Darryl Littlejohn -- Murder of Imette St. Guillen, 24 - TBD
Tracing her last night step by step BY VERONIKA BELENKAYA and RICH SCHAPIRO DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS A few minutes after 4 a.m., the last customer inside The Falls bar on Lafayette St. stumbles outside onto the nearly deserted sidewalk. The large door locks behind her and only the whir of a taxi cruising past and trash blowing in the wind break the silence. By 4:15 a.m., there is no one around. It was on this sidewalk at this time of night that Imette St. Guillen, a Manhattan graduate student, was last seen alive. "She didn't talk to anybody," a burly bouncer inside The Falls told the Daily News early yesterday. "She just kept to herself." The 24-year-old walked into the sleek pub shortly before closing time on Feb. 25. She sat down at the middle of the long, wooden bar and ordered a mixed drink, the bouncer said. After she downed her drink, she ordered another but didn't finish it. About 3:50 a.m., the beautiful young woman got a call on her cell phone from her close friend, Claire Higgins, and stepped outside. She told Higgins she was going back to her upper West Side home soon. "She just walked out of the bar, stood in front and then we went back inside," the bouncer said. Exactly what happened after the beauty strolled out of The Falls when its doors were finally locked has left investigators baffled. Police sources believe it's likely that she was grabbed off the street by a sick stranger. "There are a lot of cabs, but it's really quiet out here around this time," said Patrick Prosciac, 26, one of the last patrons to leave The Falls early yesterday. "You can totally see places where a person could have a vantage point and could be watching out for someone." St. Guillen's nude, brutalized body was found on a desolate road in Spring Creek, Brooklyn, wrapped in a floral quilt, at about 8:40 p.m. Twenty-three hours earlier, the student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice had met up with Higgins at the Pioneer Bar, on the Bowery. The News retraced their steps from Friday night into Saturday morning. Located on the edge of the lower East Side, the Pioneer draws a mix of locals, college students, young professionals and a bridge-and-tunnel crowd eager to party in a gentrifying area historically known for its grit. The neighborhood "does have an edge to it," said Adam Ward,22, outside the Pioneer late Friday. That St. Guillen would choose such a place to hang out is hardly surprising. The neighborhood where she grew up in western Boston, Mission Hill, is the home of a similar mix of immigrants, hipsters and middle-class professionals. Brilliant and beautiful, the aspiring forensics investigator was known during her high school days for her diverse interests and charismatic personality. "She dove into school and its activities," said Cornelia Kelley, headmaster of Boston Latin High School. "I truly believe she was destined for great things." St. Guillen and Higgins began drinking at the Pioneer around 10 p.m., the time when things typically just get going. It's not until 11:30 p.m. that the bar typically becomes crowded with young people dancing and ordering beers and mixed drinks made with top-shelf liquor. St. Guillen loved going out, and her friends marveled at how much the 5-foot-2, 110-pound student could drink without losing her composure. "She could really put them down," a former classmate at George Washington University said. The Pioneer kicks into full swing after midnight, and St. Guillen surely would have caught the eye of the sprawling bar's many single men. College friends said St. Guillen, who moved to New York in 2004, never had a problem meeting guys. She also loved to shop and exercise and had a penchant for Lean Cuisine meals. After nearly six hours at the Pioneer, St. Guillen and Higgins walked outside around 3:40 a.m. On most weekends, St. Guillen would call it a night at that hour or earlier. And on her way home, she would stop to chat with employees of a building next to hers. "She was the sweetest girl that lived around here," said Antonio Rosario, a janitor who worked on her block. "She was always laughing, always smiling." But rather than go home with Higgins, St. Guillen decided to go to The Falls. In the short walk to Lafayette St., she would have passed at least three open bars. But for some reason her mind was set on The Falls. No one seems to know exactly why she wanted to stay out or why she chose that bar. "She was a late-night gal," said Candy Bogatz, her undergrad roommate at George Washington University. "But she would not go to another bar unless she knew somebody there or was going with somebody." St. Guillen was last seen standing alone. http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/396999p-336408c.html

