Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery

by Scott Higham

It was the mystery that gripped the nation during the summer of 2001: the sudden disappearance of Chandra Levy, a young, promising intern, and the possible involvement of Congressman Gary Condit. And then the case went cold. By 2007, satellite trucks and reporters had long since abandoned the story of the congressman and the intern in search of other news, fresh scandals. Across the country, Chandra’s parents tried to resume their daily lives, desperately hoping that someday there might be a break in the investigation.
And in Washington, the old game of who’s up and who’s down played on without interruption.

But Chandra Levy haunted. Six years after the young intern’s disappearance, investigative editors of the Washington Post pitched two Pulitzer Prize– winning reporters their Revisit the unsolved case and find out what happened to Chandra, a task that had eluded police and the FBI.

Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz went to work. e result was a thirteen-part series in the Washington Post that focused on a prime suspect the police and the FBI had passed over years before. They had wrongly pursued Condit and chased numerous false leads, including a claim that Chandra had been kidnapped and taken to the Middle East.

But the most likely culprit was far less an immigrant from El Salvador, a young man in the clutches of alcohol, drugs, and violence who had been stalking the running paths of Rock Creek Park, assaulting female joggers at knifepoint. He had attacked again, even as the police and the press concentrated on a congressman romantically linked to the intern.

Finding Chandra explores the bungled police efforts to locate the crime scene and catch a killer, the ambition and hubris of Washington’s power elite and press corps, the twisted culture of politics, the dark nature of political scandal, and the agony of parents struggling to comprehend the loss of a child. Above all, it is a quintessential portrait of a cast of outsiders who came to Washington with dreams of something better, only to be forever changed.

Genres: True Crime, Nonfiction, Crime, Mystery, Biography, Politics, History

312 pages, Paperback

First published May 11, 2010

Reviews

[Lobstergirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a frequent visitor to Washington I followed Chandra Levy's disappearance in 2001, and I remember where I was on May 22, 2002 when I read that her body had been discovered in Rock Creek Park. I had stopped following the story by the time a suspect was arrested and convicted of her murder. The authors tell the story well in this 2011 book; unfortunately, the convicted man, Ingmar Guandique, had his case dismissed in 2015 after the main trial witness, another inmate, was determined to have lied. Guandique was then deported back to El Salvador, and the case is currently unsolved. It seems likely to me that he killed her, since he had attacked two other women running in Rock Creek Park in the months following Levy's disappearance (and served time for those attacks).

[Jeanette · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough report for the title Chandra Levy Murder case. Missing first, and then remains found in the park where she went missing while jogging.

Looking back the press and the general entertainment media exposed this and expanded upon it far, far beyond the borders for any of the realities. Condit was a serial adulterer. Murder is entirely another avenue, little more than a "believed" guess. So are 100's of Congressmen serial adulterers, then, before and since. There's an entire slush fund in a sub-committee "use" that is assigned for paying women off. It exists. And some of the most mouthy hypocrites have also used it. More than once.

Partisan press working only for rating stats and media manipulators geared to slant or induce opposition (paid off most of them, as well) have been present in the Swamp then and ever increasing in numbers since. The only difference is that now the public has turned their heads away from all their moral judgments (up is down and down is up defined) that the endlessly immoral themselves decree and declare for themselves.

The perpetrator was a miserable and also evil case study in himself. And Chandra extremely and ultimately unlucky in her place and time. He was re-released once before he did his last 4 or 5 string of assaults and this particular one. Protecting the perpetrator and not the future victims has become a sick and oft repeating illegal alien mantra. Some of this copy is excellent in detail, but more of it is very dry lawyer and association paths that are extended poor reading material.

You can absolutely understand the terrain and area issues for this attack and hiding. DNA and cadaver dogs came a big late for this particular search.

[Ben · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book ends with a conviction. But due to recent events, that was not even close to the end of the story. In 2015, the prosecution agreed that the man convicted deserved a new trial. Then a few months before that new trial was set to begin, the prosecutor chose to have the case dismissed. It turns out that the witness who the book identifies as the key to the conviction, and that the book calls "credible," and someone the prosecutors had to have been "elated" by, had lied completely to the prosecutors and at the trial. I think the authors of this book, who wrote the series for the Washington Post, if they have any integrity, should spend time investigating what exactly the prosecutors did that led to the conviction being reversed and then dismissed. If this story was truly worth all the attention the Washington Post gave when it ran the initial multi-part series on the front page over several days, then it is worth completing the story with exactly what the prosecutors did. If the writers and the Post think the public needed all the information in the articles and then this book, then the public deserves to know what really happened to lead to the prosecutors dismissing the case.

