Imette St Guillen's dream was to be a crime scene investigator, just like the forensic experts she loved to watch as they solved the difficult cases on popular TV shows such as Law and Order and CSI.
That flame was extinguished when Imette, a 24-year-old student at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan, was found bound, beaten and strangled in a New York alley last month, the victim of a brutal rape and murder that shocked the city.
Now, in a huge twist of irony, the trial of the nightclub bouncer accused of killing her will concentrate heavily on the strong forensic evidence linking him to the crime.
It will also reopen debate about the existence of what experts call the 'CSI effect', the concept in which American juries are perceived to bring what they see on the crime shows into the courtroom and look for overwhelming and often unrealistic forensic proof before being convinced of a person's guilt.
'The public is more interested in forensic evidence than ever before, largely because of these hugely entertaining TV shows,' said Professor Carol Henderson, director of the National Clearinghouse for Science, Technology and the Law at Stetson University College in Gulfport, Florida.
'Some jurors expect that some of the technology used in these shows is real, and it's not. Some of it just doesn't exist. Prosecutors feel there is an effect on jurors, and that these unrealistic expectations can harm the jury system.'