The Freedom Bulletin

Photo courtesy of Bizuayehu Tesfaye/AP

Philip Markoff, the 24-year-old former Boston University medical student accused of being the “Craigslist Killer,” was found dead today at 10:17 a.m. in his cell at the Nashua Street Jail. He had a plastic bag tied around his head, and according to some sources also cut an artery in his leg. All signs indicate that he killed himself. It was a year and a day after he would have married his ex-fiancee, Megan McAllister. His trial was set to begin in March.

Markoff has been considered a suicide risk in the past, but this news is still shocking. The Massachusetts prison system has been criticized recently for a relatively high number of inmate suicides, but this is certainly the highest profile one in a long time. I wonder how he got hold of a plastic bag.

Although he is an accused murderer, I still find Markoff’s death sad. He must have decided that death was better than facing a trial and most likely life in prison. It was his life and his right to end it, as he apparently chose to do.

RIP Philip Haynes Markoff, February 12, 1986 – August 15, 2010.

Statement by the Suffolk County D.A.’s Office and Boston Police Department:

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s office and Boston Police Department Homicide Unit, with the assistance of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, are investigating the apparent suicide of Philip Markoff at the Nashua Street Jail this morning. Markoff was found unresponsive inside his cell and pronounced dead at 10:17 a.m.

The investigative steps currently under way are taken in all unattended or unnatural deaths within the City of Boston. Markoff was alone in his cell and all evidence collected thus far indicates that he took his own life. Nonetheless, as with all such cases, a comprehensive investigation will be conducted to determine the facts and circumstances surrounding his death.

Various news articles:

• Fox 25 – Accused ‘Craigslist Killer’ Philip Markoff commits suicide in jail
• Boston Globe – Accused ‘Craigslist killer’ Philip Markoff commits suicide in Boston jail
• Boston Globe – Two other suicides at Suffolk County jails in last decade
• Boston Globe – Family of victim reacts to Markoff suicide
• Boston Globe – James Fox: Markoff’s suicide no surprise
• Boston Herald – Sources say accused Craigslist Killer suffocated in apparent jail suicide
• NECN – Craigslist killing suspect Philip Markoff commits suicide in jail
• WCBV – Accused Craigslist Killer Commits Suicide
• Yahoo/AP – Craigslist killing suspect dead in Mass. suicide
• CNN – Police: Accused Craigslist killer dead of apparent suicide
• Fox News – Official: ‘Craigslist Killer’ Commits Suicide in Jail Cell
• Sentencing Law and Policy – Should we be pleased or frustrated?
• New York Daily News – Alleged ‘Craigslist Killer’ Philip Markoff found dead in jail
• ABC – ‘Craigslist Killer’ Philip Markoff commits suicide
• Boston Herald – Sources: Suspected Craigslist killer used bag, pen in suicide
• Boston Herald – Sheriff: Markoff showed no signs of being suicidal
• CNN – Cause of death for alleged Craigslist killer withheld

Update as of August 16: An autopsy was conducted on Markoff’s body, according to the Suffolk County D.A.’s office, but the medical examiner is not yet releasing the cause of death. Depending on the source (see links above), in addition to suffocating himself with a bag, Markoff used either a pen or a razor blade to cut his femoral artery in his leg and possibly his neck and wrists . It seems like he died a painful death but knew what he was doing, not surprising given his medical training. Also, according to the Herald, no one checked on Markoff all night, and Boston City Councillor Stephen J. Murphy is calling for an independent investigation into his death.

Second update as of August 16: WCVB is reporting that Markoff wrote his ex-fiancee’s name, Megan, in blood on the wall of his cell (according to Michele McPhee, who cites unnamed sources). She also says that guards checked on him twice before knowing (or caring) that anything was wrong, and that he wrapped his wounds in plastic bags so that no one would see the blood until it was too late. Wow, you just can’t make this stuff up.

Alleged Craigslist killer Philip Markoff will go to trial on March 14, 2011 according to Suffolk County D.A. spokesman Jake Wark. The trial date was set at a brief hearing today, which Markoff did not attend.