[Terri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chandra Levy's story made headlines around the world, and the media and DC police were totally focused on Congressman Gary Condit and his affair with Chandra to the exclusion of all other suspects. Only years later, Washington Post reporters do a 13 day feature, reinvesting the case and finding new avenues. And a suspect who is currently in jail for two attacks in the Park she was killed at is very likely the one who killed her. As his trial is pending and all evidence circumstantial, it remains to be seen if justice will be done for Chandra. This is the story reported by the journalists and shows the mistakes made and hopefully lessons will be learned....

[Kappy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard the authors on NPR. I remembered this news story from the weeks before 9/11. I thought the coverage was sleazy, pack like, and without regard for facts. These two reporters illustrated how the media coverage changed the investigation and hindered it. "News" seems ever more distorted by innuendo, gossip, and repetition of same.

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting read although I remembered it from when it happened. She had been having an affair with her congressman, Gary Condit and when she disappeared without a trace, the blame fell on Gary. Her parents were frantic trying to find her. When they went through her contacts, they discovered she had Gary's telephone number on speed dial. A very through investigation into what happened to her and the grief it caused both her family and Gary Condit.

[Riq Hoelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really a story of so many police and prosecutor mistakes that it's difficult not to see incompetence, chief among them a tunnel vision about the motivation and causes. The mass media don't come off very well either, particularly cable news shows.

While a true page turner, this book ends too early. There have been significant developments since its publication.

[D'Anne · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't really follow this case when it was happening, but my dad gave this book to my sister for Christmas (I got a book about a youth pastor who murdered his wife and screwed a bunch of church ladies. Murder books are a Christmas tradition in my family) and she read it and liked it so I decided to read it, too. I was totally engrossed by it, in part because I really didn't know how it would end since, as I said, I didn't follow the case. The book kind of fizzles out at the end, but that's only because that's where the case was at the time the book was published. In Nov. 2010 Ingmar Guandique was convicted of her murder. And the book makes a pretty good case for his guilt, though it also includes the voices of folks who don't think he did it. This is understandable considering that the case was cold for so long that there was no forensic evidence linking Guandique. In any case, the blundering of the officials involved in her case will make you bang your head against a wall. Anyway, I liked it. If you like the true crime thing, you probably will, too.

[Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book totally absorbing and fascinating. A young woman from a good family goes missing in Washington D. C. and is found to be having an affair with a powerful Blue Dog Democrat, Gary Condit. The DC police seem to have little ability to truly investigate the crime scene well and basic investigative practices go awry. Instead the police supported by the girl's parents go after the congressman along with the full force of the press which is encouraged by leaks from the police. Constant berating of the Congressman and his "lack of cooperation" in the case take the place of investigation and the few attempts at investigating the case are late in coming and done poorly. Eventually two Washington Post reporters decide to focus on the case long after the case is cold and do the work that the police couldn't seem to do. Sad but wonderful story which reaffirms the quality of investigative reporting and how it is still important in this world of shallow observation and assumption.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sad tale is recounted in a well meaured level of detail. The pace makes for a consistently gripping read. Ultimately, though, reading this book left me with the uncomfortable realization that it sparked some voyeuristic tendencies.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: it gripped the US in 2001 - the disappearance of a promising intern, Chandra Levy, and Congressman Gary Condit's affair with her.

[Karie · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Finding Chandra” was a fascinating read for me. It was like going back in time…remembering the 24/7 coverage of the missing intern and the possibility that a United States congressman was involved in her disappearance.

This account is very clear and highly detailed…walking the reader through the events of April 2001 through the present as seen through the eyes of those most intimately involved. I had forgotten that the events of September 2001 took this story from front page/prime time all the time to a non-story…and later, that the D.C. sniper story caused the press to abandon the story again.

Chandra Levy died so young and so tragically, and I couldn’t help but ache for her loss of life and the incredible grief that her parents experienced. Any time the reader is allowed a view into their words and actions, their bewilderment and sorrow at the events surrounding their daughter’s death come across loud and clear. I can’t imagine going through what they did…holding out hope at the beginning that Chandra would return to them and then once that hope was dashed, their lack of closure as the case dragged on for so many years. How must have that have felt – having the country witness their pain day after day after day…only to become a shadowy side notes in the fall of that year?

