a man with shaky relationships and a malevolence toward Jews

Lives of Wesleyan Student and Her Stalker Collide

By ROBERT D. McFADDEN

Published: May 7, 2009

She was a disciplined, fearless young woman of great promise, a junior with a passion for women’s health issues. He was apparently disturbed, a man with shaky relationships and a malevolence toward Jews, threatening them and others on the campus in Middletown, Conn., in a journal he kept.

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Middletown Police Department

Stephen P. Morgan

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Spring Fling Gives Way to Fear and Silence on Connecticut Campus (May 8, 2009)

Johanna Justin-Jinich

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Jessica Hill/Associated Press

Inside Broad Street Books at Wesleyan is the Red and Black Cafe, where Johanna Justin-Jinich was killed Wednesday afternoon.

The lives of Johanna Justin-Jinich, 21, and Stephen P. Morgan, 29, had intersected briefly — and ominously — two years ago, when both attended a summer course at New York University. He called repeatedly and sent 38 harassing e-mail messages. The university and the police were notified, but he had left town and she declined to press charges.

There was no way to foresee the sudden, nightmarish sequel. Mr. Morgan walked into a campus bookstore about 1 p.m. Wednesday, then toward the Red and Black Cafe, where Ms. Justin-Jinich worked. He was a bearded, menacing figure on the overhead surveillance camera, a dark gun in his right hand swinging at his side, and something else hidden behind him in his left hand.

It was a long-stranded wig and he put it on, the baldish man undergoing a bizarre transformation as he confronted her, raised the gun and opened fire, a point-blank, seven-shot execution, officials said. Ms. Justin-Jinich fell, mortally wounded. The assailant — who the authorities said turned himself in to the police just before 9:15 p.m. Thursday — retreated the way he came in, dropping his wig, long-sleeved shirt and Czech-made CZ-USA 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol.

Outside, he did not run away immediately. He milled around with students as police cars and an ambulance converged on the tumultuous scene. Checking witnesses, one officer asked for his name and phone number in case the police needed to contact him later, but let him go, The Hartford Courant reported.

It was not until hours later, after Ms. Justin-Jinich had been pronounced dead at Middlesex Hospital and investigators had heard Mr. Morgan’s name from the victim’s family as a possible suspect, that the police realized that they had stopped him outside the bookstore, the newspaper reported. It was unclear if he had stayed to watch the chaos or could not escape quickly because his car was blocked by emergency vehicles.

In any case, Mr. Morgan apparently just walked away, leaving his car, with Colorado license plates, in the bookstore parking lot.

In Mr. Morgan’s notebook journal, found with his laptop in the basement of the bookstore, the police later discovered what may have been an even more diabolical plot — to rape and kill Ms. Justin-Jinich and then go on a shooting spree on the Wesleyan campus.

The authorities said that Mr. Morgan turned himself in to the Meriden Police Department without incident on Thursday night, and was then turned over to the Middletown police. He was being held on $10 million bond and was to appear in Middletown Superior Court on Friday morning, the police said.

Sonia Rodriguez, a clerk at a Cumberland Farms convenience store in Meriden, said Mr. Morgan walked into the store about 9:15 p.m. She said he looked down at a stack of newspapers, saw a photo of himself and asked for a pay phone. Ms. Rodriguez, who said she did not recognize Mr. Morgan, asked if he needed help, and he said he wanted to call the police.

When officers arrived, she said, “they threw him on the ground. I got nervous. I started crying. I was very, very scared.”

Mr. Morgan had been the object of a nationwide alert with a $10,000 reward and a manhunt that focused on Middletown, a community of 48,000 in central Connecticut. Investigators said they believed that he had driven to Middletown from Boulder, Colo., arriving a day before the shooting and staying in a local hotel.

As family, friends and the Wesleyan community mourned the slain woman and investigators sought to unveil the motivations and recent movements of the fugitive, the authorities in Middletown warned of a dangerous and possibly armed man on the loose, and urged university officials and Jewish residents of Middletown to take precautions.

