Philip Markoff, ‘Craigslist Killer,’ commits suicide in jail

The medical student known as the “Craigslist Killer” due to meeting victims using the popular classifieds site, has died of an apparent suicide at the Massachusetts jail where he was being held.

23-year-old Philip Markoff was found in his cell this morning at 10:17 after he failed to report for breakfast and exercise. Markoff, who was awaiting trial for the murder of Julissa Brisman, was found with his wrists cut and an unspecified tether around his neck:

He didn’t come out for breakfast. He didn’t come out for morning rec [recreation]. They went in to check on him and he was dead,” one law enforcement source told ABC News.

“He clearly knew what he was doing,” the Nashua Street jail source said. “He used his medical expertise.”

Markoff was suspected in at least three Craigslist-related assaults:

Markoff, 23, was facing a slew of charges stemming from the murder of masseuse Julissa Brisman, an aspiring drug counselor from New York City who was shot dead in her room at the Marriot Copley Place Hotel on April 14, 2009. Brisman had allegedly booked a “sexual release” massage appointment with the BU medical student that day.

Four days earlier, Markoff allegedly bound and robbed a Las Vegas hooker at the Westin Hotel. And on April 16, 2009, police say he attacked and robbed an exotic dancer at a hotel room in Warwick, R.I. All three victims posted erotic advertisements on the online networking site Craigslist.

Had Markoff not been arrested for the crimes, his first wedding anniversary would have been Saturday.

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