05x04 - The Man in the Black Hat

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

Narrator: a violent m*rder in an up-market hotel...

We have a serial attacker, and he's not going to stop.

Narrator: ...exposes a predator.

This was as close to a psychopathic k*ller

That I've come.

Narrator: under the glare of the nation's media...

It was huge. The story was huge.

Narrator: ...a trail of surveillance footage...

It's right there. It's right in front of you.

And the camera doesn't lie.

Narrator: ...reveals a surprising k*ller.

It was just totally out of anything I had ever worked on.

--Captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by discovery communications

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: tuesday, april 14, 2009 --

Boston, massachusetts.

Six days before the annual marathon,

The anticipated crowd of 30,000 people

Is already starting to pour into the city.

Boston is a very safe american city.

It's one of the safest in the country.

Narrator: the marriott hotel in upscale copley square

Is already filling up with affluent guests

Looking forward to the big event.

♪♪

[ Woman screaming ]

♪♪

Merner: a resident reported a woman screaming

From the 20th floor of the marriott hotel.

Miss? Oh, my god.

Narrator: security guard alan mccarthy

Immediately calls for help.

Hello? Yes, we need, uh, the ambulance and the police

To, uh -- to marriott copley place.

[ Siren wailing ]

Duff: this was the first time I had ever received

A call to go to the marriott.

It's not a place that we generally respond to

For these sorts of incidents.

Narrator: sergeant detective daniel duff arrives on scene.

Duff.

I receive a call from boston medical center,

Where the victim was pronounced deceased.

Narrator: boston p.d. Has a homicide on its hands.

♪♪

Duff: this incident occurs in a high-rise hotel.

It's not out in one of the neighborhoods.

There's very few witnesses.

So, i-i think this is going to be a difficult case.

Narrator: detective duff starts with the firsthand story

From the hotel security guard.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Detectives need to identify the victim.

There's a purse in the room, which has a wallet.

We look through the wallet, and there's several i.d.'S in there,

Which allows us to identify the victim

As julissa brisman.

Narrator: it appears the 25-year-old was a student

From more than 200 miles away in new york.

♪♪

Four days earlier, julissa brisman

Was just a regular city college girl

Studying to be a substance abuse counselor.

She was passionate about it,

Because she knew that she could do well,

Helping people going through something

That she also went through.

Narrator: julissa had her own troubles with alcohol some years back,

But succeeded in overcoming her demons.

Melissa: I was very proud of her.

Shields: julissa was a fighter. She was tough and strong

And also just super fun

And, um, deeply, deeply caring.

When she finished drinking,

And she wanted to then become a counselor

And help people, says a lot about her character.

-It's on me. Let's go. -Okay.

♪♪

Narrator: now, sadly, that promising life

Has all ended on a hotel floor.

♪♪

This was a-a very violent as*ault.

Based on the evidence, we knew it was a sh**ting.

Three shots were fired.

There's blood spatter on the wall,

There is blood on the floor

And -- and a shell casing right by the threshold.

♪♪

I try to figure out what are the circumstances that led her here?

Narrator: as detective duff reads the crime scene,

One detail in particular draws his attention.

One of the beds seemed to have been made up

To look like a massage table.

Looks like somebody was working.

Narrator: detectives believe julissa was in boston

To offer massage services.

The boston marathon brims with customers

Preparing their bodies for the race.

Police wonder if someone got the wrong idea.

Merner: julissa was involved in this massage business,

But she was not involved in some of the more erotic massage.

That was not, uh, the type of business she was involved in.

Narrator: police need to contact her loved ones as soon as possible.

Yeah. Yeah, we've got an address for her.

There is an urgency to contact the family

And -- and make sure that they hear it from us,

Rather than from some other source.

We contact the new york city police department

To try to track down her next of kin.

Narrator: it's in the early hours

When nypd visits the address on julissa's i.d. Card...

Morning, sir. I'm looking for the brisman family.

