D.C. Lawyer Helped Nab Suspect in Jogger Attacks; Cop Didn't Pursue Levy Lead
An antitrust lawyer for Arnold & Porter who was attacked by a man as she was jogging in a Washington, D.C., park in 2001 fought off her attacker and helped police find a suspect.
But police investigating the disappearance of intern Chandra Levy were slow to recognize a possible lead involving the suspect, the Washington Post reports.
The lawyer who helped nab her own alleged attacker was Christy Wiegand, a recent graduate of Cornell law school. Her attacker had a knife, but Wiegand fought and screamed. The attacker finally ran and Wiegand went to police. She described the man, resulting in the arrest of Ingmar Guandique.
A U.S. Parks police officer who questioned Guandique asked if he had ever seen Chandra Levy, and Guandique admitted he had seen the woman, the Post reports. But the officer let the matter drop, according to the Post story.
During the questioning Detective Joe Green was able to get Guandique to acknowledge an encounter with Wiegand. He asked if the incident was possibly a misunderstanding. Guandique said it was true—that a female jogger ran in to him, causing both to tumble off the trail, the Post article says. He told a similar story about another female jogger who fell and screamed when he tried to help her up.
Then Green asked about Levy. Guandique said he had seen her and thought she was attractive. But Green told the Post he dropped the matter, partly because it didn’t seem important and partly because the Levy disappearance wasn’t within his jurisdiction.
Guandique did not show up for his construction job the day Levy disappeared and his landlord said he looked as if he had been in a fight, the story says.
