← Going West: True Crime
Going West: True Crime
Joyce Chiang // 570
00:47:15
In January of 1999, a 28-year-old immigration attorney headed to Starbucks in Washington DC woman after seeing a movie with a friend. But when she didn’t return home that night, her brother reported her missing - a report which was immediately elevated to the FBI due to the nature of her work. Although her body would be found, years of speculation followed, which included government conspiracies, and connections to a murder with a victim who had an eerily similar background. This is the murder of Joyce Chiang.
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- [00:00]
Daphne
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Heath
What is going on? True crime fans, I'm your host he.
- [01:38]
Daphne
And I'm your host Daphne.
- [01:40]
Heath
And you're listening to Going West.
- [01:42]
Daphne
Hello everybody. As many of you know, last week was our seven year anniversary of Going west, which is crazy. So now we are entering into our eighth year. We're in 2026. We're so excited. We just got a ton of great comments from you guys on our most recent episode on Christeel Krug, which is just a wild case and I know you all agree and today we have a case that needs a lot more attention. So thank you so much everybody for tuning in and stick in with Heath and I.
- [02:14]
Heath
Yes, thank you guys so much. We're so glad to be here with you guys in 2026. So without further ado, this is episode 570 of Going West. So let's get into it.
- [03:14]
Daphne
In January of 1999, a 28 year old immigration attorney headed to Starbucks in Washington D.C. after seeing a movie with a friend. But when she didn't return home that night, her brother reported her missing. A report that was immediately elevated to the FBI due to the nature of her work. Although her body would soon be found, years of speculation followed which included government conspiracies and even connections to a murder with a victim who had an eerily similar background. This is the murderer of Joy Shanghai. Joyce Young was born on December 7, 1970 in Chicago, Illinois to parents Judy and Mu Tong, who immigrated to the US from Taiwan before she and her brothers Roger, John and Robert were born. But her tight knit family of five later moved to California. So Joyce divided her childhood between these two locations. Though after high school she headed back east to the east coast to complete her undergraduate degree, graduating from Smith College and succeeding academically her entire career. I mean, Joyce was a very hard worker who took her studies seriously and was even appointed student body president in high school. But her friends say that she was never uptight about it and that she was always lively and bubbly. Her college friend, Lori Ann Phillips Ryan remembered, quote, she's an incredibly hard worker and a very fun person, really a great woman. Like Joyce, her siblings were naturally motivated and high achievers and all four of them ended up in politics. Joyce's brother John went on to become the controller of the State of California, also known as the state's chief fiscal officer. So it's a financial role. And then Roger worked for the Clinton administration and later the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. The Xiangs were a close and loving family, but Joyce was particularly close with her older brother John, who later remembered she was my soulmate. Their other brother Roger remembered, quote, john and Joyce, the two Js of the household, have very similar personalities. That's why they get along so well. They really look at each other as advisors. Both of them are attorneys. Both of them go to each other for matters that are professional or personal. They really value each other's judgment. Back when she was still pursuing her degree, Joyce volunteered for Congressman Howard L. Berman. And after completing her degree, she was hired as his legislative aide in D.C. she attended Georgetown University for law, completing her degree in 1995. And when she left to pursue her career in law, Howard Berman's chief of staff, Jean Smith, said, she had a wonderful personality. She was just very cheerful. She'd light up a room. I mean, she was just adorable and smart, everything you'd want your daughter to be. She added that when Joyce eventually moved on, we hated to lose her. So family, friends, classmates, colleagues really valued Joyce in every capacity.
- [07:00]
Heath
Now, after graduating from Georgetown, Joyce was hired to work as the staff attorney for the INS, or the Immigration and Naturalization Service. As an ambitious self starter, from a very young age, she dreamed of moving to New York City to advance her career. But at the time of her disappearance, she was sharing an apartment with her brother Roger and working towards her lofty career aspirations down in D.C. according to her friends, she did date occasionally, but remained relatively private about her romantic life. They mostly remembered her as street smart and independent and that she was centering her career in the years preceding her death. However, in the months leading up to her disappearance, some very strange and scary things started to happen to her. On at least one occasion, Joyce was followed on the subway and also dealt with a peeping Tom. And we wish that we had more details on this, on these two incidents, but nothing else has really ever been publicly released on this, which is such.
