tonight on "20/20" -- >> where is chandra? >> explosive new discoveries in one of the country's most high-profile cases. chandra levy, the d.c. intern found dead in a park. >> reporter: this is where she fell down, was pushed down, or rolled down. >> the congressman under susp suspicion. but now, 15 years later, "20/20"

publicly. and a twist from a mysterious whistle blower. here's debra roberts. >> reporter: it's not ford's theater, or the watergate hotel. but this simple storage unit may soon claim its own place in the criminal history of washington, d.c. this is the place. where did you put the recorder? >> i had the recorder right here behind that plastic bin. >> reporter: it was right here that this woman, speaking on camera for the first time, set up a bizarre amateur sting operation which would upend one of d.c.'s most famous murder cases, and she says, endanger her own life. >> i honestly thought, "he's going to kill me." >> reporter: we're talking about the notorious chandra levy case. >> this case had everything. it had power.

it had the nation's capital. it had a young woman on the rise. >> reporter: and now, because of this woman, the man once convicted of the murder will walk free. do you regret making those recordings? >> i had that recorder because my gut instinct told me something was really wrong, and something terrible could happen. >> reporter: tonight, for the first time, you'll hear her story, hear from that suspected killer himself. we are on our way to meet the man many are convinced attacked and killed chandra levy. and something else you've never heard. >> i haven't heard from you. >> reporter: actual voicemail recordings from the congressman at the center of chandra's story. >> it's 11:45. i'm sorry i've been tied up for the last few days, but you already know that. >> reporter: in fact, we'll begin right there, with what condit left on 24-year-old levy's home answering machine on a night in early may, 2001. >> maybe you're out of the country or something. anyway, give me a call if you get this message. bye. >> reporter: the democrat of central california is wondering

and he's not the only one. >> i called up and called up and then she didn't answer. >> reporter: bob levy, an oncologist, and wife susan are expecting their 24-year-old daughter back home in modesto, california. >> she was shy. she really liked being at home. >> reporter: yet her daughter was ambitious, dreaming of a career in law enforcement. >> reporter: she'd even volunteered at her local police department, before heading to the nation's capital. department of prisons there. and i think she was interested in going to the fbi. >> reporter: the fbi would be in chandra's future, but not in the way she imagined. after nine months in d.c., the internship is over. chandra cancels her gym membership and e-mails her landlord that she's heading back to california. >> then i called again, then on the weekend she didn't answer. >>eporter: five days pass with no word. chandra's anxious parents call police, who head to her

noteworthy discoveries. >> it appeared to the police she was packed up, ready to go home. >> reporter: fbi special agent brad garrett, now an abc news consultant, worked the levy case for years. >> her driver's license, her credit cards -- >> reporter: her cell phone? >> and her cell phone were still in the apartment. that's baffling to me and others because the whole idea is when you're going to leave, you're at least going to take an i.d. there were only two things missing, her keys and a ring. >> reporter: a gold ring with her initials, "c.l." in diamonds, a college graduation gift from her parents. what are you hearing from the police? >> they were sort of nonchalant, because what could they do? >> reporter: police do canvas the area, including nearby rock creek park. and susan levy begins her own search, looking through her daughter's cell phone bill. >> i saw this number that was being called many, many, many times, and i decided to call that number, and it turned out to be gary condit, and he

>> reporter: what did you say? >> i was kind of surprised, and i said, "do you know where my daughter is?" i thought to myself, this is wrong. >> give me ten minutes, okay? >> reporter: but why, exactly, was the congressman, a minister's son and married father of two, calling a young intern to get together? >> give me a call. give me the rundown on kind of what your schedule is. things are looking pretty good for me today anyway. bye. >> reporter: condit's always maintained he cooperated with police, and voluntarily came in for questioning. but former d.c. chief of detectives, jack barrett, believes condit was being coy. >> he admitted to the detectives that first night that they were dating. we didn't know whether it was a friendly relationship, we didn't know if it was a sexual relationship. >> reporter: he didn't admit that he had a sexual relationship with her? >> he did not. >> reporter: word soon leaks that condit and levy did have something going on. she'd even dropped hints to her family. listen to this home video.

adventures in d.c., the bureau of prisons and her congressman friend. >> reporter: and chandra had vaguely described a romance to her coworker sven jones. >> when she spoke of her relationship, she never offered a name. she just said powerful person, someone who she was in love with, someone who she could see making a life with. >> reporter: talk of a congressional sex scandal sets off a media firestorm. >> police have questioned reportedly said levy spends some time in his washington, d.c., area condo. >> in front of gary condit's office, the whole street was blocked off with tv trucks, every day, out in front of the levys' house, the same thing, with tv trucks, camera crews. >> reporter: were you wondering, or worrying, for a second, whether your father was somehow implicated in this? >> no, i knew he wasn't.