Grieving sis: Be at peace, Imette A river of tears for slain beauty By JONATHAN LEMIRE in Boston and DAVE GOLDINER in New York DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS They said goodbye to Imette St. Guillen yesterday with heart-tugging poems, stories from her promising life and a flood of tears over her violent end. A week after the vivacious graduate student was brutally slain, an overflow crowd of friends and relatives remembered her as a remarkable person and unforgettable light in their lives. "You are everything any parent could want in a child," her mother, Maureen St. Guillen, said at the William J. Gormley Funeral Home in West Roxbury, Mass. "You were - and are - the love of my life." Sobbing on the dais of the funeral home, Alejandra St. Guillen, the murdered student's only sister, insisted that she would never stop saying farewell. "I want to wrap my arms around you and take away every ounce of pain you experienced," said Alejandra, who read a poem about their father, who died when they were children. "Be at peace, Imette," she said. "I love you always." Hundreds of mourners filled the funeral home and scores more stood outside in bitter single-digit temperatures to listen to the service on a public address system. An honor guard from the Boston Police Department motorcycle unit, where Imette St. Guillen's half-brother works as a cop, stood at attention. The family planned a private cremation and reception later in the day. More than a dozen friends spoke of her days as an achiever at prestigious Boston Latin High School, George Washington University and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Her best friend, Claire Higgins, said St. Guillen had a magnetic personality and loved to play jokes and games with her large circle of friends. "She filled every one with that passion for love," said Higgins, who had been hanging out with St. Guillen less than an hour before she disappeared near the heart of SoHo. "You knew she would never forget you." Rebecca Reilly, who met St. Guillen after she answered an ad for a roommate on Craigslist, said her friend had a plaque on her wall that read: "Live each day as life has just begun." "She always did that, and we will, too, to remember her," Reilly said. None of the speakers mentioned the grisly way St. Guillen was tortured and killed, preferring images of her laughing with friends or staying up late watching TV in her apartment. "We come not to hold up the senselessness of her death," said the Rev. Rosemary Lloyd, a Unitarian minister, "but to celebrate the grace and beauty of her life." Originally published on March 5, 2006 http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/396998p-336399c.html

Man Questioned In Crime Student's Beating, Rape Death POSTED: 1:28 pm EST March 6, 2006 UPDATED: 1:49 pm EST March 6, 2006 NEW YORK -- Police have been questioning a bouncer at the trendy bar where a graduate student was seen hours before her naked body was found, bound and with packaging tape wrapped over her face. Two law enforcement officials described the 41-year-old man, who has an extensive criminal record, as a potential suspect. The bouncer was on duty at The Falls bar in SoHo when Imette St. Guillen disappeared Feb. 25, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because no one had been charged. Authorities have said they believe someone accosted St. Guillen after she left the bar. There are several security video cameras in the neighborhood, but police haven't found any showing her in the area at closing time. On Sunday, police officers, some in white laboratory suits, searched the bar and the entire two-story building that houses the bar for evidence. The building is owned by the family of Geraldine Ferraro, the former Democratic congresswoman, vice presidential candidate and Queens prosecutor. "They went into the basement, they went on the roof, they went upstairs to the second floor," Ferraro said. "We allowed them total access to anything that they wanted to see." "I think they went in as much to eliminate any evidence as to search for anything in particular," Ferraro added. St. Guillen, a student at John Jay School of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, was found dumped on the side of a service road in Brooklyn. The 24-year-old had been raped, strangled and suffocated with the packaging tape that was wrapped around her face. A $42,000 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction. http://www.nbc10.com/news/7747381/detail.html

