Philip Markoff, AKA The Craigslist Killer, was found dead in his cell on Saturday from an apparent suicide.
In April of 2009, Markoff was arrested for the murder of Julissa Brisman, a woman he came in to contact with via Craigslist on and ad for an erotic massage. Police say that Markoff trolled the site for robbery victims he believed would not call the police. He was arrested after authorities found 16 pairs of panties, 60 plastic flex-cuff restraints, duct tape, and a gun in a hollowed out copy of Gray’s Anatomy all underneath the mattress of the bed he shared with his then fiancée.
At the time his fiancée, Megan McAllister, stood by his side, releasing this statement:
“I also love my fiancé, and I will continue to support him throughout this legal process,” she said.
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 fiancé’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.”
A week after Markoff’s arrest, McAllister called off their ritzy Jersey Shore wedding.
The saddest thing about this story is that since Phillip Markoff never made it to trial he will always be just the “alleged” killer of Julissa Brisman. I cannot imagine her family or friends finding much solace in that.
“Their grief for Julissa is as fresh today as the day over a year ago when Markoff took Julissa away from them,” the Brisman family lawyer Djuna Perkins said. “The long-awaited criminal prosecution was their only opportunity to confront him, and now he has taken that away as well.”
The good, news, if I can go as far to say that there is any good news, is that all those involved will not have to suffer through the heavy sadness and media glare sometimes involved in a lengthy trial.
I still wish this guy could have been brought to trial.
Honestly, I’m relieved we won’t have to spend the $3million it would have cost to keep him in jail for life. Too blunt and heartless?
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