There's nobody here by that name.

...only to discover the family's since moved.

We tried to make contact with julissa's family,

And we were unable to.

The only recourse we had was to use a contact

In her cellphone to call her mom.

[ Telephone ringing ]

♪♪

[ Speaks spanish ] sí?

Narrator: julissa's mother is from the dominican republic.

Melissa?

Melissa, mija!

Man on -- there's a phone -- there's a man in the phone.

Uh, her mother didn't speak as much english, uh,

As, uh, I hoped, and it was difficult to talk to her.

And she put her daughter on, julissa's younger sister.

I ended up having to tell her

The circumstances of julissa's death,

And that was -- it was very hard.

What?

[ Speaks spanish ] que pasa?

He said that there had been an accident

And that we needed to come get her.

And I was confused.

I was asking him if she's in the hospital

Or if she's in jail.

What could've possibly happened that night?

And he said, "well, she's passed away."

Que pasa?

Mama... [ Speaking spanish ]

[ Speaking spanish ]

Julissa.

No, mi amor, no, no, she is not dead!

It was, uh, very heartbreaking to me to have to do it

And I'm sure very traumatic to the family.

[ Both sobbing ]

We were just in shock.

♪♪

Narrator: julissa's family tell police she was an aspiring actress

And regularly visited home.

Her sister and her were very, very close.

-Melissa, hi! -There she is!

Hi, sweetie! How are you?

-Hi! -Okay.

-You didn't have to. -Open it.

And julissa would talk all the time about her sister,

About wanting to do things for her sister.

-Mom. -Hello, mi amor.

[ Laughs, speaks spanish ]

I have something for you. Don't say anything.

Don't say anything. No, no, it's a present.

-No, no, julissa, no. -It's a present. No, no, no.

Leave it, leave it, leave it.

-Honey. -It's a present.

Her sister was in high school,

And I'm -- I'm pretty sure that her mother was working.

I got to go.

But I'm sure that they were strapped for cash.

Hi!

Oh, my god.

Look at this on you!

Narrator: julissa worked several jobs,

But none of them ever seemed to pay enough.

So, recently, she'd found a more lucrative line of work

As a massage therapist.

I see it all the time with actors.

They get to new york. They have these, you know, dreams,

And they start working at -- at a restaurant,

Or they start dancing on tables --

Whatever it is that gives them

Some kind of substance of finances.

♪♪

Narrator: julissa's mother now prepares

To take the same train ride to boston that julissa did

To identify her oldest child.

♪♪

Meantime, the case gets even more complex.

This isn't the only attack.

We received information from the district 4 detectives

About an incident that happened four days prior to the homicide

Under very similar circumstances.

Narrator: the report was from the nearby westin hotel,

Where another massage therapist was held up in her room.

♪♪

-[ Gasps ] -shh.

Shut up, shut up. I'm not going to hurt you.

-Get on the ground. -Okay!

He made an appointment for a massage.

Soon as he entered the room, he put a g*n to her,

Zip-tied her hands...

-Okay, okay! -Keep quiet.

...and stole $800 worth of money.

Quiet.

Narrator: the two incidents sound very similar.

Both feature a g*n, zip-ties,

And a massage appointment in a hotel room.

But that case was clearly a robbery.

The detectives in julissa's m*rder

Are still looking for a motive.

Woman: thought you should see this.

Duff: we find some cash in an envelope

In one of the drawers.

We're concerned why there's still cash in the room

If this was a robbery.

Narrator: detective duff has few clues,

But he pieces together what he can.

Based on the location of the blood,

We believe that julissa comes to the door

And almost immediately, there's a confrontation.

♪♪

Merner: julissa has one flex cuff on,

Which tells us that the suspect tried to handcuff her,

Which is probably when she started to fight.

Narrator: julissa's screams and the g*nshots

Would've attracted attention,

So the k*ller fled as fast as he could without taking anything.

It's a robbery that, uh, was attempted but never completed.

