Craigslist killing suspect unable to pay for lawyer

BOSTON — The Boston University medical student accused of slaying a 25-year-old masseuse he met on Craigslist owes more than $130,000 in student loans and cannot afford an attorney, according to court papers.

Philip Markoff, 23, does not get money from his parents and has been unemployed for a while, making him eligible for an appointed attorney paid through public funds, court documents showed.

"(Markoff) stated he did not receive financial support from his family," said an April 23 document signed by a probation officer. "(Markoff) further stated he was unemployed for a lengthy period of time and was essentially living off student loans in the amount of $130,000."

Court papers say Markoff was interviewed April 21 by officer Athena Kotarides, who later wrote that Markoff had signed an indigency form. The Committee for Public Counsel Services appointed attorney John Salsberg to represent Markoff later that day.

Markoff was a second-year medical student at the time of his arrest last week during a traffic stop as he drove to Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut. He graduated from the State University of New York-Albany.

Markoff is charged with murdering Julissa Brisman April 14 at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel. He also is charged in a robbery at a nearby hotel of another masseuse that police say he met through the Craigslist classified ads Web site.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Salsberg has said Markoff is innocent of the charges.

A law-enforcement official said Friday that Markoff's fingerprint was found on a wall of the Holiday Inn Express in Warwick, R.I., where a stripper said she was tied up and held at gunpoint by a man she met through Craigslist.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case.

The official also said Markoff sent text messages from the hotel but said he didn't have information about what he said or to whom he wrote. Markoff has not been charged in Rhode Island.