It was quite a dramatic sentencing. Susan Levy, the murdered intern’s mother, pointed at Guandique in the courtroom, telling him "rot in hell." She ended her remarks by looking at Guandique and saying "finally, fuck you," according to TBD.

Guandique, who killed Chandra Levy, an intern in the Bureau of Prisons back in 2001, originally wasn’t fingered for the crime. Instead, U.S. Rep. Gary Condit of California was suspected, due to his affair with the young intern. (A media circus erupted—a maligned congressman makes for much better headlines than an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.)

The sentencing also apparently ends a story that's become part of local media lore. Years after the killing, The Washington Post devoted a seies of stories to the unsolved mytery back  in 2008. But it was Amy Keller, a reporter at Roll Call, who actually first wondered if Levy really had been the victim of a random attack, instead of a malicious congressman. As she wrote in a 2002 Salon article:

While my colleagues speculated on the proximity of Condit's Adams Morgan apartment to the section of park where Levy's body was recovered on May 22, I wondered if the location of her body might point to another possibility: Perhaps Levy really was the victim of a random attack. I know the trepidation I feel each time I jog or bike along the park trails near my own neighborhood on the outskirts of Washington. The charming, leafy streets here are deceptive; Washington has its high crime areas, some just blocks from where members of Congress live in opulent brownstones.

I took a straightforward approach, and clicked through news databases, searching through stories about other crimes that might have been committed in the park. Eventually, I clicked my way to Ingmar Guandique.

Guandique is serving out a 10-year sentence in federal prison for brutally attacking two young women along the Broad Branch trail last May and July. That's the same section of Rock Creek Park where Levy was found. She had gone missing in May of 2001.

I knew I had a good story on my hands. But I had no idea that once I published it, other reporters following the Levy investigation would question my motives, or accuse me of being a pawn of Gary Condit.

Keller, in fact, did have her motives questioned, and was more than once called a Condit pawn. As she wrote in her 2002 article, at one point a reporter from the Modesto Bee, a paper in Condit’s home district, called to ask if Condit’s lawyer, Mark Geragos, had tried to plant Keller’s story to make Condit look good. He said he found Keller’s timing “curious" and Keller struggled to respond to the charge:

I stammered out a "No, that's now how it happened at all," and fought back the urge to ask him whether he was also investigating the theory that White House officials had planted Levy's bones in the park in an effort to divert attention from stories alleging they had ample warning of the Sept. 11 attacks. I also stifled the desire to tell him where to stick his theory—that none of my sources were any of his, nor any other reporter's, business.

Calmly—and probably a little too nicely—I explained that I simply used one part hunch, two cups of research and one-quarter teaspoon of source-based reporting, otherwise known as conversing with the cops. No, Gary Condit's lawyer had definitely not planted this one, I told him.

Guandique originally faced another count of first-degree felony murder for allegedly sexually assaulting Levy in the trial that started Oct. 25.  The kidnapping and attempted robbery charges were also dropped due to the statute of limitations on those allegations. Guandique, an illegal immigrant, was indicted for Levy's murder in May 2009 while he was serving time for other attacks in Rock Creek Park.

Jurors faced a lack of hard evidence to base their verdict. Prosecutors were unable to provide any DNA or eyewitnesses to link Guandique to the murder. The jury heard testimony from Armondo Morales, Guandique's former cellmate, who testified that he admitted to killing Levy.

Guandique will be sentenced on Feb. 11.