Wesleyan, a private liberal arts school with about 3,000 students, went into lockdown. All classes had been finished for the year by Tuesday and students were studying for finals. The campus was all but deserted.

At the behest of Mayor Sebastian Giuliano and Police Chief Lynn M. Baldoni, Congregation Adath Israel, a Conservative Jewish congregation and Middletown’s only synagogue, located a block from the bookstore, was closed on Thursday. Its president, Eliot Meadow, said congregants were considering holding Sabbath services at another location or just hiring extra security. The Jewish Federation of Greater Hartford distributed pictures of Mr. Morgan to member organizations and asked them to be vigilant.

As the investigation unfolded, the police focused on the only known point of connection between the victim and the assailant. It was a six-week summer program, in June and July 2007, at New York University, called Sexual Diversity in Society. Poulami Roychowdhury, a graduate student, taught the course, which met for two hours three days a week in a campus building in Greenwich Village.

Ms. Roychowdhury said she barely recalled Mr. Morgan, who did not participate in discussions and eventually dropped out. But she remembered Ms. Justin-Jinich, who was 19 at the time. “She was always participating and she received an A-minus in the class,” she said, writing her final paper on lesbian identity in modern society.

The two lived in student housing, but not in the same residence hall, said John Beckman, an N.Y.U. spokesman. On July 17, as the program was nearing its end, Ms. Justin-Jinich notified the university that she had received repeated harassing e-mail messages and phone calls from Mr. Morgan. The school notified the police, and officers spoke with her. The case was referred to detectives.

The police report told of 38 e-mail messages that were “insulting” and “unwanted.” It quoted one as saying, “You’re going to have a lot more problems down the road if you can’t take any criticism, Johanna,” using an expletive. But she declined to file charges, and the matter was dropped.

Ms. Justin-Jinich was from Timnath, Colo., a town of 200 southeast of Fort Collins. Because Mr. Morgan has lived in Colorado communities, including Colorado Springs and Boulder, the police were trying to determine if he and Ms. Justin-Jinich knew each other in Colorado.

Amid an outpouring of sympathy and praise for the victim, the portrait of a kind, thoughtful and talented woman began to emerge. Though her family was Jewish, Justin Bours, who shared an apartment with her this semester at Wesleyan, said she regarded herself as an agnostic, and was politically liberal.

She attended a Quaker boarding-preparatory school, the Westtown School. John Baird, headmaster of the school, which was founded by the Quakers in 1799 in rural southeastern Pennsylvania, said Ms. Justin-Jinich enrolled in 2002 and graduated in 2006. She lived in Mexico as part of an exchange program in her junior year. Her mother, Ingrid, also graduated from Westtown, in 1971, as did her uncle Eric, the headmaster said.

“Johanna was respected for her original thinking and willingness to delve deeply into a variety of subjects,” Mr. Baird said.

At Wesleyan, where she enrolled in 2006, Ms. Justin-Jinich was described by friends as intellectual and passionate about her studies, pursuing a double major, one in Iberian studies and an interdisciplinary major in history, philosophy and literature. She quoted Nietzsche, Epicurus and Rousseau, and was a fan of the Chilean writer-politician Pablo Neruda and the Spanish poet Rafael Alberti Merello, they said. One friend said her summer plans included an internship in Washington with an organization focusing on women’s issues.

“She had planned to pursue a life of helping people, which was true to her personality and character,” said Leah Lucid, a close friend who was to have roomed with her next semester.

A day after the shooting, there were large gaps in the background of the assailant, who until February had an address in Swampscott, Mass. His parents, James F. Morgan, 72, and Maureen Morgan, 69, live nearby in Marblehead, Mass.

James Morgan is a retired venture capitalist and graduate of Harvard Business School, who once taught there. In recent years, he has been active in the International Federation for Family Development, which provides education and support for parents.

