PHILIP MARKOFF: BOSTON’S CRAIGSLIST KILLER

When asked to write an article on Philip Markoff a/k/a the “Craigslist Killer” I was very enthusiastic. Being a true crime buff, I devour anything I can learn about the depraved so this was a project I couldn’t wait to delve into. The disappointment hit rather early when the online searches depicted a young man with a sullen expression who by all accounts was an ordinary second year medical student from an ordinary family with an ordinary childhood. I wouldn’t have considered him Lifetime movie material had I not continued reading and found that his crimes exposed a twisted mentality that is anything but ordinary.

Philip Markoff achieved notoriety in April 2009 when it was discovered that he had killed a woman that he had met on Craigslist in a Boston hotel. Markoff’s intentions were to rob her to support his gambling habit never expecting that she would fight back. Those who knew him personally were shocked especially his finacee Megan McAllister who described him as gentle and loving. He was a member of the National Honor Society, the history club, Youth Court, bowling and golf teams during high school, well liked among his friends, not the sort that would pick up a girl on Craigslist and kill her for her money. Everything about Philip Markoff screamed “nerd”, so what happened?

Philip Markoff was born February 12, 1986 in Sherril, New York to Susan Haynes and Richard Markoff, DDS. With his older brother Jon, Philip had a normal childhood without displaying any kind of violent tendencies or the sexual depravity discovered in his adulthood. He attended Vernon-Verona-Sherill High School where he graduated in 2004 to go on to SUNY Albany as a Pre-Med student. During this time he was a member of the Young Republicans and a volunteer at the Albany Medical Center Hospital E.R. where in 2005 he met Megan McAllister whom would become his fiancée.

Life for Philip and Megan moved steadily toward a wedding planned for August 14, 2009 with plans for each of them to continue medical school. Megan had no idea what kind of a guy she had committed herself to. Unfortunately for, her it would become evident after her fiancee’s seven-day crime spree that left three robbery victims and one murder victim just four short months before commencement of the nuptials.

Julissa Brisman, a 25 year old model and self described “massage therapist”, was found dead on April 14, 2009 in Boston’s Copley Marriott Hotel having been shot three times at close range and sustained head wounds possibly from the blunt handle of the gun. A recovering alcoholic, Julissa was studying to be a substance abuse counselor. According to her mother, Carmen Guzman, she had contagious energy and optimism that had brought hope to many addicts that she had already worked with through the Alcoholics Anonymous group that she had been attending. Julissa was very close with her family so when her mother did not receive a call from her for a couple of days, she feared the worst.

Until establishing herself in her new career as a substance abuse counselor, Julissa worked as a “massage therapist” that solicited her services on Craigslist. At the time of her murder, she had gone by the name “Morgan” and arranged meetings with her clients through her friend Mary Beth Simons, a former roommate/tanning salon owner. A hotel room was booked at the Copley Marriott in Boston April 12 – 15 for Julissa to meet her clients, among them one Philip Markoff.

Using his newly created Craigslist email account which included his real name and address, Markoff had responded to her ad that offered “sensual massage inclusive of hand stress relief” for $200.00 per hour by Ms. Simons to schedule the appointment. It was this information that Ms. Simons provided to the Boston police that helped to identify Julissa’s murderer. Seems like a dumb move on Philip’s part not to make up a name as is typical of an ordinary engaged man looking to engage in solicitous sex. Especially since it later came out that his intentions were to rob her.

Massachusetts police arrested Philip Markoff on April 20, 2009 while Markoff and his fiancée headed to Foxwoods casino in Connecticut for a romantic getaway. Ballistics tests confirmed that the weapon used to kill Julissa Brisman was in fact found in the apartment shared by Markoff and McAllister in Quincy, Massachusetts. The hotels also offered video footage of Markoff entering and leaving the lobby disguised in nothing more than a baseball cap. Despite the evidence, Markoff pled not guilty to the murder charge the very next day. McAllister fully supported her fiancé at this time making the formal statement that he was a gentle soul that “could not hurt a fly”.

