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Fashionista
 Posted:
Thu Apr 23, 2009 11:31 am |
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News Articles, Photos & Videos ~ NO Discussion PLZ!
Philip Markoff, 23, has been ordered held without bail in Boston
Municipal Court after being arraigned April 21 on a murder charge
in the killing of Julissa Brisman, 26, at the Marriott Copley last week.
Brisman had advertised her massage services on Craigslist.
(Herald/AP/Pool)
Boston police arrested Markoff on April 20 in the April 14 murder of Brisman and an April 10
attack on a second woman at a Back Bay hotel. In this file photo, Markoff is helped on with
his coat while taking part in Boston University School of Medicine's annual White Coat Day
Ceremony in 2007.
(David L. Ryan/ Globe Staff/ File)
At left, Markoff's 2004 high school yearbook shows him as a senior and as a younger child.
Investigators believe that a gambling problem may have motivated Markoff to troll
Craigslist for robbery victims he lured to hotels, a law enforcement source said.
(Utica Observer-Dispatch)
Markoff's fiancée, Megan McAllister (right, with Markoff),
defended him April 21 in an e-mail she sent to ABC News.
"All I have to say to you is Philip is a beautiful person
inside and out and could not hurt a fly!" McAllister
wrote in the e-mail. "We expect to marry in August and
share a wonderful, meaningful life together."
Markoff and McAllister were headed to Foxwoods casino
in Connecticut when police apprehended him.
Boston Police loaded Markoff into a transport vehicle at Boston Police Headquarters on April 20.
(Globe Staff Photo / Matthew J. Lee)
Investigators are exploring whether Markoff is connected to another attack on a prostitute
advertising on Craigslist that happened in Warwick, R.I., on April 16. Warwick police released
four photographs of a man wearing a baseball cap who is believed to have attacked a
prostitute at a Rhode Island hotel after he responded to an advertisement she had posted
on Craigslist.
(WARWICK POLICE DEPARTMENT)
The man, who is wearing a jacket over an untucked shirt in the hotel surveillance photographs,
bears a resemblance to the suspect depicted in pictures taken at two Back Bay hotels.
(WARWICK POLICE DEPARTMENT)
Boston police are working with Rhode Island police as
they investigate the slaying of 26-year-old Julissa
Brisman (left), of New York City, at the Marriott Copley
Place in Boston.
(2007 Mark Pines all rights reserved)
"She had turned her life around, and had an amazing future. She had left her
old life behind," said Mark Pines, a friend and photographer who took pictures
of Brisman.
(© 2007 Mark Pines all rights reserved)
Police released surveillance photos from the hotel and nearby Copley Place Mall. In this photo,
the person of interest walks by a couple at the Copley Place Mall.
(Boston Police)
The man sports a blond head of hair and appears to be texting in this photo from
the hotel.
(Boston police )
In this photo from the mall, the man again appears to have an electronic device in his hands.
(Boston Police)
Police believe the killer was the same man who robbed another woman at the Westin Hotel
on April 10.
That woman, like Brisman, had advertised massage services on Craigslist, the popular
website that offers classified ads.
(Boston police)
The Boston Police Homicide Unit is actively investigating the murder. Individuals
with information on the suspect are asked to call (617) 343-4470.
Members of the public may also submit tips anonymously by calling
(800) 494-TIPS.
(Boston police)
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2009/04/16/hotel_suspect_gallery?pg=19
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Last edited by Fashionista on Thu Apr 30, 2009 4:41 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Homeland Security - Refugee Staff
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 6762
Location: REFSTAGON
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| SavannahStar
Posted:
Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:50 am |
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Photos:
http://tinyurl.com/cyyn95
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**SuperStar**
Joined: 24 Mar 2006
Posts: 23940
Location: Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
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| gwen
Posted:
Mon Apr 27, 2009 12:42 pm |
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<div><p>Visit msnbc.com for <a>Breaking News</a>, <a>World News</a>, and <a>News about the Economy</a></p></div>
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AKA Gagal_05
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 22409
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| gwen
Posted:
Mon May 04, 2009 1:22 pm |
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Accused 'Craigslist Killer' Faces New Charges in Rhode Island
WARWICK, R.I. — The Boston medical student charged with killing a masseuse he met on Craigslist is expected to face new charges soon in Rhode Island.
Rhode Island prosecutors said Monday that they will announce an arrest warrant in the attempted robbery of a stripper inside a hotel last month.
