Did Accused U.S. Killer Find His Victim Over The Internet?

You likely already know about some of the dangers of the Internet. It’s a place that can be teeming with pedophiles trying to pose as something they’re not to get at your kids, scammers looking for a way to obtain your credit card info and spyware creators attempting to take over your machine and send out spam.

But now there may be another reason to worry about what you post online – a predator could be using it to pick his victims.

That’s what police in Boston allege about a former medical student who’s accused of using the popular site Craigslist to locate, meet and attack several women, ending with the murder of one of them.

The case has been unfolding over the past few weeks, after a woman who advertised her services as a massage therapist was found dead in a local hotel room, her table still set up inside.

Julissa Brisman was just 26 when her body was discovered at the Boston Marriott Copley Place on April 14 ^th. Police discovered the New York City resident had placed an ad for her services on Craigslist just before she was shot to death.

They became convinced her attacker found her on the site and arranged the fatal rendezvous.

Several other cases of women being kidnapped and robbed have been traced to the same hotel and to a crime in Warwick, Rhode Island. In that incident, an exotic dancer was held at gunpoint until her husband entered the room and her surprised attacker fled.  

The same plastic cuffs used to bind her hands and those of another victim were found in the Boston case, leading cops to tie the cases together.

All shared two things in common: they were all women and they all had put their contacts out on Craigslist.

Cops used hotel security video as one clue to narrow down a suspect. Forensics, tips from the public and good detective work also led them to 22-year-old Philip Markoff, who was arrested on a Boston highway Monday afternoon.

He’s been charged with murder and unlawful possession of a firearm and is being held without bail. Authorities are now trying to tie him to the other crimes, including the Rhode Island case.

Markoff was a medical student at Boston University at the time of the crimes. He was suspended after his arrest. Reports indicate he’s scheduled to be married in August.

Police are appealing to anyone else who may have had contact with the suspect through Craigslist to come forward, fearing there may be many more victims who have been too scared to identify themselves.

Experts say it’s a tragic cautionary tale about putting too much information on the web. Parents are especially warned to make sure that what their kids post on sites like Facebook and MySpace don’t give away too many details about home addresses and contact information.

Predators often troll the sites looking for a way to contact children who innocently give them an opening they might never have found any other way.