The trial was originally supposed to start this month. I am still going to try to attend the trial in March and blog about it, but whether I’ll be able to or not depends on my schedule at work. I’ll keep you all posted!

I did not go to this, but there was a brief hearing today in the case of Philip Markoff. According to Suffolk D.A. spokesman Jake Wark and the BU Daily Free Press, the only topic was the discovery process. Prosecutors have been on time with providing materials to defense counsel, and some forensic testing is still pending. The hearing took place in courtroom 906 of Suffolk Superior Court in front of Judge Frank Gaziano. It was part of the Homicide Session, which, as you might guess, handles only homicide cases. Markoff did not attend.

The next hearing in this case will be on October 7, not September 24 as originally scheduled.

As you might remember, alleged Craigslist killer Philip Markoff filed a motion a few weeks ago to inquire about media leaks that may have influenced grand jurors or compromised the secrecy of the grand jury process that led to an indictment in the case. Well, that motion was just denied by Judge Frank Gaziano.

Unlike jurors in a trial, grand jurors do not have to be completely shielded from media reports and do not have to be completely free of bias and prejudice. They are allowed to follow media reports to some degree and to have already formed opinions on the defendant’s guilt or innocence, as long as they don’t indict the defendant based on “hatred or malice.”

Additionally, Judge Gaziano ruled that the defense did not show that the secrecy of the grand jury proceedings had been compromised. While leaks about the evidence in the case had been provided to the news media by anonymous law enforcement officials, none of the leaks directly mentioned the grand jury proceedings.

Click here for a PDF of the decision, thanks to Jake Wark, the Suffolk D.A.’s press secretary!

Today John Salsberg, lawyer for accused Craigslist killer Philip Markoff, asked to question prosecutors about media reports that may have tainted the grand jury that indicted Markoff last week. Judge Frank Gaziano took the motion under advisement.

In the motion, the defense asks the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office to produce a written report answering 9 questions. The questions include whether law enforcement officials or members of the prosecution team leaked information about the grand jury proceedings to the media, whether they made any effort to prevent grand jurors from being exposed to media reports, and why the Assistant District Attorney in the case decided to announce at Markoff’s arraignment that a grand jury was conducting a (supposedly secret) investigation.

Also at today’s hearing, Judge Gaziano allowed a motion to preserve evidence, denied a defense motion to impound documents in the case, and allowed without prejudice a defense motion to prevent prosecutors from filing a summary of the case against Markoff. (Thanks to Jake Wark from the Suffolk DA’s office for this info!)

I wasn’t able to make the hearing today, so here are links to some media reports:

• PDF of the motion – Boston Herald
• Philip Markoff attorney eyes leaks – Boston Herald
• Judge in Craigslist case considers request for prosecution disclosure – Boston Globe
• Accused ‘Craigslist killer’ won’t see former fiancee for ‘long period of time’ - ABC

Alleged Craigslist killer Philip Markoff was arraigned this morning in Suffolk Superior Court. He is charged with first-degree murder, armed robbery, attempted armed robbery, 2 counts of armed kidnapping, and 2 counts of illegal possession of a firearm, and he pleaded not guilty to all of them.

I made my way to the 7th floor at about 8:00. From about 9:00 to 11:15 hearings and arraignments took place for various other cases. Markoff’s mother, father, brother, and sister-in-law were present, as were about 7 or 8 relatives and friends of Julissa Brisman, the woman Markoff is accused of murdering.

When it was finally time for him to be arraigned, Markoff entered the courtroom through a side door at about 11:15. I could hear his chains clinking before he came through the door. He was wearing a white shirt with blue stripes, and his blond hair was shorter than at his last court appearance. He stood in the dock and looked toward the judge, never showing any emotion or looking at his family.

When Clerk Magistrate Gary Wilson asked Markoff how he pled to the murder charge, he answered “not guilty” in a clear, confident voice. He waived the right to a formal reading of the charges and also pled not guilty to the other six charges.