What was also fascinating to me was the details about Gary Condit – the main suspect for so long in Levy’s disappearance. I think, if you asked 10 people on the street who followed the case at all in 2001 – 9 of them would tell you today that they thought Condit was responsible. So much was made of the details of Chandra’s disappearance…and so little was made of the man who is now the strongest suspect of the crime…who is NOT Gary Condit. The congressman certainly doesn’t come across as an honest or honorable man, but at times, I felt sorry for the havoc that his affair had wrought on his family and career.

“…and now it had come to this: his client, a United States congressman, standing in the darkness of a supermarket parking lot, opening his mouth so a detective could stick a long Q-Tip inside and take a sample of his saliva.”

I was engrossed in this story…which in a sense was more a book about a story than a book about a murder. This missing girl and her connection to a person in power held our country in thrall for so long and in a way that hadn’t happened many times before. Now, of course, there are many names that might be places alongside that of Chandra Levy in the 24/7 missing person stories…but this one stands out.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

With the recent overturned conviction and deportation (May 2017) of Guandique to El Salvador, will the authors and investigators get back on the trail and sleuth this one out?

Lack of physical evidence and confession certainly makes police and prosecutors work difficult. Yet the book leaves many questions unanswered, never asked, or worse yet answered incorrectly. Was the wrong guy convicted here? Is the killer still on the loose? And what exactly was Condit's role, if any, in the death of Levy? Will this night mare ever end for the Levy family? Valid questions in 2010...and today. A great, even if unsatisfying read.

In many ways this is DC's version of "Making of a Murderer".

[Sierra Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really compellingly written, but part of me wishes they'd waited until after the trial to write it. As it is, the conclusion with the arrest felt very unsatisfying, and I think the levels of frustration would have made for interesting fodder especially now with the state of the case having gone the way it did.

That said I really, really liked how the two authors slowly introduced the different players in the game, carefully laying the groundwork for the story to come. Just top-notch journalistic work (and for good reason, they've won a Pulitzer).

Not as chilling as I'll Be Gone in the Dark, nor as compassionate towards its victims as Lost Girls, but still a really compelling work of true crime writing.

[Michelle Boyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

When a Washington intern goes missing, and her family mentions that she was having an affair with a married representative from California, immediately all of the focus goes to that representative: Gary Condit. At the beginning of this book, we're told that Condit is innocent and that the investigation took up way too much time focusing on him. Well... the book does the same thing -- way too much attention to the media that surrounded Condit and almost nothing mentioned about the actual investigation.

This book just fails to really delve into the case itself. Instead, there is a lot of "this source said this" gossip. Eventually the police make an arrest in the case BUT don't get too excited because as of 2019 the case remains unsolved.

[Pamela Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book and finished it easily. Maybe I should have expected the journalist start one segment, end it, start another segment, but there were so many people that some of the key players got lost in the mire.

Chandra wasn't portrayed enough for me to get to know her.

I, however, did get to know Conduit.

Too many cops mentioned. It made the mistakes and missteps hard to keep up with.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was one that I had wanted to read for awhile..basically since I heard of the story of the murder in the news. It was a quick read for me and I think it would be a quick read for other people too.

[Derek · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an quick read. My complaint is too much time was spent on Condit. Almost very little was mentioned about the investigation and the missed opportunities to arrest the likely killer. This book probably should have only been a newspaper series.

[Haley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting to hear the beginnings of the case, but this book spent more time on the sensationalism that surrounded it than the evidence and investigation. Also, does not reflect more recent developments including the actual trial of Guandique.

[Laurel Zito · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not a good book. First of all it was boring and it had little details about Chandra such as how she looked up a park to go running, what she was wearing that day, but those details don't add much to the story. Overall you would get more information if you used the internet instead.

[Cornelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Strongly recommend, particularly if you've spent time in DC.

[Ellegelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling story that reads like a novel.

[Katrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

It had its slow moments but interesting book. Shows what happens when detectives have tunnel vision.

[Ted Kamprad · Rating 5 out of 5]

I learned a lot I did not already know and I have followed this case closely.

[Alicen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Painstakingly researched and well written account of the events surrounding Chandra Levy's murder.

[Rachel Dows · Rating 2 out of 5]

Slow, painful at times, and not nearly a full portrait of anyone depicted in the book. Overall it felt cheap and self indulgent. I usually love true crime but this one dragged.