They've previously said Philip Markoff, who is charged in Boston with killing the masseuse, was the suspect in the April 16 robbery attempt at a Holiday Inn Express in Warwick.
A law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity previously told The Associated Press that investigators found Markoff's fingerprint in the hotel. They also believe he sent text messages from there.
An exotic dancer from Las Vegas who offered lap dances told Rhode Island authorities that she was bound with cord and held at gunpoint by a man she met through Craigslist, a classified advertising Web site. She said her assailtant fled when her husband came up to the hotel room.
Markoff, 23, was arrested April 20 on Interstate 95 while driving with his fiancee to Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut.
He was charged with the April 14 killing of Julissa Brisman, a 25-year-old New York City resident who advertised on Craigslist, at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel, in the historic Back Bay district.
He has also been charged in a separate robbery at a hotel of another masseuse police say he met through the site.
He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, John Salsberg, did not return a phone message Monday.
Markoff was put on suicide watch at the Boston jail where he is being held.
Warwick police officials did not return phone calls seeking comment Monday.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518836,00.html
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AKA Gagal_05
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 22409
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| woebedamned
Posted:
Tue May 05, 2009 9:49 pm |
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Authorities seek to crack down on Craigslist
South Carolina gives site 10 days to pull sex ads or face prosecution
Craigslist.com, the wildly popular online community and classified bazaar, is coming under intense pressure from law enforcement authorities to eliminate what they say are ads for illegal sexual activities.
South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster sent the company a letter Tuesday giving site leaders 10 days to remove illegal content and prostitution ads or face prosecution, claiming managers had “knowingly allowed the site to be used for illegal and unlawful activity after warnings from law enforcement officials and after an agreement with 40 state attorneys general.”
That was a reference to a deal Craigslist struck in November with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and 43 attorneys general to crack down on ads for prostitution. Under the arrangement, Craigslist said it would require anyone who posted an “erotic services” ad to provide a working telephone number and pay a fee with a valid credit card; Craigslist said it would provide the information to law enforcement if it were subpoenaed.
The crackdown did not involve prepublication approval or review, however, and it did not apply to personal ads, where prostitutes have frequently been found advertising.
In the letter, which was addressed to Jim Buckmaster, the site’s chief executive, McMaster said the site had not kept up its end of the bargain.
“Recent national events, along with ongoing law enforcement efforts in South Carolina, indicate that Craigslist has not installed sufficient safeguards since November to prohibit the Internet site from being used as a vehicle to advertise or solicit prostitution,” it said.
The letter gave Craigslist until 5 p.m. ET on May 15 to remove “the portions of the Internet site dedicated to South Carolina and its municipal regions and which contain categories for and functions allowing for the solicitation of prostitution and the dissemination and posting of graphic pornographic material.”
In a statement Tuesday, the company said it saw “no legal basis whatsoever for filing a lawsuit against Craigslist or its principals and hope that the Attorney General will realize this upon further reflection.”
“We look forward to speaking directly with Attorney General McMaster about his concerns, and finding ways to address them without compromising the utility of Craigslist for South Carolinians, or anyone’s Constitutional rights,” it said.
Ads called illegal, dangerous
McMaster is not the only law enforcement official who is leaning on Craigslist, which Craig Newmark started in 1995 as an e-mail bulletin board and classified-ad service for the San Francisco region. In March, its traffic topped 20 billion page views across 570 local sites in 50 countries, making it one of the 30 most popular destinations on the World Wide Web, according to the Web traffic data company Alexa Internet Inc.
Attorneys general from three other states — Missouri, Connecticut and Illinois — met Tuesday with lawyers for Craigslist to urge the site to shut down its erotic services ads.
“Anybody who goes on the erotic services section of Craigslist is going to find a set of ads that’s so blatant,” said Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster, who called the ads “not only illegal but dangerous.”
“No one will disagree that this is prostitution in many, many cases,” he said.
In a separate statement after the meeting, Craigslist said it was optimistic that the dispute could be resolved “without compromising the quintessentially American values of free speech embodied in our Constitution.”
Craigslist maintains that its system of user ratings and alerts is sufficient to weed out inappropriate material. In an interview with NBC News last month, Buckmaster said the erotic services section was no different from similar features in newspaper classified ad sections and alternative weekly newspapers, saying the material is “collected in a single category and put behind a warning screen.”