- [08:04]
Daphne
A shame because her family does believe that that they may be related could potentially relate to what happened to her. And we just have no idea what occurred here.
- [08:14]
Heath
I mean, obviously that would be very good to know. But let's, let's talk about the day that she disappeared. So on Saturday, January 9, 1999, Joyce headed out for a day of seeing friends and said a quick goodbye to her brother Roger. She went shopping and then had a coffee with a friend and coworker named Patty first. Now, Patti recalled of that day, quote, she was in good spirits, but then again, she always was. Joyce then met another friend, Kathy, at a movie theater downtown. Of course, to see a movie at that time, you've Got Mail, Shakespeare and Love the Faculty. One of my favorite movies.
- [08:54]
Daphne
You're listing some of our faves.
- [08:56]
Heath
Yeah, some pretty good ones. Stepmom and other movies were in theaters at this time, but so was A Civil Action and that's what they went to go see that day. It's a John Travolta legal drama thriller. And that was actually the number one movie at the box office that weekend, by the way, and it had just come out the day before. Now, after the movie, her friend Kathy offered her a ride home. But Joyce asked to be dropped off about four blocks from her apartment so that she could pick up a cup of tea from her local Starbucks, which she was a regular at. And then she told Kathy that she would just walk the rest of the way home. But this routine T stop would change everything because at some point between saying goodbye to Kathy and leaving that Starbucks, 28 year old Joyce Shung vanished. The Starbucks that she was last seen at was located about two blocks northwest of the Dupont Circle roundabout in downtown Washington D.C. and this is less than 10 minutes away from the White House at a normally very bustling, well lit and generally safe pocket of the city. Joyce was last seen that night around 8:15pm, three hours after the sun had set, when she hadn't returned by the following day, which was Sunday, January 10, 1999, her brother Roger began calling around to her friends just in hopes of contacting her. But sadly, no one had seen or heard from her.
- [10:27]
Daphne
Well, signs quickly pointed to something having happened to Joyce, because that same day, pedestrians came across her ID card, which was found discarded in Anacostia park, which is on the banks of the Anacostia river, but located on the opposite side of the river as Dupont Circle and around a 20 minute drive from where Joyce was last seen. And as far as we know, her evening did not involve going to this river or this park. She told her friend that she just wanted to get a cup of tea from Starbucks and then she was going to walk home. But as we know, she never got home because Roger never saw her arrive. So Roger started driving around the city looking for his sister, including stopping by her office, hoping that maybe he would find some indication as to where she had gone. But with absolutely no clues. Roger reported her missing on Monday, January 11, two days after she had last been seen. Obviously, because Joyce was a government employee, the FBI took over the investigation of her case. Don Mueller, who is the spokesperson for the INS where Joyce worked as an attorney, reported, quote, we're holding out hope and we've passed out hundreds and hundreds, if not thousands of fliers looking for information. Her brother Roger continued to plead with the public for information as Joyce's posters papered downtown Washington, D.C. but nearly two weeks passed without a single development until January 21, 1999, when a startling discovery was made. So, as we know, her ID card was found. But on this day, the green hooded coat that Joyce had been wearing on the night she disappeared was found discarded near a traffic circle by the service entrance to the Anacostia Naval station, which is 8 miles, or nearly 13 kilometers from where she was last seen. Her house keys and a glove found discarded nearby were also later connected to her disappearance. Now, because of the distance between where she was last seen in Dupont Circle to where the items were found, investigators came to the conclusion that she had either traveled or been transported by car to the banks of the Anacostia, which, by the way, this is like, not the type of river that people swim in. It was so polluted for so many years that a lot of people refer to it as the forgotten river.
- [13:04]
Heath
Yeah, I mean, just picture like something like the Hudson river, like, you're not gonna go swimming in the Hudson because it's nasty and dirty.
- [13:10]
Daphne
Exactly. And some people do. And they get a lot of flack for it because you can get sick.
- [13:13]
Heath
Well, and also, this is January in Washington, D.C. it's cold as fuck.
- [13:18]
Daphne
Yeah. There's no reason for her to be swimming in it. But because these items are found on the banks of the river, they're wondering.
- [13:24]
Heath
If she had gone in somehow.
