Mayor expects announcement in Levy case soon

WASHINGTON- As WTOP reported exclusively last week, D.C. police detectives flew out to California last Wednesday as a part of the investigation into the 2001 murder of congressional intern Chandra Levy.

D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty says he expects an announcement in the case "extremely soon" now that the detectives are back from the West Coast.

"It is quite obvious to the city and the country that the Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. attorneys are working extremely hard to close the case," Fenty said. "The family (Levy) deserves that when we make an announcement it is one that makes significant progress."

Police believe 27-year-old Ingmar Guandique is the man who murdered Levy.

The Salvadoran immigrant Guandique is serving a 10-year sentence in a federal prison in Adelanto, Calif. for two assaults on women in Rock Creek Park in the weeks after Levy disappeared in May 2001.

Levy's skeletal remains were found more than a year later in Rock Creek Park.

Sources tell WTOP, that prosecutors and police flew to California to gather more information before asking a D.C. Superior Court judge for an arrest warrant for Guandique. In the district, prosecutors must sign-off before police request an arrest warrant.

Levy, a native of Modesto, Calif., was an intern at the U.S. Bureau of Prisons in Washington.

Her disappearance eight years ago sparked intense national interest when it was revealed she had been romantically linked to then-Congressman Gary Condit. The scandal cost the California Democrat his congressional seat.

Condit has long denied any involvement in her disappearance and recently told The Washington Post that he is "glad for Levy's family" that Guandique is the apparent suspect.

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