People lie. Yes, all of us. It happens all the time. Usually, it's not that consequential. Maybe it's a kid lying about washing their hands before dinner, or an employee telling their boss they saw an email that's still unread. But sometimes lies really matter, especially when they're being told by someone close to you. All of a sudden, you don't know what to think anymore. You start to question everything they say, everything they do. And if the lie is big enough, it can make you wonder what else that person could be hiding. People's lives are like a story. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. But sometimes the final chapter arrives far too soon, and we don't always get to know the real ending. I'm Carter Roy, and this is murder: True Crime Stories, a crime stories, Crimehouse original show, powered by Pave Studios. Every Tuesday, I'll explore the story of a notorious murder or murders. At Crimehouse, we want to express our gratitude to you, our community, for making this possible. Please support us by rating, reviewing, and following murder, true crime stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly matters. This is the second of three episodes on the murder of Shandra Levy, a 24-year-old government intern who was killed in May 2001.

Last time, I told the story of Shandra's life, from growing up in Modesto, California, to her time in Washington, DC, until she disappeared without a trace. In this episode, I'll follow the investigation as it centers on Shandra's secret boyfriend, 53-year-old US congressman, Gary Condit. Then in part three, I'll take you through the rest of the investigation until we arrive at a final answer or an enduring mystery. All that and more coming up. On May sixth, 2001, Robert and Susan Levy called the Washington, DC Police Department and reported that her 24-year-old daughter Shandra was missing. Shandra was supposed to have flown home to Modesto, California, a few days earlier. Her internship in DC had suddenly ended, and she was planning to stay with her until she figured out her next steps. But the Levis hadn't heard from Shandra since May first, and they were afraid something was wrong. When the police weren't able to immediately locate her, Susan looked through Shandra's cell phone bill to try and figure out who she might have talked to last. One of the most recent calls had been to the office of congressman Gary Condit. Now, on the surface, this wouldn't raise any red legs.

Condit was the representative for the Levy's home district in California, and it would make sense for Shandra to be contacting his office, especially if she was on the hunt for a new job. But Susan knew it was more complicated than that because she'd found out about a month earlier that Shandra had been having an affair with the 53-year-old congressman. Susan also knew that Shandra wasn't what the first younger woman Condit had been involved with. About seven years earlier, her friend's daughter had also had an affair with Condit. It had ended badly, and the young woman had apparently gone into hiding because she'd been afraid for her safety. And now, with Shandra missing, Susan was afraid that Gary Condit was somehow involved. But Susan didn't want to jump to any conclusions. Until now, she had kept her promise to Shandra and kept her knowledge of the affair a secret. She hadn't even told her husband, Robert. Now, though she knew she had to break her word, if she had any hope of seeing her daughter again, she couldn't keep this information to herself. After Robert got over the initial shock, he agreed with Susan that they needed to find out more, and that meant they should try and get in touch with Condit directly.

So Robert flipped through the phonebook until he found Condit's home phone number. Someone actually picked up. Condit's wife, Caroline. Robert knew he had to be delicate. Without saying anything about Chandra's relationship with Condit, he told Caroline that his daughter was missing, and because as Condate represented their district, he was hoping the congressman could do something to help. Caroline promised to pass on the message as soon as she could. A few minutes later, the Levy's phone rang. It was Gary Condit. Robert did his best to keep his voice steady as he explained that his daughter Shandra was missing and that one of her last calls was to Condate it's office. He asked if Condit could do anything to help. Condate told Robert that he really didn't know Shandra all that well. She'd visited his office a few times, and he'd given her career advice. He had no idea where Shandra was, but he assured Robert that he'd make some calls to the police. Robert and Susan were stunned. Of course, if Condeit did have something to do with Shandra's disappearance, they weren't expecting him to admit to it, but they were furious that he didn't show more concern for the woman he'd been secretly dating for about six months.

