Fiancee of suspected 'Craigslist Killer' Philip Markoff comes to his defense

BY BEVERLY FORD IN BOSTON AND HELEN KENNEDY IN NEW YORK


Med student Philip Markoff poses with fiancee Megan McAllister.


The fiancee of the accused "Craigslist Killer" insists her future husband is a "beautiful person" who's innocent of slaying a hired masseuse in a luxury Boston hotel.
Philip Markoff, arrested Monday after an intensive police investigation, "could not hurt a fly," his future wife Megan McAllister wrote in an e-mail to ABC's "Good Morning America."
"Philip is an intelligent man who is just trying to live his life so if you could leave us alone we would greatly appreciate it," she wrote Tuesday.
"We expect to marry in August and share a wonderful, meaningful life together."
Markoff, a 22-year-old medical student, was due for arraignment in Boston later Tuesday. He was arrested for the April 14 slaying of Julissa Brisman, along with an attack on a second woman four days earlier in another Boston hotel.
Police were investigating whether a similar assault involving an exotic dancer at a Rhode Island hotel was linked to Markoff, of Quincy, Mass.
Brisman, a 26-year-old masseuse, and the other alleged victims advertised their services on Craigslist. Brisman's massage table was set up inside a 20th-floor room at the tony Marriott Copley Place when police found her lying in a pool of blood.
Brisman was shot several times, apparently after resisting Markoff's attempts to bind her hands with plastic "zip tie" handcuffs, authorities said.
Markoff and McAllister met while attending SUNY Albany, with their Aug. 14 wedding coming four years after their first date. They met while volunteering in a local emergency room, according to a Web page devoted to their wedding.

By Globe Staff

The fiancée of the Boston University medical student accused of using Craigslist to target and attack women in hotels defended him today in an e-mail she sent to ABC News.

The fiancée, Megan McAllister, accused police of trying to make money off the plight of her fiancée, Philip Markoff, 23, who was arrested last night on charges that include murder.

"Unfortunately you were given wrong information as was the public," McAllister wrote in the e-mail, which is posted on ABC's website. "All I have to say to you is Philip is a beautiful person inside and out and could not hurt a fly! A police officer in Boston (or many) is trying to make big bucks by selling this false story to the TV stations."

McAllister continued, "What else is new?? Philip is an intelligent man who is just trying to live his life so if you could leave us alone we would greatly appreciate it. We expect to marry in August and share a wonderful, meaningful life together."

McAllister did not respond to email messages and could not be reached by the Globe for comment.