Craigslist Killing Suspect a Serial Killer?

May 14, 2009

Philip Markoff, 22, suspected of murder as the "Craigslist Killer," is apparently being investigated by police as a possible serial killer.  It also appears that Markoff, the son of a successful dentist and himself a second-year medical school student at Boston University, may have also been hiding a gay lifestyle despite the fact that he was engaged to a beautiful woman he had met at the State University of New York at Albany while both were serving as volunteers at a medical center there.  They had planned to be married on August 14, 2009, in a beachfront ceremony in Long Branch, New Jersey.

"He's a predator," said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis.

Investigators believe Markoff selectively preyed on women who advertised erotic services on Craigslist, an online advertising source that is utilized by millions of people.  He allegedly would set up meetings with women he found on Craigslist, through telephone calls and e-mails.  They would typically meet at upscale hotels.  Due in part to the controversy surrounding the case, Craigslist has recently announced that it will discontinue the erotic services advertisements.  Markoff also reportedly collected his victims' panties as souvenirs of his crimes, according to the police.

The case broke after Julissa Brisman, 26, an aspiring model and actress, apparently placed an ad on Craigslist that advertised herself as a masseuse, which Markoff allegedly answered.  After the two had connected, they purportedly arranged a meeting at the Copley Marriott hotel in Boston for 10 p.m. on April 14, 2009.  When the cops found Brisman's body, they discovered that she had been bound with plastic handcuffs, struck in the head and shot three times - one of the bullets pierced her heart.

"Julissa put up a pretty good struggle," said Suffolk District Attorney Daniel Conley.  "This was a brutal, vicious crime."  Conley added that the crime showed that Markoff possessed a willingness to "beat" and "rob" women in a savage manner.

Just four days earlier, police allege that Markoff robbed another woman, a 29-year-old prostitute, at gunpoint at another Boston hotel after Markoff allegedly answered a Craigslist ad similar in nature to the one that had been placed by Brisman.  Video surveillance cameras reportedly captured Markoff leaving both hotels.

The prostitute, who survived the attack, identified the man who attacked her as Markoff after viewing the surveillance tapes.  Markoff reportedly bound the woman with plastic handcuffs and tied her to a doorknob in the hotel room, and taped her mouth shut.  She said that he had taken $800 in cash, along with a debit card and a gift card valued at $250.  The hooker told police that she believes she is alive because she did not resist his attack.

Police have also listed Markoff as a suspect in the attempted robbery of a stripper in Warwick, Rhode Island, who had also posted an advertisement on Craigslist.  The stripper was held by a man matching Markoff's description at gunpoint inside a hotel room only two days after Brisman was killed.  When the woman's husband entered the room, the gunman ran away - but not without first being caught on a video surveillance camera.

The cops were able to focus on Markoff after tracing an e-mail address that he had set up in which to make an appointment for a massage.  Later, after his arrest, a search of the apartment Markoff shared with his fiancée turned up a semiautomatic weapon hidden inside a hollowed-out copy of Gray's Anatomy, and police later tied the weapon to Brisman's death.  They also found his fingerprints at the slaying scene.

Police do not believe that Brisman is the first person that Markoff has killed.  As a result, they are tracking his movements over the past few years, and have begun looking into unsolved murders in locations where he was known to have been including Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Connecticut, and at locations in the Caribbean.  Although cops aren't saying much about his alleged bisexual lifestyle, they believe it could tie in with him being a sexual predator.  He purportedly cheated on his fiancée after meeting both men and women through Internet chat rooms.  He also purportedly admitted to harboring gay fantasies while still in high school, and had brought the fantasies to fruition after he and his fiancée became engaged.  Police claim that his e-mails were "very sexual and graphic."  Markoff reportedly e-mailed "sexually explicit" photos of himself to a man approximately a year ago, but the two never met each other in person.  He also apparently posed as a black woman on Craigslist as an "ebony erotic masseuse" in an attempt at getting men to meet with him, but investigators do not know if his intentions included robbery or sex-or both.

Detectives are also looking closely at four unsolved homicides involving prostitutes in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and at the possibility that Markoff's alleged robberies had been committed to support a gambling habit that had gotten out of hand.  Markoff apparently has an affinity for gambling, and was arrested on April 20, 2009 as he was traveling to a casino in Connecticut.  He supposedly was carrying a suitcase with more than $1,000 inside it, and was known to play $1000 hands at poker tables.

Markoff has been charged with murder, unlawful possession of a firearm, robbery and kidnapping.  Other charges may come later if investigators connect him with some of the other murders they are looking at.  After discovering a mark around his neck that jail guards believe may have been caused by a shoelace, Markoff has been placed on a suicide watch and lodged in a special area of the jail.

Related Link:
The Craigslist Rapist

Photo Credit: Mark Garfinkel/AP

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Comments

[Jade Montrose]

Serial rapists and murderers come in all ages, and some like Philip Markoff and Ted Bundy have an innocent 'choir-boy' look. Their evil can lurk in any city in the USA, or around the world. My hope is that women who read about these men realize every woman of every age and size is not safe from these sexual predators. Always be aware of your surroundings and any unusual happening in your every day life. Like a heart attack alert, better safe than sorry. Every Gary C. King book will give you new reasons to stay watchful.