It made them wonder just how much Gary Condeit was hiding from them. A few days went by, and there was still no sign of Shandra. Robert Hurt and Susan contacted a nonprofit group focused on helping families find their missing loved ones. We told the Levis that the most important thing to do right now was to get as much news coverage as possible on Shandra's disappearance. With that in mind, they arranged for Susan to appear on Good Morning America on May 14th. Two days after that, the Levis flew to Washington, DC for some high-profile meeting. Meetings. With news cameras capturing every moment, Robert and Susan went to Capitol Hill to meet with California senators, Diane Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. They also met with Jack Barrett, the Washington, DC Police Superintendent of Detectives. Notably, there was one person it doesn't seem like they met with, Gary Condit. Even though the Levis hadn't said anything about their suspicions about him, Condet probably knew it was better if he stayed away. But on May 17th, The Washington Post reported on a possible romantic relationship between him and Shandra. The article mentioned that Condate's office back in California had been flooded with calls from reporters asking if he and Shandra were having an affair.

Condit's chief of staff completely denied it. He was quoted as saying, Totally did not occur. It's really distressing that a lot of people are focusing on that issue when the focus should be on finding where Shandra is. It was a forceful denial, but there was just one problem with it. Condit had already admitted to detectives that Shandra had spent the night at his apartment before. Back on May sixth or seventh, after the Levie's reported Shandra missing and Robert talked to Condit, the Levie's had made another call to Ralph Durant, the detective assigned to Shandra's case, and During that call, Robert told Durant that he was pretty sure Shandra and Gary Condit were having an affair. Naturally, Durant contacted Condit to verify what Robert told him, but the congressman basically said the same thing he told the Levis, that he didn't know Shandra particularly well, aside from having given her career advice a few times. Durant asked Condit if he'd be willing to put that into a formal statement, and the two of them arranged to formally meet at Condit's apartment on the evening of May ninth. But before that meeting took place, Durant got another call.

This time, it was from Shandra's aunt, Linda Zamski. Linda was the only person Shandra had told about the affair, and until this point, she'd kept that secret to herself, just like Susan Levy had. But now, Linda couldn't stay silent about it any longer. She told Detective Durant everything she knew. Chandra and Condet had started seeing each other the previous fall, and it was serious enough that Condet told Chandra he was planning on leaving his wife for her. The call left Durant feeling extremely suspicious. The Levis didn't really have a reason to make up this affair, but Condit had a lot to gain by denying it. It made Durant wonder, if Condate was lying about this one thing, maybe there were other things he was hiding, too. At 9:55 on May ninth, Durant went to Condate's apartment to get his official statement. This time, Condate was a little more forthcoming than he'd been on the phone. He said that he and Shandra were friends, and when Durant pressed him on it, Condate admitted that Shandra had spent the night at his apartment before. But that's as far as he would go. When Durant asked if that meant he and Shandra were intimate, Condit wouldn't answer.

However, the meaning was clear enough. It's not clear how this information got to the press, but it seems like there was a source within the DC Police Department leaking them information. And so a week later, that's what led to the Washington Post article about people calling Condit's office in California to ask about the affair. The story made waves across the country. One person following the coverage was a woman in San Francisco whose real name is unknown but called herself Janet. And on May 18th, the day after the Washington Post article was published, Janet called her local FBI field office. She told them she had important information to share regarding the Shandra Levy investigation. She didn't know Shandra personally, but the two women had something in common. They both had affairs with Gary Condit. And just like with the daughter of Susan Levy's friend, the affair had ended badly. Badly enough for Janet to fear that something bad had happened to Shandra Levy. On May 18, 2001, a woman under the alias Janet told the FBI that she'd also had an affair with Gary Condet. After learning that Shandra Levy also had a secret relationship with the congressman, Janet felt compelled to share her story.

