MED student charged with murder

A Boston University student was arrested and charged Monday evening with the murder of a 26-year-old masseuse as well as the separate armed robbery and kidnapping of another woman.

Philip Markoff, a second year student at the School of Medicine, was taken into custody Monday afternoon and formally charged that evening for the April 14 murder of Julissa Brisman at the Copley Marriott Hotel and the April 10 armed robbery and kidnapping of another victim at the Westin Copley Place, according to the Boston Police Department blog.

Brisman, the murder victim, was advertised as a masseuse on Craigstlist, and the robbery victim was advertised as a prostitute on the same website.

BU officials suspended Markoff immediately upon hearing of the charges against him, BU Medical Campus spokeswoman Ellen Berlin said.

Black and white surveillance photographs from the two hotels led police to identify Markoff as a suspect, according to articles in The Boston Globe. His attire in the pictures also matched the description provided by a third potential victim, a prostitute, who claimed she was assaulted at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel and Suites in Warwick, R.I. April 16.

Markoff will be arraigned at the Boston Municipal Court Tuesday morning, BPD spokesman Eddy Chrispin said.

Staff writer Annie Ropeik contributed reporting to this article.

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