Darryl Littlejohn

As you read this story; do me a favor, keep the idea of “irony” in mind. Hopefully, you will see what I mean at the end.

Let me tell you the story of Darryl Littlejohn. Born in 1965, it didn’t take this little guy long to fall into a life of crime. In 1977, at the ripe old age of 12, Darryl went to a parade. Hey, I probably liked parades at 12, too. Well, I don’t think Darryl was having too much fun at the parade because he decided it would be a good idea to rob a 70 year old woman for $49. Good take for a 12 year old, huh?

I don’t think it scratched Darryl’s itch, though, since he continued on with his renegade lifestyle. From 1977 until 2006, Darryl Littlejohn spent 20 years in prison on 10 separate convictions. Including, but not limited to; robbing a 73 year old woman at knife point, slashing a shop-owner with a razor during a botched robbery, participating in a bank robbery, and getting caught with almost 600 vials of crack cocaine….WHEW, my fingers almost cramped up typing all that.

Finally, in 2004 Darryl Littlejohn was released back into society on parole. Well, we all know what parole means—not a damn thing anymore. Maybe he was going to do something good with his life; but probably not. It didn’t take long for the world to see his intentions for the future.

In January of 2005, Mr. Littlejohn attended a 3 day course at a phony school. The school was called, “U.S. Recovery Bureau”. Apparently this school taught people to behave as police officers—upholders of the law. Following the 3 day course, attendants would receive a badge and ID, plus be allowed to purchase handcuffs. Probably it wasn’t a good idea to allow Darryl Littlejohn in this class, and the school is facing punishment. (The U.S Recovery Bureau was shut down in 2008 by NYPD and Federal Marshalls for giving out official looking badges to convicted felons. Of the 943 “graduates” of the school, 78 –including Littlejohn, were convicted felons. The school is under a federal indictment.)

Following his stint in school, Littlejohn decided to put his training to use. He dressed as an officer of the law and stopped 19 year old Shanai Woodard, a student at York College, on her way home from class sometime later in 2005. He presented a badge and demanded to see her I.D, which she presented immediately. She freaked out when he put her in handcuffs and refused to tell her what she had done.

Woodard decided she was going to fight tooth and nail because something wasn’t right— it’s just not kosher when you get put into some random van in the middle of the afternoon; not for most people, anyway. Shanai unlocked the door to the van and screamed for help. Littlejohn proceeded to beat her about the head to make her shut-up. Instead of becoming the victim of a worse crime, and quite possibly losing her life, Shanai threw herself from the vehicle in view of bystanders; the crowd prevented Littlejohn from retrieving his victim.

Shanai gave police a description of Littlejohn that was incorrect. She also misidentified him in a line-up that was 5 months after the attack. I’m just assuming here, but probably her mistakes were because she was more focused on saving herself than staring into his eyes lovingly. Yeah, we all like to think that we would memorize every detail of our assailants face, but I don’t think anyone really ever knows until they’re in that situation. Unfortunately, because of the lack of a proper identification Littlejohn was free to continue to wreak havoc on unsuspecting victims.

The saga continues.

Now, I want to introduce you to Imette Camilla St. Guillen first. Imette was born in Boston, Massachusetts in March of 1981; where she was raised and educated. She was beautiful. She was a National Honor Society Scholar and well liked by her peers. Deeply loved by her close-knit family, her deceased father influenced her career choice. Imette and her sister, Alejandra, both received the Carol DiMaiti Stuart Foundation Scholarship. (The scholarship was set up by the DiMaiti family following the murder of their daughter, Carol, by Charles Stuart.) This girl was everything Darryl Littlejohn could NEVER be.

Imette was about to turn 25 in February 2006. She had an undergraduate degree in Criminal Justice from George Washington University; where she graduated Magna Cum Laude. She was in her final year of school at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City, working towards her Master’s Degree. She was ready to begin life—ready to make a difference in the world, but not until she celebrated her upcoming birthday.

Toward the end of February 2006, Imette took a short trip to Florida. She returned to NYC on the 25th, where she continued to celebrate her quick approaching birthday. St. Guillen took her best friend, Clair Higgins, out for a night on the town. The two women went out and visited the Pioneer Bar, where they stayed until about 3:30am. Clair wanted to go home, and Imette wanted to stay out; the two argued. Clair got in a cab and went home. Imette walked to another bar. Alone.

Higgins called Imette a bit later and spoke to her; but Imette did not state where she was. She was at The Falls Bar. Just an interesting fact about this particular bar—it is owned by the Dorrian Family. The Dorian family also owned another bar called, Dorrian’s Red Hand. Dorrian’s Red Hand is where Jennifer Levin met Robert Chambers, “The Preppy Killer” nearly 2 decades ago.

This is the last time Imette St. Guillen was seen alive. This girl stumbled into Darryl Littlejohns world of terror. Darryl; a convicted felon, was employed in a bar as a bouncer. By working in the bar he was violating the curfew stipulation of his parole agreement.

Imette was out of contact with her friends and family for 17 hours. They hoped for the best and expected the worst; this was not like her. At the end of this 17 hour period, police received an anonymous phone call from a pay phone telling them they had found the body of Imette St. Guillen off of a road in Brooklyn called The Belt Parkway (AKA. Fountain Avenue).

Police responded to the call; and found what they hoped wasn’t really there. Imette was found nude, raped, tortured and murdered. Packing tape was wrapped around her head, a sock was shoved in her mouth, her hands and feet were bound with plastic ties, and some of her hair was cut off in clumps. Her body was wrapped in a floral print bedspread. The Medical Examiner determined Imette’s cause of death to be asphyxiation due to strangulation. He also determined that she was either “gang raped” or raped with multiple different objects. The only way for family to identify the body was through forensic photographs.

