Case summary
This is a case of one female intern known as Levy Chandra. She was a waged intern stationed with the Federal Bureau of Prisons by the time she went missing as she out on a dawn jog along the well-known Rock Creek Park in Washington, D.C. The case also involved Gary Condit. During her disappearance, the main suspect the then Californian U.S. democrat Representative, after it was revealed that the five-term Congressman was engaged in an extramarital affair with Chandra. The man was a congressional representative as well as being a serialized adulterer-possessing savor for younger women (Hingham and Horvitz 34). Chandra Levy believed he resembled Harrison Ford. She was naïve sufficiently to consider that 52-year-old Gary Condit was preparing to relinquish his seat and leave his wife whom he had been married to for 34 years in a bid to form one with her.
Scott Hingham and Sari Horvitz in their book, Finding Chandra, accurately narration of Washington Metropolitan Police Department was inept with the Levy investigation. However, the errors were not restricted to the police department alone, however they are mostly to blame for mishandling the hunt for Levy and being unsuccessful at elementary detective roles, in the process missing apparently palpable links, for instance, and mismanaging possibly treasured evidence. The police additionally destabilized the case by disclosing subtle, confidential data to a scandal-famished press forces (Hingham and Horvitz 56)
Condit was ultimately acquitted of his involvement in Chandra’s murder; however, the affair revelation resulted to his 2002 loss of a re-election bid. She was assumed killed subsequent to her skeletal remains being discovered in Rock Creek Park. Regrettably, owing to the obsession on Condit, the whole investigation process was a disaster. As they wasted time on him, Chandra’s corpse was decomposing at the base of a narrow valley in Rock Creek Park. Furthermore, almost more than a year subsequent her disappearance, her extremely decayed remains was revealed just near an area the police had investigated in 2001.
However, In September 2001, the police learnt that Ingmar Guandique, a 20-year-old illegal El Salvador immigrant who was also serving time in jail, had told another inmate of deal between him and Condit. Condit had allegedly paid $25,000 to Ingmar to kill Levy. However, the claim was dismissed. The case then became a cold case. It was merely on March 3, 2009 that a permit to apprehend Guandique for Levy’s rape and murder was released. He was part of the infamous Mara Salvatrucha gang.
The big window in the case did not originate from the detection of any fresh physical evidence. They all depended on a jailhouse confession Ingmar made to his jail mates. However, the only physical evidence, which was taken from a piece of Levy's clothing, established at the scene, enclosed DNA that resembled neither Levy nor Guandique’s (Hingham and Horvitz)
Victimology
With no physical evidence to employ, responding to the question of victimology of Chandra Levy either being low risk or high risk might be the only thing that could have helped authorities discover what transpired to the 24-year-old federal intern. Scrutinizing the victim, Chandra Levy, as a victim, there is no crime scene or injuries on Levy corpse to employ, thus this assessment is particularly not easy. Therefore, to find out what happened to or what Chandra was thinking it would be better to turn to victimology, piecing together all the parts of her life. In order to do this it would be superlative to recreate her life from the moment she arrived at Washington to the latest time she was recorded to be on the internet on May 1. The significance for this is trying to discover who would she have had interacted with that might have recognized her as a victim.
It is also apparent that the young woman seemed cautious. She had a gym membership since she allegedly thought it would be harmless than running in the city, and had her cell phone with her almost everywhere (Hingham and Horvitz).
Crime Scene assessment
In this situation, there is no crime scene. Therefore, it is very difficult to pin on where to be a crime scene. However, where the remains were found could serve as one. Therefore, the crime was the west rail wing of the vast Rock Creek park of Washington DC. This was the main crime scene since the decomposing body of Levy was found together with her tights, and red bra (of which some unknown person DNA was found). However, there were some other potential crime scenes as seen. Others include the stolen van that had a DNA found on it. This gave the police an impression that Chandra was killed elsewhere and brought back to the Park via the van. If this was true then there exists another crime scene. Another potential crime scene was the Chandra’s apartment where the laptop was. This scene was searched and the laptop was the main lead. According to finding Chandra, the police failed to realize that she had searched the Park, prior to jogging. Also found in this crime scene was her cell phone.
In terms of the crime scene being organized or not, it is quite hard to tell, since there was no clear cut out crime scene to look at.
