RI police: Robbery similar to Boston Craigslist slaying
By Jonathan Saltzman and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
WARWICK, R.I. -- Police say a prostitute who advertised on Craigslist was tied up in a hotel here last night by a clean-cut, blond-haired man in an attack with "strong linkages" to two similar armed robberies in Boston, one of which left a woman dead.
The 26-year-old woman from Las Vegas escaped unharmed last night when her husband returned to the hotel room and interrupted the robbery, Warwick police said. The suspect, described as a 6-foot-tall white male with a medium build, bears a striking resemblance to the man wanted for the fatal shooting Tuesday night of a 26-year-old woman at the Marriott Copley who advertised massages on Craigslist.
PHOTO GALLERY  Victim, person of interest in Marriott Copley killings |
"The real significant issue is the fact that there could be a linkage to a much more serious crime," Warwick Police Chief Stephen McCartney said this morning, adding, "Are there strong linkages at this point? Yes."
Warwick detectives are reviewing footage from hotel surveillance cameras. They hope to re-interview the woman and her husband today and talk more with Boston police, McCartney said, before they "will be able to make more definitive conclusions that we're dealing with one and the same."
Boston police are "trying to figure out if there is a link," said spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll. "Right now, we don't know if they are connected."
The woman had been working as a stripper at the Cadillac Lounge in Providence, McCartney said.
Her posting on Craigslist was similar to ads that prostitutes often use to solicit customers online. Investigators tried to trace the phone number the man used when he responded to the ad, but it was a dead end, McCartney said.
The woman met the man last night at a Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites near T.F. Green Airport, between Route 1 and Interstate 95. He tied her up with plastic cord, police said, and tried to rob her at gunpoint. When the husband returned to the room, the assailant pointed the gun at him and backed out the door. The husband followed the assailant, but lost him when he left the hotel.
"I think the guy panicked when the husband came back," McCartney said, adding, "Fortunately, she was not hurt. Shaken up a bit, but not hurt."
The couple went to the front desk and called police, who responded to the hotel at 11:17 p.m.
"You've got to look at the nature of this whole business [of prostitution]. I'm sure there is a huge reluctance on the part of the victim and the husband," McCartney said. The couple "obviously made a determination that they had to call the police, which is a good decision on their part."
McCartney said he was not going to release the names of the couple because "nobody can account for this guy's whereabouts" and the couple "fear that their lives may be in danger."
He said the couple travel periodically to the Providence area from their native Las Vegas and stay in local hotels while the woman performs at the Cadillac Lounge. They had been staying at the Holiday Inn Express for a couple of days before the attack in a third-floor room, McCartney said.
Police have obtained "some pretty good footage of what this guy was doing," McCartney said. But after consulting with Boston police detectives, McCartney said, Warwick police decided not to make the footage public because they were concerned it might hinder the investigation.
Warwick police may, however, provide the media with a still photograph of the suspect shortly, he said.
The setting of the attack was strikingly different from the two posh Boston hotels where the earlier robberies occurred. The Holiday Inn Express is a modest, four-story brick hotel with green trim in a commercial area not far from Interstate 95.
Two Warwick police cruisers sat this morning outside the hotel, along with a white-and-blue evidence truck. The hotel's manager, Thomas DiMasi, would not discuss what happened. "With the investigation going on, I can't comment at the moment," DiMasi said.
At the Cadillac Lounge, manager Eddie Imondi said today that the club employs 100 strippers. Imondi said he was unaware of a stripper working at the club from Las Vegas.
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I'm pretty sure that the writers are thinking of the woman from Las Vegas who was attacked at the Westin in Boston last week. The globe is only news source that is saying the RI woman is originally from Vegas.
the husband was there and knew about his wife doing that?
no comment on this one
Good for them for coming forward and risking arrest themselves.
Who would have thought that soliciting on Craigslist was dangerous.
The husband was probably fully aware of what she does... Some guys are OK with it. I'm not, but I have no reason to judge what other concenting adults are willing to accept if no one is getting hurt or forced into it.
I am glad that they came forward though. This guy is a total wack job, and it will take some folks to be brave enough to come forward to catch him. You know that he is counting on the fact that they won't.
Wnnder if that first girl managed to register her gift cards before they were stolenm. Maybe the doufus is stupid enough to use them and get caught! One can only hope.
this stuff is quasi legal in R.I.
I did not believe until I looked up the state law. Very similar to Nevada law.