Reuben Charles in Charge: City Paper's Loose Lips columnist's job will be less fun over the next four years; apparently Almost Mayor Vince Gray has decided not to give the chief of staff job to Reuben Charles, who's got a long history of tax liens and default judgements related to failed business ventures. We can only hope whoever does get the gig goes through as cursory a vetting process as the Gray staff appeared to give Charles before the press began poking into his background. +2

Escalating Problems: The Westinghouse Modular 100 is, evidently, the definition of a lemon in the escalator world. Discontinued 30 years ago, the Modular 100 breaks down frequently and needs more maintenance than usual. Happily, Metro appears to own the world's largest collection of them, which seems to explain some of the recent problems the transit agency has had with, well, escalators. Don't worry, though—the bum escalators only make up 83 percent of Metro's stock. -3

Chandra Levy Jury Stats: Two of the jurors for the trial of Ingmar Guandique on charges he murdered Chandra Levy work in journalism, a demographic snapshot released by the court shows. Which probably means the jury is likely to need more time to deliberate than expected; most journalists, after all, aren't very bright. (Trust we. Er, we mean, trust us.) The other jurors have respectable jobs, and they range in age from 26 to 72. The presence of not one, but two, journalists on the jury will mean neither of them get the advance they're hoping for on their tell-all book about the trial later. +1

Burgundy and Gold Bullion: Hours before Monday Night Football kicks off, the Redskins leak word that they've signed a deal to pay quarterback Donovan McNabb up to $88 million over the next five years, with $40 million guaranteed. Anyone heading to FedEx Field for tonight's game against the Eagles, don't be surprised if there's a new "Paying for Veterans" fee being collected at the stadium gates. Anyone watching on TV, don't be alarmed if ESPN shows more close-ups of Dan Snyder than you'd really like. -1

Friday's Needle rating: 46 Today's score: -1 Today's Needle rating: 45

Chandra Case Closing Quickly: So much for the trial of the century; the court proceeding against Ingmar Guandique, who prosecutors say killed former Bureau of Prisons intern/Gary Condit paramour Chandra Levy, is likely to end ahead of schedule. Authorities dropped two charges against Guandique today, including charges that he attempted to sexually assault Levy before allegedly murdering her. Meanwhile, you're only reading this item because of the salacious detail that got all the media coverage today: Semen found in Levy's underwear turns out to be Condit's. Now you're happy, aren't you? Perverts. -3

Gingerbread Lions: The National Zoo appears to have grasped what people who run websites realized long ago—cute animals=gold. (Though they're not quite as valuable online as celebrity nipple slips.) So Zoo officials are drawing out the public introduction of their new lion cubs as long as possible. The new gimmick? You can go check out the baby lions, but only if you build a very elaborate gingerbread lion habitat. Your gingerbread lions will need water to drink, multiple levels, and a security plan to keep them from eating the gingerbread visitors. We don't have a punch line, actually; reality is funnier. +2

Bedbug Mania!: Don't ever accuse the D.C. Department of Health of not knowing how to draw a crowd. The agency's bedbug summit (actual title: "Bedbugs Are Changing Our World") has been moved to a larger room to accommodate "overwhelming demand" for a seminar in the creepy things. Apparently they expect about 200 people to show up. The real question: When will these people—who are so obsessed with bedbugs they want to go to a summit on them—realize that being in a public building with 200 strangers is  good way to get bedbugs? -1

Metrobusted: A traffic crackdown in Arlington is, apparently, serious business—even for Metrobus drivers. Just ask the one who got caught trying to make a right turn from the center line in Arlington yesterday. We're not sure charging another government agency $91 at a time is the answer to any budget woes Arlington may have—but we are pretty sure this news doesn't make us any less suspicious that buses are out to run us over. -2

Yesterday's Needle rating: 46 Today's score: -4 Today's Needle rating: 42

Fear the Sanity: Turns out a crowd equalling about one-third of the District's population showed up on the Mall on Saturday to demonstrate in favor of... well, Comedy Central, and the Roots, and also clumsy metaphors involving the Lincoln Tunnel. CBS News, which estimated the crowd at Glenn Beck's August march at 87,000, used the same technique to declare 215,000 people packed into the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. That helped set an all-time Saturday Metro ridership record of 825,437 trips. After tomorrow's midterms turn into an unmitigated disaster for Democrats, chances are Jon Stewart's rally will serve as the closing bracket on the "We Feel So Good About Politics" thing that had been common to the Daily Show-watching, college educated, hipster slice of the Obama coalition for the last two years; a year from now, people will look back at the fact that they went to a Viacom-produced TV event on the Mall just before the GOP took over with no small amount of bewilderment that it happened at all. But hey! At least they had funny signs! +3