>> reporter: chad is condit's eldest child, a top aide to the governor of california when the levy case broke. >> he hadn't hurt her, hadn't obstructed justice, told the law enforcement people from the start what the deal was. >> reporter: the levys aren't buying it. and take their suspicions public. >> we would ask congressman condit and anybody else with information to please come forward. please cooperate with the police. >> from the very beginning, he was trying to protect his professional reputation. he was the one that created this problem for himself. we had no place to turn other than to try to focus on him. >> reporter: it becomes the summer of condit. american tvs saturated with daily images of the gaunt congressman, grinning through clenched teeth as he tries to

>> i wish i would have given him better advice. i mean, i wish somebody would have. you have a relationship of friendship that is hard to explain. >> reporter: yet, his dad will have some more explaining to do. >> did you urge anne marie smith to lie? >> reporter: people come forward, alleging condit had relationships with other women. he declines to discuss those allegations. we identified a number of women that were dating him while he was here in d.c., and his family was back in california. >> reporter: the floodgates are open. >> where is chandra? >> reporter: protests call for condit's resignation. >> good-bye. >> reporter: up next, while police aren't turning up any breaks in the case, condit turns up on television, for a historically awkward interview on abc. >> congressman condit, do you know what happened to

>> a twisted tale already. i'm david muir. >> and i'm elizabeth vargas. the trial was scuttled because of the stunning new information you're about to hear. >> an explosive seven-hour recording that turns this case into a new mystery all over again. stay with right from the crime scene.

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how you doing? >> reporter: it's the summer of 2001, and gary condit's role in the chandra levy case is blocking out the sun. >> the pressure is mounting on congressman condit. >> the parents turn up the head on gary condit. >> the story was a congressman with an inte. it wasn't the story about this poor girl being missing. all these families being destroyed over this. >> reporter: posters of the young intern are plastered from the potomac to capitol hill. her parents determined to keep their missing daughter in the public eye. >> where is chandra? >> reporter: they make the rounds on television. >> we just want her back. >> reporter: but it's not easy to maintain a brave face. >> please help us. >> help us find her! >> reporter: that's dr. levy breaking down on abc sacramento affiliate kxtv. [ crying ] police continue grilling the congressman, trying to tamp down the speculation. >> the congressman was not a

he was not a suspect during the meeting, and he is not a suspect since the meeting. >> reporter: yet the levys are convinced that condit not only committed adultery, but perhaps something much worse. >> i urge him if he does have any information please be man enough to step forward. >> reporter: hoping to change the narrative, condit agrees to a national television interview with abc's connie chung. >> he felt as if i was interrogating him under a hot light. in many ways i was. watch the interview. it went a lot like this. >> congressman condit, do you know what happened to chandra levy? >> no, i do not. >> did you have anything to do with her disappearance? >> no, i didn't. >> did you kill chandra levy? >> i did not. we had a close relationship, i liked her very much. >> may i ask you, was it a sexual relationship? >> well, connie, i have been married for 34 years and i have not been a perfect man, and i've made my share of mistakes. but out of respect for my family

from the levy family, i think it's best that i not get into those details about chandra levy. >> reporter: was that respect for you? >> i laughed about it. because i thought it was so false. phony. >> it's just his way of weaseling out of it. >> it was preposterous. you just have to shake your head and say why would he even agree to do the interview if he's not going to be forthcoming? >> all-new dr. phil. condit gave his first interview in 14 years to dr. phil. >> came by your condo once? >> well, maybe twice. >> reporter: he may have looked somewhat different, but he sounded pretty much the same. >> why is it you will not answer publicly whether or not you had a sexual relationship with chandra levy? >> i haven't, you know, answered that question publicly for 15 years and i'm not going to change my position or my view on that today. >> reporter: but if condit is reluctant to speak frankly, the forensic evidence speaks for