- [13:26]
Daphne
Yeah. Even if not intentionally, because. So this is all just to say she would not have gone in intentionally. It's not like she's going for, like a nighttime swim or something. Well, along with her glove, her keys and her coat were her Blockbuster loyalty card and her Safeway grocery store loyalty card, all found among the grassy knoll above the river. So a dive team searched the nearby portion of the Anacostia river extensively, spending days focused on where she may have entered the water, based on where her belongings were found. So again, at this point, they're not thinking she went for a swim. They're wondering if she fell in or if somebody put her body in there. And actually, while they were looking for her, the dive team found a body. But it was the body of a missing man whose disappearance had nothing to do with Joyce's, and his identity was not released to the public. But at least his case got a little closure with this search.
- [14:27]
Heath
I mean, that's kind of crazy because I actually have seen this happen before when, you know, dive teams are dragging a body of water and then somehow they just end up finding a body. It's kind of mind blowing.
- [14:39]
Daphne
Yeah. But it does go to show you that they're looking hard, hard enough to find somebody else and determine that, at least in this stretch of river, that they're checking near where her belongings were found. Joyce is not there. So cadaver dogs were marched along the banks of the river, but they could not indicate as to her location. Though her items being found was obviously a major, major concern. Her brother Roger continued to hold vigils to get the word out every Saturday night for weeks. But despite her disappearing from a very busy location, no one could pinpoint Joyce's whereabouts.
- [15:20]
Heath
So for the three months between her disappearance and the discovery of her body, the Shengs, who were known to be very optimistic and very spiritual, even when faced with the unimaginable tragedy of losing, Joyce maintained hope that she was still alive somewhere. But Roger admitted, every passing day gets harder and harder. And then the unimaginable happened. In early spring of 1999, 28 year old joy Shung was found just south of Alexandria, Virginia, near the Belle Haven Marina in the Potomac river, which joins with the Anacostia river between Washington, D.C. and Virginia. So her body was found just 8 miles or 13 kilometers downstream from where her belongings were found. Her badly decomposed body was found by someone that was out canoeing the river in early April of 1999, again three months after she vanished. Now, it wasn't initially obvious that it was Joyce, and actually a gender couldn't even be determined at first due to the amount of decomposition, though she was still wearing the black turtleneck and jeans that she had been wearing the night that she disappeared. The confirmation of her identity was made through her DNA, but toxicology reports were inconclusive, and a cause of death, unfortunately, remained undetermined. So investigators scrambled to find anyone who had seen or heard anything in the vicinity of the apparent attack on Joyce that night. But unfortunately, nobody came forward, which is.
- [16:58]
Daphne
Wild, especially considering how populated this area was. Like, if the abduction didn't happen at Starbucks, it happened when she was walking home, and it was only a few minutes walk out on the street. It was four blocks. Yet somehow no one saw or heard it happen. Which really makes you wonder if she was being stalked previously, since she was a regular at this Starbucks, or if someone saw her on the street, if they knew her, if they were a stranger.
- [17:28]
Heath
Well, we do know that she was being followed on the subway previous to this and that there was also some sort of Peeping Tom incident. So, you know, whether that's connected to her disappearance or not is still undetermined.
- [17:42]
Daphne
And that is exactly why we will bring this up again, actually. But that is exactly why her family thinks they could be, because it feels a little less likely that there was a Peeping Tom incident, Somebody followed her previously on the subway, and now on the day that she goes missing, a whole other person is following and stalking her, and it escalates to abduction. Or at least that's what everybody thinks happened.
- [18:07]
Heath
Well, after she was identified, Joyce's body was transported back to Southern California, and she was buried next to her beloved father, Mutong, when they lost him about four years earlier in 1995, the FBI, along with Joyce's co workers, friends and family, put up a $50,000 reward for any information that could lead to finding her killer. Because although they didn't have a cause of death yet, it was clear to her family that somebody had taken her life. But although the initial assumption by the FBI was that Joyce had been abducted like Daphne said, as time went by without developments, the FBI began to lean toward the notion that Joyce had jumped into the Anacostia river to take her own life.
