Police traced e-mail to suspect's home

The stress of paying back student loans and paying for a wedding is really heavy on this guy.

I beleive the unibomber and Jeffrey Dommer were considered nice people by neighbors and friends...gun, restraints, duct tape, email address...sounds like the man to me...

Its a sad day for everyone involved. The med student who resorted to such horrific judgement and a girl who lost her life. What's worse is that others are involved but to afraid to come forward. The fiancee needs a stronger support network because she is CLEARLY in denial about this. You have to always becareful with prosecutors and what "evidence" they claim to have. With that said, its pretty convincing that he is the one they were looking for. Hopefully more will come out in court not the media's version.

But his fiancee says he could never hurt anyone... the fact that he matches the guy on the security camera and that these emails came from his home must be mere coincidence.... let him go and let's look for the real killer!
Or fry him until his eyes pop...

So much for those "He's such an angel" comments from friends and family.

Guess his girlfriend didn't know him as well as she thought.

What scares me about this story is the fact that his fiance` doesn't have a clue!!
She thinks he walks on water or something!!
To be honest, to look at this guy you would think he was an Eagle Scout or something, but that just goes to show ya... don't judge a book by it's cover

smart little doctor boy forgets everything can be traced through the Web, **everything** (IF it's him - innocent until proven guilty)

I am glad he is in custody. I do not think it was necessarily a tough case for investigators. " Shoe leather" c'mon.

Can you imagine thses people as parents?

I would venture a guess criminology wasn't his major.

Unpossible. Didn't he know guns were banned?

If it really was as easy as following the IP address, this guy's a cold-blooded moron who will have a lot of time to ruminate. He better hope there's a roommate or folks with apartment access lurking about to create resonable doubt.

It seems to me that it's fairly easy for someone to sign up for an internet address using someone else's identity and such things have happened before Having duct tape and restraints hardly seem conclusive. And many people have fire arms. I hope the police had more than this.

Great job coppers! Get these types OFF THE PLAYING FIELD OF LIFE!

I read that though Markoff made no statement at his arraignment, his attorney stated that Markoff was innocent, in other words, Markoff's going to fight the charges. This is of course the makings of a society crime: affluent white guy whose family can afford top legal defense vs. the police who, it appears, have some great evidence against the guy. I can see Vanity Fair covering it.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE POLICE ON getting this guy. I post on Craigslist, although for legitimate purposes -- as do millions of people. It is a wonderful website with a wonderful service. For many of us, it is our main source of advertising our businesses.

Women providing any service or selling any item are always vulnerable to attack -- whether selling real estate, selling a car, providing any service. Men that prey on women who are trying to earn a living -- in any way-- are pure scum. I bet if this man has done far more -- to men or women -- so I hope the investigation of him does not stop here.

Great job by the Boston Police Dept. to get this killer off the streets

Excellent investigative work! go BPD! great job!

If he couldn't even do this without screwing it up, he would have been a really lame doctor.

Even terrorists are "nice" people to their friends.

I guess this means the wedding is off.

I drive an old VW beetle. Four must have items in the trunk are Duct tape, Zip ties, bailing wire and work gloves. Better re-think the tool kit before I get pulled over for something stupid like a blown tail light and get hauled off to jail on suspicion of being a sicko.

Who cares bout the stress this guy had! Its called life.

let's not forget, innocent until proven guilty, regardless of how the evidence might appear

Um...... I guess they failed to mention THEY HAVE VIDEO OF HIM AT THE HOTEL.

With his flagrant disregard for life, (if the allegations prove true and he is convicted), he won't become a doctor. One thing to be grateful for,

Deevo - Her parents were probably paying for the wedding... not him....

Most likely the pressure of becoming a doctor, grades, and his family expecations of him were so high that he just cracked.

Hey I have an email address and duct tape too! We do not have all the information yet.

So did you expect to hear "he's an evil killer" from his family or girlfriend? What do you expect them to say, do you think they knew all along or what?

No average person is able to grasp that someone they trusted might be capable of such things.

They probably saved the fiancee's life. Gun, restraints, duct tape are not part of a med school student's doctor's bag last time I checked. More victims will come forward; I suspect he was meeting more at Foxwoods and using the fiancee for cover. RUN GIRL RUN!

He was framed.