>> chandra levy's panties taken from her apartment shortly after her disappearance contained bodily fluids. dna tests determined dna came from gary condit. >> reporter: think what you will of gary condit, there's no evidence he was involved in chandra levy's disappearance. >> most of us in the police department and the fbi agreed that he was not our suspect and that we needed to be looking elsewhere. >> the case of the missing washington intern. >> reporter: as the case continues to dominate the news, it seems nothing can trump the story of the missing intern and her friendly congressman. until, of course, something does. and then september 11th happens. what happened to your investigation and your detectives? >> the media attention went away, we lost a big helping hand

>> reporter: with the world's attention diverted, the levys are left with little to go on. >> because there's no body, you still hope she's alive somewhere, like with any missing person. that's all you got is hope. >> reporter: as the case loses momentum -- >> gary condit lost his congressional seat. >> reporter: condit loses his bid for re-election, to nobody's surprise. >> very difficult to win a race when you're being accused of murder. >> it's been a great opportunity to be a public servant. >> reporter: weeks later, a striking coincidence. award-winning "washington post" reporter sari horwitz is revisiting the now cold case of the missing intern. >> i arranged a breakfast with a police official, and during the breakfast his pager just started going off. >> reporter: then, a timely break that a reporter can only dream of. >> and when he came back, he had this stunned look on his face. and he said, "you're not going to believe this but i just got a

creek park. >> reporter: the remains lay in a remote section of washington's largest park, five miles from chandra's apartment. finally they discover her body in rock creek park. huge park. >> huge park. twice as big as central park in new york city. >> reporter: the gruesome discovery made by a park regular. >> u.s. park. >> i was walking my dog and i came across a human skull. >> reporter: this is actual crime scene video. never before seen publicly. those are chandra's reebok sneakers, and her jogging pants tied in knots, which will lead investigators to believe this was no accident. but no sighting of her gold ring. >> we cried. >> yeah. cried a lot. >> we screamed and cried. you can't imagine to have your child laying out there. it seemed so unfair. >> reporter: for detectives, the discovery brings relief. but also embarrassment. >> this is something that we all

there may have been dna evidence, all that was lost because of the fact that we were unable to locate her remains during the time that we were searching the park. >> reporter: the remains found 79 yards off a dirt path, down a sharply steep embankment. police had searched 100 yards off all paved roads. had they searched 100 yards off all foot trails, too, they may have found chandra's body, dna intact, months earlier. >> some people see that as evidence of ineptitude on the part of the police. is that fair? >> everybody's entitled to their opinion. >> reporter: critics say it wasn't to be the only police blunder. days after levy's disappearance, an untrained officer tried going through her computer, and accidentally corrupted the data. which would've shown levy had researched rock creek park. and on top of that, another oversight at her apartment building. what about the surveillance camera of her building? so many times people look to see

initially grab them or tell the management to hold them, they erase or disappear. and unfortunately that's what happened in this case. >> reporter: at least now the levys can have a memorial and lay their beloved daughter to rest. >> she was a quiet but very powerful force. very smart and funny. i felt like she was going somewhere. it was just really disheartening. >> reporter: when we come back, police find more secrets in the park and set sights on a new man. will there be justice for chandra? >> when we get two attacks on women by a guy with a knife in a short distance to where levy's body was found, that stands out like a neon sign. >> reporter: and, for the first time, the voice of the witness who could both make, and break, the case. >> he told me he didn't know he killed her. killed her. it was an accident. [ barks ] you're right. we need to get ready for the big show. what's up dudes? lots to do.

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"20/20" continues with mystery in rock creek park. >> reporter: sprawling rock creek park in washington, d.c., with its 2,000 acres of lush trees, quiet streams, and wild life. it's a perfect place for a walk

it's quiet, there aren't any other witnesses, so this is an ideal spot for a predator to attack somebody. >> yeah, this is right off the beaten path. >> reporter: dr. kim rossmo maps murderers. >> this is the apartment building where chandra levy lived. this is where chandra levy's remains were found. >> reporter: his title, geographic profiler. his job, analyzing every location in a crime. >> i think she followed up the path here, and then she was attacked. and her body was found here. >> reporter: decoding the patterns than can crack a case. >> we break a crime down to its constituent parts. so, for a murder, we are going to have an encounter, the place where the offender first sees the victim. then we are going to have the point where he first attacks her. then we have the actual murder scene itself. then finally, we have where the body gets disposed of. >> reporter: rossmo was brought into the chandra levy case by the d.c. metro police, and the fbi, after focus shifted away