For Craigslist, insult to injury
The public pressure comes at a difficult time for Craigslist, which is in the spotlight in a homicide case. Philip Markoff, 22, a medical student at Boston University, has pleaded not guilty in the death of a 25-year-old massage therapist who had advertised on the site.
Craigslist is not accused of any wrongdoing, but Newmark acknowledged that its connection to the Markoff case and to a handful of similar cases in recent years was a significant blow.
“Despite the billions of times well-meaning people have helped each other through Craigslist, it’s been devastating to see that it can also be used by bad people to take cruel advantage of others and bring a senseless end to a beautiful young life,” Newmark said Sunday at a memorial concert in Eden Prairie, Minn., for Katherine Ann Olson, 24, who was killed in 2007 after answering a fake Craigslist ad for a babysitter.
“The most recent crime in Boston has been a grim reminder of that,” Newmark said.
Hit man sought through site
Law enforcement officials say craigslist is rife with all sorts of wrongdoing, from ads for prostitution to fraudulent moneymaking schemes.
In February, Marrita Whitlock of St. Louis and her boyfriend began looking to buy a 2003 Cadillac Escalade and found one on Craigslist. The couple flew to Port Columbus, Ohio, to pick up the car with $7,000 cash in hand.
There, the would-be seller, identified by police as Michael Hague, picked them up in a luxury car. He allegedly pulled a gun and told Whitlock to give him the cash, police said.
The couple were left on a Columbus street with only their cell phones. Hague and two alleged accomplices were eventually arrested and charged with robbery.
And last month in Seattle, police arrested a suburban Kent, Wash., man who posted an ad on Craigslist seeking to hire a hit man. The ad indicated that the man was also willing to kill for hire.
Police said an undercover investigator met with the man, who told the investigator that he was seeking a woman to have sex with and then kill. He was booked last week for investigation of attempted murder charges.
‘It just probably doesn’t belong there’
But it is the site’s erotic services ads that are most troubling to the state attorneys general, who say the ads don’t even bother to obscure their goal of offering illegal services.
“It seems like it has that bad side or it gives people the tool to use in a not-so-great way,” said Lonny Pulkrabek, sheriff of Johnson County, Iowa. “I’d rather see a lot of that stuff or some of that stuff removed. It just probably doesn’t belong there.”
In the section, advertisers — most of whom are women — pay $1 to post provocative images and offers to provide “personal services” guaranteeing a night that will not be forgotten.
“If there are 40 on there, I could tell you 39.9 of the 40 are there for prostitution,” said Ricky Ramie, a sheriff’s captain in Bay County, Fla., where several Panama City-area women have been arrested in an investigation of prostitution offered through online services.
“You might expect something like this to happen in a major city, but no city is immune,” Ramie said.
Eyes wide open
By and large, the women who offer such services on craigslist know what they could be getting themselves into, saying there is no way to confirm who, with what intentions, is answering their offers.
“My mom and dad, they’re always talking to me saying, ‘Well, we wonder if we’re going to get a call the next day, calling us saying your daughter is dead,’ ” said Ashlyn, a Panama City woman who said she frequently advertises private dances for $170 an hour.
“A lot of women are trying to make money right now,” she said in an interview with NBC station WJHG-TV of Panama City, speaking on condition that she not be further identified. “Times is hard.”
Recently, Ashlyn agreed to meet a client who answered one of her ads.
“I basically told him what he’s getting. He’s only getting a lap dance,” she said. “So I started doing the dance, and he came out and was like, ‘I didn’t ask for the dance — I wanted to have straight-up sex.’ ”
The man pulled a knife, she said, “grabbed my arm and started snatching on me.” she said. She said she was able to escape only by spraying the man with pepper spray.
Women in Ashlyn’s situation “could have been murdered,” said Ramie, the Bay County sheriff’s captain.
“We can make a dent in it. We can slow it down," he said. “But as long as Craigslist allows for this to be on their Web site, it makes it difficult for law enforcement.”
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30584416/page/2/
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Damn it All!!!!
Joined: 15 Aug 2006
Posts: 9386
Location: Not one of the "Cool Kids" AKA "Nut Case"
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| woebedamned
Posted:
Wed May 06, 2009 8:48 am |
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Craigslist Facing Growing Government Scrutiny
Craigslist has several important issues it must deal with, as company representatives recently met with officials over suspected advertisements posted on the site related to erotic services and other sexual activity.
