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Feds dropping charges in Chandra Levy case

by Jesse Byrnes - 07/28/16 2:44 PM ET

Federal prosecutors announced Thursday that they were dropping the case against a man accused of killing Chandra Levy, an intern in Washington, D.C., in 2001.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said that it believed it could no longer prove the murder case against Ingmar Guandique “beyond a reasonable doubt” and moved to drop the case “based on recent unforeseen developments that were investigated over the past week.”

It didn’t elaborate.

{mosads}Guandique was convicted of killing Levy, a 24-year-old college student interning at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, after she went missing in Rock Creek Park in 2001. Her remains were found the following year.

Guandique was granted a retrial last year, setting aside the previous 2010 trial verdict that found him guilty of first-degree felony murder and other charges.

He was incarcerated while he awaited his retrial. Prosecutors said Thursday he would be released to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for removal proceedings.

Assistant U.S. attorneys wrote in their motion to dismiss the murder case that they were dropping it “based upon new information that the government received within the past week.”

“After investigating this information and reviewing all of the evidence in this case, the government now believes it is in the interests of justice for the Court to dismiss the case without prejudice,” the attorneys wrote.

The disappearance of the California-native intern sparked national attention after it was revealed she was romantically linked to then-Rep. Gary Condit (D-Calif.), a married lawmaker from her home state who authorities later ruled out as a suspect.

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