Former Boston University medical student and accused “Craigslist killer” Philip Markoff provided a sample of his DNA to the prosecution, defense attorney John Salsberg said on March 29.
Markoff was arrested in April of last year for the April 14 fatal shooting of masseuse Julissa Brisman at the Copley Marriott and the April 10 armed robbery of Trisha Leffler at the Westin Hotel in Boston. He allegedly sought both women out through the website Craigslist.
He has pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frank Gaziano ordered Markoff to submit a DNA sample to investigators in a motion passed in February. However, he said the sample would be limited to the Brisman case only, meaning that Markoff’s DNA will not be run through the national DNA database which allows investigators to crack unsolved crimes across the country.
The Boston Police Department identified two bloodstains on a handgun they found in Markoff’s Quincy, Mass., apartment, a motion passed by Gaziano said. Under Gaziano’s ruling of the motion, the prosecution will now be able to compare the DNA on the stains with the sample of Markoff’s DNA. Prosecutors allege that Markoff used the handgun to bludgeon Brisman before shooting her three times at close range.
Investigators also found panties belonging to two of the victims hidden in a Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body textbook in the apartment.
Suffolk Chief Homicide Prosecutor Ed Zabin said a final pretrial hearing is set for May 25. At that time, he anticipated a future trial date to be set.
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