Philip Markoff


Philip Haynes Markoff was an American medical student who was charged with the armed robbery and murder of Julissa Brisman in a Boston hotel on April 14, 2009, and two other armed robberies.
Markoff maintained his innocence of all charges and pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. A grand jury indicted Markoff for first-degree murder, armed robbery, and other charges.
On August 15, 2010, Markoff committed suicide in Boston's Nashua Street Jail, where he was awaiting trial. The media have referred to this murder and other murders as "Craigslist killings" because the killer was alleged to have met his victims through ads placed on Craigslist, two of which were offering erotic services.

Background

Philip Markoff was the son of Susan and Richard Markoff, a dentist in Syracuse, New York. He had an older brother, Jonathan Markoff and a half-sister. He graduated in 2004 from Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School, where he was a member of the National Honor Society, the History Club, the Youth Court, and the school bowling and golf teams.
After high school, Markoff attended SUNY Albany where he was a pre-med student. He graduated from SUNY Albany in 2007 and applied for medical schools after taking the MCAT. He was a second-year medical student at Boston University School of Medicine at the time of the crimes. He was suspended from the school after the charges were lodged against him.
Markoff met Megan McAllister, a native of New Jersey, in 2005 while they were both volunteers at the Albany Medical Center Hospital emergency room. They were engaged to be married, with their wedding planned for August 14, 2009. McAllister was to have begun medical school in the fall of 2009.

Robberies and murder

Markoff was suspected in three robberies, one of which included a murder.
Police suspected that the three crimesclose in time and similar in many wayswere committed by the same person. Security camera footage, cell phone activity, and email evidence led police to suspect Markoff in the April 10 and April 14 incidents, and he was arrested April 20 in Walpole, Massachusetts while he and his fiancee were en route to Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut.
On April 21, he was arraigned in Brisman's death; the prosecutor stated that a semi-automatic handgun, wrist restraints, and duct tape had been found in Markoff's apartment. Markoff pleaded not guilty.
On May 4, Rhode Island officials issued a warrant for Markoff's arrest in the April 16 incident, though the state's Attorney General said that their prosecution would not go forward until the Boston charges were resolved.
Markoff's trial was originally expected to begin in July 2010 but was later delayed to March 2011.
Markoff's fiancée initially affirmed her belief in his innocence, calling him "beautiful inside and out,"
but on April 29 she visited Markoff in jail to call off their wedding. On June 11, she visited Markoff a second time and told him she did not plan to see him again for "a long period of time, if ever."

Suicide

Markoff made several suicide attempts while at the Nashua Street Jail: one three days after his arrest, one after his fiancee broke up with him, and one on the day his wedding was to have taken place. At various times he was on suicide watch or in the jail's psychiatric unit.
On August 15, 2010, one year and one day after his wedding was to have taken place, Markoff was found dead in his cell. He had used a knife, made from a pen and a piece of metal, to cut arteries in his ankles, legs, and neck. He had also swallowed toilet paper and tightened a plastic bag over his head with gauze.
Additionally, he had written his former fiancee's name and their pet names for each other in blood on the cell wall, and photographs of the two of them were scattered about.

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