Authorities should check with the hospitals in Albany and Massachusetts where he worked to see if any patients met an untimely unsuspected death when he was working there. If he like to assault weak women, what better place than a hospital

I'm not saying he's innocent, however, duct tape and plastic ties are things found in almost every home. If I were on a jury, I would immediately discount those items as evidence of a crime; the gun, however is something else. Did he have a pistol permit? If so, the gun is not unusual to have in the home; however, If the bullets came from that gun, case is pretty much closed. E-mail communications? Obviously, he did communicate w/the victims, and probably used their services, and that is why he is on the surveilliance photos (if it is him). But that does not mean he is the perp.The man on the surveilliance photos does bear a close resemblance to Philip, but upon close exam, the face and nose do not look the same.

Again, and again, stop blaming his fiancee, who is obviously in shock and is in no position to understand, yet, what has happened. If the guy is as guilty as reports imply, there will be plenty of time for her to recognize that her life might have been saved by the good police work that got their man. In the mean time, she is going to be going through hell for a while.

As for the sharing of evidence, police share some evidence in order to allay fears that the real killer might still be out there. More evidence will come out in the indictment, and still more will come out during trial. Rest assured that we know very little of what the police have on this guy. If they had a fear of not being able to seat a jury, they would not have told us as much as they have.

Assuming he is the killer, friends and family will be the last people to accept it, and that's understandable. He's protesting his innocence.

As for his fiancee claiming the cops are framing him ("A police officer in Boston (or many) is trying to make big bucks by selling this false story to the TV stations." ), she needs to drop that one. She'll soon find she's (appropriately) tagged an idiot and a fool.

Reminds me of "Pammie Smaht's" mother doing the talk show circuit - "my Pammie could nevah do this - she LOVED Greg". Right,

My son didn't get into medical school even though he had excellent grades and test scores, but somehow an alleged murderer got in. What does this say about the screening process for medical school applicants?

wow, his girlfriend is lucky! couple more months and she would have been Mrs Psycho-Murderer

Just another monster among us.What makes these individuals snap???

It would be nice to let the court and legal system do its job of assessing evidence and judging guilt or innocence.

"but he was such a nice boy, ...always so quiet,... i know he couldn't ever hurt anybody"..........always the same words about the most vicious criminals when they are found guilty of some of the countries most heinous crimes.

Very good wrk from the Boston Police dept and other agencies....!

Is this really happening... or is there some kind of joke going on here? "Mark-off" is a killer, "Made-off" is an embezzler and thief... I'm not buying it.

I guess the wedding is off.

medical school was to much stress. one should note that it costs on the order of 500K and brings out the worst in everyone who I have seen attend. perhaps the medical establishment should look closer at what their system produces.

Not to judge anyone prematurely. But stress is hardly an excuse.

Stress is a part of life. Many have much more stress than student loans and marriage can ever cause.

Of these ...Very few resort to Violence. Very very Few Murder. Murder requires basic lack of empathy and total selfishness ..i.e. "instant gratification and control at any cost" ...Stress is just a catalyst that reveals that.

A firearm, restraints, and duct tape, BIG DEAL.
Lisa Nowak had those too.

Medium IQ sociopath, with an unexplainable blindness for surveillance camera domes and the basics of computer security? I don't think the trial will last long.

you guys better watch out what you say...your ISP will rat you out

An email traced to his house and a firearm, restraints, and duct tape? That's all you got? There is a higher standard of evidence required to prosecute Boston doctors than you and me, I thought.

and...what ever happened to innocent until proven guilty....and you guys all claim to be democrats!

"If it really was as easy as following the IP address, this guy's a cold-blooded moron who will have a lot of time to ruminate. He better hope there's a roommate or folks with apartment access lurking about to create resonable doubt."

His fiance also had access to the computer in his apartment. Maybe it was her, or he has an identical twin?

if this guy was smart he wouldve used a public computer at the school library...have fun in jail u idiot

He was on his way to Foxwoods , blame it on internet poker

He's innocent until proven guilty.

Reminds me of America Pscyho movie. The man character was all nice to everyone and held a great job. At night he would snap and kill people.

not a question if its him or not evrything matches this 22 year old guy as serious mental skizzofrenik problem put him jail throw key in the acean thats the way i look at this cruel criminal animal mind!!

If Markoff is guilty of these crimes, he sure was not too bright. Perhaps he studied so much that he didn't watch the CSI series. And to keep the weapon that may be directly linked to a murder is asking to be caught. I can't believe someone who finished pre-med and two years of med school could be this naive and stupid. There must be a case of mistaken identity. We'll see....

BTK was very kind to his daughter, would not hurt her at all. And Gacy was a pillar in his community; he even received an award from Prez. jimmy Carter.