Janet first met Condit nine years earlier, in 1992. She was a 22-year-old college student living in Los Angeles, and her boyfriend at the time was one of Condet's aides. One night, Condate, who was about 44 at the time, invited Janet and her boyfriend to have dinner with him. She didn't think much of it. She and her boyfriend broke up shortly after, and Janet went on with her life. But about a year later, in the early fall of 1993, Condate unexpectedly reentered the picture. One day, Janet's now ex-boyfriend, who still worked for the congressman, called to ask if she could give Condit a ride to a fundraiser in LA. Janet and Condit hit it off, and at the end of the night, they had what she called a physical encounter. Condit wanted to see Janet again, but she wasn't so sure about it. Having an affair with such a high-profile person could get messy. And moreover, she felt guilty about being with a married man who had two children. But Condit went on the charm offensive, calling nonstop to invite her to see him in DC. Eventually, Janet relented and agreed to come see him. Over the next few months, Janet flew out to DC a few more times to spend time with Condit.

And in January 1994, Condit asked her if she wanted a job as one of his legislative assistants after she graduated college. He even asked her if he wanted to move into his apartment, although she'd have to rent her own place to keep up appearances and to have somewhere to stay when his wife came to town. This time, Janet didn't hesitate to say yes. In Janet's mind, this was a serious relationship. She and Condit were living together and were giving each other expensive gifts. He bought her clothes and expensive jewelry, and she gifted him a nice tag, Hoyer watch and a mountain bike. It was serious enough that Condit told Janet that he was considering leaving Congress and divorcing his wife. The two of them dreamed about moving to a small town together where Janet could be a school teacher and Condate could enjoy life out of the spotlight. But as the relationship got more serious, Condit also got more controlling. Condit never physically hurt Janet, but he forbade her from being around other men. And just like he was with Shandra, He was extremely paranoid about the affair going public and made her swear not to tell anyone about it.

It was hard for Janet to handle all the secrecy, especially since she was working four condit in his office. She was living two lives at once, and it started to wear her down so much she'd sometimes cry at work. There were even rules attached to that. Condate told her that if anyone asked what was wrong, she had to say she was upset about a recent breakup. Things got especially hard for Janet in July of 1994, when Condate it's daughter, Katie, came to DC for a summer internship. Janet had to move her things out of Condit's apartment and couldn't spend any time with him while Katie was in town. It made Janet feel feel even guiltier about the affair, and it got even worse when she and Katie became friends. The two of them were about the same age, and they'd often talk whenever Katie dropped by her dad's office, which was pretty often. They eventually started hanging out, which put Janet in a really tough position. But she stayed true to her word and never Katie that she was secretly dating her father. Janet felt so guilty, she even considered committing suicide. By the end of the summer, she couldn't take it anymore.

Janet told Condit she was ending their relationship, then move back West to San Francisco. But Condit refused to take no for an answer. He convinced Janet to keep him whenever he went back to his district, which was every couple of weeks. Their relationship carried on like this for another two years or so until 1996, when Janet decided to just cut Condit off and stopped taking his calls. She'd only seen him once since then, in 1999, when they met up for coffee. Condit still seemed bitter about what happened. He predicted that Janet would want to get back together someday, but by that point, she was married and had definitely moved on. She hadn't heard from Condit since. The FBI appreciated Janet's willingness to come forward. Her story made them wonder if Gary Condit had any other affairs they should know about. And shortly after they talked to Janet, the FBI caught a tip that Condet had dated a woman named Anne-Marie Smith, right before he met Shandra Levy. Anne-marie met Condit in July of 2000. She was in her late 30s and had just started a new job as a flight attendant. She was serving Condit on a flight from San Francisco to Washington, DC, and was immediately charmed by him.