- [18:54]
Daphne
Well, from the beginning, her family, and especially Roger, openly expressed distaste with how Joyce's case was handled and that her disappearance was totally lost in the media. Because at first, the fact that the FBI got involved and was offering that reward, it felt like they were working hard to solve her case. But their theory switching to suicide was so incredibly disappointing because although there were no witnesses to prove that she had been abducted, there was absolutely no signs that pointed to her taking her own life and no trail of her getting herself down to that park. So Roger was becoming very disillusioned with the FBI, which is an entity he had once placed full faith in to solve his sister's case. As they leaned toward the suicide theory, he pointed to the fact that her coat was torn in a clean rip down the back, Maybe like it had been yanked off of her as she was wearing it, maybe while running away from somebody.
- [19:58]
Heath
Yeah, you would imagine that if there's a big rip down the back, that she probably didn't do that herself.
- [20:03]
Daphne
Yes. But remember, for anybody thinking, oh, maybe it got snagged on a branch in the river. This coat was found on land. So whatever kind of struggle ensued to rip open a coat, it probably was a pretty bad one. Roger also said that detectives failed to investigate the run ins that she had with the men leading up to her death, including the subway incident and the peeping tom incident, which it does, by the way, seem like police have the information regarding that. We just don't know what happened. But her family is like, hey, these creepy incidents occurred very closely to her potential murder. At least her death.
- [20:44]
Heath
Yeah, you might want to look into those.
- [20:46]
Daphne
Yeah. Like, could this be connected? But again, it seems like they're dropping the ball on those leads. So Roger just felt like they had totally become pigeonholed by the theory that her death was an open and shut case of suicide, which left him totally despondent and even more desperate for action and answers in his sister's memory. Cause those who knew her just knew better. Like her friend Patty first, who she had seen mere hours before she disappeared, Recalled that she never would have taken off on her own, saying, it just wasn't like her. She was the most responsible person I knew. Some posited that her potential murder was political in nature due to the fact that she, of course, was an immigration lawyer and that she and her extended family had connections to democratic politicians in California. But sadly, her case grew cold when no further developments were made after her body was found. And actually, it wasn't until another young woman disappeared under eerily similar circumstances that Joyce's name was thrust back into the media spotlight.
- [22:12]
Heath
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Amazing.
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Yours? So good. Oh I'm so happy for you. Cool buddy.
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Heath
So before that quick break, Daphne was telling us that after Joyce's body was found, there was really no movement in her case. But another young woman went missing and her case had eerily similar circumstances. Chandra Levy was a 24 year old intern at the Federal Bureau of Prisons when she vanished just mere blocks from where Joyce was last seen two years later. Born in Cleveland, but raised in Modesto, California, Chandra received her bachelor's degree in journalism but aspired to work in government. She went on to attend the University of Southern California, working toward her master's degree in Public administration. And then as she was completing her degree, she accepted an internship in D.C. working for the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Now, the final day of her internship was April 23, 2001, just over a week after her 24th birthday. She planned on moving back to the west coast in the next week or two, ahead of her May 11 graduation date. But the last confirmed public sighting of Chandra was on the evening of April 30th, around 7pm, also in the vicinity of DC's Dupont Circle neighborhood where 28 year old Joyce disappeared from. 24 year old Chandra was leaving the Washington Sports Club gym where she had cancelled her membership in preparation for her move the following day, which was May 1, 2001. Just hours before she planned to hop on her flight back home to California, she apparently left the house to go for a run, but she was never seen again. Now, as the days ticked by with no word from her, her parents worried that something had happened to her, so they contacted police to file a missing persons report. And unlike some cases that we see, the police actually did take her disappearance very seriously very early on, and they even searched Chandra's apartment where they found the bags that she had packed, indicating that she was planning on returning home to make her flight that day, leaving no room for speculation that she had run off the search history on her computer revealed that she had most recently looked up the website for the Pierce Klingle estate mansion, which is this very historic home located in Rock Creek park, just about three miles or about 5km north of where Chandra was last seen. So wondering if maybe that was her running destination for that day. Two extensive searches were organized, focusing on Rock Creek park, but no sign of her turned up. Just like in the case of Joyce's disappearance, investigators were just totally stumped here. She too had just vanished into thin air, it seemed. But then Chandra's parents, Susan and Robert, tipped off the investigators that their daughter had been involved in an affair with a married congressman, and that her disappearance may have been the result of an attempt at satisfaction, silencing her for political gain.