Like this former BU student, these two individuals are highly intelligent, well organized planners, and blend in tremendously well with the general pop. The fact that this BU guy came from an affluent family, is another disguise.

I am really sorry that his fiance' is so distressed, folks like him don't disclosed every details about themselves for a reason or two. Therefore I am not surprised that he is who he is; a clean- cut young man from a rich family. .

Sounds a little bit like Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment", where a young, educated man plots a murder due to some ideology that the victim's life wouldn't be worth the good use he could make of the money. And like in Crime and Punishment, the police didn't go after him immediately put pressure on him the whole time. This guy must have suffered the same extreme anxiety and been driven to near insanity all the same - which is exactly what he deserved.

I can't believe this "science genius" and med student, if he is so smart, why wouldn't he realize that crimes involving internet usage are more readily solved? Like, might as well announce he is the killer by hanging a sign around his neck.

Megan honey.. you are more lucky than you can realize at the moment. Cooperate completely with the police. There will be time later on to adjust to the reality that you've been spared from a potentially terrible married life. Seek the support of family and friends and know that things will get better. Good luck.

"Having duct tape and restraints hardly seem conclusive. And many people have fire arms. I hope the police had more than this. "

How about the fact that it's him on the video?

Well, yeah, you can use someone else's name or whatever to open an email account, but if the emails that are sent from it can be traced back to HIS computer at HIS house where he also happens to have the same type of plastic police restraints used in the car and the gun matches the one used in the murder...that's quite enough for the police.

"I hope the police have more than this" Uh Squid, they have a minimum of two hookers er "massage therapists" who had direct eyewitness encounters with him as he tried to rip them off. I'd say they have more than enough evidence to put the creep away forever.

How easy it is to condemn someone even when it is still not proven that he is guilty. I'm sure you all believe that the police is 100% accurate in their "shoe leather" investigation. The duct tape is what probably prompted his arrest.

I just want to say I wish the police would stop mentioning duct tape as evidence when they find it in people's houses, because everyone has duct tape. I saw on TV that they can match particular cut pieces to the roll they came from, but seriously, it's not news that the guy had duct tape. Tell me about it if they find some kind of match with evidence from the scene.

Had the cops not busted the kid, Deval would've eventually appointed him to a no-show job.....

He's in medical school and their wedding website, before it was taken down, seemed to be planning a lavish wedding and renting many rooms at the hotel and a beachside wedding. Do either he or his fiance come from money? If he's the one, is that why his fiance is upset because she lost her meal ticket? Many might think why rob people to pay his gambling debt. But maybe mommy and daddy put him on an allowance. His fiance is an ignorant fool. She's heard that the IP came from his home computer, the man on those tapes is him, and they traced him to his blackberry. But she still defends him.

you folks don't watch enough CSI: the real killer is a former friend, jealous of his fiancee's ex-lover's love child that has been put up for adoption. The point is: few folks know what the heck is really going on, even when everything seems obvious, but on the face of it, let's restrain the dude and see if "the other person" commits another crime.

Sad, no matter which way you look at it. So many times people commit horrific crimes and previous to that, nothing is noticed out of the ordinary. Life is very complicated - who knows really? I will assume that the police will have a lot more evidence if he is guilty. I assume his family and fiance are in shock and are unable to say other than what they are saying. Listening to the recent discussions concerning the recent anniversary of the Columbine incident, there is disagreement as to what "type" of person commits crimes like this and whether they can be spotted before hand. We all should wait and see how this plays out and pray for the victim and the other innocents.

I wonder if the girlfriend is cute? Hmmm she's a med student and now single. This tool just did the male gender a huge favor. He seems very arrogant to me and is seemingly the person they are looking for. He's a dirt bag and deserves whatever may happen to him.

Why? What is the motive? Was he robing the women for money to gamble? The act does not justify any need but very curious what was going through his mind. Was it a reaction to the woman being defiant. What did he expect just to take the money without resistance? Hope justice is given and the killer stays locked up.

See, this is what's wrong with nerds. A wholly undeveloped personality. An adolescent mentality propelled by the horrid tug of time and hormones. Seeing others growing up and helplessly twisting against the burdensome pressure that his little calculations won't get him anywhere.

He should've ripped his friends off for their social networking software. Then he could have had money and girls and everything.

But now look.