Gary Condit Returns<: During the summer of 2001, Adams Morgan was a vast wasteland of cable TV satellite linkups and 24-hour-stakeouts—all because reporters couldn't bear to stand the thought of missing the possibility that then-Rep. Gary Condit might say something about the dead intern he was, allegedly, boinking at the time of her disappearance, Chandra Levy. Testifying at the murder trial of the guy police say actually did it, Ingmar Guandique, Condit played the gentleman and refused to say whether he had a romantic relationship with Levy. Which means we're one day closer to that happy moment when we can all forget about Gary Condit again. -2

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas: With Halloween now past, the entire U.S. economy is rapidly gearing up to get you excited to buy whatever gifts you can afford for your friends and family after you splurged, in a recession-caused bit of the blues, on buying too much chocolate this past weekend. (Or maybe that was just us.) Even the federal government is getting into the act; tickets for the Dec. 9 lighting of the National Christmas Tree will be distributed via an online lottery starting Thursday. Yes, this item is officially part of the War on Christmas, which in future years, will probably see early skirmishes starting in, oh, June, if this holiday calendar creeping continues. -2

Detroit Rock City: This NFL season had, for a time, threatened to undo the cosmology of Redskins fans, accustomed—ever since Dan Snyder bought the team—to spending their Sundays watching ever-more frustrating, confusing, and embarrassing losses. Fortunately, with yesterday's 37-25 defeat by the Detroit Lions, the gentlemen in the Burgundy and Gold reverted to form, complete with a mystifying quarterback change and countless unforced errors (like, say, center Casey Rabach tackling quarterback Donovan McNabb so the Lions defensive line didn't have t0). With a bye next weekend, Redskins fans have two weeks to ponder what sins they may have committed to deserve Snyder. -2

Friday's Needle rating: 49 Today's score: -3 Today's Needle rating: 46

As the Chandra Levy trial rolls on, the proceedings will eventually dwell on a creepy theory: Authorities believe murder suspect Ingmar Guandique has a portrait of his victim tattooed on his chest. H Street tattoo artist Paul Roe may be setting them straight.

In 2008, D.C. cops checked out Guandique in a California prison, where he was serving time for two knife attacks against women, and discovered he had loads of tats, including what court papers say are "a picture of a devil on top of his head, an image of the character 'Chuckie' holding a knife on his back, and a naked female on his chest..." Prosecutors contend the woman depicted was meant to be Levy.

According to court papers, the defense wants Roe, who runs Britishink Tattoos at 5th and H streets NE, to take the stand as an expert witness so that he can tell jurors that the jailhouse artist who did Guandique's skin art was talented. And that's important because the naked woman on Guandique apparently doesn't look very much like Levy. Court papers filed by the defense explain:

After having examined the photographs of Mr. Guandique's tattoos, Mr. Roe's opinion is that his tattoos are detailed and well done, and according, if they were intended to be a portrait of a specific person, they would look like the person after whom they were modeled. Mr. Roe does not believe that Mr. Guandique's tattoos look anything like Chandra Levy, and in fact, they are iconic images that are repeated hundreds of times over in "flash" images and tattoo magazines, pin-up poses, etc.

If allowed to take the stand, Roe will claim that Guandique's tattoos reflect typical "misogynistic poses that have been depicted hundreds of times in all different styles of tattooing," as opposed to reflecting an effort to memorialize a brutal murder. Those would seem to be deep waters for a tattooist to wade into.

Contacted, Roe said he has no comment regarding his upcoming duties. He also declined to talk about his work. But this video interview with Roe seems to show a guy dedicated to his field.