The investigation into this heinous crime had begun.

The manager of the bar where Imette was last seen, Daniel Dorrian, repeatedly lied to the police. He first said Imette wasn’t there. Then he changed his story; saying that she was there and his bouncer escorted her out prior to closing; and he has no idea what happened after that. Witnesses came forth stating they were privy to a loud argument between the woman and the bouncer outside the bar. Dorrian claimed he lied because he knew the repercussions of getting involved and he just didn’t want to. What an asshole—wow!!

Police investigated and investigated. Finally, things started coming together.

Remember, Shanai Woodard? She was watching the news with her mom one night and something scared the crap out of her—Littlejohn’s van. The van she threw herself out of. She called police and let them know.

Littlejohn was sent to Rikers Island Prison in 2006, where he was held on a parole violation (rumored to be the curfew violation). The van was searched with a probable cause warrant and police found Woodard’s DNA. His charges were upped then to kidnapping, robbery, assault, and criminal impersonation of an officer.

Finally Littlejohn was linked to the St. Guillen case. The flowered bed spread Imette was covered in had one of his mother’s pubic hairs on it, as well as, his brother’s semen. The ties binding her hands and feet had DNA evidence; said to be from a nosebleed Littlejohn had. I hope Imette punched him square in the face while he was torturing her, knowing she would help catch her own killer. Another source of DNA was a window scraper found next to Imettes body…what an idiot.

Littlejohn was now sitting in Riker’s Island; charged not only with the kidnapping, robbery, assault, and criminal impersonation of an officer, now he could add 1 count of first degree murder and 2 counts of second degree murder. This monster was finally getting what was coming to him.

In October, 2008, Littlejohn went on trial for his attack on Shanai Woodward. He was convicted on all charges on November 8, 2008; it took the jury less than 3 hours. He received a sentence of life in prison. AMEN.

Judges wanted the trial for Imette’s murder to occur swiftly; unfortunately, it got assigned to a few different judges. The trial finally started May 12, 2009.

Littlejohn fired his first attorney; he didn’t do good enough work in Darryl’s eyes. His next attorney, Joyce David, filed a legal brief with the court. 36 pages of dumb shit; conspiracy after conspiracy. The best one; that Rudy Giuliani was framing Littlejohn on behalf of his family. Apparently the Dorrians are somehow related to the former Mayor. Littlejohn’s attorneys at multiple points in time have claimed that Daniel Dorrian killed Imette and framed Darryl. That’s why Darryl left multiple pieces of DNA on the plastic ties used to bind her — makes sense. NOT. Well, maybe to a nincompoop.

The defense also said that the search warrants were served illegally; and evidence was obtained the same way. They only called 2 witnesses to the stand to prove their case. It seems like these lawyers were more into showboating than anything else.

No one believed this little conspiracy theory gobbledygook — a jury convicted Littlejohn of First Degree Murder on July 9, 2009. They were only deliberating for 7 hours. He was sentenced to life without parole. His sentences are to be served consecutively (one right after another). When his sentence was announced; it is said that Darryl Littlejohn, who wore sunglasses throughout the trial, stared straight ahead with no hint of emotion.

Maureen St. Guillen, Imette’s mother, is keeping her daughter’s memory alive with many scholarships and funds. These are all possible because of the lawsuits she has filed against anyone responsible for the death of Imette. Good for her. She has sued the Federal Government in civil court for 200 million dollars for their failure to keep track of Darryl Littlejohn. Defendants are listed as: the Department of Justice and the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services Program.

She filed suit against The Falls bar and reached an unspecified settlement with the Dorrians out of court. The money from that settlement is going to support the “Spirit of Imette” foundation. She has filed suit against U.S. Recovery Bureau (remember…the school Littlejohn attended to get his bogus badge). The amount asked in the lawsuit is undisclosed; but it does say that they are being sued because the badges they made available to Littlejohn enabled him to be employed as a bouncer.

A group of friends on Craigslist boycotted The Falls Bar; and they lost their liquor license. Despite this, the Dorrian’s continue to be lucratively prosperous in New York and New Jersey.

Of course the defense attorneys plan on filing appeals. It’s a given.

Honestly, if this case shows me anything, it is that our ways aren’t working. How does someone with multiple violent felonies continue to get paroled, especially when he is violating that parole when it is granted? I wish we, as a people, were strong enough to make a stand—one that would work in changing something. How does someone get caught in possession of 600 vials of crack cocaine and not get the book thrown at them. I thought there were mandatory Federal sentences for drug offenses. Darryl Littlejohn should NOT have been on the streets to victimize any of these young women. And the fact that he was rings a resonant WRONG in my ears.

I watched this case, literally, from the beginning. I remember being awake when the news broke about her missing scrolled across the screen. I remember watching the same said news show when they were covering the search for her. I remember hoping she was OK; but suspecting she wasn’t. I remember crying when they found her body. I remember seeing her mom and sister absolutely debilitated with grief. I thought about someone with so much promise being taken from the world, by someone who represented the very epitome of who she wanted to help and rehabilitate; if that isn’t irony, I don’t know what is.

The pictures are, from top to bottom:

1. Darryl Littlejohn
2. Imette St. Guillen
3. The Falls Bar
4. Maureen St. Guillen
5. Daniel Dorrian

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