- [28:47]
Daphne
Scandal. Scandal. Scandal. Yeah, because when Chandra was 23. So the year earlier, she and Congressman Gary Condit, who is 30 years her senior, began a five month affair. Despite the fact that Gary was married to his high school sweetheart, they're actually still married to this day. And that Chandra was younger than his own daughter. Yikes. Gary also hailed from Modesto, California, so the two hit it off and began a romantic affair. Though Gary denied this in his initial interviews with police, which was not a good look for him. But eventually, he reluctantly admitted that they had been in a bit of a relationship, but swore that it had never become sexual.
- [29:31]
Heath
Yeah, right. Come on.
- [29:33]
Daphne
A little hard to believe, Gary.
- [29:35]
Heath
Yeah, I fucking doubt that. For five months. Really, Gary?
- [29:38]
Daphne
You guys are just kissing?
- [29:39]
Heath
Yeah. Come on.
- [29:40]
Daphne
Well, according to Gary, he had broken it off the day before Chandra was set to fly home to California, which also happened to be the day that she was last seen. Though Gary found himself at the center of this total media firestorm that was ultimately to blame for the downward spiral in his political career, police eventually stopped considering him a suspect due to the fact that his whereabouts were accounted for on the day that Chandra vanished because he had been in back to back meetings. But there was still the possibility that he had gotten someone else to get rid of her. Though that idea was cast aside when he voluntarily submitted to a polygraph examination and passed it. So a lot more was coming out in that. And that's why it was hard, because at first he's saying, oh, we didn't have an affair, and then he's saying, yeah, we were kind of in a relationship, but it wasn't sexual. And it's like, okay, it's gonna be really hard for us to believe any you say if you keep lying.
- [30:41]
Heath
Yeah, I pulled an old bill Clinton there.
- [30:43]
Daphne
Yeah. And he was probably doing that to save his reputation. But obviously with Chandra's disappearance being a very serious matter, this is coming to light anyway. And now you just made yourself look worse.
- [30:54]
Heath
Yeah, you really can't avoid it.
- [30:57]
Daphne
While there was no information pointing towards Chandra having wanted to harm herself, but there was also a startling lack of evidence to support foul player, really any other conclusion at all. But because of the similarities, Chandra's disappearance sparked renewed interest in Joyce's disappearance. And questions about whether their cases may be connected started to circulate. Cause really, the parallels were hard to deny. Chandra was also a young government professional who grew up in California and was last spotted in Dupont Circle. What are the chances they also lived within a few blocks of each other? And both women even frequented the Starbucks where Joyce was last seen. Though rumors of a serial killer stalking DC's political elite began to circulate as well. Commander Jack Barrett of the Washington D.C. metropolitan Police Department stated here, we had two young women about the same age. We had undisclosed reasons for their disappearances. We wanted to be certain. We explored every possible connection. All we have are two cases of young women who are in communication with family and friends and then nothing. When Gary Condit was the primary focus of the investigation into Chandra's disappearance, however, he retained a team of lawyers who attempted to drum up evidence in order to disprove his involvement. And these lawyers postulated that it was possible that the cases were both politically motivated and connected, just not to Gary. Though Gary wasn't found to have any connection to Chandra's disappearance, that didn't stop the negative publicity from tarnishing his reputation. Because even if he hadn't done something to her, he was still having an affair with a young woman over half his age while he was married. So whether or not this news had anything to do with it, the year after Chandra vanished, Gary lost his re election bid. And he and his legal team blamed the scandal, even leveling multiple lawsuits against media outlets who peddled false stories about Chandra and Gary in order to sell issues. But we do know that they had an affair. So he's kind of saying, oh my God, this scandal is to blame. And it's like, okay, you're not totally.
- [33:20]
Heath
Innocent here, you brought it on yourself, Gary. Well, on the morning of May 22, 2002, over a year after 24 year old Chandra was last seen, a man who was walking his dog in Rock Creek park, where Chandra was jogging on the morning of her disappearance came across human remains as well as tennis shoes, a sweatshirt A sports bra and a pair of leggings, as well as a tape player. But unfortunately, just as in the case of Joyce Chung, Chandra's body had suffered too much decomposition to determine a cause of death. Her remains were tested for Gary's DNA. You know, they gotta do their due diligence here. But none was found. Not only did this help prove Gary's innocence, but the name of one man would come into the investigation, thanks to a jailhouse informant who had tipped police off all the way back in late summer of 2001, before Chandra's remains were even found. Ingmar Guandique was a 20 year old man from El Salvador and a known member of the gang and criminal organization Ms. 13. Sure a lot of you guys know about that gang who was imprisoned for attacks on two other women in Rock Creek park in the month following Chandra's disappearance. Though luckily, they were able to survive and get away. And both women, Kristi Wiegand and Halle Schilling, bravely faced Ingmar in court, telling the jury how he had descended on them while lurking in the shadows of Rock Creek park as they were out running, vulnerable and alone. Christie explained that Ingmar had come up behind her and threatened her at knifepoint, dragging her to the bottom of a ravine to rob her and leave her there. And for these attacks, ingmar received only 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to the assaults.