Photo of Paul Roe from www.britishinkdc.com

According to The Associated Press, a defense attorney asked a prospective juror last week if she would be willing to hear evidence that Condit may be tied to Levy's death. Condit may end up testifying about his relationship with Levy, which he has never spoken about in detail.

But Condit isn't the one on trial. Guandique is. And it's worth revisiting a bit of overlooked history about how Guandique's name initially surfaced in connection with the Levy case.

When Levy's body was found in Rock Creek Park in May 2002, the national news media was transfixed on the apparent secret relationship between the congressman and Levy. But Roll Call reporter Amy Keller put on her thinking cap: "[W]hile my colleagues speculated on the proximity of Condit's Adams Morgan apartment to the section of park where Levy's body was recovered on May 22, I wondered if the location of her body might point to another possibility: Perhaps Levy really was the victim of a random attack."

That led Keller to sift through police reports of other attacks in Rock Creek Park. She found the name of Ingmar Guandique, a Salvadoran immigrant who was serving a federal sentence for attacking two women in Rock Creek Park near where Levy's body was discovered, off the Broad Branch trail.

Keller recounted her Guandique reporting in a Salon piece in 2002, including how her discovery was met with skepticism by those transfixed on Condit's connection to Levy.

A few days later, I also got a call from a reporter who has been covering the Levy investigation for the Modesto Bee, Condit's hometown paper.

"I saw your story last week," he said, adding, "I've got a theory I want to run by you." I told the reporter, whom I'd never spoken to before, to go ahead.

He then proceeded to ask me if Condit's lawyer, Mark Geragos—a high-profile criminal defense attorney and ubiquitous TV presence who had also recently represented the actress Winona Ryder—had "orchestrated" the story.

The reporter believed that it was most likely Geragos who had leaked information to me about the so-called Rock Creek Park predator so that Condit's staff and supporters would then have a news story to distribute that would make him look good. And he said that a number of other reporters had also found the timing of my story curious. It showed up in print, after all, the day after Levy's bones turned up in the park.

I stammered out a "No, that's now how it happened at all," and fought back the urge to ask him whether he was also investigating the theory that White House officials had planted Levy's bones in the park in an effort to divert attention from stories alleging they had ample warning of the Sept. 11 attacks. I also stifled the desire to tell him where to stick his theory—that none of my sources were any of his, nor any other reporter's, business.

Calmly—and probably a little too nicely—I explained that I simply used one part hunch, two cups of research and one-quarter teaspoon of source-based reporting, otherwise known as conversing with the cops. No, Gary Condit's lawyer had definitely not planted this one, I told him.

Six years later, The Washington Post published an exhaustive multi-series investigation titled "Who Killed Chandra Levy?," which brought additional attention to the Guandique-Levy connection. (Guandique was charged with Levy's murder in March 2009.) But the Post neglected to mention Keller's initial shoe-leather reporting in finding Guandique's name.

I'm a bit biased on this one, since I used to sit next to Keller when I worked at Roll Call. After Guandique was charged with Levy's murder, Harry Jaffe, in Washingtonian magazine, wrote that former Post executive editor Len Downie "gave himself and the Post credit for finally cracking the Chandra Levy case," saying that "the paper’s 2008 series on police missteps in the original investigation prodded cops to make an arrest," even though police and prosecutors said the Post's series "was irrelevant."

In the nine years since Levy disappeared, there's been plenty of finger-pointing and accusations of a botched investigation by police. Depending on what happens, perhaps Guandique's trial will bring some closure to what has gone down as one of the most intriguing and frustrating murder investigations in D.C. history.