Craigslist attorneys and representatives met with the attorneys general from Connecticut, Illinois, and Missouri to discuss safety concerns related to the site.
"Craigslist has continued to develop further improvements, some of which have been introduced in the last two weeks,” Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster said. “We’re optimistic this goal can be reached while preserving all beneficial aspects of a site enjoyed by tens of millions of Americans, and without compromising the quintessentially American values of free speech embodied in our constitution.”
Buckmaster described the meeting as "cordial and productive."
Specifically, the meeting was arranged when Philip Markoff, a 23-year-old medical student at Boston University, was charged with murder after allegedly meeting with a masseuse through the website. Nicknamed the "Craigslist killer," Markoff met and robbed several people through the site.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan requested Craigslist close the "erotic services" portion of the site, which often includes prostitution ads. She also said the "walls are really closing in" on the popular web site, and hopes to see drastic change in the company's policies moving forward.
Last year, 40 state attorneys general reached an agreement with Craigslist to crack down on suspected illegal behavior, but it's still rampant on the site. Suspicious activity can be flagged by users, but the small staff of just 28 employees often has a difficult time trying to keep up.
Even though Buckmaster previously said its company can't be held accountable for the content its users post on the site, legislators still expect serious changes to be made. Until Craigslist begins to seriously crack down on illegal activities on the site, it's unlikely state officials will give the site any slack.
http://www.dailytech.com/Craigslist+Facing+Growing+Government+Scrutiny/article15054.htm
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Damn it All!!!!
Joined: 15 Aug 2006
Posts: 9386
Location: Not one of the "Cool Kids" AKA "Nut Case"
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| olympic
Posted:
Tue May 26, 2009 10:45 pm |
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Update: July 1 hearing set in Boston craigslist case
10:59 AM Thu, May 21, 2009
BOSTON (AP) -- The former medical student accused of killing a 25-year-old masseuse he met through craigslist did not appear at a brief procedural court hearing.
Philip Markoff was not required to attend Thursday's session in Boston Municipal Court, which his lawyer said was "not a critical stage" in his case.
Markoff's mother, Susan Haynes, did attend but declined to comment.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors agreed to a probable cause hearing July 1. That is expected to be cancelled because prosecutors say Markoff is likely to be indicted before then, moving his case to Superior Court.
Markoff is charged in Boston with the April 14 fatal shooting of Julissa Brisman of New York City, and the armed robbery of another woman four days earlier. Authorities say he met both women through craigslist. Markoff has pleaded not guilty.
He also is charged in an arrest warrant in the attempted robbery of another woman -- in Warwick -- on April 16. The police say she was held at gunpoint at the Holiday Inn Express, but her assailant fled when her husband came into the room.
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Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 7390
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| olympic
Posted:
Sun Jun 21, 2009 9:31 pm |
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Craigslist killing suspect indicted by grand jury
BOSTON — A former medical student accused of killing a 25-year-old masseuse he met through Craigslist has been indicted by a grand jury.
Philip Markoff's indictment on charges of first-degree murder and other crimes moves his case from district court to Superior Court, where he is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. The indictments were returned late Thursday and announced Sunday.
He was indicted for the April 14 shooting of 25-year-old Julissa Brisman of New York, who advertised on the "exotic services" section of Craigslist at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel. He was also charged with the April 10 armed robbery of a 29-year-old Las Vegas woman at the Westin Copley Place hotel.
The 23-year-old upstate New York native who had been living in Quincy is being held without bail after pleading not guilty in district court.
Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said the grand jury reviewed dozens of exhibits, including Internet and telephone records, during a two-month investigation.
"Contained in those records was a wealth of information, all of it pointing directly at the defendant," Conley said. Markoff, a second-year medical student at Boston University, was arrested April 20 on Interstate 95 while driving with his fiancee to Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut.
Defense attorney John Salsberg said Markoff would continue to plead not guilty.
The indictment makes no mention of a Rhode Island warrant that accuses Markoff of pulling a gun on a stripper April 16 at a Holiday Inn Express in Warwick, R.I. Markoff faces assault and weapons charges in that case.
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Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 7390
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| gwen
Posted:
Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:38 am |
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Suspected 'Craigslist Killer' Arraigned on Murder Charges
BOSTON — A former Boston medical student accused of killing a masseuse he met through Craigslist has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and other charges.
