Indictment Handed Up in Craigslist Killing

June 21, 2009 — -- Philip Markoff has been indicted by a Boston grand jury on charges of first-degree murder in the so-called "Craigslist killing," the shooting death of a masseuse who had advertised in the "erotic services" section of the online bulletin board.

Markoff, 23, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday in Suffolk County, Mass., Superior Court.

Markoff was indicted for the April 14 shooting of 25-year-old Julissa Brisman at the Boston Marriot Copley Place hotel. Brisman, it was later discovered, had advertised on the "erotic services" section of Craigslist.

Also charged with the April 10 armed robbery of a 29-year-old Vegas woman, Markoff, who pled not guilty in district court, is being held without bail.

The indictments were handed down on Thursday but were released to the public today.

According to the indictment, evidence suggest that Markoff and Brisman struggled in the hotel room she had rented, and he hit her in the head several times with the butt of a 9mm semiautomatic pistol.

"The blows to her head were so sharp and so violent that they fractured her skull," Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel Conley said.

He then allegedly shot Brisman three times in the chest and stomach from close range, killing her almost instantly, according to the indictment.

Police identified Markoff as the suspect by tracking the e-mails that were sent to Brisman to set up the meeting, according to a statement released by the prosecutor.

They used the Internet protocol address for the e-mail accountto determine the physical adress from which the e-mails were sent, and when they staked out the location, saw a person who matched the description they had of the alleged assailant. That person turned out to be Markoff, the statement said.

When they learned he was a student at Boston University's medical school, investigators contacted university police to get a copy of his school identification photograph. When they showed that photo to the Las Vegas woman who had been robbed, she identified him as the man who had attacked her, according to the district attorney's statement.

Markoff allegedly used disposable Tracfones to contact the women. Calls can be made on the phones without the cellular company being able to identify who made them.

Defense attorney John Salsberg said Markoff would continue to plead not guilty.

Before his arrest in connection to the murder and robbery, Markoff had been a second-year medical student at Boston University.

In late April, a law enforcement source told ABC News that police found 16 pairs of women's panties in the Markoff's home.

The panties were hidden under Markoff's bed in the Quincy, Mass., home he shared with his fiancee, Megan McAllister. McAllister and Markoff had planned to wed in a lavish August ceremony, an event that has since been called off, according to sources.

McAllister had 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."

Along with the panties was a large bag with roughly 60 pairs of plastic flex-cuff restraints, the law enforcement source said.

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.

Around the time of his April arrest, Markoff told his parents, brother and sister-in-law during a jailhouse visit to "move to California and forget about him,'' a 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."