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Hi everyone, this is Deb from Dying to be Found.

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Before we get started, I just wanted to say that episodes contain disturbing discussions on harmful acts and crimes against animals and or humankind.

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Recordings are not intended for young or sensitive audiences due to the content nature of this podcast.

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Listener discretion is strongly advised.

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Yeah, so I'm just gonna fly by the seat of my pants because I don't really have an intro today, but we will see how this goes because I was gonna make this my premiere episode to season two and I decided not to so you get to listen to it early.

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Yay!

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Hi everyone, I'm Deb.

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And I'm Shelby.

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And this is episode 51 of Dying to be Found, true crime podcast. Shelby, I don't have a ton to talk about today regarding the podcast, but I did want to see how your week's going.

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I know we haven't talked in again. It just seems like forever. How are you?

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I'm good. I'm good. It's a great day to sit on the couch and do nothing, but I was productive this weekend, so I'm pretty happy.

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Good. I went to Atlanta for a conference, probably picked the worst time in the world to do that because if anybody's been following the news, we have a little bit of a protest going on downtown and oh goodness, that was like lockdown central down there this week.

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We still had fun though.

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Wow. Well, that's good.

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Well, this would be a good time to tell our listeners to send in requests for season two. Tell us what you want to hear. Let us know what you think of the new Dash series coming up.

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We're putting that together every Wednesday.

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You can click on the Linktree account in our show notes and you'll see all of our contacts.

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Now, I've got more information on our social media if you've been following us.

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And I want to say this, Shelby, I got a really cool email from somebody.

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I'm going to apologize in advance because I cannot find that email.

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I don't know if it was a message on Instagram or if it was an email, but I actually had a True Crime author contact me.

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Who wants to be highlighted on the Dash?

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Wow.

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So if you're listening, will you please send me another email because I have looked everywhere for that and I see that I have not responded to you.

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So in the meantime, yeah, absolutely. I think it's kind of cool to get a diverse group of people together and just do a little dash of this, a little dash of that.

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Yeah. If you are a True Crime podcaster or want to be featured on my True Crime podcast, then definitely send me an email.

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Absolutely. That's so cool, Mom. You didn't tell me that.

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Oh, yeah. Yeah. Just follow the socials and you'll see I actually put out a little reel and I'm getting really good at that, too.

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All this videoing and things like that, I learned TikTok.

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So now I'm in the know on that. And yeah, I'm getting there.

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Woohoo!

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I may be a little old school, but yeah, I learned TikTok. I'm proud of me.

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I'm proud of you.

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Thanks. Well, today, Shelbs, we're going to go back to Washington, where I was just, I don't know, a couple of months ago.

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Had the best time there. If I ever had an opportunity to live there, I know it's probably rated one of the highest crime rated cities in the U.S.

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So for that reason, I wouldn't want to move there, but I sure do love the history.

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Do you know what I learned about Washington, D.C.? What?

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So I work in finance and, you know, been working on all of these SEC, ADV form information for a lot of clients.

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And I had come across one who had a few clients in Washington, D.C.

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And one of the requirements for the SEC is to know how many households you have on a per state basis within the United States.

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And I learned that Washington, D.C. is not a state that its own district.

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You mean the District of Columbia?

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It is, but you still have to separate those clients.

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Oh.

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So they're not considered a part of Maryland, not a part of Virginia, but it's not its own state.

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But you still have to report those clients completely separate.

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OK.

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But I didn't know that. I thought that was really interesting.

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I even had to ask my advisor. I was like, this is a silly question.

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So where do you assign them to? If I mean, are you assigning them to Washington, D.C.?

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To Washington, D.C.? I had them separated out.

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I said, I don't I've not come across this, to be honest.

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I feel like this is a silly question.

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Please tell me if I did this correctly.

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And he said, no, that was perfect.

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Yeah, that's good. You got a new wrinkle in your brain.

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Every time you learn something new, you get a new wrinkle in your brain.

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Awesome. All right.