Those PETA folks sure are astute
They do more than shout, "cows pollute!"
At noon they will blast
The sound of gas passed
As their 'inconvenient (fake) toot'

Remiss if I do not opine
on all that involves DC9
First charged with assault
Now booze sales may halt
Seems business (and fun) will decline

You talk while you drive in DC?
You dumbass; that comes with a fee
The news: cops are nabbing
More drivers while gabbing
So hang up or do it hands-free

Ms. Levy's been dead such a while
That jogging Rock Creek's back in style
The news is replete
With many a tweet
As Ingmar prepares to stand trial

Court is in Session: There were two obsessions for the media in the summer of 2001—sharks, and Chandra Levy. It was clear to everyone in the know that then-Rep. Gary Condit had killed his former intern; the only real question was when he'd confess, broken by the pressure of being the only thing anyone on cable TV ever talked about. (Besides, of course, sharks.) Fast forward nearly a decade, and Condit is nowhere near D.C. as the trial of Ingmar Guandique, the man authorities believe actually did it, gets underway. This time, hopefully, Levy's case won't become the center of all kinds of sordid theories and tales in the media. (And if anyone writes a magazine cover story on sharks and the hype they're getting, take cover, because another terrorist attack is probably on the way.) -2

Location, Location, Location: Sure, the entire mortgage securitization system that nearly destroyed the economy a few years ago is still rolling, with disclosures of bogus foreclosures threatening to kill any semblance of a recovery. Area homebuyers aren't letting that get them down, apparently; a new report shows housing prices were up 9.1 percent last month. (Of course, sales were down, and the report was by a local realtor, who—optimistic, as always—says prices will just keep on rising.) Meanwhile, commercial real estate really is booming—office rents in D.C. are now higher than in New York. Don't tell that to Claret Capital, the Irish private equity firm that owns the St. Regis hotel on 16th Street NW, though; the hotel's being foreclosed on. Hope the mortgage documents are all in order! +2

Drown it in the Bathtub: If you're one of the thousands and thousands of Washingtonians who work for the federal government, congratulations—your fellow Americans hate you. That is, at least, the conclusion the Washington Post reached, after polling the nation on its sentiments about government employees. Spurred on by decades of GOP talking points about how government is the problem with America, and bogus studies that "show" federal workers make more money than private sector employees without bothering to note that the average private sector wage is weighed down by minimum-wage jobs at Wal-Mart, the nation has evidently decided we'd all be better off without the feds. Within a few weeks, of course, we may be taking the first steps toward that conservative idyll, if the Tea Party-backed Republicans take control of Congress. -4

Buses Back: Maybe the labor movement isn't dead, after all—bus drivers and mechanics in Prince George's County are heading back to work after a five-week Teamsters strike won them a pay increase, continued health care benefits, an extra holiday and continued pension contributions. Of course, riders may not have noticed the strike was still going on, as county officials have been running buses on their regular schedule by importing workers from other jurisdictions and welcoming back scabs who crossed the picket lines. In D.C., a Metrobus strike would be easy to spot, as pedestrian deaths and assaults of police officers dressed as McGruff would immediately decline. +2

Peyton Place: Even the gold pants couldn't help save the Redskins, who lost 27-24 to the Indianapolis Colts on national television Sunday night, mostly because the team's defense evidently thought it was only on the field in order to give Colts QB Peyton Manning something to throw the ball past. The good news: Even with the loss, the Skins are only a game behind the Philadelphia Eagles and the New Jersey York Giants in the NFC East, at 3-3. The better news: Dallas lost, dropping to 1-4. The worst news of all: Dan Snyder has not yet been foreclosed on. -2

Friday's Needle rating: 41 Today's score: -4 Today's Needle rating: 37

But did you know that Tiger Woods is insecure about his calves? Honestly, that's the least of his problems right now, but let's consider the matter for a moment anyway. Jaimee Grubbs, a cocktail waitress who claims to have had 20 sexual encounters with Woods over 31 months, said she once ribbed the world's best golfer about his lower legs' less than manly size. "I remember him giving me the biggest death look," she said. "He told me he was very insecure about the size of his calves. He said, 'I can't grow calves.' And I was like, 'Okay, sorry!'"

In the interest of trying to help out a guy when he's down, I have compiled a few quick tips on growing calves.