Mar 7, 2006 7:00 am US/Eastern Bouncer Held In NYC Student Killing Police Chase Evidence In Imette St. Guillen Case (CBS) NEW YORK An ex-con who works as a bouncer in New York City may hold key clues to the murder mystery surrounding the death of a graduate student. Police have been holding him now for more than a day but have not made an arrest. This morning police are still questioning the bouncer who worked a SoHo bar where student Imette St. Guillen was last seen alive. Investigators are calling him a "a person of interest" and he has not been charged. Investigators spent at least six hours at the home where the bar employee lives with search warrants for the first floor, the basement and the driveway. The family of the 24-year-old graduate student from John Jay College has been watching the developments from Boston where the victim was buried this past weekend. The victim's mother, Maureen St. Guillen, said she didn't know if the person being held by police killed her daughter, but "I just want my daughter's killer to be caught and prosecuted." On Monday police used a crowbar and sledgehammer to break into the basement apartment where the 41-year-old bouncer lives. His aunt spoke with WCBS-TV, as her nephew spent the day being questioned. "I'm hoping that he's exonerated, but I hope also that they catch whoever did this." Crime scene investigators seemed to pay particular attention to the driveway of the man's home. "They were looking for different types of samples, blood and hair, and different types of things that they listed on there. There were a number of items on there - like 12 or 13 items." At the Falls Bar where the bouncer worked, sources said packing tape similar to the type used to cover the victim's face was found. Police could not find any video of St. Guillen from the dozens of neighborhood surveillance cameras at 4 a.m., and now believe she never left 218 Lafayette Street alive. Cat hairs found on the bedspread used to wrap St Guillen's naked body and there was a cat in the basement of 218 Lafayette Street. The bouncer's cell phone records indicate that on Saturday morning it was physically on the Belt Parkway near Brooklyn's Spring Creek Park where St Guillen's mutilated body was dumped. The key may be DNA tests on material found under the victim's nails. According to WCBS-TV reports, the bouncer asked for an attorney yesterday and wanted to leave, but police said he violated his parole by working at the bar past his curfew until 4 a.m. each day, so they are keeping him in custody. Officials say the bouncer is on parole for drug and robbery convictions. http://kyw.com/topstories/topstories_story_066071815.html

Minivan May Yield Evidence POSTED: 7:16 am EST March 7, 2006 UPDATED: 8:16 am EST March 8, 2006 NEW YORK -- Investigators on Tuesday waited to see if forensic and other evidence would tie a parolee to the brutal slaying of a graduate student last seen alive at a SoHo nightspot where he worked as a bouncer. The 41-year-old man had not been charged in the killing of Imette St. Guillen. But he was being held at a Rikers Island jail, accused of a parole violation, while authorities pursued the case. A hearing has been scheduled to determine how long the man can be held there. Detectives on Tuesday executed a search warrant on a van parked a few blocks from the bouncer's Queens home but refused to discuss what prompted the search. They also were seen removing a vehicle seat from the bouncer's home. The van was later towed away. Detectives towed away the van, which they identified as a gray Ford Windstar. Detectives carried out a rear seat of a van that had been inside the house. They believe those seats were from the van, and were trying to determine why they had been removed from the vehicle. Investigators said they were closing in on the bouncer because cell phone records put him near the lot where the body was discovered the day she was killed. During another search of his home, investigators said they seized socks, perhaps to compare to the one that was found in the victim's mouth. To date, other forensic testing is not complete or has come back inconclusive. In the search of the house, one source said no smoking gun was found, although detectives also removed a section of stained carpet, and tests were under way to see if the stains were blood. NewsChannel 4 confirmed that the manager at the Falls Bar failed to tell police about how the bouncer had escorted St. Guillen outside and that he heard a commotion -- which would be the last time St. Guillen was seen alive. St. Guillen, 24, was raped, strangled and suffocated by someone who stuffed a sock in her mouth and wrapped her head with packaging tape before dumping her body on a desolate road in Brooklyn on Feb. 25. St. Guillen, a student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, was last seen alive at The Falls bar. Initially, witnesses said she had quietly walked out the door alone when the bar closed at 4 a.m., police said. But a bar manager later revealed that he had instructed the bouncer to toss her out when she complained that she was not being allowed to finish a drink, a law enforcement official said. The witness said he overheard "some sort of arguing and a commotion" as the bouncer took the woman outside, the official said. The official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no one had been charged in the killing, said investigators have cell phone evidence possibly linking the bouncer to the East New York spot where St. Guillen's naked body was found. The records show his phone was used nearby about two hours before police -- responding to an anonymous 911 call from a public phone -- discovered the body. On Sunday, police began questioning the bouncer, who has convictions for armed robbery and other crimes. They also collected several boxes of evidence during searches of The Falls and his home. Parole officials said the man was conditionally released in 2004 after serving time for a 1995 bank robbery conviction. He violated the conditions of his parole by failing to observe a 9 p.m. curfew, they said. A $42,000 reward has been offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction. The Falls has the same ownership as Dorrian's Red Hand, the Upper East Side bar that gained notoriety as the place where preppie killer Robert Chambers met Jennifer Levin before killing her in Central Park in 1986. http://www.wnbc.com/news/7771529/detail.html