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Well, we are going back to Washington, D.C.

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And today I'm going to tell you the story about 24 year old Chandra and Levi.

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Chandra was born in Cleveland, Ohio, on April 14th, 1977, to Robert and Susan Levi.

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She had one brother growing up in the house with her.

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And after graduation, Chandra went on to earn a bachelor's degree in journalism.

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That's pretty cool. That is cool. Yeah.

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She also went on to earn a master's degree in public administration

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and was on her final semester when she was required to work an internship

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to finish out her program.

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So it's sort of like when people become teachers,

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you have to do student teaching before you can actually get that degree.

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So she had an internship that she had found.

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She was on her way to Washington from California.

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And she did earn a paid internship in Washington,

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where she would work through the following summer with the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

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After her internship was over, Chandra planned to return back to California

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so that she could graduate from the University of Southern California.

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Now, Chandra and her parents visited D.C. before she made this move.

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That way they could scout for apartments.

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And by mid-September of 2000, Chandra arrived in D.C. ready to begin work.

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How exciting for her. That is exciting.

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On April 23rd, 2001, Chandra had finished that internship

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with the Federal Bureau of Prisons

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and was pretty much wrapping things up in Washington, D.C.

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When you do internships like this, Shelbs, they don't go for a long period of time.

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I think five or six months is pretty standard.

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That makes sense. Yeah.

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On April 28th, Chandra contacted her landlord,

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left a message to tell them that she would be returning to California

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somewhere between May 5th and 6th in time for her graduation.

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So she was trying to make her way back to California.

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She would be graduating on May 11th.

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So she was just trying to close things up May 5th and 6th,

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get everything out of the apartment, and then, of course,

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jump on a plane or a train or however she was planning on getting there.

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Now, she went to cancel a gym membership

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and was last seen leaving the Washington Sports Club

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somewhere around 7 p.m. on May 1st.

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And this would be that timeline just before she was trying to really close things up.

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Chandra kept in regular contact with her parents

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while she lived in D.C. and even sent them an email to update them

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about her plans to return to California.

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But on May 1st, 2001, Chandra simply disappeared

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and her parents never heard from her again.

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Wow, that's scary.

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Yeah, I think it would be, especially if it sounds to me like she's a lot like you and me,

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Shelby, we talk almost every day.

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And so if I didn't hear from you, you know, I'd be worried.

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Absolutely. I know I get those texts every now and then.

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Oh, yeah, I sure will. You better be picking up that phone.

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I don't need to be calling the non-emergency number at your local police station to go check on you.

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Both Chandra's landlord and mother attempted to call Chandra for several days,

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but never got an answer.

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By May 6th, 2001, Chandra's mother did contact police

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to say that she had not heard from her daughter in five days, which was very, very unusual.

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That's a long time. It is.

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I mean, I guess, you know, they talk and they're in constant contact.

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Five days is a long time.

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Yeah, that's a good question because it is a long time.

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And I know that when you and I do go spurts where we don't talk,

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we at least text each other or literally we'll talk for even one minute just to say,

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I am so slammed this week.

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Last week, I think I was there.

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You have quarter end thing to do with your company that you work for.

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Me, I've had these conferences set up.

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Even if we don't talk, gosh, what for the usual 30 minutes to an hour?

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I still know what's going on and where we're at.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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All right. So here's where things get a little strange.

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Around 430 a.m. on May 1st, 2001,

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one of Chandra's neighbors called 911 to report a woman screaming

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from somewhere in the apartment complex.

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Of course, police came by. They cruised the complex.

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Obviously, could not find the source of this screaming.

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That has got to be terrifying.

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I'm sure they have cameras.

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Yeah, they actually did. And they were functional, too.

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So with the delay between the 911 call and Chandra's mother calling the DC police

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to report her missing five days later,

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that was when police obtained a search warrant to look at the apartment complex

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camera footage. Shelby, this has got to be a mother's worst nightmare.

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The surveillance had already looped and recorded anything

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that may have been captured on May 1st at that 430 hour.