think condit had anything to do with it. >> reporter: instead, police gradually retrain their focus on this man, who'd been arrested for attacking two female joggers in the park just two months after chandra's disappearance. >> not enough attention was being paid to a suspect who was hiding in plain sight. >> reporter: both attacks occurred in similar park locations. >> same sort of path, same sort of slope although this is probably a bit steeper, same sort of isolation. >> reporter: both women fought off their assailant and survived. >> the first female jogger, the one who was attacked about 700 yards from where levy's body was found, said she saw guandique in the pierce mill parking lot. and if you look at where chandra levy lived, the logical route would have taken her right through the pierce mill parking lot. >> reporter: so who is the predator in the park? his name, ingmar guandique, a 19-year-old undocumented

>> he had alcohol problems, he had cocaine problems. >> reporter: sari horowitz and her "washington post" colleague scott higham published an explosive series of articles questioning why the metro pd hadn't pursued guandique harder in the levy case, given his disturbing m.o. >> he would sit at a park bench and when he saw a certain type of female, something inside of him would compel him to give he would sprint up behind them, grab them around the neck and pull them off the trail. >> i had seen an article in the "washington stthat talked about this guy called guandique, who attacked t women in the park. the microgeography was identical. so i was curious, how, how have they dismissed him? >> reporter: why would somebody who attacked a woman and possibly even killed her, come back to the same area and attack two more women right after that? >> because it worked for him.

attacks. but now, after the scathing "washington post" articles, police look at the levy case with fresh eyes. zeroing in on guandique's activity around the time chandra vanished. >> we know he didn't go to work on may the 1st. we know that he had marks on his face, following the disappearance of levy that he gave inconsistent explanations for. but you can only solve a crime through a confession, physical evidence, or a witness. >> reporter: there n chandra levy. >> unfortunately, one of the best means of finding physical evidence from the body had been lost because of its decomposition. >> reporter: but all is not lost. coming up, police find something, make that someone, who they say will finally connect guandique to chandra levy. >> the arrestee is ingmar guandique. >> reporter: and still to come, what role does this woman, an

her secret seven-hour recording, have to do with the case? >> i feel like i'm in the house of cards. its way into your day, i hear you. to everyone with this pain that makes ordinary tasks extraordinarily painful, i hear you. make sure your doctor hears you too! i hear you because i was there when my dad suffered with diabetic nerve pain. if you have diabetes and burning, shooting pain in your feet or hands, don't suffer in silence! step on up and ask your doctor tell 'em cedric sent you. we took lifelong pasta experts and gave one prego traditional and one ragu traditional. this is what happened. that's because even ragu users prefer the taste of prego traditional two-to-one. the easiest decision you'll make all week is to shop kohl's this weekend because kohl's will give you tax break savings with an extra 10 percent off

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over 80,000 wisconsin jobs lost to unfair trade. but senator johnson sided with corporate interests, calling for even more unfair trade, voting for special tax breaks for corporations shipping jobs overseas, costing taxpayers billions. and johnson's been exposed for using what looks like an offshore tax shelter for himself. ron johnson's just not for us. for the content of this advertising. >> reporter: it's been nearly a decade since chandra levy's disappearance, and now

charges against ingmar guandique and take him to trial. >> a case that once riveted the nation. >> reporter: what was it like for you, being at that trial? >> it wasn't easy. >> reporter: cameras aren't allowed in the courtroom but the emotional testimony from the two female joggers who survived guandique's attacks take the gallery's breath away. >> it's almost like chandra is testifying through these women on the witness stand. >> reporter: gary condit has been diligently avoiding the spotlight. but now finds himself right back in the middle of it. >> mr. condit, anything you want to say? >> reporter: called to testify, he heads to court with a media circus in tow. >> i think he was kind of the elephant in the room and they needed to demystify him. >> reporter: former u.s. attorney tim heaphy prosecuted cases in the d.c. office. >> it would be too easy if he were a silent presence for the defense to suggest directly or subtly that he was the real culprit. >> reporter: a condit sighting

case on a secret weapon. >> one of the prosecution's star witnesses. >> reporter: meet armando morales, a california gangster with the record and the tattoo to prove it. that paw print marks him as a member of the fresno bulldogs, a gang notorious enough to merit a documentary on the history channel. here's morales' cameo. >> a bulldog named armando "mousey" morales. >> reporter: back in 2006, morales and guandique were sharing a federal prison cell for separate crimes. now on the stand, morales makes a stunning allegation -- guandique made a detailed confession to the levy murder. >> his testimony was convincing. he knew certain things. >> reporter: after morales' testimony, guandique is found guilty and sentenced to 60 years in prison.