Police: DNA Links Murdered Student To Suspect POSTED: 4:31 pm EST March 12, 2006 NEW YORK -- New York City police said they will seek an indictment against parolee Darryl Littlejohn for the rape-killing of graduate student Imette Saint Guillen. Her naked and bound body was found last month on the side of a road in Brooklyn. Littlejohn is in police custody on a parole violation. He maintains his innocence. Police said they found blood and DNA evidence on plastic ties allegedly used to restrain Saint Guillen. They said that evidence links the crime to Littlejohn. Authorities will present their evidence to a grand jury. The Boston native was attending graduate school in New York when she was killed. http://www.local6.com/news/7940356/detail.html

I with you. That's what I like about Texas. There is a time limit on appeals and then it's off to the happy chamber. Still waiting for them to open the express lanes though. :wink:

Grand Jury Will Decide Prime Suspect's Fate In Murder Of Grad Student March 13, 2006 The murder case of city grad student Imette St. Guillen is in the hands of the grand jury. The panel will decide whether to indict the only suspect in the case, 41-year-old bouncer Darryl Littlejohn. Authorities say they'll pursue murder charges after DNA tests detected Littlejohn's blood on a plastic ties that were used to bind Imette St. Guillen's hands. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says the blood will be used along with other evidence to help police get Littlejohn indicted on the murder charge. "This is a very significant development. When you talk about DNA, we're talking about the certainty of 1 in a trillion, so it is a very important piece of evidence for us," said Kelly at a press conference Sunday. The 24-year-old grad student was last seen in the early morning hours of February 25th at the Falls bar in SoHo. Her body was found 17 hours later in East New York, raped and mutilated. Kelly confirms telephone records put the phone Littlejohn had in his possession in the immediate vicinity of where the body was found, and that witnesses had seen Littlejohn and St. Guillen together outside the bar. Littlejohn has been in custody at Riker's Island since last Tuesday on a parole violation for a separate case. http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=57757

Lawyer for suspect in student slay speaks outHe's highly critical of the DNA evidence in the case Eyewitness News' Nina Pineda (New York -WABC, March 13, 2006) - The lawyer for the prime suspect in the murder of Imette Saint Guillen is speaking out and criticizing the police. The lawyer for Darryl Littlejohn is telling Eyewitness News that his client has new information to share about the murder of the graduate student. Eyewitness News Reporter Nina Pineda is in SoHo with the latest. Police believe after being asked to show Saint Guillen the door at The Falls bar, the seven time convicted felon employed as a bouncer, raped and tortured and murdered her. But today, Darryl Littlejohn told his lawyer a different story. The man suspected of brutally killing Imette Saint Guillen is scared. His attorney told Eyewitness News that Darryl Littlejohn is aware that his face is the one being seen everywhere -- and the man police believe viciously attacked the grad student. Kevin O'Donnell, suspect's attorney: "Of course he's frightened. His face has been plastered across every newspaper across the country." Assigned by the public defender's office to represent the bouncer on a rape charge in Queens, the attorney spent the day at Riker's Island talking with the suspect. Littlejohn shared new information that he believes will prove he's innocent. "Now I have something to submit to my investigators that they will go out and conduct their investigation ... I'm not going to get into any portions of this case ... Only a jury will exonerate him and that's what we are looking for." O'Donnell said. The hard evidence the police say they have may prove difficult to dispute. Darryl Littlejohn's cell phone records place him in the area the body was discovered. Animal hairs found on the blanket used to wrap the victim, had been traced to the suspect's cat. And Darryl Littlejohn's blood, investigators say, turned up on plastic ties used to bind the 24-year-old's hands. Ray Kelly, NYC Police Commissioner: "We're talking about the certainty of one in a trillion, so it is a very important piece of evidence for us." "My concern is that it took two weeks to conclude that the wrist cuffs are tied to my client. Now my question is, why did it take them two weeks for a test that should have been conclusive in 72 hours normally? I have great concerns," O'Donnell added. Mr. O'Donnell said when the grand jury in Brooklyn hands down an indictment of his client -- which they could do this week after hearing evidence -- Darryl Littlejohn plans to plead not guilty. http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=3990247