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Oh, no.

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Yeah, the cameras were functional, but they did that loop

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and they can only record for so long before they tape over it.

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So they had nothing. Wow.

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Well, police went to Chandra's apartment where they saw

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that she had left her driver's license and credit cards, checkbook, jewelry

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and cell phone inside the apartment shelves.

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Something I did not mention is that Chandra had told family members back in November.

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That was shortly after she arrived in DC that she had a secret friend,

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implying, of course, that she had a boyfriend.

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Oh, I mean, you know, she comes to town in September.

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Two months later, I mean, I would say if you're in your 20s,

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it wouldn't be unheard of to get a boyfriend pretty quickly. Right?

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No, not at all.

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This boyfriend, Shelby, turned out to be a congressman,

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and he was questioned later, but released of any wrongdoing here.

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So I'm not going to really harp on him very much.

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I do remember when the story broke out and there was a really huge scandal.

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And I'm going to kind of leave his name out of it because the police

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never really pursued him as a suspect.

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And I'm pretty sure that he cleared himself rather quickly.

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He voluntarily took a lie detector test and passed.

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And so that's that.

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I'm not going to really spend a lot of time on him.

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Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah.

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Well, police searched Chandra's apartment complex, nearby parks

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and along the Anacostia and Potomac rivers that run right through the area

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that Chandra had disappeared.

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There were a few errors in police efforts that some feel could have interfered

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with a timely response to Chandra's whereabouts,

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because during one of the searches police conducted at Chandra's apartment,

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one of the detectives accidentally erased the search history on her laptop.

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Oh, what? Can you believe that?

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Oh, my gosh. Yep.

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Oops. I pressed the wrong button. Sorry.

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Can we get that back? My bad.

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Was he new? I have no idea. No idea.

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I guess my question is, is why was he even looking at that computer to begin with?

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Shouldn't they have bagged and tagged it and sent it off to a techie to look into that?

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Why was he touching the computer?

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And it's a multi-step process.

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Like, you don't just accidentally press one button.

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That is so true. Yeah.

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How many clicks does it take to get to the history?

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I can tell you I'm doing it right now.

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Five. It would take five or six.

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Like, you actually... Well, I guess it could be different.

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I don't know how long Google Chrome's been around,

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but it would take five for me to clear just the last hour

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and extra two clicks to clear all time.

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So we'll say like seven clicks.

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Yeah. And so you have a...

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It's a methodical process because you really have to look to see where you're clicking.

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Like, when I clock in in the mornings on my computer, yeah, I count things.

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This is weird, but I know it takes 10 clicks for me to clock in.

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Oh, wow. That's a lot.

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Yeah. I have to open up certain programs

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and then click to go somewhere else within that program.

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And then finally, by the time I clock in, it's been 10 clicks.

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Wow. Well, police were able to retrieve Chandra's search history,

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but it took about a month for the forensic technician to retrieve that information.

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I know that's pretty cool.

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And, you know, John works on computers for a living.

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And everything in the hard drive stays in the hard drive.

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It's kind of like what goes on the Internet stays on the Internet.

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Same thing with your computer.

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It lives in your computer, whether you think you deleted it or not.

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So at least they were able.

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I was just going to say, I know John's helped you out with some of those papers

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that you accidentally sent.

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Oh, it wasn't just my paper, Shelby.

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It was my dissertation.

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I know to save and save often and I was not using a cloud service.

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But, oh, my God, I almost had a heart attack.

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I don't even know how far along I was.

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Enough to say that I was crying trying to get that back.

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And John was able to get that back.

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Thank God, John, you are a savior. I love you.

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Well, the information that authorities were able to recover off of Chandra's laptop

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showed that she had conducted a search on a historical building

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located in Rock Creek Park and may have wanted to go there for a visit

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or possibly a jog because she was very active.

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And that might have been why she kept her wallet and her ID, car keys

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and everything else behind in her apartment.