sentence of a lost limb missing from our family tree. >> reporter: one of the country's longest ongoing murder mysteries is finally over. or is it? the conviction starts to wobble two years later when the defense discovers that the snitch morales concealed a crucial fact from the jury. he had a history of working with law enforcement. >> knowing those prosecutors, my guess is they had no idea until after the fact about mr. morales' prior cooperation, maybe they should have. >> reporter: honest mistake or not, it's a big enough deal to make some very big news. >> the accused killer is getting a new trial. >> reporter: what happened for you when you heard that guandique was going to get a new trial? >> there was a part of me that says, well, maybe mr. condit's going to be asked to come back and talk a little bit more in-depth. >> reporter: susan's instincts are spot on. >> a major development in one of

last two decades. the defense is pointing the finger at california congressman. >> reporter: guandique's attorneys allude to a defense straight from "fifty shades of grey." >> they wanted to develop information about other relationships he had that may have involved rough sex play. >> reporter: it looks like condit's sex life could be on trial. but wait. >> okay. >> reporter: out of nowhere, this woman is about to crash a 15-year-old murder case is turned on its head because of you. did you ever expect that? >> no, absolutely not. >> reporter: she's reluctant to talk to us. she says she's in danger, and keeps her whereabouts secret. you don't want us to say where you are. >> i feel unsafe. >> reporter: her name, babs proller, a small-time actress originally from germany. an extra, coincidentally, in the smash political drama,

>> we overcame those tensions. >> reporter: so how exactly did she land a role in a famous d.c. murder case? >> i mean, sometimes real life, i think, can be -- >> reporter: stranger than fiction. >> stranger than fiction, absolutely. >> reporter: her strange tale begins this past july in annapolis, maryland. babs is going through rough times and is staying for a while at this country inn and suites. during her stay, she crosses paths with a mysterious middle-aged man who calls himself "phoenix." >> he was very kind. he was very friendly. he seemed like a very personal, nice guy. >> reporter: was there a spark going on here? >> no, no. there was no spark. >> reporter: but they grow do closer and a friendship ensues. phoenix even babysits babs' golden retriever buddy while she is out of town. >> that's him with buddy and buddy actually has a paw up there on him. >> reporter: but don't let those sweet selfies fool you. phoenix has a paw of his own. that tattoo, marking him as a

bulldogs. he is in fact the same snitch who testified so convincingly at the chandra levy trial, armando morales. >> his face changed completely. it went from this gentle, kind, caring guy, into a look that almost scared me a little. >> reporter: trusting his new friend, morales reveals he's just done 20 years in prison. >> i said, "20 years? you must've almost killed someone to be in for 20 years." and his answer was, "i wish it would've only been one person." >> reporter: so what's he doing here? morales explains he's the key witness in the upcoming retrial of ingmar guandique. while preparing to testify, the government has put him up in the hotel with a cell phone, a room key, and some cash, and strict orders not to blow his cover. what did you think? >> i was intrigued of his involvement, what he knew.

enough to continue the odd friendship, but also scared that the criminal could hurt her or those close to her. so she makes a fateful decision. babs says that, for her own protection, she begins recording her conversations with morales in the hotel, in the car, even in this storage locker where he's helping her organize her things. this is where you recorded it all, mostly. >> i did. >> reporter: next, the secret recording that will rock the levy case, and get a convicted killer out of prison. >> he told me he didn't know he killed her. >> what started as a circus ended as a circus. before his mom earned 1% cash back everywhere, every time. [ dinosaur growls ] and his dad earned 2% back at grocery stores and wholesale clubs. yeah! even before they earned 3% back on gas.