The feeling was mutual. Before Condate got off the plane, he gave Anne-Marie his phone number. It wasn't until one of her colleagues checked the passenger manifest afterward that she realized he was a US congressman. Anne-marie wasn't sure if she wanted to get involved with Condate, especially because she suspected he was married. But she decided to have dinner with him anyway, and he assured her that he and his wife didn't really have a relationship. Anne-marie gave in, and the two of them started to see each other. This was just a few months before Condit began his affair with Shandra Levy, and it appears that neither woman had any idea that Condet had other girlfriends. But in the spring of 2001, Anne-Marie started getting suspicious. Condet was spending less time with her, and she found a strand of long dark hair in Khandit's bathroom. Most likely, it was Shandra's. And then, on May ninth, 2001, Anne-Marie got a really strange call. It was Khandit. Without explaining why, he said he had to disappear for a bit and that she shouldn't call him. Anne-marie had no idea that three days earlier, Chandra had been reported missing, and that Condate was about to essentially admit to Detective Durant that he and Chandra were having an affair.

But it all became clear about a week later when the Washington Post article linking Getting Condate to Chandra was published. With all the focus on Condit's personal life, Anne-Marie knew it wouldn't be long until her affair with Condit was revealed. And sure enough, on June first, She got a visit from FBI Special Agent Margaret Eison. Anne-marie told Agent Eison everything about her relationship with Condate, and she had kept meticulous details in a travel journal. She told Agent Eison that she thought Gary Condet was a good person, but with all the news coming out about him, she wondered if there was a side of him she didn't know. She figured there was only one way to find out. The day after she talked to Agent Eeson, Anne-Marie called Condit herself. It was a short conversation. Anne-marie admitted to Condit that she talked to the FBI. He said she didn't have to do that, then abruptly hung up. About two weeks later, Anne-Marie received a document from Condit's lawyer. He wanted her to sign an affidavit that denied she had a romantic relationship with Condit. If Anne-Marie signed it, she could be sued for perjury if she claimed otherwise.

The request felt like a stab to the heart. Anne-marie couldn't believe she was being asked to lie in order to protect Condit, and so she refused to sign the affidavit. In fact, she decided to go one a step further. On July second, Anne-Marie gave an exclusive interview to Rita Cosby at Fox News. She told Cosby all about her affair with Condit, and that he wanted her to help cover it up. The interview transformed the Shandra Levy investigation from a national story into a worldwide phenomenon. Newspapers and cable news stations across the globe started reporting on it. All of a sudden, everyone wanted to know what had happened to Shandra Levy, and if Gary Condit had something to do with it, including law enforcement. Throughout all of this, Condit had actually been pretty cooperative with investigators. A few days before Anne-Marie Smith's interview, he sat down for a second time with the detectives on the case, detailing his whereabouts in the days following Shandra's disappearance. The detective suspected that she disappeared on May first. It was the day Shandra emailed her mom about potential flights back home, and was the last time anyone had heard from her.

According to Condit, on that day, he had lunch with Vice President Dick Cheney, then worked until about 6:30 PM when he went to dinner in his neighborhood. And the day after, he spent the day with his wife, shopping and eating at restaurants. It was pretty easy to confirm both of these alibis, but the detectives weren't completely satisfied. They wanted to know more about Khandit's relationship with Shandra, but he was adamant about not giving details. The detectives found his evasiveness extremely suspicious. By this point, his affair with Shandra was common knowledge. To them, it seemed like if Khandit was innocent, he didn't have anything to lose by being completely honest with them. But Condit insisted on keeping his private life private. And that only made the detectives even more certain that he was hiding something. Because if he'd go this far to hide an affair, What else could he be capable of? In the weeks following Anne-Marie Smith's interview with Rita Cosby, pressure started to really mount on Gary Condit, from the public as well as the investigators on the Shandra Levy case, and they were about to get some answers. Just not from Condit himself.