Hours before Mr. Morgan’s surrender, his sister Diana told reporters outside the family home that they did not know where he was or where he might go. She urged him: “Turn yourself in right now to avoid any law enforcement agency, wherever you are, to avoid any further bloodshed. We love you, we will support you in every way, and we don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

Greg Morgan, a brother, was quoted by The Associated Press as saying his family was distraught over the shooting, and had not spoken to Stephen for several weeks. He said his brother had not exhibited signs of anti-Semitism in the past.

The police said he did not appear to have a criminal history. Public records indicate that he lived in Fairfax County, Va., in 2000, and was in Honolulu from September 2000 to February 2001. In March 2001, one record showed a military address aboard the Navy guided missile cruiser Lake Erie. But the Navy said it had no record of him.

From 2002 to 2007, he lived in various places in Colorado Springs and Boulder. Justin Flowers, a man who bought a $200,000 home from Mr. Morgan in Colorado Springs in 2005, said Mr. Morgan sold the house because he had broken up with a fiancée about whom he talked constantly.

“He seemed like he had way too much on his mind, a whole lot of pain inside of him,” Mr. Flowers said. He said he never detected anti-Semitism in Mr. Morgan, but added that he refused to sell his house to a Vietnamese family because he “didn’t like Vietnamese people.”

In Colorado Springs, Ed Shvartzman, who rented an apartment to Mr. Morgan, said he was “full of anger, kind of maybe withholding emotion.”

Reporting was contributed by Al Baker, Marc Beja, Alison Leigh Cowan, Winnie Hu, Serge F. Kovaleski, Trymaine Lee, William K. Rashbaum and Liz Robbins in New York; Lisa W. Foderaro and Nate Schweber in Middletown, Conn.; Ariana Green in Marblehead, Mass.; Martin Forstenzer and Dan Frosch in Colorado; and David Kocieniewski in West Chester, Pa.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: May 12, 2009
An article on Friday about the intersecting lives of Johanna Justin-Jinich, a Wesleyan University student fatally shot inside a campus bookstore, and Stephen P. Morgan, the man accused of killing her, included an erroneous location from a city official for the discovery of a computer belonging to Mr. Morgan, and misstated the location where his journal, which contained threats to Ms. Justin-Jinich and others, was found by the police. Both items were found in the basement of the bookstore — not in Mr. Morgan’s car, which was parked outside.

source : NYT

Johanna Justin-Jinich ‘10

Johanna Justin-Jinich ‘10 was killed by a gunman early this afternoon while working at her job in the Red & Black Cafe.

Our deepest condolences to Johanna’s friends and family for this stunning loss. More information is being posted as it comes in. From the Hartford Courant:

Johanna Justin-Jinich, of Fort Collins, Colo., was shot several times at the Red and Black Café inside Broad Street Books. Her assailant, described as thin white man, then fled on foot and remains at large.

[...] “This is a devastating loss for Johanna’s family, friends and for the entire Wesleyan community,” Wesleyan President Michael S. Roth wrote. “Our hearts go out to all those who grieve for Johanna, and we hope all can find comfort in the support of friends, teachers and classmates.”

Wesleyan students had planned a candlelight vigil Wednesday night to remember Justin-Jinich, but in a broadcast email to the Wesleyan community shortly before 7 p.m., officials warned against any such gathering.

Staff from the Office of Behavioral Health are available via the 24 hour on-call system by calling 860-685-2910.

This entry was written by Sheek, posted on May 6, 2009 at 8:32 PM, filed under Campus Life and tagged broad street shooting, Johanna Justin-Jinich. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

« Broad Street Shooting: Video from the Scene

Armed Gunman Still at Large »

source : Wesleyan : http://wesleying.org/2009/05/06/johanna-justin-jinich-10/

Zanahoria

continuación:

Después de reconocimiento lo mandaron a la cárcel dos meses:

“ZANAHORIA” HABRÍA VIOLADO Y ASESINADO A MENOR DE EDAD

FABIÁN MEZA
fmeza@diarioextra.com
Fotos: Oldemar Siles

Un taxista “pirata” vecino de Iglesias Flores, en Barrio México, San José, sería el responsable de violar y asesinar a María Fernanda Salgado Lizano, de 14 años, quien apareció la mañana del sábado en el Monte de la Cruz, Heredia.