Murder suspect's lawyer goes on the offensive. Say it will be impossible for his client to get a fair trial in brutal student murder case Eyewitness News' Marcus Solis (New York -WABC, March 15, 2006) - The attorney for the prime suspect in the murder of Immete Saint Guillen says he has new evidence tonight that casts a serious doubt on NYPD's claim that his client killed the college student. Eyewitness News reporter Marcus Solis live outside the courthouse in downtown Brooklyn with more. Darryl Littlejohn's lawyer is going on the offensive, he says, because it will be impossible for his client to get a fair trial. But before there is a trial there has to be an indictment and that is likely to happen within the next few days. Like everyone else, Kevin O'Donnell is waiting. His client, Darryl Littlejohn, could be charged with first degree murder as early as next week. A Brooklyn grand jury is hearing evidence that police say links the bar bouncer to the murder of Imette Saint Guillen. Police say the ties used to bind the victim's hands had traces of his blood. But Littlejohn's lawyer says he has concerns about the police investigation. For example: the blue van in Littlejohn's driveway. O'Donnell says it can't be the vehicle Saint Guillen got into the night she was killed. Kevin O'Donnell, Defense Attorney: "That van has been in his driveway for the last three months. The axel is damaged and that car, if it's able to run, can't go anymore than 20 miles an hour without stalling." Police say they have linked Littlejohn's cell phone records to the area near where the graduate student's naked, bound and mutilated body was found in East New York. Fibers from carpet in his home are similar to those found on packing tape covering Saint Guillen's head. Even though much of the evidence appears to be circumstantial, O'Donnell expects his client to be indicted. Kevin O'Donnell, Defense Attorney: "Mr. Littlejohn is not going to get a fair trial because the entire public, including the jury pool has read nothing but all of these damning reports against my client and quite frankly, I don't blame the public for feeling this way, but the fact is the process is being tainted." A panel of 23 men and women heard evidence for a second day. A simple majority is all that's required for them to vote yes on an indictment. Sources say that could happen early next week. http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=3996030

Police Have More Trouble Tying Bouncer to Rapes By KAREEM FAHIM Published: March 15, 2006 Shortly after he was first questioned by the police in the murder of Imette St. Guillen, Darryl Littlejohn was mentioned by investigators as a potential suspect in three other attacks, two rapes and a kidnapping. One rape occurred in Nassau County, and the second rape and the kidnapping took place in Queens. But those investigations have not gone smoothly for the authorities. The victims in the two cases in Queens did not pick Mr. Littlejohn out in lineups conducted last week. And in the Nassau County case, in which an attacker abducted and raped a 15-year-old girl, it appears that there may be no lineup at all, a law enforcement official said. The reasons for that were unclear yesterday. But the law enforcement official said the process that would lead to a lineup had been "compromised" because of an apparent mistake involving a picture of Mr. Littlejohn: it was either accidentally shown to the victim, or pointed out to her from among a group of other photographs. The Nassau County Police Department declined to comment on the matter yesterday, saying only that the investigation into the rape of the girl, who was abducted in Elmont on Nov. 9, is continuing. If the error prevents the police from conducting a lineup in the rape case, then the breach of investigative protocol is, if not a setback, at least another pause in what has been a sometimes frustrating case for investigators. Mr. Littlejohn, 41, a bouncer in a downtown Manhattan bar called the Falls, has been linked by DNA evidence to the Feb. 25 murder of Ms. St. Guillen, according to the police. A grand jury in Brooklyn is believed to be deciding whether to indict Mr. Littlejohn, who is at imprisoned at Rikers Island on a parole violation. But in addition to the murder, Mr. Littlejohn was being investigated in connection with the rapes and a kidnapping that occurred late last year. Last week, the victims in the two Queens cases — a 19-year-old woman and another woman described as being in her 20's — did not identify Mr. Littlejohn in lineups, law enforcement officials said. The victim in the Nassau County case was forced into a van at gunpoint as she walked near the Hempstead Turnpike on Nov. 9, the police said. After putting her in the back of the van, and covering her head with a coat, the attacker took the girl to an unknown location and raped her. Then, he gave her a shirt and sweatpants to wear, and dropped her off in Elmont, the police said. It was not clear if the victim got a good look at her attacker, or whether the authorities were able to recover DNA evidence after the attack. Mr. Littlejohn, communicating through his lawyer, Kevin P. O'Donnell, has maintained his innocence. Mr. O'Donnell could not be reached for comment yesterday, but he complained on Monday that leaks in the investigation would make it impossible for his client to get a fair trial. A retired New York City police lieutenant, Joseph Pollini, who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said that even if the 15-year-old had seen her attacker, it is not certain she could have identified him. "Physical identification is the worst form that exists," he said. "People's minds play tricks on them. Fingerprints are good, and DNA is excellent." But when lineups are conducted, a strict protocol exists, Mr. Pollini said. "Basically, when you show a photo array, you say, 'Is there anyone in this photo array that you recognize?' " he said. "It's a similar thing when you bring them to the lineup room. You can't influence it in any way, shape or form." Fernanda Santos contributed reporting for this article. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/nyregion...r=1&oref=slogin

