WARWICK, R.I. , April 18, 2009
Hunt For "Craigslist Killer" Intensifies
Cops Seek "Person Of Interest" As R.I. Robbery Victim Suggests Link To Boston Murder Of Woman Who Posted Massage Ad
-
Play CBS Video Video Search For 'Craigslist Killer' Police linked three crimes in two states to a man known as the "craigslist killer." Daniel Sieberg reports.
-
Police call this man, caught on a surveillance camera at Boston's Marriott Copley Place Tuesday, a "person of interest" in the murder of a woman who advertised massage services on Craigslist. (CBS)
The 26-year-old Las Vegas woman, who police believe was offering sex for money through the Craigslist posting, was attacked at a Holiday Inn Express late Thursday night, Warwick Police Chief Stephen McCartney said.
The assailant fled when the victim's husband returned to the room.
Earlier this week, a woman who advertised massage services on Craigslist was shot and killed at a luxury hotel in Boston.
McCartney said that, after Thursday's attack in Warwick, "The victim apparently made a statement to police that, in her opinion, this situation mirror-imaged what happened up in Boston. I think, at the point in time our police responded, nobody was thinking about that."
The description of the suspect in Thursday's attack also matches that of a "person of interest" wanted for questioning in the fatal shooting of 26-year-old Julissa Brisman of New York City at the Marriott Copley Place in Boston on Tuesday night.
And the same person may have been involved in the robbery last week of another Las Vegas woman at the Westin Copley Hotel, Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis said.
The 29-year-old woman had also advertised massage services on Craigslist, the online classified service.
Police in Warwick, which is about 60 miles south of Boston, describe the suspect as a clean-cut white male, about 6 feet tall, 200 pounds, with blond hair, wearing a black coat and blue jeans.
McCartney said his department is working with Boston police, who have surveillance video of the suspect leaving the hotel. McCartney said his department also has surveillance video from the Warwick hotel, but will not release it at the request of the Boston police.
"There are strong similarities here based on the information that we have, particularly the fact that there is an individual who seems to fit the description of the individual in Boston," he said.
(WBZ)
In Thursday's attack, the victim's husband briefly chased the assailant out of the room, but then returned to check on his wife, McCartney said. The woman told police she worked as a dancer at The Cadillac Lounge, a Providence strip club.
The woman told investigators that she advertised lap dances online, but police believe sexual acts for money were also likely involved, McCartney said.
He noted that a loophole in Rhode Island law allows indoor prostitution and said it may be at least partly to blame for what happened.
But on The Early Show Saturday Edition, criminologist Jack Levin, co-director of the
"Whenever we hear a criminal tying up his victims, and dealing with people who give masseuse services or they’re escorts or prostitutes, we think of a sexual assault," Levin observed to substitute co-anchor Jeff Glor.
"But I think he tied up his victims in order to control them so he could rob them. And I think he chose these particular women because they were so vulnerable. I mean, when you talk about escorts, you've got to think they are - they deal with lots of sleazy characters all the time. And they also are willing to be alone with an absolute stranger. And those kinds of characteristics make them very, very good (targets)."
McCartney described the woman as "shaken up" but not injured. The couple was interviewed again Friday afternoon, but police did not release their names for safety reasons.
McCartney said the couple told investigators they were staying at the hotel and that the husband went up to the room after she failed to meet him downstairs for a planned trip into Providence.
"She doesn't answer, so he then goes upstairs and interrupts the crime in progress," he said.
Boston Police in Boston have said that they believe the victim at the Westin was involved in prostitution but that they are uncertain about Brisman.
Brisman's friends said they didn't know she had advertised massage services online.
Matthew Terhune, 34, a photographer from New York City, said he photographed Brisman last year for head shots she needed for a tanning salon.
He said Brisman told him she had been paid $1,000 to fly out to private parties in Chicago and walk around in a bikini or topless. "But I don't think it went beyond that," Terhune said. "They were just parties where guys wanted to see hot girls."
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Boston Police homicide unit by calling (617) 343-4470, or the CRIMESTOPPERS tip line at (800) 494-TIPS, or texting TIP to CRIME (27463).
© MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More From The Early Show
Add a Comment
- all crimes start in america...evil influence in world.
Posted by Marmarv at 6:47 PM : Apr 18, 2009
Yeah, all you muslims say that. According to history everything that America has came from the mideast!!!! Hate, AIDS, STDs, Plague, polio, Malaria, Homosexuality, humans and other forms of death makers. But guess what! you still kill that which you touch better than any other part of the world.... - Reply to this comment
- This guy is probably going to turn out to be a German tourist or something. No one can tell who he is from these pictures? That's why I think he will be someone from out of the country and that this news just hasn't made it over there for anyone to recognize this guy. The pictures are really pretty clear. Oh, and hollysbaby, I don't think they checked the Clinton era White House tenants, yet, but it would be a good place to start.
- Reply to this comment
- marmav,
Any country that forces women to have sex at a man's will or be punished has no right calling other countries evil. Many men will answer one day to their God for the way they treated women on the Earth. - Reply to this comment
- hey, antillo99, the perpetrator didn't attach the victims sexually. he tied them up and robbed them. no ***** involved. please change your name to "intelligencequotient99.
- Reply to this comment
- It's all the fault of internet piracy! Newspapers should sue Craigslist because if these woman had to pay for ads, this wouldn't be happening!
Okay, yes it would and there have been multiple cases of just this sort of things happening from answering newspaper ads over the years but I thought the newspapers might try something stupid after that botched Pirate Bay verdict. Sue all the new media out of existence to keep our 19th century business model alive! - Reply to this comment
- its all Obama's fault he hasnt been caught yet
Posted by ainttaken
ainttaken- It is surprising that George Bush isn't being blamed for this. - Reply to this comment
- Dude, I hope the cops are smart enough to try to track the IP address of the guy who answered both ads and see if that leads them somewhere
I hate scumbag robbers and murderers - Reply to this comment
Author Thomas Friedman on Obama's Afghanistan plan and the war on terror.
