APNewsBreak: Craigslist slaying suspect indicted on assault charges in RI

APNewsBreak: Craigslist suspect indicted in RI

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A former Boston University medical student accused of killing a masseuse he met through Craigslist has been indicted on charges that he assaulted a stripper in Rhode Island.

A county grand jury on Tuesday indicted Philip Markoff on charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault with intent to commit robbery. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

A Las Vegas stripper who offered lap dances has told Rhode Island authorities that she was bound with a cord and held at gunpoint in April by a man she met through the classified advertising Web site. She said her assailant fled when her husband came to the hotel room. Rhode Island authorities later issued an arrest warrant for Markoff.

Markoff has pleaded not guilty to killing New York City resident Julissa Brisman at an upscale Boston hotel on April 14. The alleged assault at the Holiday Inn Express in Warwick occurred two nights later, police said.

Investigators linked Markoff to the hotel through a fingerprint and also believe he sent text messages from there.

His court-appointed lawyer in Massachusetts, John Salsberg, said he was not currently representing Markoff on the Rhode Island charges and declined to comment.

Markoff has been ordered held without bail and is currently in a Boston jail awaiting trial. He is also charged in a separate armed robbery of another Las Vegas stripper at a Boston hotel.

Markoff must resolve the Massachusetts cases before he can be brought to Rhode Island to stand trial, said Michael Healey, a spokesman for the state attorney general’s office.