Narrator: it's enough for detective duff to link the two cases.

♪♪

No one saw the culprit,

But there are other kinds of witnesses

Who could've been watching --

Surveillance cameras.

Duff: there are no cameras on the individual floors,

So there was very limited, uh, surveillance video

Available to us.

Narrator: but downstairs, it's a different matter.

Got one here in the lobby, and then, this main one here

Covers everything that happens when people come in.

Detectives are about to get their first glimpse

Of julissa's k*ller.

Narrator: 25-year-old college student julissa brisman

Has been m*rder*d in an upscale boston hotel.

Duff: no one saw what happened. There was not one witness.

But what we did have was surveillance cameras.

♪♪

Narrator: with no eyewitnesses and a busy hotel lobby,

It's like searching for a needle in a haystack,

But police have a survivor in a similar attack --

Trisha leffler.

Merner: trisha leffler was running a masseuse business

Out of the westin hotel.

She would travel from city to city and post ads.

And people would respond to the ads

And -- and go to whatever hotel she was staying at.

♪♪

Narrator: on april 10th, a man makes an appointment with trisha,

But a massage isn't what he's after.

Duff: upon being admitted to her room, he produced a handgun

And proceeded to tie her up

With white wire-ties.

He ends up leaving a fingerprint

On the white wire-tie.

When they were run through the system,

They didn't match anybody,

Because the suspect had never been arrested before.

Narrator: detectives keep the fingerprint on file.

Before, um...

Trisha is able to give detectives

A detailed description of her attacker.

He had on a black baseball cap on.

A white male, blond hair, tall,

Wearing a black leather jacket.

Merner: she described him as college-looking, clean-cut,

Not well dressed but not shabbily dressed.

Narrator: and with the attack being in a hotel,

It means there's a camera network

Covering the lobby and bank of elevators.

Merner: so we're depending on video surveillance

From the westin hotel

And trisha leffler to identify her attacker on that video.

Just take your time.

Narrator: they cue the footage to midnight,

Shortly before the man arrived,

And watch in anticipation

As the seconds tick by

On an empty lobby.

Finally, at 12:16,

A slim man in a cap walks briskly through frame.

I'm going to bring it back and play it again, okay?

Trisha: okay.

♪♪

It's a white male, approximately 6-plus,



Ball cap, leather jacket, jeans.

♪♪

It looks like him. It's hard to say.

It's kind of blurry, and it's from far away.

♪♪

Narrator: police switch to the camera covering the elevators.

The same individual is seen going up to trisha's floor.

♪♪

Then, 25 minutes later,

He's back.

That same individual walking off the elevator

And towards the lobby.

♪♪

♪♪

I don't know.

Narrator: they then switch to the camera covering the exit

To the westin hotel.

Merner: this individual looks extremely calm.

Nothing looks suspicious.

Yeah. It's definitely him.

♪♪

Narrator: boston detectives have their first lead and a theory

As to why he strikes at this hour.

We figure that he's going late at night,

Knowing that this is a cash business

And that there'd be a larger amount of cash

The later in the evening that he goes.

♪♪

Narrator: meantime, julissa's mother faces the painful task

Of identifying her daughter's body.

Mrs. Brisman?

I'm detective duff with the homicide unit.

[ Crying ]

Duff: I tried the best that I could to explain

The circumstances of what happened and --

And what we were doing to try to find out who was responsible.

♪♪

Merner: julissa was very, very close to her mom,

So...

It was very tough on the family.

Narrator: the police have notified julissa's family just in time,

As the media has now got ahold of the story.

A friend called me, and she said,

"Did you hear about julissa?"

And I said, "what about julissa?"

And then she said, "I'm so sorry to tell you.

She's -- she's gone."

And then she said, "pick up the paper,"

And I was, like, floored. [ Sniffles ]

And, um...

And that's how I found out.

Duff: this case got a lot of attention in the press immediately.