Shortly after the fourth of July, Shandra's aunt, Linda Zamski, went public with what Chandra had told her about the affair with Condate. Linda knew small personal details about Condit that were hard to make up and easy to prove, like that he kept cactus plants in his apartment, and that he loved to eat Ben and Jerry's low-fat chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. She knew their routines and the steps they took to keep their relationship secret. From what Linda said, it was clear that Condit was obsessed with privacy. After Linda revealed what she knew, the question on everyone's mind was what Condit would do now that the details of his affair with Shandra were public. On July sixth, Condit agreed to yet another interview with the police. The atmosphere was tense. The US attorneys overseeing the case questioned him for the first time, and they wanted him to confirm the details Linda Zamsky had shared with the public. And finally, he actually admitted that he had had an affair with Shandra Levy. Condate confirmed that their relationship began around October or November 2000, and they were still together at the time of Shandra's disappearance, which he also swore he had nothing to do with.

But at this point, the police weren't ready to take him at his word. It had taken multiple interviews, bomb shell news reports, and immense public pressure for Condit to even admit what everyone already knew about his affair with Shandra. And so four days later, at 11:15 PM on July 10, 2001, a fleet of unmarked cars full of DC police officers and FBI agents pulled up to the curb outside Condit's apartment, and they had a search warrant. Reporters raced to the scene, and a few minutes later, they saw Condit emerge from the building and climb into one of the cars, while the army of investigators headed into his apartment, ready to inspect every single inch of it. The search lasted until 2:45 in the morning. The investigators turned the apartment upside down to find any physical evidence linking Condit to Chandra's disappearance. Ultimately, they didn't come away with much. Just a few hairs they found in one of his shoes and fibers from his dryer's lint trap. But the reporters waiting outside didn't know that. All they saw was evidence bags being loaded into cars and the glow of a black light shining through the windows of Condit's fourth floor apartment.

And so even though Condit had willingly submitted to the search as a way to show the police he didn't have anything to hide, it just made him look even guiltier to the public, especially because two days later, on July 12th, the Washington One post reported that a few hours before the search, someone saw Condit throw something suspicious into a trash can outside a McDonald's. The witness went to see what it was and found a small box for a tag Hoyer watch. The watch itself wasn't inside, but there was a manual and a warranty that had the watch's serial number. The witness, who knew about Condit's involvement in the Shandra Levy investigation, told the police about what he'd found. They were able to trace the serial number and confirmed it belonged to the watch that Condit's former girlfriend, the woman known as Janet, had given him. It was another example of strange behavior from the congressman. It seemed like a lot to go through to hide evidence of a former affair that didn't even have anything to do with Shandra. Robert and Susan Levy were quick to voice their suspicions. Speaking to a gaggle of reporters outside their home in Modesto, California, the Levies called for the DC police to make Condit take a polygraph test, better known as a lie detector.

Here's the thing about lie detector tests, though. Results can be faked, and they usually can't be relied upon as hard evidence. That being said, they can still help investigators decide if they're on the right track with a suspect or not. So the police decided to ask Condit to take the test. And on the afternoon of July 13th, Condit's lawyer called a press conference to share the results. The lawyer told the assembled reporters that Condit had been asked three important questions. One, did you have anything to do with the disappearance of Shandra Levy? Two, did you harm her or cause anyone else to harm her? And three, Do you know where she can be found? And the results showed that Condit, quote, was not deceptive in any way. But there was just one problem with that. Condit had refused to let the police administer the test. Instead, he'd hired an independent party to do it without the police's knowledge. Now, the man who'd given Condate the test was a highly respected former FBI agent who was one of the leading experts on lie detector tests. But even so, it didn't sit well with the police. Condit had gone behind their back to take the test, and they had to take him at his word that the results were genuine.

And by this point, it was pretty hard to take Gary Condit at his word. Right around this time, the case file for Shandra's disappearance changed hands. She'd been missing for more than two months, and the investigation was turned over to the FBI's cold case unit. Normally, the detective in charge would be given more time to investigate, but because Shandra's disappearance was so high profile, the FBI wanted to get involved sooner. The new special agents in charge were Brad Garrett and Melissa Thomas, hardened operatives with a proven track record, and they wanted Condit to sit down with them for one more interview. The night of July 26th, Special Agents Garrett and Thomas spent about an hour and a half talking with Condit. Unlike the three previous interviews, they weren't all that interested in the more salacious details of Condit's relationship with Shandra. Instead, they wanted Khandit to give them a better picture of who Shandra was as an actual person, to see if that could point them towards any new leads. Their lines of questioning made it clear that they did not think Gary Khandit was a suspect in this case. Even though he'd been extremely reluctant to provide any details about his relationship with Shandra, there was no actual evidence that he had anything to do with her disappearance.