- [35:11]
Daphne
And obviously the fact that these women, shortly after Chandra disappeared, were attacked in the very same place she was found is pretty eerie. So due to the similar nature of the cases that he had already committed and the murder of Chandra Levy, Ingmar was questioned in regards to Chandra's case. The jailhouse informant who would connect these two again came forward to accuse Ingmar of accepting a $25,000 bribe from Gary Condit in exchange for killing Chandra. So now this informant is basically saying that Ingmar was hired by Gary to do the killing. I think he has a lot of reason to say this because of everything that's coming out in the papers. So it is initially hard for police to determine if this is true or not. But the story was actually proven to be a ruse. After the informant was issued a polygraph to determine if there was any truth to the accusation. The anonymous informant failed the polygraph while Ingmar actually passed his, which was kind of an anomaly that the FBI blamed on a language barrier. So they're like, we don't really know if he passed for sure. Facing mounting public pressure, Ingmar's possible connection to the murder was re examined in the fall of 2008. So, years later, after a magazine clipping of Chandra was found in Ingmar's prison cell.
- [36:40]
Heath
I mean, why would you have a clipping of Chandra in your prison cell?
- [36:44]
Daphne
I don't know, like.
- [36:45]
Heath
Like 10 years later, or I guess it's like seven years later. But still. Why would you still have that?
- [36:50]
Daphne
Yeah. And so a lot of people are questioning this. Even his acquaintances are questioning this. So police talked to his buddies, and a fellow inmate and former cellmate of Ingmar's named Armando Morales came forward with a d damning testimony about an actual confession from Ingmar, who had apparently admitted that he had killed Chandra in a robbery attempt, though he maintained that he never intended to sexually assault her. Now, according to Armando, while they were living together in prison, you know, he and Ingmar in Kentucky, Ingmar broke down and confessed to stalking Chandra through Rock Creek park on the morning of her disappearance, having seen her wearing a fanny pack and hoping to steal it. A fight between them then ensued, and Ingmar wrestled Chandra into the bushes, beating her, making off with her fanny pack, and leaving her for dead. Also, for anybody who wants a visual of this park, you can check out photos online or, of course, on our socials. It's a pretty big park in D.C. it's not like a national park. It's technically a large urban park. It's, of course, right next to Rock Creek, which, by the way, is a tributary of the Potomac River. So you could do a lot of stuff here. Like, you can hike. There's a ton of trees. Don't necessarily picture something like Central park, where you're just kind of in the middle of a city, because even though you are with this park, it's not off in the mountains or anything. It's very. It's a very rural park, I'll say.
- [38:25]
Heath
Yeah. It's not directly in the middle of the city.
- [38:28]
Daphne
City, yeah. So I could see how these attacks would happen without anybody witnessing them. So while Ingmar was being questioned about this story that Armando Morales is telling police, Ingmar swore that he had not meant to kill her and that her death had been an accident. So he is essentially saying, yes, I attacked her, but I didn't mean to kill her. Now, prosecutors maintain their belief that Chandra had been wearing a fanny pack that day, but that it had been missing from the crime scene, which is a detail that they felt only her killer would be privy to. And also, by the way, prosecutors maintained that Armando had not received any benefits or immunity from testifying against his ex buddy Ingmar. So we see in a lot of cases, oh, well, I just said this so that I could get immunity or I could get transferred to a different prison or that I could, you know, get a lower sentence, lesser sentence. Yeah, exactly. But prosecutors are saying that didn't happen here. He really has no reason to make this up.