They realized that this is something out of the ordinary,

And it's -- it's going to affect a lot of people.

Narrator: the pressure is on, as the city fills with marathon enthusiasts

With a k*ller on the loose.

It's our feeling that the suspect

Is going to commit another robbery

And potentially another m*rder.

Narrator: the clock is ticking, and the man in the black hat

Will strike sooner than anyone thinks.

Narrator: detectives in boston have a potential serial attacker

On the loose.

One victim can i.d. Him on hotel surveillance,

But they have no name.

Then the day after the m*rder,

Detective duff gets an unexpected call.

Detective duff, homicide.

Beth salomonis was a friend of julissa's.

Duff arranges to meet her.

And she always...

Duff: beth tells me that she booked her appointments,

And julissa would text beth when the appointments were over,

So that they knew everything was okay.

Narrator: through her tears,

Beth offers up crucial information.

Well, the only thing that I can think of

Is the last person that made her appointment.

His name was andy m.

Andy m.?

Duff: information was extremely important.

We now had a cellphone number and an e-mail address

That we could try to track this person down with.

Narrator: duff subpoenas andy m.'S phone and e-mail records.

The full records will take a few days,

But the initial request delivers a strange detail.

The e-mail was created the day before the m*rder

And only used for those two days.

♪♪

Narrator: proof that the k*ller is carefully planning his attacks.

Duff: we knew we were going in the right direction,

But we also knew that this m*rder*r

Was still out on the street.

Narrator: it's going to be a frustrating wait for those records.

♪♪

Detectives return to the marriott surveillance footage,

Looking for a match to the suspect

Captured on the westin cameras.

♪♪

Merner: suspect is a white male, 6'2" to 6'4" tall,

Blond hair, a leather jacket.

We're just going to roll it back,

Start a few minutes before the appointment.

Narrator: duff cues up the video to 9:55 p.m. On april 14th,

Five minutes before andy m.

Is due for his appointment with julissa.

It doesn't take long for detectives to spot

A familiar figure.

Looks really similar.

See an individual who is walking into the hotel

Dressed identical to the person from the westin --

Leather jacket, blue jeans,

And a black ball cap.

Narrator: detectives compare this footage to the westin hotel surveillance

Of trisha's attacker.

Merner: we compare the height, size,

Clothing, uh, demeanor.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: the suspect exits frame

In the direction of the elevators.

Investigators keep watching.

They know the m*rder took place at 10:00 p.m.

Merner: we look to see if the individual comes out, um, of the marriott

Around the same time, uh,

Or shortly after the 911 call comes in.

♪♪

Narrator: the seconds tick by.

Just 20 floors away,

Julissa is being attacked.

Well, look at that.

Just minutes after the m*rder,

Detectives' prime suspect crosses the hotel lobby,

Heading for the exit.

Duff: at 10:05 p.m., You see the same individual

Exiting the hotel wearing the same clothing.

This video means to us that we have pictures

Of the suspect arriving a few minutes before the m*rder

And leaving immediately after the m*rder.

Narrator: he zooms in and pauses the video.

But with his cap down,

There isn't a clear image of his face.

♪♪

But detectives know which direction he is headed.

So, outside the marriott,

There's a, uh, high-end shopping mall.

There's numerous cameras.

♪♪

Narrator: significantly, two cameras cover the walkway

From the hotel to the mall.

♪♪

Their prime suspect should appear

Moments after leaving the hotel.

But there is no one wearing a black ball cap.

♪♪

They play the footage again.

♪♪

Well, look at that.

♪♪

There you go.

Merner: we do see the suspect.

The only difference is, he no longer has the baseball hat on.

♪♪

The way he's dressed, the way he walks,

It's exactly the same.

It seems to be a very weak attempt to alter his appearance.

Narrator: duff moves to another camera.

♪♪

Just by luck, as the man walks down the stairs,

He turns towards camera.

Duff freezes the frame

And zooms in.

We got him.