Según voceros del Poder Judicial el hombre, a quien capturaron el pasado domingo, fue sometido a un reconocimiento por parte de testigos, el cual dio positivo.

Además la huella de la suela de unos tenis, que fue captada por la lente de DIARIO EXTRA en la zona del crimen y cedida a agentes judiciales, sirvió para amarrar el caso y mandar al taxista informal a prisión por dos meses, como medida cautelar.

Esa determinación la tomó el Juzgado Penal de Heredia la mañana de ayer.

Los investigadores no solo capturaron al sospechoso sino que le decomisaron el vehículo en que, se presume, retuvo a la menor, la violó y asesinó de un disparo a la cabeza. Posteriormente dejó el cadáver de María Fernanda en el Monte de la Cruz.

La adolescente salió a una fiesta en casa de su novio, ubicada en Barrio México, pero por un problema que tuvo con el joven decidió regresar a su vivienda caminando. Fue ahí cuando abordó el taxi “pirata” y no se volvió a ver con vida.

La policía judicial cuenta con muchas evidencias que se recabaron en la vivienda del sospechoso, las cuales son analizadas en Medicatura Forense, ubicada en San Joaquín de Flores, Heredia, para esclarecer el crimen.

Antenas

Antenas, o la corrupción de la parábola del Buen Samaritano, "Moreno Cañas", María Fernanda:

• Tío de menor asesinada en Monte La Cruz, Heredia

“LE FALTABA ROPA INTERIOR Y TENÍA CHUPETAZOS POR TODO EL CUERPO”

• DIARIO EXTRA captó huellas que podrían ser de suela de las tennis y llantas de carro del asesino

Oscar Víquez, corresponsal
Fotos: Oldemar Siles y
Oscar Víquez, corresponsal

María Fernanda Salgado Ledezma, de 14 años, fue localizada sin vida, con un disparo en su cabeza y ultrajada, en un sector boscoso del Monte La Cruz, San Rafael de Heredia, en horas de la mañana del sábado.

Varios estudiantes de fotografía realizaban un trabajo en la zona y se toparon con el cuerpo sin vida de la muchacha.

“Marifer”, como era conocida por sus familiares y amigos, estaba semidesnuda, debajo de varias ramas de ciprés y sus manos llenas de sangre.

La joven, que había salido de su casa, en Bajo Los Ledezma, desde la tarde del sábado, fue identificada, hasta la mañana de ayer.

Un sentimiento de intranquilidad perturbó el corazón de los familiares de la menor por lo que, ante la pérdida de comunicación con ella, decidieron ir a Medicatura Forense, en San Joaquín de Flores, Heredia para determinar si algo malo había sucedido.

Ahí les indicaron que dentro estaba el cuerpo de una muchacha. Ellos la reconocieron, era su amada “Marifer”.

“No sabemos por qué le hicieron daño a nuestra chiquita, tenía un balazo, le faltaba la ropa interior, y tenía chupetazos por todo el cuerpo, esto es una injusticia”, dijo William Chacón, uno de sus tíos.

SALIÓ DE FIESTA

Con la incógnita del asesinado y unas cuantas huellas en la escena, recabadas por el lente de DIARIO EXTRA, agentes del Organismo de Investigación Judicial (OIJ) se encargaron de la investigación.

Según las primeras pesquisas, la joven salió de su casa junto con su hermana Daniela, rumbo a Barrio México, San José, donde asistirían a una fiesta en una casa cerca a la del novio de María Fernanda.

La jovencita, por razones que se desconocen, tuvo una fuerte pelea con su novio y decidió regresar a su casa sola.