Psycopaths come in any size or shape. Deceiving, manipulating, basic needs, short temper, jealousy, explosions, abusing, killing.
Predadors have no feelings and will leave the scene detached from what they have just done. The path will be left as a trail of destruction. Women be aware of the signs of this incurable mental defect/disease. There is not medication for it...Read about it!

OJ Did it...Just Blame OJ

He has not been proven guilty by a court. I see this time and time again where they arrest people who they "think" are guilty. This can damage a person's life if he truly is NOT guilty. So let's not be so quick to condemn, as he may not be guilty!!

Boston PD is the best. Every city in America should have such a force

I think there must have been an unconscious desire to get caught. You have women who can identify him, pictures of him on tape, the fact that he kept the gun in his home, and of course the reckless use of the internet when it should have been obvious that police could trace it back to him... Clearly, he wanted an exit out of his medical career and impending marriage...

I do not know if he is guilty or innocent...surely a jury will decide that!
That said there have been cases where people were framed! We better wait on the trial and hear the evidence. Guilty or innocent the shame today is you are found guilty twice...by the media then with public pressure by the jury!

If he is guilty, bury him. But please wait on the jury!

It should be pretty easy for the police to determine whether the gun in his apartment was the one that fired the bullets that killed Julissa Brisman.

Phil's brother Jon was staying with Phil & Megan last week while looking for a journalism job in the Boston area. Jon is about an inch shorter and 20lbs lighter than Phil. I'm not accusing Jon or Phil of this horrible crime - I just want to encourage everyone to be slow to judge until the whole story is known... After all, Jon was the one out of work and probably hurting for $.
Jon may have even had access to Phil's Blackberry while he was in town... and if I know Phil at all, I would guess that he'd be one to keep his lip zipped about Jon's potential involvement until he has a chance to talk to Jon privately about all of this.

Email to the deceased. Well, hang 'em for sure because it would be impossible for a call girl to have multiple 'johns' sending her emails. Hey, it must be this guy! Wait a minute, a grainy photo of a blond guy in a hotel. It must be this guy! Hold on. He's got sex toys in the closet? Well, it must be this guy!

Glad to have these commentators on a jury of Beacon Hill thieves but not at a murder trial.

I say, ask him the tweny question from gambler anonymous while he sits on a lie detector. That will be the end of that and he gets the death penatly. Oh wait...that would save the state money, I forgot, we don't do that here.

Putnam: "An email traced to his house and a firearm, restraints, and duct tape? That's all you got?" The email is a lot. Over 1/2 million people live in Boston. How many of them Julissa email? How many solicited her services? How many just happen to match the description of a man who assaulted and robbed another sex trade worker a week earlier? Of the Boston e-mail clients matching this video taped suspect, how many own semiautomatic handguns of the caliber used to kill Julissa? How many keep zip ties with their pistols? About now I'm thinking if it ain't him, he probably still deserves to do time.

Can you imagine if he became a doctor???

Not defending the guy, but I have a gun, duct tape, email, and I'm sure you could find something restraint-like around my house as well... I guess the main difference is I'm not dumb enough to think that anything I do on the internet couldn't be uncovered by computer scientists & forensic examiners if they had reason to suspect I was doing something criminal. You might as well document it in a diary and leave it on the kitchen table.

Too bad Johnny Cochran is dead.

He is at the hotels before and after the crimes were committed, walks away calmly obviously keying in on his Blackberry without a care in the world. His E-mail to the murdered victim is traced to HIS computer and HIS address. There are two face-to-face witnesses and the face-to-face encounter with one of the witnesses' husband. The bullets in his gun probably match the bullets found at the murder scene. The guy wears the same jacket in all the tapes from the security cameras in the three hotels. Guess what? Ted Bundy's live-in girlfriend did not know what Teddy was doing when he was away either!!

@Kim - maybe the fiancee is in cahoots. He does the heavy lifting (robbery, murder etc.) she pre-screens/selects the victims on CL and they share the proceeds. That wedding wasn't going pay for itself.

Guy should have gotten a psychiatrist ages ago. That being said a sociopath
with a character disorder isn't going to go see a psychiatrist anyway.
Glad they caught this guy, feel awful for the family of the girl. Bad apple this kid was. As for his fiance, congratulations you didn't marry a psycho or a doctor, you have your life back, count your blessings, now you can marry someone palatable. I would recommend you move to Hawaii though, you won't have much luck here since everyone knows your name now.
Hakuna Matata!