Writing on the message board at BodyBuilding.com, Antihero suggests a disciplined plan of donkey calf raises, standing calf raises, and seated calf raises: "I have been using Arnold Schwarzenegger's calve routine for the past few months, and it's been quite good. I have been gaining about .25 inches on each of my calves every month. So I have been very satisfied with the results."

Tim Henriques over at Testosterone Muscle likes the "Turn Those Calves Into Cows" routine from the book The Poliquin Principles by Charles Poliquin: "My calves got much stronger and noticeably bigger from that routine, which I followed for about 18 months." (Disclosure: Poliquin's Canadian. But maybe Tiger won't mind, since he's Cablinasian himself.)

I don't know what kind of calf-building regimen Adrian Fenty does, but Tiger might also want to consult him. The only caveat there is that all the exercise may be making the mayor crazy.

One last piece of  bad news for Tiger: The First Church of Tiger Woods has disbanded over his "sins." A positive spin: More time for calf training!

Photo of donkey calf raise from BodyBuilding.com

"Federal marshals transported Ingmar Guandique to Washington on Monday night from a federal prison facility, where he was serving time for attacking two women.

Assistant D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham said that Guandique will be taken today from the D.C. Jail to the police department homicide unit's office for fingerprinting, photographing and other processing. He will then be returned to the jail to await an initial appearance in D.C. Superior Court, possibly tomorrow."

When Ingmar Guandique first learned that he'd likely be arrested for murdering Chandra Levy, he didn't hide his emotions, according to court documents. Rather, he said, "Fuck, it’s over. They got me now. What am I gonna do?" How do authorities know he said that?

A jailhouse snitch. Guandique is currently serving time for other attacks in California, and he apparently has no problem running his mouth. Guandique's arrest warrant hinges on testimony from multiple fellow inmates.

And how strong a case is that going to be?

Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld, and Jim Dwyer might have something to say about that. Back in 2000, they wrote Actual Innocence: Five Days to Execution, and Other Dispatches From the Wrongly Convicted. In a chapter titled "Snitch," the authors describe how multiple jailhouse sources can all of a sudden materialize:

"Informants will swarm to a hot case...and the first one there will organize a 'booking.' That is the term for incriminating admissions that the first inmate will claim to have heard from the target. Then the first snitch will recruit a second one to back up the story about hearing a confession. This corroborates the primary snitch, and allows the second one to 'get in the car'—the metaphor for cutting short a jail stay by snitching."

Is this what's happening in the Chandra case. Not according to authorities, who say that they've carefully vetted their witnesses.

Those accounts may have helped seal the arrest. According to arrest documents [PDF] filed in D.C. Superior Court, Guandique, who is now incarcerated for other attacks, "heard a recent news report on the radio, broadcasting that he would be arrested soon for the Levy murder. [A witness] said that Guandique became very anxious and said something to the effect of, 'Fuck, it's over. They got me now. What am I gonna do?'"

Guandique told the witness that when detectives came to arrest him, "he was going to escape by starting a fire with a battery and tissue to cause a distraction."

The arrest stems from Guandique's own jailhouse ramblings. The new evidence in the case comes mainly from other inmates and people who have heard Guandique talk about the Levy murder. D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says that these witnesses have been thoroughly vetted.

Lanier was asked if the Washington Post's multipart series in 2008 on the Levy case had anything to do with the arrest. She responded that it didn't, calling the paper's reporting old news. "The Post series revealed what was known at the time," she said. The provenance of the Guandique arrest, said Lanier, dates back to spring 2007, when she reviewed several cold cases, including Shaquita Bell's and Levy's.

Lanier has made solving old homicides one of her priorities. Since the late '60s, there are 3,700 cold cases in the District yet to be solved, according to Capt. Michael Farish. In spring 2007, Lanier saw enough in the Levy file to assign new detectives to the case. She also met with the Levy family and assured them that if there was any break in the case, she would make sure the family wouldn't have to first read about it a newspaper.