Philip Markoff stared straight ahead and his attorney did not object to him being ordered held without bail during the arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court.
Prosecutors say the 23-year-old upstate New York native lured Julissa Brisman of New York City to a Boston hotel in April after she advertised in the "exotic services" section on Craigslist.
Markoff is accused of binding Brisman during a violent struggle then shooting her in the chest.
Markoff also pleaded not guilty to the armed robbery of a Las Vegas woman at another Boston hotel, as well as kidnapping and weapons charges.
He's also accused in an April attack on a woman in Warwick, R.I.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,528071,00.html
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AKA Gagal_05
Joined: 24 Feb 2007
Posts: 22409
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| olympic
Posted:
Tue Aug 04, 2009 2:08 am |
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Evidence detailed in Craigslist killing
Prosecution lists cash, casino bills to Markoff lawyers
By Maria Cramer
Globe Staff / June 25, 2009
Forty-five $100 bills. Copies of bills from Foxwoods Casino. A blank check with the name of Philip Markoff on it.
These are among the items noted in a cryptic list of evidence prosecutors have provided lawyers for Markoff, the 23-year-old Boston University medical student who has been charged with kidnapping and murder, according a court document.
Copies of more than 170 pieces of evidence, including police reports, fingerprint reports, and cellphone receipts, were handed over to Markoff’s lawyers on May 19, according to the court document known as the notice of discovery.
The 16-page document was filed Tuesday, the same day that Markoff’s lawyer, John Salsberg, unsuccessfully argued to have the notice of discovery impounded. He has complained that the enormous publicity surrounding his client’s case could make it hard to find an impartial jury. Markoff has pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and murder. He is accused of fatally shooting 25-year-old Julissa Brisman, a New York masseuse he allegedly met through Craigslist in a Back Bay hotel. Salsberg could not immediately be reached for comment yesterday.
The notice of discovery is a form that states the evidence the Suffolk district attorney’s office has against a defendant and has provided to the defense. Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, declined to comment on the document. “We won’t be elaborating on any of the notices of discovery,’’ he said.
The $4,500, casino bills, and check were found during searches of Markoff’s property. The notice of discovery did not elaborate on where Markoff might have acquired so much cash. Law enforcement officials have said that Markoff was an avid gambler who was heading to Foxwoods Casino with his fiancee, Megan McAllister, when he was arrested April 20. The bills from Foxwoods were dated March 3 and March 12, according to the notice. There were also two other evidence items listed mentioning Foxwoods, which were described as CDs. One was dated April 16, two days after Brisman was killed, and the other was dated April 17 to April 18. CDs could include video or audio surveillance as well as copies of document files, like receipts.
According to the notice, the police searches were conducted at Markoff’s apartment in Quincy, his locker at Boston University, and the cars he drove, including a Toyota Corolla registered to his mother and a Chevy Trailblazer registered to McAllister’s father.
Prosecutors also provided defense lawyers with copies of 90 stills from surveillance taken at the Copley Marriott, where Brisman was shot.
There were also stills from Copley Place and Prudential Center, the shopping areas adjacent to the hotel. In addition, prosecutors provided copies of the eight photographs Markoff’s two other alleged victims viewed to identify their attacker.
Markoff is accused of tying up and robbing a Las Vegas prostitute at the Westin hotel in Boston four days before Brisman was killed. Two days after Brisman’s shooting, police say, Markoff struck again, this time in Rhode Island, where they said he held up a prostitute and tried to rob her. All of the victims advertised erotic services through Craigslist, which is how Markoff allegedly found them, according to police.
One piece of evidence was a copy of a printout for a posting on Craigslist that read, “Hot Brunette Model & Masseuse - visiting Today. [sic]’’
Salsberg, Markoff’s lawyer, told Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frank Gaziano that he feared that any document filed in court regarding his client’s case would find its way into the media. Salsberg also filed a motion asking prosecutors to ensure that the grand jury, which indicted Markoff last Thursday, was not influenced by leaks from law enforcement officials to reporters. Gaziano denied the motion to impound the document, but said he would consider Salsberg’s motion regarding the grand jury. He also temporarily approved a motion to impound the prosecution’s statement of the case.
Assistant District Attorney Edmond Zabin told Gaziano that given the large amount of evidence police have against Markoff “it is quite a stretch to say that the grand jury’s determination of probable cause was tainted by media coverage of the case.’’