2nd Bouncer Key Witness In St. Guillen Case Tim Catella Also Has Criminal Past Scott Weinberger Reporting (CBS) BROOKLYN For a second day, Brooklyn prosecutors continue to present witnesses and scientific evidence to the grand jury in the murder investigation of Imette St. Guillen. But CBS 2 has learned one of those witnesses could spell more trouble for the Falls Bar. That witness, Tim Catella, was another bouncer at the Falls Bar, and he, too, has a checkered past. Catella worked alongside Darryl Littlejohn at the Falls Bar the night St. Guillen was murdered. Sources told CBS 2 that Catella is now a key witness for prosecutors. Cbs2 has learned that what makes Catella crucial to the case is that he said that Littlejohn was the only person who led the victim out of the bar. CBS 2 Investigates confirmed that like Littlejohn, Catella was working at the Falls Bar even though he has a criminal past. Catella was arrested and charged in April 2001 with two counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon. Sources said that Catella beat a man with a bat and a flashlight. In a plea deal, one of those charges was dropped, and he was placed on three years probation. By law, both Littlejohn and Catella are required to be licensed to work as bouncers, while Littlejohn never had a license, at one time Catella did, but it expired in 1997. The New York State Division of License confirmed to CBS 2 that when Catella reapplied in June, he was denied. The reason? They said he lied about his criminal conviction. CBS 2 made several attempts to contact management at the Falls Bar. None our calls was returned. http://wcbstv.com/topstories/local_story_076115314.html

WITNESS SHOCKER By LUKAS I. ALPERT and SUSAN EDELMAN March 18, 2006 -- Unlicensed ex-con bouncer Tim Catella was working at The Falls bar the night Imette St. Guillen was raped and murdered - and he'll tell a grand jury she left with the prime suspect in the case, it was reported yesterday. Bolstering other accounts with key eyewitness testimony, Tim Catella, 31, is expected to tell a Brooklyn grand jury probing the brutal killing he saw the hulking Darryl Littlejohn walk out with St. Guillen, CBS News reported. Catella worked alongside Littlejohn as bouncers at The Falls in SoHo on Feb. 25 - but both should not have been working at all. Littlejohn, a career criminal, had no license to work security, and Catella's was revoked last year when he lied about his criminal record on his re-application form, said Laurence Sombke, spokesman for the New York Department of State. Catella pleaded guilty to assault in 2002 after smashing a man on the head with a baseball bat and flashlight and was sentenced to three years probation, the Manhattan DA's office said. Catella's unlicensed presence is another example of the lax background-checking employed by The Falls owners - the Dorrian family of "preppy murder" notoriety - which allowed Littlejohn to work that night, violating his parole. "They have to report to us if they've hired them as security guards," Sombke said, which The Falls failed to do. The State Liquor Authority could revoke the bar's liquor license, but has temporarily suspended their investigation while the criminal probe continues, said a spokesman there. Repeated messages left with the Dorrian family lawyer, Daniel Gitner, were not returned. Sources say Danny Dorrian, the bartender working the morning St. Guillen was killed, has told investigators that he ordered Littlejohn to toss her out and heard them arguing outside. But his account came only after a week of claiming he was not even there. Catella refused to comment yesterday. Meanwhile, the grand jury's decision on whether to indict Littlejohn, 41, was pushed back yesterday when several scheduled witnesses were unable to appear, sources said. lukas.alpert@nypost.com http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/65549.htm