- [39:30]
Heath
Well, based on the little evidence that they could glean from Chandra's autopsy, when compared with the attacks on Ingmar's confirmed victims, there appeared to be a match. So investigators concluded that Ingmar attacked Chandra along her route, beating her and tying her up and leaving her to fall prey to the elements. In April of 2009, eight years after she was last seen publicly, Ingmar Guadadike was charged with her murder. Now, he did plead not guilty. But despite having little concrete evidence, Ingmar was found guilty of Chandra's murder, convicted of one count of first degree murder for death as part of kidnapping, and one count of first degree murder for death as a part of an attempted robbery. And these charges all stemmed from Armando's accusation of hearing Ingemar confess to Chandra's murder. Ingmar was convicted on November 22, 2010, and in February of 2011, he was sentenced to 60 years in prison. After Ingmar's conviction, Chandra's mother, Susan Levy, told the press that while they were thankful for the conclusion, I have a lifetime sentence of a lost limb missing from our family tree. It's a lifetime of a broken heart. But unfortunately, the little closure her family had wouldn't last because Ingmar's defense team continued to push for a retrial after his sentencing. And in 2015, they were granted a hearing to present new evidence to the judge. Eugene Ohm, Ingmar's attorney, presented to court the fact that Armando had lied about not receiving any benefit from testifying against Ingmar and that he had actually been cooperating with the prosecution, which was information that the prosecution had concealed.
- [41:24]
Daphne
So he was getting a little something something from this.
- [41:26]
Heath
Yes, he was. Now, based on this information and due to prosecutorial misconduct, Ingmar Guadadique was granted a new trial in June of 2015. But the most convincing evidence actually came the following summer. In July of 2016, a transient woman named Babs Proler was living in a motel in Maryland, where she met fellow motel resident Armando Morales. The pair became friendly, and Armando started to open up about incriminating stories from his past, including his history as a gang member and also a felon. But when their budding friendship went south and Armando threatened Babs husband, she became afraid of him and Wanted to compile potentially incriminating evidence in order to blackmail him if need be. So she decided to coax him to talk about his misdeeds while she covertly recorded him. And this included Armando's confession that he had fabricated the story about either Ingmar's confession. Babs came forward with the recordings. And on July 28, 2016, Ingmar's sentence was vacated, and he was released to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who moved forward with deporting him to his native El Salvador in May of 2017. So, essentially, they find out from this recording that Armando is full of shit, and they're like, well, now we can't use this against Ingmar. The U.S. attorney's office announced that they can no longer prove the murder case against Mr. Guadadique beyond a reasonable doubt and that there was no need for a retrial. So, officially, Chandra's case remains unsolved, despite the fact that Ingmar himself originally confessed to stealing her fanny pack and leaving after attacking her.
- [43:21]
Daphne
Which is why it's so hard to know what to believe. If Armando said that he made it up, was he being truthful when he said that? Or was he only lying about part of it? Was he lying about the bit where he said that Gary Condit had paid Ingmar? Like, I. I just don't know if I fully believe that Ingmar is innocent.
- [43:42]
Heath
Well, the stupid part about this is the fact that Ingmar was the one to confess. He said, yes, I did attack her. I didn't mean to kill her. Okay, well, you have a confession from the guy right there.
- [43:53]
Daphne
And some people, or sometimes some people do confess under pressure when they don't mean to. But then we have to think about the fanny pack detail. Even the prosecution said only the killer would know about the fanny pack.
- [44:06]
Heath
Right?
- [44:06]
Daphne
But did police mention the fanny pack? And that wasn't included? You know, it's like, I don't really know what to think here.
- [44:14]
Heath
Well, it is very possible that he did kill her, whether intentionally or unintentionally. And many people believe that this is what happened. But either way, her family doesn't officially have justice. Though because of Chandra's case, Joyce's case gained resurgence based on the similarities. And the cases are very often discussed side by side. But despite that resurgence, and despite many people believing the cases are tied together, police have maintained their stance that they are not connected.
- [44:48]
Daphne
Which is wild just considering those similarities. The same city, disappearing from the same block, frequenting the same Starbucks, living pretty.
- [44:59]
Heath
Close to each other, and also working for the government.