This morning, Lanier called the Levys and told them about the arrest warrant in their daughter's case. She told reporters after the press conference that the call was an emotional one, that it was clear there wasn't anything she could do for the family except help convict her daughter's killer.

Lanier and Fenty thanked the efforts of the new detectives and the prosecutors who worked the case. Lanier said the detectives chased leads and interviewed witnesses across the country. She credited the passage of time, the fresh eyes, and passion of the detectives in solving the Levy case.

But many of those witnesses referenced in the court filing, turned out to be the kinds of witnesses found in a lot of homicide cases: prison informants and outside friends.

According to the court filing, a witness was interviewed in late 2008. This witness professed to having communicated with Guandique in 2003 via letters. During the course of their correspondence, "Guandique wrote that he spent time in a park in D.C. and that he was responsible for the murder of a young woman." The witness later spoke with Guandique in a recorded telephone conversation; during the exchange, Guandique acknowledged that he had written to the witness about a dead woman.

In November 2008, a witness interviewed in the investigation stated he had known Guandique for several years; Guandique had boasted to the witness that he was a member of MS-13 and that he had committed many robberies and that he had a nickname, "Chuckie," "because he had a reputation for killing and chopping up people." He also confessed that he had committed many crimes against women, including rapes. "Guandique said that he would hide on a dirt path and wait for the girl to walk by. He would then lasso the girl around the neck and tie her hands and feet together behind her back to prevent her from scratching or kicking him. He claimed that he would tie the girl up with a rope....After the girl was tied up, he would rape her."

A different witness gave an extensive account of what Guandique had said about the incident. According to this witness, Guandique had revealed that he and "two teenage males were sitting on a bench in a 'big park' that stretches from D.C., through Maryland, and Virginia, smoking marijuana laced with cocaine, when he saw Levy jogging in an area where people walk their dogs...When he saw Levy, she had curly hair, and he thought she 'looked good.' He told the other two males that he was going to 'get her.' According to Guandique, the three then followed Levy along a track where the ladies run. Guandique stated that they grabbed her and took her into the bushes. Guandique said that they 'had her down,' and the 'bitch' started screaming and fighting back. It was then, according to Guandique, that he grabbed her by the neck and choked her to death."

Guandique went on to claim, according to this unnamed witness, that after he murdered Levy, "he told his family that if the law should question them about the scratches on his face, they should say it was because of a fight with his girlfriend 'Iris.' Guandique also admitted that he attempted to rape two other women in the park with a knife, who got away, but that he pled guilty to crimes of burglary, robbery and assault."

The court filing goes on to state that Guandique had talked about the Levy murder as early as 2002. "Although inconsistent in some respects with accounts he gave to other witnesses, Guandique admitted to [the witness] that he had killed Chandra Levy, and claimed others were involved with him in the homicide."

In one letter to this witness, Guandique wrote: "what I think about what we spoke when we met, is that you are a good friend, because not everybody keeps to himself something like what I told you."

U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Taylor, asked if they were looking for the other males, said the investigation is ongoing.

Taylor stated during the press conference that it would take between 45 to 60 days to bring Guandique to the District for his arraignment on first-degree murder charges. He stressed that there wasn't one thing that led to the Guandique's arrest, that his arrest came about from the "cumulative weight of evidence."

The take-away quote: "We believe Ms. Levy was a random victim of Guandique," Taylor said.

Taylor also defended law enforcement's initial focus on Rep. Gary Condit. He said detectives were just following where the evidence led. After Levy's body was discovered in May 2002, Taylor said, the case shifted.

Fenty added that the Levy case was an example of law enforcement diligence. "We will not give up on any case," he said.

Reporting by Jason Cherkis

UPDATE, 2:40 P.M.: Video from WRC-TV...

"Levy's parents said D.C. police officials told them late Friday that they planned to make an arrest within 'the next couple of days.'"

Well, it's been a couple of days. So what's going on here?