Family members of Phillip Markoff visited him in jail Friday for the first time since his arraignment on murder charges connected to the slaying of a woman he may have met through a Craigslist online ad.
Markoff’s parents, brother, and sister-in-law visited him Friday, having to get through a throng of media members who gathered near the Boston, Massachusetts, jail. Richard Markoff and Susan Haynes arrived early in the afternoon, CNN affiliate WCVB reported. Markoff’s parents stayed at the jail for about two hours and left without making any comments to media, the affiliate reported. Markoff’s brother and sister-in-law also visited him on Friday, the affiliate reported. John Salsberg, Markoff’s attorney, addressed the crowd of reporters Friday and said he was speaking on behalf of the family. “They love their son very much. They are supportive of him, that’s what they would say if they were speaking themselves,” he said. It is not yet known if Megan McAllister, Markoff’s fiancee, would visit him in jail, but in an e-mail sent to ABC News, she said police have the wrong man and “was set up.”
Don’t Miss
Mother of Craigslist victim ‘devastated’ by loss
Craigslist killing suspect seemed ‘all-American’
Man sought in killing possibly linked to Craigslist
“Unfortunately, you were given wrong information as was the public,” she wrote. “All I have to say to you is Philip is a beautiful person inside and out and could not hurt a fly!” Markoff, 23, a second-year student at Boston University’s School of Medicine, is charged with killing Julissa Brisman, who lived in New York, April 14 at Boston’s Copley Marriott Hotel. Police have said Brisman, a model, advertised as a masseuse on Craigslist, a popular online classifieds service. They say Markoff may have met her through the online site. Prosecutors say Brisman sustained blunt head trauma and said the she was shot three times at close range. One of the bullets passed through her heart, killing her, prosecutors said. Markoff is also charged in connection with the April 10 robbery of Trisha Leffler, 29, at a Westin Hotel in Boston, another woman he allegedly met on Craigslist. Leffler was robbed of $800 in cash and $250 in American Express gift cards, police reports said. Prosecutors said she was bound and held at gunpoint. Brisman’s mother, Carmen Guzman, released a statement Friday about her devastation. “The feeling of losing my daughter in this way and the pain she must have felt will haunt me for the rest of my life,” Guzman said. “She won’t live to see her dreams. We will hold Julissa in our hearts every day.”
