Alleged Craigslist Killer Philip Markoff Tied to Murder Weapon Used on Julissa Brisman

Evidence is piling up against the man known as the Craigslist Killer. Philip Markoff, a 22-year-old Boston University medical student, and his attorney, John Salzberg, claim that he is innocent of all charges being brought against him. But investigators have found more to link Markoff to the April 14 killing of masseuse Julissa Brisman and the bound stripper in Warwick, Rhode Island, both of whom Philip Markoff allegedly met through Craigslist.

According to CNN, ballistics reports have concluded that the gun recovered at the residence of Philip Markoff was the one used to shoot Julissa Brisman three times. One of the bullets passed through her heart. She was shot after being brutally bludgeoned on the head. Investigators had been led to the Markoff residence by tracking the Internet Service Provider (ISP) address of the user that had accessed Craigslist and set up dates with at least three persons, one of which was 25-year-old Brisman.

A single fingerprint found on the wall of the Warwick, Rhode Island hotel room where Philip Markoff was believed to have met a stripper was a match to Markoff as well. The stripper said that she was tied up and held at gunpoint until her boyfriend entered the room and her assailant fled.

It was video surveillance footage from the Warwick hotel, the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel where Julissa Brisman was murdered, and another nearby Boston hotel where the suspect robbed another masseuse that helped authorities get an initial identification. Along with the ISP address and the gun and restraints found at Markoff's place, police found enough to make their arrest.

Megan McAllister, the fiancee of Philip Markoff who fired off e-mails and made statements as to his innocence when he was first arrested, has fallen silent.

Rhode Island authorities have not yet charged Markoff for the incident in Warwick.

According to the Associated Press, Markoff was put on suicide watch at the Boston jail where he is being held when shoelace markings were discovered on his neck.

There exists the possibility that Markoff might mount some sort of reasonable doubt defense based on the fact that he was not at his place of residence when the police recovered the gun, restraints, and laptop. He was arrested during a traffic stop while on the way to the Foxwoods Casino.

But it is the Craigslist connection that is going to hurt Philip Markoff most. Opening up an e-mail account the day before he made the appointment with Julissa Brisman using said account is also something that will be difficult to explain. Boston authorities had already connected the so-called Craigslist Killer to the stripper in Rhode Island, so if Warwick authorities choose to prosecute, it will only make the Boston case stronger.

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Source:

Associated Press

"Anderson Cooper 360," CNN Television