He had a solid alibi, and nothing had turned up in the search of his apartment to suggest there was any foul play on his end. If anything, the FBI agents were frustrated with the fixation on Condit in the nearly three months since Shandra had gone missing. The longer a case like this went on, the less likely the person would be found, and in their opinion, a lot of time had been wasted on going after Condit so hard. But even though Condit was in the clear with law enforcement, we still had to salvage his reputation with the public. All the negative press on him had cratered his political prospects, and if he didn't write the ship soon, he wouldn't stand a chance of getting reelected. So Condate and his team decided to grant an exclusive interview to ABC's Connie Cheung. She had a reputation for being sympathetic while still maintaining her journalistic integrity. Her show would be the perfect platform for Condate to reset his image. Condate sat down with Cheung on August 23rd at his home outside of Modesto. Unlike most of Cheung's interviews which were pre-taped and edited, this one would be live, right in the middle of prime time.

At first, everything seemed to be going according to plan. With almost 24 million people tuning in, Cheung asked Condit if he had anything to do with Chandra's disappearance, and he firmly denied it. But when the conversation shifted to their affair, things started to fall apart for him. Even though he had told the police everything, Condit still couldn't bring himself to be honest with the public. When Cheung asked him if his relationship relationship with Chander was sexual, Condate said, Well, Connie, I've been married for 34 years, and I've not been a perfect man, and I've made my share of mistakes But out of respect from my family and out of a specific request from the Levy family, I think it's best that I not get into those details about Shandra Levy. On the surface, this seems like a pretty suitable non-answer that allows people to read between the lines. But people wanted a clear-cut yes or no from him. And even worse, Chandra's family had not asked Condit to answer the way he did. When Robert and Susan Levy heard him say that, it was like a punch to the gut. The interview was an abject failure.

Instead of saving Condit's career, it completely tanked it. His days in Congress were numbered, and he knew it. But the Connie Cheung interview was about to be the least of Gary Condit's problems. A few weeks after the interview, in mid-September 2001, a lawyer representing an inmate at the Washington, DC, Jail called the US Attorney's office. The lawyer said that his client, Ramón Álvarez, had some information he wanted to share. Álvarez claimed that in late August, he was working out with another inmate named Ingmar Guandique. The two of them had become friends during language classes at the jail, and they were both awaiting sentencing for violent crimes. Álvarez Alvarez for armed sexual assault and Guandique for attacking two women in Rock Creek Park, the nature preserve right by Condate's apartment. While they lifted weights and chit-chatted about their legal woes, Alvarez noticed something was off about Guandique and asked what was wrong. Guandique told him that there was another crime he'd committed that nobody knew about. He said that he had killed Shandra Levy, and he also claimed Gary Condit had paid him to do it. Thanks so much for listening. I'm Carter Roy, and this is murder, true crime stories.

Come back next time for the third and final part of our series on Shandra Levy. Murder: True Crime Stories is a crimehouse original powered by Pave Studios. Here at crimehouse, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media at crimehouse on Instagram, at crimehousestudios on TikTok, and at crimehousemedia on X. Don't forget to rate, review, and follow murder, true crime stories wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback truly makes a difference. We'll be back next Tuesday. Murder, true crime stories, a crime house original podcast powered by Pave Studios, is executive-produced by Max Cutler. This episode of murder, true crime stories was sound designed by Ron Shapiro, written by Alex Benadon, fact-checked by Katherine Barner, and included production assistance from Kristen Ossvedo and Sara Carroll. Murder: True Crime Stories is hosted by Carter Roy.