[Jaclyn Day · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really anxious to read this book because the story of Chandra Levy had impacted my early college years so much. Like the DC sniper incident that still resonates with adults my age who lived through it during high school, the disappearance of Chandra Levy touched a lot of people in that it came to represent everything evil and random about living and working in DC.

Years after her initial disappearance when I went to college in the DC area, I remember my mother giving me pepper spray and urging me to stay off local trails and walking paths unless I was with a group. The case was still very much alive in the public consciousness years after the fact, and only increased local interest after the Washington Post ran a 13-part series about the case in 2008. Chandra Levy did for DC area parks and trails what the Central Park Jogger did for New York’s Central Park in the late 80’s and early 90’s. I started carrying my pepper spray walking from the Metro to my car late at night. I stopped jogging on the local trail. I’d often ask myself, “Is it worth it?” It never was, and I’d end up going to the gym instead.

This book is partially based on the Washington Post series, but encompasses the entire case and its many facets from beginning to end. The two co-authors are Post reporters who became “obsessed” with Chandra Levy from the initial disappearance and they’ve followed the story through to the tragic and surprising ending.

The book is standard-issue true crime nonfiction and is written in a no-nonsense, facts-first style that can be owed to the authors’ background in journalism. I appreciated their exhaustive research into various aspects of the case, but the hard thing about the story of Chandra Levy is that we, the readers, who have known this story for so many years may always feel cheated by the final analysis. As with most tragedies of this nature, the reality is far less sensational than the media hype that precedes it.

[Timothy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Finding Chandra
Scott Highham and Sari Horwitz
287 pages
978-1-4391-3867-0

Finding Chandra is a documentary about the case of Chandra Levy who disappeared randomly in a park without any traces. Her disappearance comes days before her college graduation from University of Southern California. The case remains a mystery for a long time because of the lack of clues, but there are some suspects based on their history of violence or their relationship with Chandra. The book is divided into chapters in an interesting way because it makes the book sound a lot like a documentary. This book is a summary of the process of cracking the case of the missing Chandra Levy.
I like this book because the readers are introduced to a main suspect at first, a congressman who had a sexual relationship with Chandra. The reader would first think that the person who took Chandra had been the congressman, but we are introduced to new evidence that directs the suspicion to another person. This book could have been better because there were parts that were not necessary such as when the author goes on to discuss how the congressman dealt with the accusations.
I would recommend this book to anyone in high school because this mystery book is a long one that goes through the process of finding the murderer. Because of the lack of evidence from the murder we are not given a lot of the description of what had really happened that caused her death.

[Jan · Rating 2 out of 5]

This simply wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. I guess I expected something more in depth about Chandra's life & murder. Instead, it felt like the Gary Condit show, which is how her disappearance felt at the time. It's weird, because I don't think that's what the authors were really going for.

I guess I do feel a little bad for Condit. It sucks that he was absolutely hounded for a murder he didn't commit. However, if he hadn't used his power and position to chase tail, he wouldn't have been involved in this at all. So he really only has himself to blame. I wonder if, now, he feels that it was worth it, giving up his political career for a handful of flings. But I digress.

What sucks more is that the real killer was ignored in favor of pursuing Condit, which means that most of the evidence was destroyed and he'll probably never be prosecuted for Chandra's murder. Shame on the police for that, although it's an all too familiar story.

What also sucked is that the authors seemed to learn very little about Chandra. It sounds like her life in D.C. revolved around Condit, a man who, in the end, thought little of her, despite the promises she said he'd made. I honestly found that pretty depressing. The authors made her life in D.C. sound so small and sad and then she went out for a run one day and some jackhole murdered her. It's almost too sad to think about.

Ugh. Now I need a drink.

[LAPL Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

What makes this book especially compelling is that the authors provide complex portrayals of the many people involved in the case - not only the victim Chandra Levy, but also her family, the various lawyers, FBI and D.C. Police investigators assigned to her case, and former congressman Gary Condit, who was the main focus of the initial investigation. This book also reveals the numerous mistakes made during the original murder investigation.

The authors, who are also reporters for the Washington Post, describe personalities, psychological motivations, and a chain of a events that are insightful and illuminating, without being needlessly sensational or lurid. Eventually, months after Chandra Levy's body was found, Ingmar Guandique was identified as the prime suspect in the murder investigation, and details about his past, how he may have killed Levy, and how he attacked other women in the park where Levy was found--all of this was revealed. For a stark, behind-the-scenes, detail packed true crime mystery, this book is highly recommended.

Reviewed by Eileen Y., Librarian, InfoNow Dept.