Forensic findings
Apart from her skeletal remains being discovered in Rock Creek Park that belonged to Chandra, there existed no forensic confirmation comprising fingerprints, DNA, semen, or blood to connect Guandique to something established at the crime scene in which Levy’s remnants were discovered. Conversely, there were other optimistic DNA discoveries. There was DNA established on a red bra that had originated from a co-worker who unintentionally adulterated the bra via handling. Additionally, an unidentified male DNA was revealed on tights discovered at the scene. An Additional fascinating piece of evidence involved a stolen van that was established within the crime area. Fingerprints were discovered in the van, none was linked to either Guandique or Condit. However, most of these forensic findings were not satisfactory enough to link either Ingmar or Condit to the Chandra’s death.
Some DNA however was found in the apartment from Chandra’s underpants. They were the congressional representative’s from his semen. However, this was not a link towards the murder.
Investigative considerations
Owing to a police mistake throughout an exploration of Chandra Levy's computer, detectives did not learn for a month that she was in search of information regarding Rock Creek Park on the day she vanished. The Police also misinterpreted Chandra's computer searches and understood she had searched for the address for the Klingle Manor, the head office for Rock Creek Park, and they spent noteworthy time scrutinizing the area. In its place, Chandra entered an entertainment page on washingtonpost.com that enclosed a discourse for Klingle Manor at the top of the page, however had a list of places to go in the park, counting the Nature Center and Planetarium. She also searched a map of the park. They also found out that Gary Condit had two messages in the replying machine in Chandra’s apartment two days subsequent to her disappearance, in search of her and requesting her to call him.
A discerning search order instigated police teams to search for Chandra some yards on the wrong side of the roads in Rock Creek Park in place of the same off the trails. Throughout one specific hunt on July 25, 2001, they squandered discovering her remnants, which were about 79 yards underneath the Western Ridge Trail.
Police examining the Chandra case did not go to one of the Guandique violence scenes up to more than a year after his arrest. It also took the police 13 months to interrogate Guandique's ex-girlfriend and her mother. The two supposed Guandique had vicious propensities and he was requested to vacate their home in the spring of 2001.
Conclusion
There were several witnesses in the case against Guandique, but none of witnesses in reality saw the assault on the Chandra in Rock Creek Park about eight years ago. Also with no forensic evidence connecting Levy and Guandique or a witness description, the Levy case tendered flaws the defense could seize upon. The investigation has been challenging since it began. They have been early mistakes like the police division’s failure to discover Levy's corpse until a year after she vanished. They would have been more vigilant as they are supposed to and they would have used the technology they have to find the body before it had decomposed. This would have increased the chances of solving the murder. In addition to this, the police also remained excessively focused on the then U.S. Rep. Gary Condit. This blinded the police and made them focus on other things leaving crucial leads that would help them in solving the murder amicably.
Looking at the trial, the case against Guandique was consequently principally rooted in proclamations that Guandique told other prisoners in addition to in mails he allegedly wrote. He had as well admitted attacking two other female joggers within the Rock Creek Park where Chandra’s remains was found, simultaneously with Levy disappearance. However, it was not until Armando Morales, Ingmar’s prison mate, surfaced with material that the trial could lastly connect him to the case. Consistent with Morales, Guandique had alleged that he was on drugs and needed money. According to Morales, Guandique had been hunkering within some bushes within the park when he watched Chandra jog past having her waist purse. He allegedly seized Levy from the rear, dragged her, and when he believed she was knocked out, he stole her bag. He however thought that he did not deem that he had executed her. Ostensibly, given the detailed conversation as expressed through Morales, Guandique claimed that if he had acknowledged that Chandra was dead, he under no circumstances would have gone back to the park to rob other women. Fortunately, Guandique was under a jail term of 10 years following his arrest for assaulting other females within the Rock Creek Park.
These were part of the challenges the prosecution had in the case. However, the main part was that there was no physical evidence nor most of the witnesses were unable to link Ingmar to Chandra. This was a tough deal.
However, with the little evidence and numerous testimonies Ingmar Guandique was ultimately sentenced to 60 years imprisonment for the sexual assault and murder of Chandra Levy.
Work Cited
Hingham, Scott and Horvitz, Sari. Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery. New York City: Scribner, 2010