- [45:02]
Daphne
Yeah, it's just. It's really, really strange. And, of course, disappearing only within a couple years of each other. Well, on April 3, 2007, Kathy Lanier became the Washington, D.C. metropolitan Police chief. And when she took office, she set her sights on closing some of the unsolved murders that were haunting their cold case department. In 2011, this meant taking another look at Joyce Chung's case. So quietly, an investigation began. And on May 13, 2011, Kathy announced that Joyce's death had officially been ruled a homicide, but that the case was closing without resolution. Kathy told the press, quote, over the past several years, there have been statements made that were inaccurate. She then explained that there were two suspects that investigators believed to be responsible, but sadly, no. Neither would see a trial, leaving Joyce's loved ones devoid of justice once again. Now, we actually know the name of these men. One is Steve Allen, and he was already serving a life sentence in Maryland for an unrelated crime by the time they're figuring this out. The second man named as Joyce's attacker was Neil Joaquin, who was from Guyana and had been deported back home after a crime spree in the US So he's out of the country. There was a potential third man involved as well, though he was never publicly named. But it's believed that, at least together, the two men we know of, Steve Allen and Neil Joaquin, who were known drug users, robbed Joyce at gunpoint and abducted her, bringing her to the banks of the Anacostia river, where her belongings were found. What happened next, we may never know. But according to investigators and Kathy Lanier, while the attack occurred, Joyce fought back and accidentally fell or maybe was pushed into the river. There's also a small chance that she jumped in to avoid being hurt further by her attackers and then drowned by accident. But it's hard to know for sure without any confirmation or evidence or a confession. But I will add, according to police, Neal and Steve committed a similar kidnapping just three months after Joyce. But despite the announcement from law enforcement, there wasn't enough evidence to legally connect them to Joyce's murder. So although her case is considered closed by law enforcement, and they seem to know pretty much at least most of what happened, the men never went to trial and were never formally connected, much to the dismay of Joyce's loved ones. After Neil Joaquin returned to Guyana, he was supposedly imprisoned for an unrelated crime there. And by the way, Guyana does not have an extradition treaty with the US So even if they do concretely have evidence to prove that he is connected, it's unlikely that he'll be returned to face potential charges in Joyce's case. So Joyce's case was closed with no arrests, but her family does remain very thankful that the public knows as much of the truth about her final moments and who the perps were as possible. And they're just very thankful, of course, as well, that the police looked into her case further, as they did, and stopped believing that her case was a suicide when they knew for all these years that that that couldn't have been true. And they were right. Roger even went on to write a book in his sister's honor entitled, My Peace I Offer the Disappearance of Joyce Young. After the announcement was made regarding the conclusion of Joyce's case, Roger told the press, quote, this team right here restored Joyce's character, restored her honor, and in doing so, corrected the history. Foreign. Thank you so much, everybody, for listening to this episode of Going West.
- [49:22]
Heath
Yes, thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. If you want to see photos of Joyce and Chandra, head on over to our socials. We're on Instagram at Going west podcast. We are also on Facebook. Facebook.
- [49:35]
Daphne
We actually were going to cover Chandra's case in May of this year or this coming year. But as we're researching Joyce's case, we realize that it does seem like they're connected, even though in the end, they probably aren't, and police don't believe they are. They are just so often coupled. So we thought we would do it this way. But if you want a deeper dive into Chandra's case, let us know and we can absolutely revisit it more and more in depth. But for now, thank you guys for tuning in to this episode.
- [50:05]
Heath
Yes. And hopefully at some point, Joyce's family and Chandra's family will get the resolution that they deserve.
- [50:14]
Daphne
It's so amazing that the police revisited thanks to Kathy Lanier. But, yeah, it just doesn't feel like enough that it's like, oh, yeah, we think we know who did it and it's these two guys.
- [50:25]
Heath
But, like, but we're not going to do anything about it.
- [50:27]
Daphne
Yeah. Even if they are in prison for the rest of their lives, which hopefully they are. And it seems like they're really bad dudes and deserve to be behind bars. Either way, her family definitely deserves to learn exactly what happened to Joyce. How did these guys find her? Were they the ones following her before? Did they see her at Starbucks? Did they apprehend her? Throw her in a car that was parked on the side of the road? Like, how did they get her out of the area without anybody seeing.
- [50:53]
Heath
I mean, there's just so many questions and really not enough answers.
- [50:58]
Daphne
Well, again, thank you guys so much, and we will see you again on Friday.
- [51:03]
Heath
All right, guys. So for everybody out there in the.
- [51:05]
Daphne
World, don't be a stranger, Sam.