BARTENDER: 'WE WERE ALL CONNED' BY IMETTE BOUNCER By CATHY BURKE TOUGH TO SWALLOW: Chris Faherty, a bartender at the SoHo hotspot The Falls, writes in this week's New York mag that Darryl Littlejohn (above), the suspect in Imette St. Guillen's murder, had the entire bar believing the lie that he was a federal agent. March 19, 2006 -- It should have been like any other Friday night at The Falls. Bartender Chris Faherty served drinks to patrons who had packed in to the SoHo hot spot wall-to-wall by midnight. At a quarter after 3, he split the house's tips with another bartender and began to organize a mountain of credit card slips piled up on the wooden bar. Half an hour later, he headed to the bathroom. And that's when one of the last people ever to see Imette St. Guillen alive noticed her for the first time, according to his first-person account in the upcoming issue of New York magazine. "She was sitting alone at the far end of a 20-foot oak bar, very erect in her chair," Faherty writes. "I remember thinking how strange it was to see a dainty little girl alone at the bar, talking to no one." "But I had a routine, business to finish. The last chore was in the basement. "At around 4 a.m., as I was counting my drop in the office below, the girl, like any other patron at closing time, was asked to leave and escorted out by the doorman. "Later that day, the dead body of Imette St. Guillen was found in an abandoned field in East New York." Faherty said he did not speak to St. Guillen that night, but the long-time bartender reveals how staff at the beleaguered tony tavern came to play a crucial role in the city's most prominent murder investigation. The path led cops to arrest the ex-con bouncer who is the prime suspect in the beautiful grad student's slaying. Faherty said that "I was conned, we all were," by the bouncer, Darryl Littlejohn. In an eerie account of workings at the now infamous nightspot, he says that everyone at The Falls - including manager Danny Dorrian - believed the hulking suspect and another bouncer "were the law," making the bar "a safer place." Doorman Darryl Littlejohn - known only as "B," along with pal bouncer "Kwan" - had the entire bar thinking they were a rough-and-tumble pair of federal agents, regaling co-workers with tales of taking down bad guys with guns blazing. Faherty vividly recalls meeting Littlejohn just three months earlier. "I was outside grabbing a quick smoke, sparking up some conversation with Kwan, our regular bouncer, who introduced us. I asked the obvious question: What does B stand for? 'Brother,' " Kwan replied, smiling. 'He's my brother.' "Kwan was six-four and built; B was five-seven but broad-shouldered, with a back that engulfed his body like a turtle's shell. He wore clear-lensed wraparound glasses and military garb, which added to his intimidating presence. "Obviously not related by blood, they claimed to be partners: federal marshals who hunted fugitives by day and moonlighted together at night. The two of them would stroll into work sporting what we all thought were their clothes from the day job: fatigues tucked into combat boots, bulletproof vests, handcuffs dangling from their belts, and U.S. marshal caps and T-shirts. They even had shiny gold badges. "When it was slow, I would hang out with Kwan and B while they checked IDs. Kwan, unlike his quiet partner, had the gift of gab," Faherty writes. "He would wax poetic about their exploits. Prisoner transports were probably my favorites, but I also enjoyed the occasional house-raid story. There was a great one involving guns ablaze at a bust in the Midwest. "I was the fun Irish bartender who made them laugh with my corny jokes and wet their whistles at the end of the shift with snifters of Hennessy. If anyone bothered me, B and Kwan were my protection. "And I wasn't the only one who bought their act. Tim, the other bouncer, hated to work with cops; and the manager, Danny Dorrian, truly believed that since B and Kwan were the law, their presence made The Falls a safer place." Days after the brutal murder, when Faherty and others were being questioned by police, "there was one uncomfortable moment," he wrote. "I told the interrogator about B and Kwan's exploits as U.S. marshals, and the assistant DA just glared at me, like I was the last kid in the family to hear about Mom and Dad's divorce." Later, "When I sat down next to Tim, he turned to me and said, 'The cops think B did it.' . . . It was like a Joe Frazier right hook. "When the pain faded, I just felt like a patsy . . . I was conned, we all were, by Kwan - who never came back from his vacation - and his 'brother' Darryl Littlejohn." http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/65603.htm