Prosecutor Edmond Zabin asked that Markoff be held without bail and summed up the crimes of which he is accused. Zabin described the crimes as three violent assaults against three female victims – a murder and a robbery in Boston and an attempted robbery in Rhode Island. He said that Markoff used a different Tracfone (which does not require identifying information to sign up) to contact each victim after replying to their ads in the “erotic services” section of Craigslist. This February, when his fiancee, Megan McAllister, was out of town, he allegedly went to Mason, New Hampshire, where he purchased a 9mm semiautomatic handgun made by Springfield Armory, using the driver’s license of a New York man named Andrew Miller.

On April 9 he allegedly set up an appointment through Craigslist with an escort named Patricia Leffler at the Westin hotel in Boston. According to Zabin, he forced her to the floor at gunpoint, tied her hands with flex-cuff restraints, and, wearing leather gloves, took her money and some personal belongings. He then removed the gloves and duct-taped her mouth. His fingerprints were found on the cuffs and duct tape.

At this point, defense attorney John Salsberg objected, arguing that listing the alleged crimes in such detail served no purpose, as he was not planning to argue for bail, and would taint the potential jury pool. Wilson dismissed the defense objection, saying that stopping Zabin would be unprecedented.

Zabin continued, saying that Markoff met Brisman at the Copley Marriot on April 14 after answering her Craigslist ad for massages. Shortly after he got to her room on the 20th floor, he allegedly hit her in the head with his gun with severe but not life-threatening force and then shot her three times in the upper torso. She was found with a flex-cuff on one wrist and bruising on the other and was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. The cause of death was the gunshot wounds.

Surveillance footage from both hotels shows that the suspect wore similar clothing on both the 10th and the 14th. When police searched Markoff’s apartment at the High Point complex in Quincy, they found a gun in a hollowed-out copy of Gray’s Anatomy, spare ammunition and magazines, flex-cuffs, Tracfones, and laptop computers, one of which contained remnants of an email sent in reply to Brisman’s Craigslist ad. Markoff had Andrew Miller’s driver’s license on him at the time of his arrest on April 20, when he was driving to Foxwoods with his fiancee, and his fingerprints were found on the paperwork that accompanied the gun purchase.

Zabin asked that Markoff be held without bail “given the brutal nature of these crimes…and the strength of the evidence.” Salsberg did not argue otherwise, so Wilson ordered Markoff held without bail.

Wilson called this a “track C” homicide case and set the trial date about a year from now, on June 1st, 2010.

There will be a hearing tomorrow on some defense motions before Judge Frank Gaziano (the same judge as in the Rockefeller case!) at 2:00, which I unfortunately won’t be able to attend. Markoff has waived his right to be present tomorrow, which means he probably won’t be there either. I’ll try to make an update about that if anything of interest happens.

Here’s a list (subject to change) of important dates coming up in this case:

• June 23, 2009 at 2:00 – hearing on defense motions
• December 10, 2009 – hearing
• May 11, 2010 – final pretrial hearing
• June 1, 2010 – trial begins

Edit (6/23): There’s also a hearing scheduled for August 11 of this year.

Philip Markoff, the alleged “Craigslist killer,” was indicted on Thursday by a grand jury. The indictment, which was just made public today, includes charges of murder, attempted armed robbery, armed robbery, 2 counts of armed kidnapping, and 2 counts of illegal possession of a firearm.

Markoff, of course, is the BU medical student who allegedly murdered a masseuse named Julissa Brisman in an apparent robbery attempt and allegedly tied up and robbed another woman. Both incidents took place this April in Boston hotels after Markoff allegedly responded to the women’s “erotic services” ads on Craigslist.

A few new details came out in today’s press release from the Suffolk County D.A.’s office:

• Markoff allegedly called the victims using two different Tracfones, which do not require users to provide identifying information.
• He allegedly hit Brisman on the head several times with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, fracturing her skull.
• The surviving victim identified Markoff in a photo line-up after Boston Police obtained his college ID photo from the BU Police Department.
• Four pairs of women’s underwear (not 12 as some news reports have said) were found in his Quincy apartment inside his box spring. There were also several Tracfones and laptops in the apartment.

With this indictment, Markoff’s case moves from Boston Municipal Court to Suffolk Superior Court. He will be arraigned tomorrow morning. I’ll be there and will blog back with all the details tomorrow night.