Blog > News > Local > Cops have Philip Markoff, suspected “Craigslist Killer” of model Julissa Brisman, in custody

Cops have Philip Markoff, suspected “Craigslist Killer” of model Julissa Brisman, in custody

Posted on April 21, 2009

Update: Fiancee of the suspected ‘Craiglist Killer’ defends him via email. He ‘could not hurt a fly,’ she writes to “Good Morning America.” She called him a “beautiful person inside and out,” according to a message read out on air.

Boston cops on Monday night branded Philip Markoff, a 22-year-old med student engaged to be married, as the “Craigslist Killer” who murdered a pretty New York masseuse and attacked at least two other escorts in hotels.

Markoff, a Boston University student who lives in Quincy, a harborside town 10 miles south of Boston, will be arraigned on murder charges on Tuesday.

Cops said the brainy blond doctor wanna-be, who grew up in upstate Sherrill, N.Y., and went to SUNY Albany for his undergraduate studies, has no rap sheet, but they think he has preyed on sex workers for a while. Police begged other victims to come forward.

“He is a predator,” said Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis. “There may be other victims out there, and we want to help you.”

Markoff, who was arrested after cops tailed him for several days, will be charged in Boston Municipal Court with the murder of Julissa Brisman.

The slain 26-year-old New Yorker advertised her services on craigslist and was shot in a posh Boston hotel last Tuesday.

Markoff also will be charged with kidnapping and robbery in an attack four days earlier in another luxury Boston hotel on an exotic dancer who advertised online.

Police believe last Thursday’s armed robbery of a Las Vegas hooker in a Rhode Island hotel is also connected.

Markoff, the son of a Syracuse dentist, is engaged to marry Megan McAllister, a fellow med student he met while they were at SUNY Albany. A Web page devoted to their planned wedding later this year recounts how they volunteered together at an area emergency room and enjoyed their first date on Nov. 11, 2005. McAllister could not be reached for comment.

Brisman’s mother was glad to hear there was a break in the case, but she was too distraught to talk.

“Her mother was very pleased, but when she saw the pictures [on TV], she broke down and was just crying. We turned it off. You have no idea how fragile she is,” said family friend Mark Pines. “It is great that they found him, but it’s not going to bring back our girl.”

Cops credited “high-tech leads and old-fashioned shoe leather” for the arrest. Cops stopped Markoff at 4 p.m. Monday as he drove south of Boston on Interstate 95, Davis said. He agreed to come in for questioning and was arrested at headquarters.

05_Flatbed_1 - APRIL

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