WASHINGTON — Worried he would be labeled a rapist by his fellow prisoners, Ingmar Guandique confided to his cellmate: He killed Chandra Levy, but he didn’t rape her.
That testimony Thursday from Guandique’s one-time cellmate at the Big Sandy federal prison in Kentucky provided the most damning evidence so far in the three-week murder trial of Guandique, who is accused of murdering and attempting to sexually assault Levy back in 2001.
The Washington intern’s disappearance nearly a decade ago became international news after she was romantically linked with then-California Rep. Gary Condit, D-Calif. He was once the main suspect, but police no longer believe he was involved.
Prosecutors have little direct evidence against Guandique, but say Levy’s death fits a pattern of attacks on female joggers committed by Guandique in Rock Creek Park in 2001, around the time Levy went missing. Her remains were found in a park ravine off a jogging trail in 2002.
Absent any physical evidence, Guandique’s purported confessions to other inmates constitute some of prosecutors’ most important evidence.
On Thursday, inmate Armando Morales testified that the two struck up a friendship in August 2006 when he was transferred to Big Sandy, where Guandique was serving a 10-year sentence for assaulting two Rock Creek Park joggers.
The two trusted each other because they were members of allied gangs — Morales with the Fresno Bulldogs and Guandique with MS-13.
Guandique was worried that he would be transferred out west from Big Sandy, Morales said, because inmates at West Coast prisons might be more likely to know that his name had been mentioned as a suspect in the death of Levy, a California native. That was a problem because inmates incarcerated for rapes and sex crimes can often be targeted by other inmates, Morales said.
When Guandique learned he would be transferred, he was despondent, Morales said.
“’Homey, you don’t understand,” Morales quoted him as saying. “He said, ’I killed that b—- but I didn’t rape her.’”
According to Morales, Guandique said he only intended to rob her and the she passed out in the course of the mugging. Guandique said he didn’t even know Levy had died, and that if he had known, he would have stopped attacking women in that part of the park.
Guandique also confided to Morales that some of the women he had attacked were stronger than him and able to fight him off. That would match earlier testimony from two women who said they were assaulted by Guandique but eventually fought him off.
Morales said he was reluctant to come forward to authorities because snitching is frowned upon by inmates and could get him attacked. But he said he has turned his life around and now feels obliged to come forward.
Defense attorneys suggested during cross-examination that Morales hopes to benefit from his testimony. Morales acknowledged on cross-examination that prosecutors could file motions to cut the remaining six years on his sentence in exchange for his help, but said nobody has promised him any kind of benefit.
Morales did not approach prosecutors until after Guandique’s arrest in the case last year and defense attorneys suggested he decided to concoct a story to take advantage of his former cellmate’s notoriety.
Morales said he was conflicted about coming forward.
“I feel bad for him,” Morales said, pointing to Guandique.