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Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 7390
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| olympic
Posted:
Tue Aug 04, 2009 2:10 am |
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Judge rejects motion arguing that Markoff indictments biased
By Andrew Ryan
Globe Staff / July 17, 2009
A Suffolk Superior Court judge has rejected a defense motion demanding information about alleged leaks to the news media about the grand jury that indicted Philip Markoff, the former medical student accused of killing a woman he met through Craigslist.
Defense lawyer John Salsberg had questioned the integrity of the grand jury process and urged the court to compel prosecutors to explain what they knew about the source of leaks to the media in the highly publicized case.
The leaks included details of evidence seized at Markoff’s apartment in Quincy, his use of his own name to set up an e-mail account, and information from crime scenes in Warwick, R.I., and at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel.
In a written decision, Judge Frank M. Gaziano rejected the motion because, despite the media coverage, the defense “has not . . . pointed to any facts suggesting that grand jurors were influenced by feelings of bias or prejudice.’’
“Moreover, the defendant has not demonstrated that the indictments were improperly based on feelings of ‘hatred or malice,’ as opposed to indictments properly returned after the grand jury considered evidence that the defendant committed the charged crimes,’’ Gaziano wrote in the order dated July 13.
Markoff, 23, has pleaded not guilty to charges that include murder, kidnapping, and armed robbery.
The former Boston University Medical School student is accused of preying on prostitutes and erotic masseuses he met at hotels after seeing advertisements the women placed on Craigslist.
One woman - Julissa Brisman, 25, of New York - was shot and killed at the Copley Marriott on April 14.
Markoff is accused of tying up and robbing a woman at the Westin Copley Place in Boston four days before the shooting.
Two days after Brisman’s shooting, police said, Markoff struck again, this time in Rhode Island, where they said he held up a prostitute and tried to rob her.
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Joined: 18 Dec 2006
Posts: 7390
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| Fashionista
Posted:
Sun Sep 20, 2009 2:34 pm |
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Sept. 19, 2009
Seven Days of Rage: The Craigslist Killer
Explosive New Details; More Shocking Than the Crimes Is the Person Accused
(CBS) In spring 2009, Boston was a city at peace.
But then, on April 10, everything changed. The "Craigslist Killer" began his seven-day crime spree.
His first victim was a woman from Las Vegas who was fleeing that city’s crackdown on vice.
"I just picked a city and went to it. I've been doing it for the past two years," Leffler said of choosing Boston. Her line of work? "I was escorting."
In this case, a traveling escort. Trisha Leffler, 29, checked herself into the Westin Copley Place Hotel. No surprise, she went right to where the money is - the Back Bay area of the city, known for its fancy hotels, exclusive boutiques and hip restaurants.
When asked how much money she can make in this field, Tricia told "48 Hours Mystery" correspondent Peter Van Sant that being an escort is quite lucrative - she can make thousands of dollar a week.
Tricia said she immediately went online to Craigslist, the Web bulletin board, and placed an ad in the erotic services section. She said after submitting her ad with the headline "Sweet Blonde," she started getting phone calls right away.
"What Craigslist does is basically provide services and these prostitutes have been providing services for years. And if it’s not the Yellow Pages, it's gonna be Craigslist. They find a means to advertise their services," according to Joe Moura, a Boston-based private investigator and "48 Hours" consultant.
Moura said that by acting as her own boss, Tricia was increasing her risk.
"If there’s a street prostitute, she’s gonna have a pimp down the street or across the street on the corner who’s protecting her. Somebody using Craigslist getting a fancy hotel in Boston, she’s on her own."
But that April night, when Tricia saw the man who answered her ad, she said she felt perfectly safe. "He looked nice, he looked young. Good looking, obviously."
Once the door was closed, this good-looking young man pulled out a very dangerous-looking gun.
"I backed up a little bit. He just said, 'If you do everything you're asked, no harm's gonna come to you.' He said, 'Lay down, put your hands behind your back.' When he started to walk towards me, he put the gun back in his pocket."
The man put on some black leather gloves and took out some plastic zip ties.
In an exclusive interview with "48 Hours Mystery," Tricia explained, "He knelt down with one knee in between my legs. I’m thinking like what does he want? I’m shaking. I’m scared. It dawned on me later that he could have very well killed me."
Tricia's attacker wanted money. "I had about $800 in cash, he grabbed that, put that in his pocket," she said.