Four Points: 1. The man featured in the surveillance photo could be any one of a dozen people I personally know that live in the New England area. Amazingly, I live in Ohio and have never even been to New England. 2. It's troublesome, but not impossible, to mask or spoof an IP address. 3. Unless Mr. Markoff lived under a rock, the people who are closest to him would have long ago seen signs of aggression and disturbing/deviant behaviors that the person who killed this young woman would surely have exhibited. 4. I own the same items the police confiscated from Mr. Markoff's apartment and then some. They are all a part of my emergency preparedness kits. I find it very difficult to believe that this young man would have thrown his entire future away to steal a few hundred dollars from a prostitute or 'masseuse' found on CraigsList. God forbid the person in the surveillance photos and video would have displayed a vague resemblance to me, or you, we'd be done in for sure.

Post #53 @ csar: if this guy was smart he wouldve used a public computer at the school library...have fun in jail u idiot
Posted by csar April 21, 09 06:08 PM

You need to log in with your student's account. It is still can be traced. CSar, you are apparently not that smart either.

Reply to post #92:

1.The coppers must have strong evidence such as the fingerprints or/and DNA that will prove Markoff was in the room with those victims.

2. His IP address, computer, BlackBerry must have all traceable data that shows he has contact(s) with the victims.

He is nailed! BPD has strong case against him.

it takes no effort to fake email. i wouldn't even consider email's originating ip address as an evidence. Stupid beyond recognition.

His mother worked in a casino-gambling history-divorced parents-geek-mood swings (as defined by his students peers)-real intelligent aka too smart for his own good and probably thought it was perfect to rob criminals because they can't go to police without incriminating themselves-did not count on a girl having the will/fear to fight the restraining and ended up killing her. It does baffle me that a bu med student was not smart enough to a. get rid of weapon b. not use private internet connection

Alot of people obviously are thinking an IP number and an email address are the same thing. An IP number is a number designated by your internet service provider to a specific computer. No two computers have the same number.

You can set up an email under anyone's name but so long as the IP matches as coming from your computer, you're in a heap of trouble if something illegal happens from it. How do you think the feds caught all those people who illegally download songs off the internet?

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A lot of people live double lives. Ted Bundy for example- good looking, personable, well liked, intelligent...a serial killer. The bike path rapist is another one. For decades, no one knew that one of the most well liked men in the neighborhood, who was an activist himself in catching the bikepath rapist, actually WAS the bikepath rapist. His whole family, as well as, the whole community had no idea he was capable of this, nor did they ever suspect it or believe it until it was proven that no one else could've done it.

I worked for a respected doctor a few years ago. She was extremely nice, very supportive and giving. She killed her son by stabbing him 17 times. She had absolutely no history of any kind of violence up until that moment.
Everyone said "this is not the woman we new"!
You just can't tell.

"Alot of people obviously are thinking an IP number and an email address are the same thing. An IP number is a number designated by your internet service provider to a specific computer. No two computers have the same number. "

And some people are confusing the firmware MAC address of a computer's network controller to that of IP's that are assignable (and spoofable) by soft means.

Having said that it seemsunlikely one would spoof an address used in a criminal investigation that coincides with other non coincidents.

Unless the bullet, that killed the girl is traced to Phil's gun, this is how his defense goes: Yes, Phil did talk to her on Craigslist and , yes, he did visit her in the hotel room, and yes, they had a good time and she gave Phil her panties as "memento'', Phil paid her and was gone (Sorry, Megan, for hurting your feelings, but Phil likes kinky stuff...) That is why Phil did not feel the need to hide his face from hotel cameras... What? no money found on the girl? Than, next client, robbed and killed her..., not "beautiful inside and out" Phil . Version 2- "Megan found out and killed her", which explains, why she stands behind him, All you need just a reasonable dout

A bunch of conjecture is all this stupid blog is.

Anyone who sends an email with criminal motivation from a home network is either crazy or stupid. Obviously, Mr Markoff despite being seen with technological gadgets in many of the pictures shown of him, is a technological ignoramus. We are fortunate that this guy, if he is the one who committed the crimes, never became a physician.

My daughter just recieved a reply to a childcare ad via e-mail. This guy was offering her huge money to care for his child. He claimed he lost his wife to breast cancer a few months back. He spun a tale of traveling a lot because, his buisness was booming. He needed someone trustworthy for his child and wanted to do a back-ground search before he met her. He wanted all her info, name, address, phone, ect... She told him she would have to do a search first because of secerity issues. She has not heard back from this warped person. This danger is still out there and sounds like many are copy-cats.