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I know, Shelby, when I leave the house and I go for walks,

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I leave all that behind.

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And I know I shouldn't.

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I need to at least carry an ID with me.

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Oh, that's a good idea.

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If I'm walking along with headphones on.

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Yeah, if somebody wants to bonk me on the back of the head,

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I should at least have my ID on, right?

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That makes sense. I never would have thought of that.

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Mm hmm.

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Besides the police erasing the search history,

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they were also required to search within 100 yards of all roads and trails

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of the areas that appeared in Chandra's search history.

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So basically, if she was going to go look at that historical house

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on the park property, they would have to at least search

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within 100 yards of that house.

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Rock Creek Park was one of the searches that they were able to retrieve

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from Chandra's laptop, which was a local park known for lots of joggers and hikers.

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So lots of outdoors people.

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However, there was a miscommunication between the police and search teams.

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So only the roads were searched, but the trails were not.

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Wow. Again, how in the world would that happen?

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I don't know. You would think common sense would be to look on the trails, people.

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Exactly. You would think.

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Bloodhounds were brought in and also used on this search,

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but they were never able to pick up a proper scent.

252
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Oh, while you were saying that, I was looking at my search history

253
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just to see what if I went missing, what would be found.

254
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And some of these are pretty funny.

255
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Are they memes?

256
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No.

257
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Just give us one.

258
00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:13,160
Why does my dog keep stealing my shoes?

259
00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:16,480
Yeah, I remember you telling me that your dog likes your shoes.

260
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Only one of them, though, right? Just one shoe?

261
00:16:18,760 --> 00:16:20,800
Well, she's opted for either now.

262
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It was the left. Now she doesn't care.

263
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That's funny. All right.

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00:16:25,440 --> 00:16:32,920
One year later, Shelby, on May 22nd, 2002, Chandra and Levi

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00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:37,960
was discovered by either a hiker or a jogger in that Rock Creek Park.

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I've seen it both ways.

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There were stories saying that somebody was jogging, somebody was hiking,

268
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and the jogger was on one of those trails inside the park

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when he happened upon a human skull.

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Wow.

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After investigators arrived, they began to search the trail

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and discovered a Walkman.

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You know what a Walkman was. I believe you had one, didn't you?

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00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:01,880
I did.

275
00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:04,280
Oh, no, I did. I think I did.

276
00:17:04,280 --> 00:17:06,880
No, you had a... What was that? A little iPod?

277
00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:08,080
Is that what it was called?

278
00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:09,680
Yeah, that's what it was called, the iPod.

279
00:17:09,680 --> 00:17:13,240
OK, so a Walkman is probably the size of a compact disc

280
00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:17,680
because you actually open it up and put a compact disc inside of it.

281
00:17:17,680 --> 00:17:18,200
Yeah.

282
00:17:18,200 --> 00:17:19,400
Does that sound familiar?

283
00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:22,120
Yeah, that's how we used to have to play CDs in the car.

284
00:17:22,120 --> 00:17:25,960
You remember where it had the cassette that you stuck into the cassette player,

285
00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:28,840
but you put the CD in the Walkman? Yeah.

286
00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:30,960
Yeah, we had one of those. I know what it is.

287
00:17:30,960 --> 00:17:33,520
OK, so they found one of those.

288
00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:38,320
They also found a pair of sneakers and a University of Southern California

289
00:17:38,320 --> 00:17:41,200
shirt nearby the skeletal remains.

290
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And remember, I told you that's where Chandra was going to graduate from.

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Police later identified these remains as Chandra Levi through dental records.

292
00:17:50,200 --> 00:17:54,040
And I'm going to add that investigators searched at least half the park

293
00:17:54,040 --> 00:17:58,240
the year before, but the area that she was found, Shelby,

294
00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:00,840
that was not where they had covered at all.

295
00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,720
I don't understand why they wouldn't have covered the entire park,

296
00:18:03,720 --> 00:18:08,360
I guess because they were only required to go 100 yards from her search history.