Según indicó un familiar, a las 2.30 de la madrugada, la muchacha se subió al taxi pirata de un hombre conocido solo como “Zanahoria”.

Las horas pasaron hasta que la mamá del novio de la muchacha llamó a la casa de ella para preguntar si había llegado bien y le dijeron que no sabían dónde estaba.

“Nosotros estábamos con él alma en un hilo, no sabíamos nada de María Fernanda, ella era como todas las muchachas, muy buena y despabilada”, dijo Maritza Ledezma, tía de la víctima.

Horas después del aviso de la madre del novio, apareció el cadáver de la chica.

HUELLAS QUE CAPTAMOS VITALES PARA DAR CON EL ASESINO

Las huellas que captó DIARIO EXTRA, en la escena del crimen, son, según agentes judiciales, vitales para dar con el responsable del ultraje y el asesinato.

Al parecer, se trata de las llantas del carro del asesino, en el que habrían llevado a la joven, luego de matarla.

Además, con la una huella de la suela de unas tenis también podrían dar con un sujeto que figura como sospechoso, en las próximas horas.

Ayer, durante la mañana, varios zapadores se encargaron de buscar evidencias en la zona donde fue ubicado el cuerpo.

Trascendió que fue detenido, para investigación, el taxista con que iba la muchacha, quien se encontraba en un lavacar de la capital.

María Fernanda será sepultada hoy en el cementerio ubicado cerca de su casa en el Bajo Los Ledezma, la Uruca.

Helicóptero de WhiteHouse Casino (Tara)

Desaparece helicóptero en el Cerro de la Muerte

• 
  Un gran dispositivo de búsqueda se activó. Rebeca Arias.

Rodolfo Martín
rmartin@aldia

Un helicóptero Bell 406, matrícula TI-BBT, con dos personas a bordo, permanecía ayer extraviado, confirmó Alex Romero, director de la Sección Aérea del Ministerio de Seguridad Pública.

La aeronave es piloteada por el capitán Edgar Gerardo Arguedas Alfaro, quien es acompañado por Germán Trejos, al parecer mexicano y de profesión fotógrafo, agregó.

El piloto, de 36 años y oriundo de Heredia, salió temprano del aeropuerto Tobías Bolaños y dijo a sus compañeros que se dirigía a Turrialba, declaró Romero. Sin embargo, a la Torre de Control le informó que volaba a Quepos.

A eso de las 8:50 a.m. volvió a comunicarse y anunció haber salido de Quepos, que estaba sobre San Isidro de El General y que iba para Turrialba.

Luego, se perdió todo contacto con el piloto.

A las 11:40 a.m. la torre de control del aeropuerto Santamaría alertó a los cuerpos de socorro de la Sección Aérea y de Aviación Civil, tras recibir una advertencia del Centro de Control Aéreo en El Salvador sobre la activación de una antena ELT –dispositivo que emite una señal de emergencia– en el Cerro de La Muerte.

La alerta trasciende desde un punto situado a una tres millas al este de Villa Mills.

El mal tiempo imperante en la zona, una baja y muy espesa nubocidad, les impidió ayer a a los pilotos de varios helicópteros y avionetas detectar la aeronave.

Arguedas es un piloto veterano, graduado en la escuela de Carabineros de Chile.

La Cruz Roja rastrea la zona con varias patrullas, confirmó Guillermo Arroyo, director nacional de Socorros y Operaciones. “Aún no perdemos las esperanzas de hallarlos con vida”, dijo Arroyo.

• Sobrepeso y cambio de ruta causaron la tragedia:

HELICÓPTERO TRANSPORTABA MÁS DE 350 KILOS DE COCAÍNA

Fabián Meza
Manuel Estrada
fmeza@diarioextra.com
mestrada@diarioextra.com
Fotos: Oldemar Siles, Alberto Monge y
Elías Alvarado, corresponsales
Ilustración: Germán Meza

Con machete en mano, personal de la Cruz Roja rastreaba en las imponentes montañas del Cerro de la Muerte.