Not legally allowed to solicit...but can exchange sex for money. I have no idea how she advertised on craigslist...but probably vague enough to not be "illegal"
Something's fishy. Why haven't they caught this guy yet? They have his picture plastered coast-to-coast. He has to at least go to 7-11 to get something to eat. Why hasn't anyone reported seeing him, other than craigslist prostitutes? They have the times and locations of numerous cell-phonings. Why don't they at least have his name, if not yet an arrest?
Check out Foxwoods & Mohegan Sun. The guy appears to be a degenetate Russian gambler who loses a lot of money and resorts to this type of behavior to stake his need to gamble.
hey sherlock find your brain!
HEY DAVID ARE YOU TRYING TO INSINUATE THAT A COP IS INVOLVED???
Granted it's anonymous, isn't there a way for craigslist.org to track the email address of the assailant?
Really nice #6, blaming police. IDIOT
Is that all you have, Barbara?
I wonder did they exchange phone numbers?
Emails are anonymous but phone number is easy to track...
About this behaviour on the craigslist...victams are not going to stop it and same thing with the killer...he is going to do this untill police get him...
There are lots of girls doing massages on the craigslist but it doesn't mean they are all prostitue.
ACCENT?: Yesterday they were saying the man at the Westin seemed to be from Boston-- I assume he had that Boston accent. But a non-Bostonian, which all these women thus far have been, might not know a Boston accent from some other accent. // WIG: In the Westin photos, I think it looks like he is wearing a wig or at least a hairpiece. One photos shows a bald spot showing on top of his head -- and looks like a wig.
To JIM: The assailant would respond to the ad by telephone, not email. The article above says police tried to trace that call but came to a dead end. That can happen if he uses a calling card, pay phone, or prepaid.
everybody's an expert. shuuuuut up!
Maybe he didn't email her, some of those advertisements have a phone number attached...
Maybe law enforcement was involved...we all know that not all of them belong in those positions.
Mommas don't let you babies grow up to be call girls....
"Boston police are "trying to figure out if there is a link," said spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll." I am trying to "figure out" how the said prostitute is married!
Though I am happy she was okay!
This is getting more interesting. Which is exactly what this guy wants. He knows the cops are hot on his trail at this point. Cat and mouse now. Think I have watched too much 'Law and Order.'
SHERLOCK,
I DIDN'T WANT TO CONFUSE YOU WHILE YOU LOOK FOR YOUR BRAIN!
He's a clean-cut, blonde-haired white guy, huh?
Wait, isn't this RACIAL PROFILING?
To doublestandard:
That's not racial profiling...that's called a description.
amen # 20
hey, how about that, more news involving violence that wouldn't happen if we didn't legislate morality via prohibition while calling ourselves "the home of the free!" if sex work didn't have to operate in the shadows, sex workers could be protected by operating in corporations with security personnel, as in Nevada and Holland.
if you don't advocate ending these illegitimate bans, you are complicit in the violence that these laws provoke.
I think he is a Montreal Canadien fan. He lookeds like a flying frenchman.
This seems like a simple family-run business. "Hey honey, be right back, I'm just goin' out for bite to eat. I'll clean up when I get back."
Uhhh, why isn't anyone talking about Craigslist's responsibilties here? They don't allow people to sell illeagal drugs or guns, but prostitution is ok?
GET YOUR ROLES RIGHT: It is usually the husband/ boyfriend/ pimp that is supposed to walk in during the act and rob the john. But when he walked in to do that, the john was already robbing the prostitute.
He's in Atlantic City by now.
Factsjack just hit it right on the head. Read your Raymond Chandler or your Richard Stark. This is the oldest scam in the book, but this time the grifters almost got more than they bargained for.
But on an entirely different subject -- is the average person more or less comfortable with the level of surveillance we are all apparently under at all times?
You don't mean "native Los Vegas." Native means they were born there. I'll bet $10 you don't know where they were born.
Prairiemike: Having surveillance cameras all over makes it so much more fun for those of us who play internet sleuth. It is FUN to watch this man walk out of the hotel and down the street, knowing just what he looks like. In a sad situation recently, enormous public empathy was generated by seeing Sandra Cantu skipping along, shortly before being murdered. I just did not get why there was not also a video of the alleged killer driving along the same road -- or maybe there is and it has not been shown. This whole camera thing cuts down on the number of innocent people chosen as suspects.
Dr, Phil,, just a week or two ago, counseled a woman not to do this sort of thing on craigslist anymore.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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