297
00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:11,120
Oh, I'm glad she was found. Yeah.

298
00:18:11,120 --> 00:18:16,080
Chandra's death could not be determined since so much time had passed, obviously,

299
00:18:16,080 --> 00:18:21,080
because she was found the hiker or jogger just found the human skull.

300
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But evidence did suggest damage to the hyoid bone.

301
00:18:25,360 --> 00:18:26,440
I'm not sure what that is.

302
00:18:26,440 --> 00:18:31,360
It's located in the throat area that suggests that Chandra

303
00:18:31,360 --> 00:18:34,000
could have died by strangulation. Yeah.

304
00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:38,960
Medical examiners were able to collect DNA from Chandra's remains,

305
00:18:38,960 --> 00:18:41,880
but they were not successful in getting a match,

306
00:18:41,880 --> 00:18:45,600
including that of the congressman that Chandra was reportedly

307
00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,280
dating during her stay in Washington, D.C.

308
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So no DNA to try to come up with a suspect.

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00:18:52,440 --> 00:18:54,280
According to the Washington Post,

310
00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:59,440
new information leaked out from a jailhouse informant that an undocumented

311
00:18:59,440 --> 00:19:05,840
immigrant from El Salvador was a documented MS-13 gang member

312
00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:08,680
and that he was responsible for Chandra's murder.

313
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This suspect was eventually identified as Ingmar Grandique.

314
00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:17,400
He had a history of violent attacks inside that park,

315
00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:22,720
Shelby, where Chandra disappeared and was currently serving 10 years in prison

316
00:19:22,720 --> 00:19:27,640
after being found guilty of assaulting two women in Rock Creek Park

317
00:19:27,640 --> 00:19:29,720
where Chandra's body had been found.

318
00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,400
Wow. Sounds like a pretty good suspect.

319
00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,520
It does until you hear what I have to say next.

320
00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:38,800
Just like the congressman that Chandra was linked to,

321
00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:45,960
Grandique took a polygraph and his results came back as not deceptive.

322
00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:48,080
Oh, man. So interesting.

323
00:19:48,080 --> 00:19:52,120
That's not what I expected. Yeah, I didn't expect that at all. Right.

324
00:19:52,120 --> 00:19:55,680
Chandra's case went cold for another seven years

325
00:19:55,680 --> 00:19:59,240
when a new team of investigators examined the case

326
00:19:59,240 --> 00:20:05,160
and revisited Grandique's violent history of attacking women in D.C. parks.

327
00:20:05,160 --> 00:20:10,640
In March 2009, Grandique was arrested for attempted robbery,

328
00:20:10,640 --> 00:20:17,440
kidnapping and murder of Chandra Levi, even with a lack of physical evidence.

329
00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:21,720
Now, Grandique was serving out his 10 year sentence,

330
00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,880
authorities searched his cell and found a picture of Chandra.

331
00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:29,240
Obviously, Shelbs, this is not enough to convict anybody.

332
00:20:29,240 --> 00:20:30,440
He just had a picture.

333
00:20:30,440 --> 00:20:34,360
I can imagine if he's being accused of her death,

334
00:20:34,360 --> 00:20:39,280
then he might just have like morbid curiosity on what's going on with the case.

335
00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:42,720
Wouldn't you think? Yeah, that's just really creepy.

336
00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:47,280
Well, Grandique had allegedly given a jailhouse confession

337
00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:51,280
and told a fellow inmate that he was the one who killed Chandra.

338
00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:55,480
Police never collected forensic evidence in Chandra's case,

339
00:20:55,480 --> 00:21:01,280
and they did not have any eyewitnesses, nor did they ever find a murder weapon.

340
00:21:01,280 --> 00:21:07,800
So they just had that one star witness, the jailhouse informant, way back in 2001.

341
00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:09,320
So what are your thoughts, Shelbs?

342
00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:11,720
Do you think at this point he's guilty, innocent?

343
00:21:11,720 --> 00:21:16,480
He did come across as not deceptive on his polygraph. Right.

