, was she having this futuristic, like, search that morning? Like, he's gonna leave his wife. Okay. Waiting for the news. Okay. Baskin Robbins, he talks about investing.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah. We're gonna open up Baskin Robbins together.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah.

[Kaylan Moore]

Huh.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. It didn't. Baskin Robbins and him didn't go well. He actually was ordered to pay Baskin Robbins back over $46,000 because of, like. Like, some issues with the franchise or something. I don't know.

[Kaylan Moore]

Interesting. Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

Not a lawyer, you guys.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

But it's just. It's all so muddled for me.

[Kaylan Moore]

When you're going through the threads, like, do you get a sense of what the general public is now saying about, like, who they think.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah.

[Kaylan Moore]

Was responsible for this?

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. The general public consensus on Reddit and in a lot of YouTube comments, they look back to Gary being involved in some way. They do, you know, think murder for hire is what I'm gathering from. From the comments. Allegedly. That's allegedly.

[Kaylan Moore]

It's really hard to look past the fact that Guandique was trying to kill women in Rock Creek park, and then a woman around the same time is found dead in Rock Creek Park. That, to me, there's no. Really, Like, I don't think she was killed in her apartment. I don't. Like, I just feel like her. It was so clean. There's no sign of struggle. Like, he was coming up behind women.

[Morgan Absher]

You.

[Kaylan Moore]

You didn't even see him coming when it happened. So I guess the only question would be, was he paid to do it by a. By Gary.

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah. I mean, the fact that he had a picture of Chandra, a tattoo that resembled her, maybe of her. I tried finding the picture of the tattoo online. I can't find it. If any of you sleuths out there can, I would please DM it curious to see it on the clues podcast, Instagram. But, I mean, the signs are kind of there. His M.O.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

The history.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah.

[Morgan Absher]

The fact he saw her. I mean, it's a tough one.

[Kaylan Moore]

It doesn't really seem like this case is being actively investigated anymore. Part of me wonders if it's because they knew they had the guy and then he was released and so what are they gonna do now?

[Morgan Absher]

Yeah.

[Kaylan Moore]

In the off chance that you watching or anyone you know, has any information, you can reach out to the D.C. metro Police, actually, by texting 50411.

[Morgan Absher]

I also do want to note, too, like, the DNA that they found, and they couldn't link to Guandique. A lot of the DNA experts think it was from contamination from someone, too, because it was just like such limited DNA and it was only a partial. So.

[Kaylan Moore]

Okay, got it.

[Morgan Absher]

I don't want to be like, oh, well, DNA must be someone else. I don't know if that's the case because it likely was just contamination. But for now, it's time to close this case file. Reflecting on this story, I think the best thing to do is follow Robert and Susan Levy's lead. In the wake of Chandra's death, they have refused to use the word closure. They hate it, actually. Instead, they've remained focused on honoring her memory by being open and curious and living life to the fullest.

[Kaylan Moore]

Yeah, that's all we have for today's episode of Clues. Thank you for helping us unravel the clues in this case. It's certainly one that keeps me up at night. Makes me a little nervous to go jogging by myself, if I'm being honest. But I want to hear from you guys now. What do you think? I mean, there's still so many threads that are left untied in this, and I would just be so curious after. Like we said, we're like, we've been reading about this so much, it's hard to see the forest for the trees. So I would just love to see how other people kind of make sense of all of this.

[Morgan Absher]

Absolutely.

[Kaylan Moore]

Your thoughts, theories, feedback, all of that is really what makes this community so special.

[Morgan Absher]

For more exclusive content, monthly bonus episodes, early access and ad free free listening, join our Crime House plus community on Apple Podcasts.

[Kaylan Moore]

All right, we will be back next week with another case to unravel. And until then, keep searching. And we will see you next time on Clues.

[Morgan Absher]

Bye, guys.

[Kaylan Moore]

Bye.