Police Link Victims, Craigslist Suspect

A Boston University medical student accused of robbing women who advertised erotic services on Craigslist, killing one of them, had items belonging to both victims in his apartment, a law enforcement source said Wednesday.

Philip Markoff, dubbed the "Craigslist killer," is charged with killing a masseuse at the Marriott Copley Place hotel April 14. He is also charged in the robbery of another woman who he allegedly met at another Boston hotel four days earlier.

A law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said police found items belonging to both women in Markoff's apartment in Quincy, south of Boston. The source wasn't authorized to speak about evidence in the investigation.

The source would not confirm a report by ABC News that the items seized by police included the victims' underwear. ABC News said two unidentified law enforcement sources said Markoff appeared to be collecting underwear as "souvenirs" from his alleged victims.

Markoff, 23, is accused in the death of Julissa Brisman, 26, of New York City, a masseuse who was found dead in the doorway of her hotel room after being bashed in the head and shot three times. He's also suspected of robbing and tying up another, and police have said there could be more victims.

Investigators are looking into gambling as the possible motivation. The law enforcement source says Markoff was a "frequent visitor" to Foxwoods casino in Connecticut.

When Markoff was arrested Monday, he and his fiancée were headed to Foxwoods, and he was carrying a suitcase with more than $1,000 in cash, a police source told the New York Daily News.

Markoff had recently started frequenting the poker tables at the casino, playing as much as $1,000 a hand, the source said, who added that Markoff won $5,300 last week.

Boston police refused to comment on reports citing unidentified law enforcement sources that Markoff was a problem gambler. But the casino said it was helping investigators.

"We do not release information publicly concerning individual patrons; however, we are aware of this situation and are cooperating with the appropriate law enforcement authorities," the casino and the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation said in a statement.

Boston District Attorney Daniel Conley said the primary motive for the crimes is robbery, though he told CBS' The Early Show his department would pursue the gambling angle.

"He was en route to Foxwoods to spend the night there," Conley told The Boston Globe. "The question on the nature and the extent of his gambling - whether he is a casual, periodic gambler or a regular gambler - I don't know the answer to that question. . . . As we explore various motives for the robberies, gambling is certainly a motive that we will look at."

Brisman, 26, was an aspiring model and actress who had advertised erotic massage on craigslist. Authorities said she and Markoff communicated through e-mail and cell phone to set up a meeting.

Investigators traced an e-mail to Markoff, who created a new address the day before Brisman's body was discovered at the Marriott Copley Hotel.

Authorities say he was the man seen on surveillance video near where Brisman was found and where a woman was robbed in Rhode Island.

Markoff's grandfather, Jerome Markoff, a lawyer from Arnold, Md., said he was shocked.

"This is not my grandson. I know my grandson," he told The Boston Globe. "I hate to see a rush to judgment ... He's a wonderful boy, just absolutely wonderful, and couldn't be better. I'm proud of him and proud of his abilities as a medical student. He always wanted to be a doctor."

Markoff's grandfather did not immediately respond to a call from The Associated Press. Police said his grandson has no prior criminal record.

Markoff is also suspected in the attempted robbery Thursday in Warwick, R.I., of a stripper who had posted an ad on craigslist. She was held at gunpoint before her husband entered the room and her attacker fled.

Markoff's mother, Susan Haynes, declined to comment through a receptionist at her apartment complex in Sherrill, N.Y., where Markoff went to high school. In the 2004 Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School yearbook, Markoff was listed as a member of the bowling and golf teams, the National Honor Society, history club and youth court.

He graduated in 2007 from the State University of New York at Albany. Later that year, he had a broad smile in a photograph taken as he put on a "white coat" at a ceremony for incoming BU medical school students.

The university has said Markoff was suspended immediately following his arrest.