The Mystery Of What Happened After A Night On The Town
By: Edward Anderson
Tags: Culture, Justice, True Crime, Society, Friends

The Mystery Of What Happened After A Night On The Town

A murder victim’s lasting legacy on the city that never sleeps.

Photo by Lacie Slezak on Unsplash

“There’s a nude body on the road near Spring Creek Park,” the male voice told the 911 operator at 7 pm on February 26, 2006. It made no sense, but the emergency worker dispatched a police car to the area.

The officers arrived on the scene and were shocked by sight. There was a nude woman, wrapped in a flower-decorated bedspread. It seemed as if the killer had dumped the body and hoped to eliminate all the evidence to link them to the murder.

A theory began circulating among the cops on the scene. The mysterious caller might have been the murderer. Many people knew that mafia men lived and socialized in the area, including John Gotti Jr. Could one of them be responsible for the murder of this young woman?

Bruises covered the body, which led them to believe someone there was a struggle. Some of her fingernails were broken; officers took note of this. Whoever disposed of the body wanted it far away from them.

One of the most urgent questions that needed to be answered was, who was the victim? The killer had disfigured the body, including a crude haircut, enough for her to be unrecognizable. But why?

Unless there was an undeniable, public link between the victim and the murderer, they could only figure that out by identifying the body.

Piecing The Night Together

The victim was identified as Imette St. Guillen. Before her murder, Imette was a graduate student at John Jay College. Her goal was to become a crime scene investigator for the New York Police Department. Many of the investigators noted the cruel irony about her fate.

Once cops identified Imette, they began to trace the young woman’s steps the night of her death. They needed to know where she went throughout the night and when the last time anyone heard from her was.

Her best friend, Claire Higgins, offered the beginning of a timeline. The pals went out partying on February 25. They started the night at Manhattan hotspot, Pioneer. Both women danced and drank the night away.

Around 2 in the morning, Claire said goodnight to her friend. She wanted Imette to leave as well, but the other woman wanted to continue partying. The ladies got into an argument. However, around half an hour later, Claire called to check in on her friend. Everything seemed to be fine. She called her friend one more time, just before closing time. Imette told her that she was at The Falls bar in SOHO and promised she would be heading home soon.

With answers to two parts of the mystery, detectives were left with more questions than answers.

Finding A Suspect

Who would want to hurt Imette St. Guillen? It was a question that haunted investigators. By all accounts, she was an ambitious, smart, caring young woman. Nobody said a bad word about her.

While detectives were working overtime to find the murderer, the forensics department began trying to identify any DNA evidence they could. They found carpet fibers in the bedspread that covered Imette’s body. There was also DNA under her fingernails, but they didn’t have anything to test it against.

Despite the fact the murderer raped Imette, there was no semen for the forensics team to test. They wondered why that was the case.

As forensics helped uncover evidence, beat detectives talked to the staff of The Falls. A few remembered Imette being in the bar; they recalled her being extraordinarily drunk. One bartender asked her if she wanted him to call her a cab, she declined.

They were then pointed in the direction of Darryl Littlejohn. He was one of two bouncers working that night. And numerous people saw him escorting Imette out of the bar.

A background check into Darryl revealed something even more troubling. By working at the bar, he violated his parole.

Investigators asked a judge for a search warrant to check out his apartment, which was granted. Samples of the carpet fibers were sent to the forensics team, along with DNA samples.

Everything came back a match. Everyone involved was sure that Darryl Littlejohn was the murderer. He was arrested and formally charged with first-degree murder.

Trial Games

Darryl fired his first lawyer because he didn’t like the work the attorney was doing. The second lawyer that joined his team performed much more to the convict’s liking.

She filed a 36-page motion to have the charges dismissed. In the brief, there were allegations of a vast conspiracy to frame Darryl. No evidence was submitted as proof of her theory. Just allegations that the NYPD needed a suspect and her client fit the bill.

The judge denied the motion.

Before he faced the first-degree murder charges, Darryl was tried for a 2005 abduction charge. People feared that they would drop the murder charges if he was convicted in the abduction trial.

Prosecutors assured the public that Darryl would face the music for murdering Imette.

He was convicted of abduction and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

His lawyer once again attempted to have the murder charges dismissed. She claimed there was proof of a conspiracy that connected the NYPD to the owner of The Falls Bar, Daniel Dorrian.

Without evidence, the judge denied the motion and ordered the trial to move forward.

The City’s Trial

On May 11, 2009, Darryl’s murder trial began. Prosecutors laid out the forensic evidence that tied him to Imette and proved that he was the only person capable of committing the murder. They also introduced his past criminal record as proof that this was not an isolated incident.

Witnesses testified that Darryl told Imette that he would make sure she got home safe. His ex-girlfriend revealed that he asked her to lie about borrowing her car. She refused and told the police about his request.

The defense tried to paint a different picture. They tried to soften his image as a menacing criminal by having him wear glasses to court. She also painted the prosecution’s case as weak and part of the conspiracy.

During her presentation, she argued that the NYPD had no reason to suspect Darryl. But Daniel lied to the police and paid the right people off. The bar owner pointed towards the bouncer, which is why no other suspect looked at it.

Once the case was with the jury, it took them very little time to come to a verdict. They convicted him on the first-degree murder charges. He was sentenced to life in prison without a chance for parole.

Legacy Of Imette

Daniel Dorrian, the owner of The Falls, lost his liquor license for the bar. It effectively went out of business. He has denied any wrongdoing in the Imette St. Guillen case.

Because of the publicity and the role it played in Imette’s murder, Pioneer also went out of business. Nobody associated with that bar was accused or charged in the murder.

New York City officials put together a new law enforcing stricter measures for security and bouncers. It is now required for employers to vet potential employees. Those on parole are not eligible for those types of jobs.

Despite an insistence of a conspiracy, detectives found their man. Darryl Littlejohn murdered Imette St. Guillen because she didn’t want to have sex with him willingly.

He’s serving life in prison because he took hers.