The beauty of this footage here

Is -- is that this suspect has gotten rid of his hat,

And we, for the first time, start to see facial features.

♪♪

Narrator: duff tracks the man as he walks out of the mall

And down the street.

Merner: he appears to be moving at a much more hurried pace

Than he was, uh, inside the hotel.

♪♪

♪♪

This absolutely looks like a match

Between julissa and trisha's attackers.

♪♪

Narrator: police show trisha the surveillance footage

From the marriott hotel

In the hope of a positive i.d. On their prime suspect.

When trisha leffler saw images

Of the person caught on surveillance,

She identified him as the person who robbed her.

That's him.



Narrator: trisha confirms the detectives' suspicions.

There's no doubt in our minds that we've identified

The individual who k*lled julissa brisman.

♪♪

Narrator: the next day,

Police decide to use the press interest to their advantage.

We make a decision to release those images to the public

To see if anybody can identify who this individual is.

♪♪

Male reporter: new surveillance photos of the so-called "craigslist k*ller"

Have been released.

The suspect is described as a clean-cut white man,



♪♪

Narrator: phone lines are soon jammed with tips.

Merner: we had hundreds of responses.

Every single one of those tips, we had to create a folder for

So that we could follow it up,

None of which proved to be fruitful.

Duff, homicide.

Narrator: then, finally, a breakthrough.

Really?

We receive a tip

About an individual named andy mcmasters,

And the information we receive

Is that this person is robbing people

That were advertising on craigslist.

♪♪

Narrator: duff runs the name through the police database.



Andrew mcmasters had a warrant for unpaid traffic violations.

Could this be the same andy m.

That was julissa's last appointment?

Based on the nature of the tip and the nature of the case,

We wanted to have him come in

And -- and sit down with him and talk to him ourselves.

♪♪

Narrator: an urgent bolo is issued for andy mcmasters

And his vehicle, a gray sedan.

♪♪

But before police can track him down,

The whole investigation takes a dramatic turn.

Narrator: three days after the vicious m*rder of julissa brisman,

Boston p.d. Has a prime suspect in their sights.

Andy?

His name is andrew mcmasters.

We had a tip of one andrew mcmasters,

Who was an individual that had initials andy m.

And also had been suspected

Of robbing masseuses in the past.

The pressure is mounting that this individual

May end up hurting someone else.

♪♪

Narrator: detectives head to his home

To bring him into custody.

But he isn't there.

♪♪

It's possible mcmasters found out

Police were on his tail and skipped town.

[ Telephone rings ]

Detective duff, homicide.

We receive information from the warwick, rhode island, police

That they have a similar incident in their city.

♪♪

Narrator: this victim is a 26-year-old massage therapist

In a holiday inn 70 miles south of boston.

Seems the k*ller may already be on the move.

Cynthia melton reported that she was advertising on craigslist,

And a client agreed to meet with her at her hotel room.

When she answered the door, he produced a handgun.

Narrator: but cynthia has a safety net.

Her husband, craig, is in the room next door.

Came to the room to check on her wellbeing

And interrupted the robbery.

What's going on?! Whoa.

Narrator: the attacker points the g*n at him

But escapes without sh**ting.

You all right? You okay?

Come here, come here. Shh!

Merner: what concerns me most about this attack in warwick

Is that this individual

Is continuing the same modus operandi,

Even though his picture is all over the media.

The arrogance and the insolence of it

Is what struck at us.

Narrator: again, the hotel has surveillance.

It is sent to the boston detectives.

What they see is chilling.

Merner: on that video is the individual

That attacked cynthia melton

Coming to the hotel dressed in the exact same clothing

As the two prior attacks,

The m*rder of julissa and the robbery at the westin.

♪♪

Narrator: after the attack,

The man is captured on the stairwell camera.

♪♪

Check that out.

♪♪

Duff: even the fact that he removes his hat

After the both incidents,

It's the same individual.

Narrator: it's his third as*ault in six days.