As he took her credit and debit cards, Tricia said he made no attempt to disguise his face. But he was intent on getting his phone number off her cell phone.
"Was he wearing his gloves when he did that?" Van Sant asked Tricia.
"No," she replied.
"Well, how dumb is that?"
"Dumb."
Dumb, and, as it turned out, he was more than a little weird.
He picked up a pair of Tricia's underwear from the floor and put them in his pocket. "If he would've looked at my face, it would've been, like, "What the hell are you doing?"
At that point, she explained, the gunman began walking around the hotel room looking for something.
"And he said, 'Come here.' And I went in to the bathroom and he basically tied me to the doorknob. I got really scared. He took a knife out of his pocket and cut the phone lines. He came back over to me and taped my mouth. He put three pieces of tape over my mouth."
Tricia noticed that he had yet to put the gloves back on, meaning that his fingerprints were all over that tape.
After he left the room, she quickly broke free from the zip ties, but worried that he may still be nearby.
"I'm worried he's listening through the door. I look out the peephole. There's nothing - there's nobody out there. I open the door very slowly, stuck my head out, looked both ways. Nobody was in the hallway. I crept down the hall to see if he was maybe standing by the elevator. [There's] nobody by the elevator.
"I’m still shaking. I’m still nervous," she continued. "So I went back to the room, grabbed my room key, shut the door and went and knocked on the next-door neighbor's door.'Can I call security? I've just been robbed at gunpoint.'"
From the start, Boston police took Tricia Leffler seriously.
"They didn’t say, 'You’re not supposed to be doing this' - anything like that. They were very respectful towards me. They wanted to catch the guy," she told Van Sant. "The next day, when I went down to the police station to look through some photos, they had a surveillance photo of the man that I described."
Stills taken from a hotel security camera were the first shots of the man who became known as the Craigslist Killer.
View Surveillance Photos
Van Sant asked Joe Moura, a private investigator, "Wasn’t he aware that there were security cameras that people could track him down if something did go wrong?"
"Sometimes, because there’s security cameras everywhere, it’s almost like they’re not there. He figured the crime was so bold, he was gonna walk out, she’s not reporting it, nobody’s gonna be checking video if he was here or not. He figures it’s a clear-cut case. He's outta here," Moura explained. "The thing about this young lady is that she did come forward and actually helped in the investigation."
Tricia remained in Boston, waiting for the police to release her cell phone. On April 15, they called. "We need to talk to you. It's really important," she recalled. "Five minutes later, [there's] a knock at the door. And then they handed me a photograph. And I said, 'Wow, this is a really good picture of him. Where did you get it from?' And they just stopped and looked at me and they were, like, 'Is that him?' I said, 'Yeah, this is him. Was this before he came up to my room?'
"They said, 'No, this is taking from a different hotel.' And they said.' He murdered another girl last night.'"
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Continued
Read More >>> http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/09/19/48hours/main5323194.shtml?tag=broadcast
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Homeland Security - Refugee Staff
Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 6762
Location: REFSTAGON
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| olympic
Posted:
Thu Oct 29, 2009 12:27 am |
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Philip Markoff asked to provide his DNA
Thursday October 8, 2009
Prosecutors are hoping accused Craigslist killer Philip Markoff will voluntarily submit a DNA sample without putting up a fuss about it.
Edmond Zabin, chief of homicide prosecutions in Suffolk County, told reporters yesterday investigators do not have a “known” sample of the ex-Boston University medical student’s DNA.
“We have all kinds of evidence. We have nothing to compare it against,” Zabin said following a pretrial conference on the case in Suffolk Superior Court, which Markoff did not attend.
Markoff’s attorney, John Salsberg, would not say if he intends to resist, but acknowledged he and Zabin are talking.
Markoff was engaged to be married when, prosecutors charge, he shot to death Julissa Brisman, an erotic masseuse he’d found on Craigslist and booked to meet April 14 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place. Four days earlier, prosecutors allege, he robbed another Craigslist girl-for-hire, Trisha Leffler, at the Westin in Copley Square.
Rhode Island prosecutors announced yesterday they have indicted Markoff for an attack on a Las Vegas stripper April 16 at the Holiday Inn Express in Warwick.
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Joined: 18 Dec 2006
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| Isanah
Posted:
Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:14 pm |
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TY for the updates!
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Joined: 23 Mar 2006
Posts: 11266
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