Bouncer Is Indicted in N.Y. Killing

Citing forensic and DNA evidence as the foundation of their case, officials Thursday announced the indictment of bouncer Darryl Littlejohn in the strangling of graduate student Imette St.-Guillen last month.

Littlejohn, 41, who is being held at Rikers Island on parole violations, was charged with first-degree murder involving sexual abuse and two counts of second-degree murder, Brooklyn Dist. Atty. Charles J. Hynes said at a news conference.

At a brief arraignment before State Supreme Court Justice Cheryl Chambers, Littlejohn’s attorney entered a plea of not guilty. Littlejohn faces life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted of first-degree murder. He was ordered held without bail.

Numerous pieces of forensic evidence -- including cellphone calls, carpet and hair fibers -- as well as eyewitness statements were used by New York Police Department detectives and prosecutors to make the case, Hynes said.

Also critical was a DNA match with Littlejohn on plastic ties used to bind St. Guillen’s body, officials said.

The evidence, including coat fibers found on St. Guillen’s body and the comforter her corpse was wrapped in, indicated that she was at Littlejohn’s apartment before she died, Hynes said. She had been drinking earlier at The Falls bar on Lafayette Street in Manhattan, where Littlejohn worked. St. Guillen, 24, was a graduate student at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.