We realize that we have a serial attacker,

And -- and he's not going to stop.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: four days after julissa's m*rder,

A boston patrol car spots andrew mcmasters' vehicle.

Police bring him into the station for questioning.

♪♪

But it's not the breakthrough detectives hope for.

♪♪

Merner: andrew has got brown hair. He's shorter.

Thicker build than the, uh, individual in all of our video.

Narrator: to top it all, mcmasters has a solid alibi

For the night of julissa's m*rder.

Remember where you were april 14th?

I was at a party with some friends.

Out of town.

And he was on a party bus with about 20 other people.

Narrator: when detectives probe his alibi,

It checks out.

Thank you very much. You've been very helpful.

Duff: we're pretty dejected at that point.

We thought, based on the similarity of the names,

That this was going to be our guy.

Narrator: mcmasters wasn't evading police,

And there's no evidence to back up the tipster's claim

He was ever involved in any robberies.

He's proved totally innocent

And is released without charge.

♪♪

Back in new york,

Julissa brisman is laid to rest.

Shields: I found the funeral very emotional

For me,

Not just because, obviously,

This young soul was taken too soon,

But for her mother, who was broken.

♪♪

I wish that there was something that could make this loss

Any easier on me or my mom,

Because we both carry it with us every day.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: just when it looks like they're back at square one,

Julissa's e-mail records arrive,

Including the e-mail from andy m.

Duff: now that we have the e-mail address,

What we're trying to do is backtrack to the i.p. Address

That originated this e-mail

So that we can track it down to a physical address.

Narrator: the painstaking research pays off

And links the e-mail to an address in a suburb



The name of the tenant at that address is philip markoff.

Philip markoff is a second-year medical student

At boston university.

Narrator: detectives find a photo of him

In an article about the medical school.

Many times, K*llers will try and blend in

As model citizens in society.

Narrator: police have a new prime suspect,

But he seems an unlikely k*ller.

He has no criminal record and an impressive résumé.

Father was a dentist.

Fairly comfortable, affluent lifestyle.

Excelled in, uh, academics,

Uh, national honor society.

You know, really excelled at pretty much everything he did.

That philip markoff is our potential k*ller

Was just totally out of anything

I had ever worked on in the past.

Narrator: detectives zero in on the new suspect.

Set up 24/7 surveillance of him at his apartment.

Narrator: philip lives with his fiancée, megan.

Wherever they go, undercover detectives go, too.

Along with keeping tabs on markoff,

Detectives also need to get ahold of his fingerprints

To compare them with those on file.

♪♪

Merner: we follow, uh, philip markoff and megan mcallister to a bj's.

One of my undercover officers follows them around the store.

As they pick up items and put them back down,

We then retrieve those items, putting them into evidence bags

To see if we can get fingerprints off them.

Narrator: the couple leave the store.

Police request the store's surveillance footage.

Duff: in the surveillance footage,

We see philip and megan exiting the store.

♪♪

Narrator: detectives send the items off

To the forensic lab for analysis.

♪♪

The results come back.

♪♪

Unfortunately, there were no usable fingerprints.

♪♪

We were very disappointed.

Narrator: with that angle ruled out,

They need a positive i.d. Before they can arrest him

And they don't want him to strike again.

Narrator: april 20, 2009.

It's the day of the boston marathon,

And there's an armed k*ller on the loose.

As police hone in on their prime suspect, philip markoff,

Over 30,000 people flock to the city.

♪♪

At 10:30 a.m., With the race in full swing,

Detectives show victim cynthia melton and her husband

A photo lineup,

Including a picture of philip markoff.

She pauses on the photo,

But she does not positively identify him.

♪♪

♪♪

And craig does the same thing. He pauses on markoff's photo,

But neither one of them make a positive identification.

Disappointed.

♪♪

Narrator: at 2:00 p.m., Across town from the marathon,

Detectives watching markoff witness him and his fiancée

Loading their car with suitcases.