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that's ron johnson. that's washington. and he fits right in. end citizens united is responsible for the content of this ad. >> reporter: a row of storage units near annapolis, maryland. isolated. a little spooky. maybe not the first place you'd pick to secretly record a career criminal.

babs proller. >> so this is the storage facility. and this is the unit that i worked with armando. >> reporter: and you had your recorder on you when you were in here? >> i did. right here on the shelf. >> reporter: do you see yourself as some kind of an investigator? is that what you're out to do? are you out to get the attention? >> no. i didn't want to have my name really involved. it wasn't supposed to be exposed at all. i only started taping because i truly was afraid. >> reporte obtained seven hours of conversations between babs and her new friend armando morales. >> i got 22 years for gang racketeering. >> reporter: the prison snitch so crucial to the chandra levy investigation. >> i feel like i'm back on tv like an episode of "house of cards," you know, it's funny. >> reporter: the tape seems to reveal that the ex-con armando morales hasn't forgotten his gangster past. >> i brought a hoodie, i bought dark clothes. i was ready to confront that

that. >> reporter: and listen to how he brags about cooperating with law enforcement to put ingmar guandique away for the levy murder. >> i'm under the protection of the u.s. government. >> i think he was trying to impress an attractive woman. he had been in prison for 20 years. he's about to testify in one of the biggest trials in the united states. and to be talking to a stranger, it was a rookie move for a lifelong criminal. >> reporter: when conversation turns to the levy case, morales tells babs what he told the court, that guanidque told him wrong. >> it was an accident. he didn't know he killed her. he went back, that was his area to steal and rob. >> reporter: curious, babs starts probing, telling morales she's not convinced the right guy is behind bars. >> wait a minute, the dude that i testified, he committed the homicide. >> are you sure? >> why wouldn't i be sure? >> people talk. they just brag about stuff to

i can't answer that. >> anytime i ask a really detailed question, he would go into, don't go there. >> he's got other victims. >> that he killed? >> don't go there. >> it was only skeleton? you said he didn't mean to kill her, he robbed her? >> well, no. he's in the cell with me. you think he's going to tell me i meant to do that? come on. hello? duh. evasions make the whole account seem fishy. >> to me it didn't make sense. i ended up feeling like, you made this up. >> reporter: why would he lie? what was in it for him? >> he said i wanted protective custody. i no longer wanted to be afraid, because i was always afraid. >> reporter: which is exactly what guandique's defense attorneys argued in a 114-page filing. morales had desire for safety

plus, says babs, morales may have hoped the feds might help him to dodge a murder rap of his own back in california. >> he said in fresno he was involved in a gang-related murder that they're trying to pin on him but that's being handled. >> reporter: aren't you terrified hearing somebody describe how they killed people? >> absolutely. scared out of mind. >> reporter: morales might be protected by the government, and babs might be in danger. but for whatever reason, she finally, she claims, her persistence pays off. morales cracks and admits he fabricated guandique's confession. >> and then he says, you know what. the prosecutors wanted me to lie. they knew they had the right guy. they just needed somebody to say it. >> reporter: he said that to you. >> yes. >> reporter: and you had that on a recording. >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: of course we wanted to hear that part of the recording but get this. after repeatedly assuring us it

the prosecutors have categorically denied what they call "baseless allegation." some people would say you have credibility issues. >> reporter: make that legal issues, too. we've discovered proller has a checkered past. the suggestion is that you've had aliases. that you've had sort of a sketchy past, yourself. >> no. i was married twice. and i'm had my name officially changed after the divorce. >> reporter: there was also an accusation of theft. what about the theft? were you charged? >> i was charged. >> reporter: enough to earn her three years' probation. some would say you're a scam artist. true? >> i have never taken anything from anybody. i have not taken money. what am i trying to scam out of this? >> reporter: okay, maybe it is just a passion for justice which drives her to reach out to chandra levy's mother susan. what does she say? >> morales lied about guandique's confession. >> reporter: what are you making

is so weird. why don't you send a tape for both the prosecutor and the defense team? send it to them! >> the prosecutors met with me first. >> reporter: they couldn't have liked this. >> no. no. >> reporter: but if the prosecutors listened to the same recordings we did, they didn't hear morales confessing. they heard him sticking to his original story. >> he told me he didn't know he killed her. it was an accident. >> he didn't recant his testimony. in fact, he doubled down on his testimony. >> reporter: despite all that, this past july, the bombshell detonates. >> there is a stunning turn tonight. >> prosecutors suddenly dropping murder charges. >> reporter: the u.s. attorney's office drops the case, releasing a tersely worded statement. the office has concluded that it can no longer keep the case. >> clearly something occurred

