Web weaves link to 'med school killer'

Philip Markoff. Photo / AP

For bright young people like Philip Markoff, the internet is a second home. It was natural that he and his fiancee, Megan McAllister, would build a website to keep prospective guests informed of their wedding plans for August.

And now that he is in jail in Boston, it makes sense that friends would come to his aid via Facebook.com. They have made a page for him: "Phil Markoff is innocent until Proven Guilty".

But the internet, according to prosecutors, also allowed Markoff, 23, to lead a second, secret life far removed from his public one as a medical student. A life that even McAllister was ignorant of until last week when police pulled them over.

Prosecutors told a Boston court that Markoff hooked up with young women on Craigslist - the internet site that lists everything from casual sex encounters to job offers and charity cake sales - to partake of their erotic services. And that he killed one and gravely assaulted the other.

It is a tale that invited oversized headlines such as "Med Student Murderer" and "Craigslist Killer". It fascinates because Craigslist is so ubiquitous on the web. It grips because of the accused murderer's good looks and apparently rosy prospects.

Police have their own ad on the site looking for other possible victims. "Were you attacked or robbed at a Boston-area hotel after placing an ad on Craigslist?" it begins.

Markoff has pleaded innocent to the charges against him. And the wedding, for now, is still not cancelled.

- INDEPENDENT