Imette Carmella St. Guillen (March 2, 1981 – February 25, 2006) was an American graduate student who was raped and murdered in New York City. She was studying criminal justice at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. Her murder captured national attention; together with the later murder of Jennifer Moore, it was a catalyst for passage of legislation to require background checks of bouncers in bars and a security plan for nightclubs. Darryl Littlejohn, a bouncer, was convicted of St. Guillen's murder. Life and murder Imette St. Guillen was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to Seimundo Guillen and Maureen St. Hilaire. Her surname–and that of her elder sister– was a combination of their parents' surnames. Their mother was French Canadian. Their father, Seimundo Guillen, a Venezuelan immigrant, died of AIDS when Imette was nine years old. Her widowed mother later remarried. St. Guillen graduated from Boston Latin School in 1999 and moved to Washington, D.C. to attend George Washington University. Like her father, St. Guillen studied criminal justice. She graduated magna cum laude in 2003 and enrolled at John Jay College of Criminal Justice to pursue a master's degree. Although originally intending to study forensic psychology, St. Guillen changed her major to criminal justice. Ranked in the top 5% of her class, she was scheduled to graduate in May 2006. After celebrating her upcoming birthday with her mother and sister in Florida, St. Guillen took a plane back to New York. On February 24, 2006, St. Guillen met with her best friend Claire Higgins to continue celebrating her birthday, a few days away. Out at a nightclub around 3:30 a.m. on February 25, the two women argued over whether to go home. Higgins left; later, in a 3:50 a.m. phone call, St. Guillen assured Higgins that she would soon be leaving for home. She was last seen at 4:00 a.m at a bar named 'The Falls'. Seventeen hours after St. Guillen spoke with her friend, police in Brooklyn received an anonymous phone call alerting them to a dead woman's body on Fountain Avenue in Spring Creek Park. They soon identified it as St. Guillen. Her body was nude, wrapped in a comforter. Her broken fingernails showed she fought against her attacker. Her hands and feet were tied, a sock had been shoved down her throat, and her head was wrapped in packing tape. Some of her hair