344
00:21:16,480 --> 00:21:18,640
Or do you think there's enough information?

345
00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:21,160
I don't think there's enough information.

346
00:21:21,160 --> 00:21:23,000
I think it would be really difficult.

347
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:32,040
I would assume, I mean, he could just be saying that to give him that reputation in prison,

348
00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:36,920
if that makes sense, you know, him saying, oh, I killed somebody to kind of scare.

349
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:42,640
I wouldn't really say scare other inmates, but to just give him that reputation.

350
00:21:42,640 --> 00:21:44,680
No, that's actually a good word.

351
00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:48,400
Yeah, to keep people from bothering him. Right. Exactly.

352
00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:52,520
So I don't know. I mean, he sounds like a very good suspect.

353
00:21:52,520 --> 00:21:57,880
But then again, you say he's not not deceptive, but it's just it's kind of sick.

354
00:21:57,880 --> 00:22:02,760
If he did do it, then it's pretty sick for him to have a picture of her in his cell.

355
00:22:02,760 --> 00:22:07,120
Yeah, for sure. Well, Gwandik was quickly placed on trial,

356
00:22:07,120 --> 00:22:12,680
which was based solely on that circumstantial evidence linked to two women

357
00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:18,160
who had disappeared at Rock Creek Park around the same time that Chandra had disappeared.

358
00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:25,720
Gwandik's defense team argued that their client was simply a scapegoat for any of the botched investigation.

359
00:22:25,720 --> 00:22:30,320
But ultimately, Gwandik was found guilty by a jury of his peers

360
00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:34,720
and was sentenced to 60 years in prison for Chandra's death. Good news, right?

361
00:22:34,720 --> 00:22:39,000
They finally caught somebody he was found guilty. Yeah. Good news. Yeah.

362
00:22:39,000 --> 00:22:42,960
Well, in May of 2015, the U.S.

363
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,480
Court of Appeals overturned Gwandik's sentence,

364
00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:50,560
and he was presented with an opportunity of receiving a new trial.

365
00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:56,600
However, it was during this time that prosecutors moved to dismiss all charges,

366
00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:04,080
claiming that they could not provide enough evidence to avoid Gwandik getting off without reasonable doubt.

367
00:23:04,080 --> 00:23:09,160
So years have gone by. They looked at the evidence once again and they said, yeah, you know what?

368
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,960
I don't think we can win this case a second time. So we're just going to drop charges.

369
00:23:12,960 --> 00:23:21,280
OK, so as goes our justice system, Gwandik's attorneys filed this motion to dismiss all charges

370
00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:26,520
based on evidence that suggested the jailhouse informant made everything up.

371
00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:31,720
I don't know why he would do that. What? Yeah. Well, guess what?

372
00:23:31,720 --> 00:23:37,760
Believe it or not, he was later captured on a seven hour taped recording by a local actress

373
00:23:37,760 --> 00:23:45,120
who began taping him after she had some suspicions of her own from the conversations that they had

374
00:23:45,120 --> 00:23:50,320
and the activities that he was involved in. So she just inadvertently taped him,

375
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:53,360
you know, having a conversation on the couch one day.

376
00:23:53,360 --> 00:23:57,440
Here, let me just turn this little tape recorder on and let's get some information.

377
00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:02,640
The actress first met the jailhouse informant at a motel that they were both living in,

378
00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:07,920
sort of one of those extended stay places, and they became friends.

379
00:24:07,920 --> 00:24:14,480
The informant confessed to this actress on tape that he was a convicted felon and former gang

380
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:21,120
member and was recently released from prison. So, Shelbs, I'm not sure why a friend would

381
00:24:21,120 --> 00:24:27,600
deliberately tape someone, especially for seven hours. I mean, was that seven hours straight?

382
00:24:27,600 --> 00:24:34,080
Yeah, that's a really long time. It is. Was it seven hours total? I'm not sure.

383
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:38,880
So I guess my question is, is what was she suspicious of? That's a good question.

