As the trial opens for the man accused of killing Chandra Levy, the bizarre circumstances surrounding that 2001 tragedy are back in the news.
As you may recall, the 24-year-old intern's body was found in Rock Creek Park, and reports soon surfaced that she was having an affair with California Rep. Gary Condit, leading to conspiracy theories worthy of a crime novel. He was never named as a suspect, though media reports focused on the relationship and he lost his re-election bid in 2002.
Last year, authorites charged Ingmar Guandique, a Salvadoran immigrant who was serving prison time for assaulting women at knifepoint in the park. His trial opens today, more than nine years after Levy died.
If you want to read more about the Levy slaying and investigation, pick up "Finding Chandra," by Washington Post reporters Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz. Or read the Post's remarkable 2008 series, which focused attention on Guandique. It was written by a team that included Horwitz and Higham, a former Baltimore Sun reporter.