< Back to front page Text size – +

Before death, alleged Craigslist killer Markoff wrote ex-fiancee's name in blood

E-mail|Link August 16, 2010 07:22 PM

loading video... (please wait a moment)

By Maria Cramer, Globe Staff

Philip Markoff, the accused "Craigslist killer," scrawled his ex-fiancee's name in blood on the wall of his cell before killing himself, according to several law enforcement officials with knowledge of the case.

(File Photo)

Philip Markoff and Megan McAllister.

Near the word "Megan" he also wrote the word "pocket," which had no immediate significance to investigators, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case with the media. Markoff and his fiancee, Megan McAllister, had intended to marry Aug. 14, 2009 -- a year and a day before his body was found. Markoff's body was discovered yesterday morning in his jail cell in Boston.

The new details were revealed today as Suffolk County Sheriff Andrea J. Cabral, who runs the Nashua Street Jail where Markoff was being held, said there were no recent warning signs that the 24-year-old former medical student would try to kill himself. Markoff was awaiting trial on charges that he killed a New York masseuse he arranged to meet in a Back Bay hotel after seeing her ad on Craigslist.

Law enforcement officials said an autopsy had been performed on Markoff, but the medical examiner withheld the exact cause of death pending specialized testing. The Suffolk District Attorney's office declined further comment.

Audio

Listen to excerpts from a police interview with Philip Markoff

Listen to excerpts from a police interview with Megan McAllister, Markoff's ex-fiancee

Timeline in photos:
The Craigslist attacks

A spokeswoman for Boston Emergency Medical Services said that when emergency medical technicians arrived at the jail cell, Markoff was lying on the floor, with wounds to his neck and both ankles. A law enforcement official with knowledge of the case has told the Globe that Markoff severed an artery. Two other law enforcement officials told the Globe that he also was found with a plastic bag tied over his head.

The spokeswoman for EMS, Jennifer Mehigan, declined to comment on the bag.

Cabral refused to release any details about how Markoff, 24, killed himself or when he was last seen alive, saying she didn't want to compromise the ongoing investigation. But she said Markoff did not have any prohibited items in his cell when he was found, and that there was no indication at this point that her staff had done anything wrong.

"I don't believe that he had anything that he shouldn't have had in his cell,'' Cabral said during a telephone interview today. "I can tell you generally inmates don't sit naked in their cells with nothing to read and no clothes on.''

Markoff was scheduled to go on trial in March for allegedly killing 25-year-old masseuse Julissa Brisman in April 2009 at a luxurious Back Bay hotel, a woman authorities say he met through the Craigslist website.

Brian McGrory, Shelley Murphy, Jonathan Saltzman, and Andrea Estes of the Globe staff also contributed to this report.