Police believe attacks in Boston and R.I. linked

April 18, 2009 08:03 PM Email| Comments (2)| Text size – +

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Correspondent

Boston Police detectives believe there is a strong connection between an attack on a woman in a Warwick, R.I. hotel room on Thursday and two attacks in Boston hotels that left one woman dead, authorities said today.

Police continue to investigate the murder of Julissa Brisman, 26, of New York, who was killed during an apparent robbery and struggle Tuesday night in her Copley Marriott hotel room after a man answered her posting on Craigslist offering massage services.

On Thursday night in Warwick, a 26-year old Las Vegas prostitute and exotic dancer who advertised on Craigslist was tied up in a third floor room at the Holiday Inn Express, but the attempted robbery was broken up when the woman's husband came into the room and chased the suspect. Another prostitute was robbed at the Westin Hotel in Boston on April 10.

The investigation, which has so far included more than 150 tips that have poured into the Boston Police Department, has led authorities to believe the three incidents are related.

The suspect in the Rhode Island attack is described as blond, clean-cut, and tall, similar to the person of interest seen in hotel security camera footage released from the Boston incidents. As in the Boston attacks, the assailant in Warwick used a plastic cord to tie up the woman and found his victim by answering an ad posted on Craigslist, the online classifed service., police said.

"Currently, Boston Police detectives do believe, based upon a number of similarities, that there is a strong connection between the Warwick incident, the homicide at the Copley Marriott and the armed robbery at the Westin Hotel," Boston Police said in a statement.

"We are receiving a lot of tips," said Boston Police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll .

While Boston police believe there is a connection, authorities in Warwick cautioned that nothing is definitive yet.

“We have seen enough that we are continuing to work with Boston, but there’s no way we can know for sure that the two cases are connected," said Warwick Police Colonel Stephen McCartney.

John M. Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com Globe Correspondent Matt Collette contributed to this report.