They follow them as they turn towards the freeway.

Duff: if he crosses the state border, we lose jurisdiction of him.

Narrator: the homicide unit order police to bring him in.

[ Siren wailing ]

And detectives are certain they have the right man.

What's the problem, officer?

At the time, we did not have enough probable cause

To arrest him, but we offer him a ride

Back to boston police headquarters

So we could talk to him.

♪♪

Merner: I'm clearly looking at the individual

That we were watching on video.

No question in my mind.

Narrator: but philip markoff isn't playing ball.

Philip claims he doesn't have any knowledge of the attacks.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: detectives tell philip he's a person of interest

In three attacks on women in hotels,

But he insists he hasn't been near any hotels

In the past few weeks.

♪♪

♪♪

When philip requests an attorney,

Detectives terminate the interview.

With no positive i.d.

And no confession, the case is stalled.

♪♪

Take your time. There's no rush.

Later that day, trisha leffler studies the same photo lineup

That was shown to cynthia melton.

Merner: when she looks at the photo array,

She is trembling.

♪♪

♪♪

She identifies him and states

She's one million percent sure it's him.

♪♪

Narrator: it's the positive identification that detectives need.

♪♪

Duff: philip markoff is arrested for armed robbery,

The kidnapping of trisha leffler,

And the m*rder of julissa brisman.

♪♪

Narrator: with markoff in custody, detectives move quickly.

Philip gets progressively more agitated.

We tell him that we're going to be taking his clothes and --

And, uh, seizing the clothing and -- and shoes that he has on.

Narrator: the shoes he's wearing are stained.

♪♪

They contain blood droplets.

Narrator: blood that matched julissa's dna.

And at markoff's home, they find his laptop,

Which has the same i.p. Address

As the e-mails sent to both julissa and cynthia.

In a cupboard is a backpack with white zip-ties, duct tape,

And disposable cellphones.

Merner: we find a g*n secreted in a "gray's anatomy" book.

It was the g*n that was used to k*ll julissa brisman.

♪♪

Narrator: but with no confession,

Detectives are baffled over markoff's motive.

Philip markoff's motivation appeared to be

More than simple robbery.

It did not appear that money was the motive.

I believe there was something more to it than that.

He got the thrill and excitement out of the robbery portion

And holding this person against their will

And then probably became a thrill k*ller

After the m*rder of julissa.

Narrator: his girlfriend, megan, knows nothing of his crimes

Or the evidence in the house.

♪♪

Police can now piece together what happened to julissa.

Duff: on the night of april 14, 2009,

Julissa brisman advertised services on craigslist.

Philip markoff responded to one of those ads

And arrived at the hotel around 10:00 p.m.

[ Elevator bell dings ]

♪♪

♪♪

[ Gasps ]

Oh, my god. Please, please, please.

No, no, no, no.

No, no. No. No, no. No! Aah!

Merner: he attempted to restrain her.

She broke free,

Started to fight.

She was violently beaten with the p*stol

And then subsequently shot...

[ g*nshots ]

...taking the life of julissa brisman

Right there on the floor of the marriott hotel.

This was probably as close to a psychopathic k*ller

That -- that I've come in my, uh, long career.

♪♪

Narrator: just over a year later, while awaiting trial,

Philip markoff commits suicide in his cell.

♪♪

Surveillance footage in this crime was paramount,

And this was not a crime that would've been solved

As easily 20 years ago, if at all.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: for julissa's family, philip's death is bittersweet.

Without a trial, they're robbed of facing her k*ller

And seeing justice being served.

Julissa was the best sister and the best daughter,

And she was so full of love,

And she had so much to offer the world.

Julissa was a pure heart

And a deeply caring, loving woman,

Who was taken too soon and had so much potential

To help other people.

♪♪

She still inspires me to live a life

That's just full of joy and -- and fun.

If I could say anything to her now,

I would just say that I wish she was here...

And I miss her.