Fiancee Tells Accused Craigslist Killer that Wedding Is Off

April 30, 2009— -- The fiancee of the accused Craigslist killer visited him in jail and told him that their wedding is off, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Megan McAllister, dressed in black and wearing sunglasses, hurried into the Nashua Street jail to see the suspect Philip Markoff Wednesday for the first time since his arrest. She was accompanied by her mother.

The couple, both med students, were scheduled to get married in a lavish August wedding. But McAllister told him that the nuptials are canceled, sources said.

Markoff, who had earlier been put on a suicide watch and was required to wear paper clothing for his safety, received his former fiancee in a new outfit. He is now dressed in a Ferguson Safety Smock, a cloth gown, sources told ABC News.

McAllister's attorney Bob Honecker confirmed that she visited Markoff in the jail.

"It was an emotional conversation, and she came away from that conversation, I believe, a stronger person, because she made that step," Honecker told "Good Morning America" today. "As this point, obviously, she continues to support her fiance."

Honecker said the fairy tale wedding, its details meticulously listed on a Web site that has since been taken down, is unlikely to ever take place.

Megan McAllister's First Visit With Philip Markoff

"I believe that the wedding that's been planned for August is being dismantled. That wedding will not occur. I can't say whether or not she holds out any hope," Honecker said, adding that Markoff's current situation "makes that unlikely."

While McAllister was visiting Markoff in prison -- reportedly without her engagement ring -- police were discussing the ever-burgeoning pile of evidence they said might seal the deal against the man accused of killing 26-year-old Julissa Brisman after she fought back during a robbery in an upscale Boston hotel, and the robbery of another woman days earlier.

Both women, as well as a third that was robbed in a Rhode Island attack in which Markoff is also a suspect, had advertised erotic masseuse services on Craigslist. Markoff has pleaded not guilty.

A law enforcement source told ABC News Wednesday that police found 16 pairs of women's panties in the home of Philip Markoff, the Boston University medical student charged with the murder of a sex worker who was shot dead in an upscale hotel room.

The panties were hidden under Markoff's bed in the Quincy home he shared with his fiancee. Along with the panties was a large bag with roughly 60 pairs of plastic flex-cuff restraints, the law enforcement source said.

McAllister appeared to be distancing herself from her fiance. Not only has her lawyer said the wedding is now unlikely, but McAllister's public remarks are less adamant than her original fierce declaration of support in which she accused Boston police of "setting up" the man she planned to marry.

If there was any doubt of her effort to break ties with Markoff, McAllister and her parents moved her belongings today out of the apartment she had shared with Markoff. It was underneath the bed in that apartment that police found some of the most incriminating evidence against Markoff.

"Obviously what's been put forth in the media and by authorities is subject to further investigation and it's going to be tested at some point in a court of law," Honecker said. "The family and friends of Megan are supporting her tremendously. I think they realize if some of these allegations were in fact true this may have been a situation where she was fortunate."

As for now, he added, McAllister "will take this day by day and try to move forward with her life."

Clinical psychologist Kelly Sykes told "Good Morning America" that to be told that someone one loved is a murderer is not something anyone could easily accept.

"I would imagine the first thing you're feeling is denial, an unwillingness to accept the reality of what's being given to you," she said. "It turns your life upside down."

McAllister has stuck by Markoff from the beginning, starting with her e-mail to ABC News shortly after his arrest saying her fiance "could not hurt a fly."

Markoff Settles in to Prison Life

The panties and restraints were found along with duct tape next to a hollowed-out copy of "Gray's Anatomy" that hid the semi-automatic weapon police believe was used to shoot Brisman April 14. Brisman had rented a room at the upscale Boston Copley Marriott from Monday April 13 through Wednesday April 15 to offer $200 massages "with hand relief."

Markoff, who has been dubbed the "Craigslist Killer," is charged with bashing Brisman's head in around 10:10 p.m. and shooting her three times at point-blank range.

He is currently in the psychiatric unit of Nashua Street jail, where he is monitored around-the-clock after he tried to strangle himself with shoelaces and tried to slice his wrists with a spoon he sharpened to a point using concrete in his cell, a law enforcement source said.

Last week, he told his parents, brother and sister-in-law during a jailhouse visit to "move to California and forget about him,'' another law enforcement source told ABC News.

"He said that there was a lot more to come out,'' the source said. "He has spent all of his time now sleeping and staring out the window at the news trucks."

Boston Police officials would not comment Wednesday on the number of panties found when homicide investigators executed a search warrant of Markoff's apartment after his arrest. Markoff was on his way to Foxwoods Resort Casino with fiancee Megan McAllister when he was arrested April 20.

Markoff is next due in court May 21.

McAllister's jailhouse visit came days after she broke her silence to say she would continue to stand by her man.

Before her jailhouse visit, McAllister released a statement in which she thanked friends and family for their support andexpressed sympathy for "all of those afflicted by these events."

She said, "I also love my fiance, and I will continue to support him throughout this legal process."

McAllister added that she did not recognize the man she had seen in the media reports about Brisman's murder and the alleged attacks and robberies of two others, one in Boston and one in Warwick, R.I.

"What has been portrayed and leaked to the media is not the Philip Markoff that I know," she said in the statement. "To me and my family, he is a loving and caring person, and in the eyes of the law and the Constitution, he is innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

"I just can only hope that the criminal justice system will not be overwhelmed and persuaded by what is being put forth in the media. My fiance's fate should not rest in the court of public opinion, but rather in a court of law."

McAllister said she would cooperate with Markoff's attorney "as well as the Suffolk County district attorney's office as they both continue their investigation.

"I can only tell them what I know and what is the truth," she said in the statement. "I will expect that these discussions will occur within the next several days."

The statement Monday was McAllister's first comment on the case since she sent an e-mail to "Good Morning America" last week saying Markoff is "a beautiful person, inside and out."

Med Student Claiming Poverty?

ABC News has also obtained court documents in which Markoff, a medical student, pleaded poverty. The documents claimed that he has not received any financial support from his family for several years and that he is living off student loans that total $130,000.

In response, the court ordered Markoff's lawyer, John Salsberg, to defend him at the public's expense, the court documents state.

One of Markoff's alleged victims, Las Vegas masseuse Trisha Leffler, told CBS "48 Hours" Saturday that she survived an attack by Markoff and that after he tied her up and took her money, he stopped to take a memento.

"He picked up a pair of my underwear that were on the floor and put them in his pocket," Leffler said. Last week, investigators found panties belonging to two of the alleged victims in Markoff's apartment.