D.C. Authorities Issue Arrest Warrant for Suspect Named in Washington Post Chandra Levy Series

Nearly eight years after her disappearance, a warrant has been issued for the man authorities say is responsible for the death of Chandra Levy, a 24-year-old intern whose affair with then-California Congressman Gary Condit may have distracted officials from the most likely suspect, according to a Washington Post series published last summer.

The series revealed that police never interviewed two women attacked by Ingmar Guandique in Rock Creek Park, where Levy was found.

The Post reports:

In an interview this week, former D.C. police chief Charles H. Ramsey, who had been in charge of the original Levy investigation, said he was surprised last summer by some of the findings of The Post‘s series. “There were a couple of things, when I read the series, I said, ‘Oh man,’ ” Ramsey said.

For example, Ramsey said, he had not known that his two original detectives on the Levy case never interviewed the two women whom Guandique had attacked at knifepoint.

Guandique is serving a 10-year prison sentence for those attacks and if convicted of Levy’s murder would serve an additional 30-60 years.

Prior to issuing the warrant, Levy’s parents were notified that an arrest was imminent. At the time, Levy’s father told The Post, “The Post series really helped the police, because it brought new things out.”

The Los Angeles Times reported, “The Levys said that they were told that a possible breakthrough in the case came, at least in part, due to the increased attention spurred by a Washington Post series last year about the slaying and the Police Department’s handling of it.”

The Post series was criticized by some initially for its in-depth investigation of the case.