384
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:46,080
On these tape recordings, Shelby, the informant admitted that he had lied to authorities about

385
00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:52,880
Gwandik's involvement in Chandra Levi's murder. The informant went on to talk about going after

386
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:59,200
other gang members. Now, remember Gwandik was a documented gang member here. Now, remember when

387
00:24:59,200 --> 00:25:04,880
I introduced Gwandik as the number one suspect, I had mentioned that he was a documented gang

388
00:25:04,880 --> 00:25:11,840
member here. So the informant had said he was going after gang members. So I guess I can see why he

389
00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:18,640
may have stretched the truth a little bit. Basically, the informant's testimony at Gwandik's

390
00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:26,320
first trial was disproved, although his testimony back in 2010 did help send an innocent man or

391
00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:32,160
at least this time anyway, Shelby. He may not have been innocent on other charges, but he was

392
00:25:32,160 --> 00:25:39,680
probably innocent when it came to Chandra Levi. So the informant did send an innocent man in this

393
00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:44,720
case to prison for a murder that he may not have even committed. What do you think of that?

394
00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:49,440
That's crazy. But I mean, he already assaulted two other women, so he still

395
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:57,440
deserved to be there for a little while. Additional factors in Gwandik's innocence also came into play

396
00:25:57,440 --> 00:26:03,920
in regards to Chandra's murder. Now, I'm not suggesting that he is a man of character.

397
00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:08,960
Obviously, he's not. Otherwise, he wouldn't be sitting behind bars for attacking women in the

398
00:26:08,960 --> 00:26:16,480
parks like you had just mentioned. But his defense team also discovered that the prosecutors who

399
00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:24,160
originally tried Gwandik for Chandra's murder unlawfully withheld information during his trial

400
00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:31,680
that could have potentially helped his defense. Okay, so we're now just reaching a whole new level.

401
00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:38,640
The prosecutors are being unethical here and withholding information. Wow. Yep. I wonder why

402
00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:44,640
that was. They wanted to win the case. They just wanted their numbers to be one for the prosecutors,

403
00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:51,120
nothing for the criminals. DNA evidence was discovered inside Chandra's apartment,

404
00:26:51,120 --> 00:26:57,440
but it could not be positively linked to Gwandik nor the congressman. Ultimately, Shelbs,

405
00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:03,600
Gwandik's defense attorneys were successful in having his conviction overturned and that's when

406
00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:09,200
the retrial was ordered. Wow, that's very interesting. Yep. They were about to retry him.

407
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:14,400
I had mentioned that Gwandik had initially entered the United States illegally, so he was an

408
00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:22,480
undocumented immigrant. Well, in 2016, he was deported back to El Salvador for crossing the

409
00:27:22,480 --> 00:27:29,040
border unlawfully and for continuously committing violent crimes while he was in the United States.

410
00:27:29,040 --> 00:27:34,480
So they sent him back. Well, that's good. I mean, I'm thinking if he got into the country once,

411
00:27:34,480 --> 00:27:43,680
he'll get in again. That's very true. Chandra's mother, Susan, spoke out on July 28th, 2016,

412
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:49,760
stating how shocked she was with the criminal charges against Gwandik and how they had been

413
00:27:49,760 --> 00:27:55,280
completely dropped. Yeah, that makes sense. As a mother, you know, you sit here and think that you

414
00:27:55,280 --> 00:28:03,680
got the guy who took my daughter away and then that's not how it turned out. Absolutely. Susan

415
00:28:03,680 --> 00:28:09,280
mentioned how she and her husband were being forced to experience trauma and grief all over

416
00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:15,280
again from their daughter's murder. Sure, everything's being dug up, dredged up once again.