morales as a witness. >> on those tapes, he brags a lot about his thug life and his life as a criminal. >> i sent some people to shoot up all the car dealer businesses. pow! >> it's a defense attorneys dream come true. >> it would be a subject of cross-examination and the calculus could have been, "there's just too much baggage for this witness, too many things that he has said and done." >> reporter: whatever proller's true intentions, the shambles. >> it fell apart because this woman tampered with the witness. why did she do that? what was her motive? >> i felt guilty. i felt really bad about what happened. >> reporter: why? >> i thought, well, maybe i should not have called this number. >> reporter: the levys now have the rest of their lives to ponder the what-ifs. and proller says she's worried that morales will come after her for revenge. his current whereabouts, unknown.

right now. i'm afraid. >> reporter: why'd you decide to talk with us? >> i believe that the truth needs to come out. i think somebody out there knows something. i've tried to be brave for all of that. >> reporter: still to come, we've heard from everyone else. now hear from the man once convicted of killing chandra levy himself. from now until the end of the year, shopping at small businesses could be even more rewarding. because, when you shop small with your eligible american express card, you could get two times the rewards. so support the businesses that make your town a community. the people who make your community, home those insiders, with the inside knowledge,

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>> reporter: the undocumented immigrant recently freed from a 60-year sentence for the murder of chandra levy sits in an immigration detention facility awaiting deportation. and now has agreed to speak only with "20/20." hello? ingmar? >> si. >> reporter: immigration and customs enforcement has a strict no camera policy in their facility, so we give guandique a call. have you ever harmed a woman? have you ever shoved or hit a woman? [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: this could be your last chance to set the record straight. did you attack chandra levy? >> reporter: did you confess to

>> reporter: he sounds a bit rehearsed, so we decide to fly down to the highly secured detention facility in farmville, virginia, to look guandique in the eye. we are about to sit down with guandique, going to show him a picture of levy and ask him face to face if he killed her. inside, he continues to maintain his innocence, saying he's found salvation for his previous crimes. guandique seemed anxious to talk to us. he was filled with lots of details about why he's innocent, and of course, he denied that he ever touched or killed chandra levy. 15 years after chandra levy first went missing, here's where things stand today. the prime suspect, ingmar guandique, wants to stay permanently in the u.s. it's unlikely that will happen. >> he's clearly got aggravated felonies, which is grounds for deportation. >> disgraced congressman gary condit is out of politics

plugging his new book on "dr. phil." >> i'm not the victim in this. the real victim is chandra and her family. >> reporter: the reporters sari horwitz and scott higham wrote a book about the tangled investigation called "finding chandra." both insist the misguided focus on condit is the reason levy's killer is not behind bars. >> from the beginning to the end, terrible mistakes by police and prosecutors. and in the end, no justice. >> reporter: the investigation is described to "20/20" as open but not active. the last hope could hang on that precious golden clue. >> her ring is still missing. guandique may have sold it or gave it to somebody. hopefully they'll watch this program and let the police know. >> whoever has that ring knows something about her disappearance and murder. >> reporter: finally, chandra's parents, deprived of their daughter, deprived of justice, find some comfort in spiritual hopes.

possibility that you may never know what happened to your daughter? >> one day i will be with my daughter, and whether we'll get the answer from god or not, i don't know. >> we'll find out then. >> and then maybe what chandra would have said is, "what difference does it all make?" >> and despite our requests, gary condit declined to speak to "20/20 his attorney saying he was vindicated. >> after tonight, do you think guandique had any role in the murder? >> join us next tuesday night for election coverage. i'm david muir. >> and i'm elizabeth vargas.

wisn-tv] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] announcer: now on wisn 12 news. joyce: a young cubs fan at children's hospital gets some big-league inspiration. only on wisn 12 his fight, and the touching letter from a cubs all star. kathy: and, local realtors putting homes at risk. the lockboxes other cities have ditched, and why it's not happening here. happening now, the polls in wisconsin open in 82 hours, leaving just three full days left to campaign for your vote. joyce: though a marquette university poll says nearly a third of you are not confident the votes will be counted accurately. nick bohr is live downtown. nick, you talked with early voters. how are they feeling? >> most of them are just happy to have it behind them. amidst concerns about voter