WASHINGTON _ In a stunning move, federal prosecutors on Thursday abruptly announced they were dropping murder charges against the man previously convicted of killing former intern Chandra Levy.
The unexpected decision follows several years of questions about the prosecutors' chief witness in the first trial of Salvadoran immigrant Ingmar Guandique, and it casts back into pure mystery the question of what really happened to Levy more than 15 years ago.
Citing the "interests of justice" and "recent unforeseen developments that were investigated over the past week," the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia said that Guandique, convicted of Levy's murder in 2010, would be turned over to immigration authorities for deportation.
"The office has concluded that it can no longer prove the murder case against Mr. Guandique beyond a reasonable doubt," spokesman William Miller said in a statement.
Levy had disappeared May 1, 2001, shortly before she was to return to her family's Modesto, Calif., home. Her remains were found in Washington's Rock Creek Park in May 2002.
Following his conviction in 2010, Guandique was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