417
00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:21,440
And I mean, all she wants, Shelby, is justice for Chandra. I completely get that. I do too. So I

418
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:27,360
just wanted to wind things down to say that according to CBS News, Chandra and Levi had

419
00:28:27,360 --> 00:28:33,440
called her aunt who had lived in Maryland at the time and left a voicemail to let her know that she

420
00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:38,720
was about to return to California, but wanted to see her because she wanted to share some really

421
00:28:38,720 --> 00:28:46,560
big news before she left. Chandra never got that information to her aunt. So to this day, it's a

422
00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:53,760
mystery on what she wanted to tell her. Oh, that's hard. Let me just give you some statistics here.

423
00:28:53,760 --> 00:29:03,040
According to A&E, there are 285,000 cold cases still active in the United States. Only one in

424
00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:11,680
five of these cases identifies a suspect associated with the case. Only one in 20 of these suspects

425
00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:23,520
ever gets arrested and just one in 100 receives a conviction. That is crazy. Yep. So I just couldn't

426
00:29:23,520 --> 00:29:31,120
imagine like that's somebody's job is to sit there and do cold cases, isn't it? Yeah, I would think

427
00:29:31,120 --> 00:29:36,240
that it's a smaller department though. They wouldn't have the same manpower, especially if it's a cold

428
00:29:36,240 --> 00:29:44,240
case because new cases come along every day. Yeah. Well, that's the story of Chandra in Levi.

429
00:29:44,960 --> 00:29:50,080
We would love to receive feedback from our listeners on this storyline and be sure to

430
00:29:50,080 --> 00:29:56,240
DM us on Instagram and let us know what you think about this case. What do you think Shelbs?

431
00:29:56,240 --> 00:30:02,160
Well, thank you. Thank you for sharing it with me. I'm glad she was found, but I do hope that

432
00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:09,200
they can come back to some closure again and know who did it. Yeah, absolutely. Do you have a

433
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:16,080
teachable moment today? I do have a teachable moment. There's not enough information here to

434
00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:22,160
know what path Chandra was on the day she disappeared. She left all of her belongings at home.

435
00:30:22,160 --> 00:30:29,920
Her apartment was completely undisturbed. She did not tell anyone where she was going. I know most

436
00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:35,760
of us are attached to our cell phones these days, but this might be one opportunity we need to keep

437
00:30:35,760 --> 00:30:42,160
our cell phones on us. Shelby, cell phones make me crazy sometimes, but truly you need to keep your

438
00:30:42,160 --> 00:30:48,480
cell phone on you. I've personally walked along public walking trails at dusk. I've been hiking

439
00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:55,280
in isolated areas all by myself. Whether you are single or not, I think it's really important to

440
00:30:55,280 --> 00:31:02,640
tell someone where you're headed, especially if you go out for a jog or power walk. So whoever it

441
00:31:02,640 --> 00:31:08,880
is that you contact can get a good idea of where you are and how long you're going to be gone.

442
00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:16,160
Several years ago, Shelby, I used to walk seven miles or 11 kilometers in one day. I was like,

443
00:31:16,160 --> 00:31:23,200
woo, more power to me. I had a really good groove going at the time. I got my regime down to an

444
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:29,760
exact science of walking specifically for an hour and 20 minutes. And there was one day that I got

445
00:31:29,760 --> 00:31:34,480
caught in this rainstorm. I mean, I knew the clouds were getting darker and I could hear the

446
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thunder. I was like, okay, just one more road, one more mile. I can do this. I'm almost home. I'll

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walk home in the, in the rain. Well, it wasn't just rain, Shelby, it turned into torrential rain.

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And thank God your grandmother knew where I was at. So she came looking for me. Wow.

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Wow. I was a drowned rat by the time she found me, but she knew, she knew my walking routine.

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And I was thankful that she did. I saw her coming. I was like, oh yes, she found me. So my teachable

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moment is keep the communication lines open because you never know when you need to be rescued. And

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that's my teachable moment. That's a good one. Thank you. You are welcome. Anything else to add

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Shelbs? Nope. That's it. Okay. Well, thanks to our listeners for listening to our episode and we will

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talk to you next week. Bye. Thanks for listening to Dying to be Found. Before we go, we would love for

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