Along with the semi-automatic handgun housed in a hallowed out textbook, police also discovered other physical evidence such as wrist restraints, duct tape, women’s undergarments and other materials in his apartment hidden in plain sight from his fiancée. The evidence collected also linked Markoff to the assault and robbery of Trisha Leffler, paid escort, at the Westin Copley Place Hotel in Boston on April 10, 2009 as well as assault and attempted robbery of an exotic dancer at a Holiday Inn Express in Warwick, Rhode Island on April 16, 2009. Fortunately, the two women were spared the horrible trauma Julissa Brisman encountered.

If he didn’t want to get caught, he would’ve disguised himself and gotten rid of the gun and other evidence found in his apartment I would think. His actions I feel were an extreme cry for help that obviously fell on deaf ears. The fact that most of the evidence was located under the bed that he shared with his fiancée seems to me that she was either a really lousy housekeeper or she was so in love with him that she never suspected that he sought to fulfill some other needs. There is no excuse for his actions and regardless Markoff faced multiple charges in Boston we well as a warrant from Rhode Island citing assault, attempted robbery and weapon possession. Prosecution in Rhode Island was scheduled to wait until the cases already filed in Boston had ended. The evidence against Markoff was so overwhelming that McAllister finally changed her tune by the end of the month and cancelled their August 14th wedding. He did still have the support of his parents and brother however he had requested of them to be “forgotten”.

After several suicide attempts in prison, Markoff was found dead on August 15, 2010 in his cell due to self-inflicted wounds and suffocation while awaiting trial for the murder charges against him. Councilor Stephen Murphy, Chairman of the Soffolk County’s Public Safety Committee charged that authorities of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office should have taken their responsibilities for his care more seriously. Philip Markoff never should’ve been able to commit suicide while in their custody. Mr. Murphy called for a review of procedures at Nashua Street jail among other facilities to help tighten security over the incarcerated inmates. Sheriff Andrea Cabral defended her guards and deemed the investigation unnecessary as several suicides had been prevented prior to Markoff’s death and recommended further investigation into what they’ve been doing right before charging that the process is flawed.

But I digress. In my research of Philip Markoff, I couldn’t help notice that this whole tragic story revolved around Craigslist. Markoff solicited his victims by answering ads but he was not the first person with criminalistic intentions to do so nor was he the last. He is also not the only person to be dubbed the “Craigslist Killer”.

Craigslist was founded by Craig Newmark in 1995 with the idea that he could post ads on the web for fellow computer geeks to stay up on events throughout the San Francisco area. His idea soon caught on and by 2007 it had become a multi-million dollar tool used for the common Joe to post ads for whatever classified the public desired. Unfortunately, the great idea appealed to the criminal public as well.

Before the media met Markoff, Michael Anderson carried the title after placing an ad on Craigslist in October 2007 pretending to be a mother looking for a nanny for her five-year-old daughter. When Katherine Olson, 24, went to the house to meet the young mother for an interview, Anderson opened the door with a Ruger .357 Magnum Blackhawk revolver and killed her.

In February 2009, a 21-year-old man responded to a Craigslist ad for a 2005 Chevrolet Caprice in Dallas only to be lured into a trap for which a Dallas man was found guilty of murdering. In March 2009, New York City police discovered the body of George Weber, WABC radio newsman , who had been stabbed to death by a 16-year-old he’d solicited on Craigslist. In late April 2009, authorities in Kent, Washington arrested a man that had posted an ad for the intention of soliciting a woman to have sex with and then kill.

The crime, though spanning several categories, seemed to have a higher fatality in the “Erotic Services” department. Although it is not illegal to solicit such services as phone sex and escorts, the very idea that there is prostitution advertised online is enough to attract the most depraved individuals. A murder doesn’t have to leave his living room anymore to lure people into his dark abyss. For this reason, a major campaign following Philip Markoff’s arrest was finally successful to have Craigslist remove the “Adult Services” category. In early 2011 however, the category was reinstated and ads are still placed from hookers and for hookers on Craigslist despite the efforts made to remove it.

As with any business, it’s all about the bottom line. Money is money and the best protection any business can offer is education. Craigslist related crime continues to this day with stories published all the time about a deceptive ad posted by another “Craigslist Killer”. Philip Markoff is just one of many. Can we hold Craigslist accountable? Should we hold Craigslist accountable? If not Craigslist, then who?