VILLA MILLS.- Una patrulla de la Cruz Roja llegó, ayer a las 2 de la tarde, al lugar donde el helicóptero TI-BBT se precipitó a tierra, en el Cerro de la Muerte, debido al sobrepeso
porque iba cargado con más de 350 kilos de cocaína.

Una aeronave particular localizó, el sábado a las 8 de la mañana, la aeronave, la cual estaba de medio lado y totalmente destrozada, sin embargo no se veían víctimas mortales, por eso se esperaba encontrar con vida al piloto costarricense Édgar Gerardo Arguedas Alfaro, de 36 años, y al mexicano German Trejos.

Pero la voz en el radio de los socorristas que llegaron al lugar de la fatalidad acabó con las aspiraciones de rescatistas, amigos y familiares de Arguedas. Un operador de radio anunció que cerca de la aeronave se encontraban sin vida los cuerpos del piloto y el tripulante.

La localización se logró después de más de 14 horas de recorridos entre la selva y varios sobrevuelos, entre el sábado y ayer, por aeronaves tanto de la empresas privadas Aero Bell y Aerodiva como del Servicio de Vigilancia Aérea.

Según el reporte de los socorristas, el lugar del accidente se ubica 8,7 kilómetros al norte de Villa Mills de Paraíso, Cartago, cerca del río Los Ángeles.

CARGADO DE COCAÍNA

Fuentes policiales confirmaron un rumor que desde horas después de la tragedia comenzó a circular: el helicóptero transportaba una carga de cocaína que sobrepasa los 350 kilos.

Pese a que ayer DIARIO EXTRA intentó comunicarse con Janina del Vecchio, ministra de Seguridad Pública, para consultarle sobre la información, fue imposible establecer contacto con la jerarca, quien al parecer se encontraba fuera de la capital.

Sin embargo agentes que exigieron confidencialidad detallaron que la causa del accidente fue el sobrepeso que generó la carga del estupefaciente.

Además para burlar a la policía el piloto se salió de la ruta establecida y decidió atravesar el peligroso Cerro de la Muerte.

La zona donde colisionó es temida por su peligrosidad, pues la altura, tanto del Cerro de la Muerte como del Chirripó, afecta la potencia de los motores de las aeronaves.

Se desconoce cuál era el lugar donde pensaban descargar la droga.

Todo apunta a que el alijo pertenece al peligroso y violento cartel de Sinaloa, el cual controla gran parte del tráfico de droga que ingresa a Estados Unidos por la frontera norte de México, de ahí su nombre.

Lo que alarma a las autoridades de Seguridad Pública es la posibilidad de que los dueños del cargamento hayan enviado a un grupo armado a las montañas donde cayó la aeronave para tratar de rescatar los más de 350 kilos, los cuales representan cerca de $2 millones para los narcotraficantes.

Por eso la seguridad se reforzó en la llamada zona cero (lugar donde cayó la aeronave). Incluso el día de hoy más patrullas compuestas por policías, fuertemente armados, reforzaron las inmediaciones del lugar.

Las fuentes agregaron que la investigación del caso avanza y en las próximas horas se espera dar con más sospechosos, extranjeros y nacionales, ligados con el cargamento.

NOVIA DESESPERADA

La novia del piloto, identificada solo como Gabriela, no se separó ni un segundo de las autoridades a cargo del rescate. Ella no podía creer lo sucedido.

“Ese día (viernes) salió temprano del Aeropuerto Tobías Bolaños, en Pavas, y dijo que se dirigía a Turrialba, sin embargo a la torre de control le informó que volaba hacia Quepos”, explicó la mujer. Gabriela confirmó que el helicóptero se trasladaba hacia Turrialba. “A eso de las 9 de la mañana volvió a comunicarse y anunció haber salido de Quepos, que estaba sobre San Isidro de El General y que iba para Turrialba. Luego se perdió todo contacto con él, por lo que di la voz de alerta como a las 11 de la mañana, donde la torre de control del Aeropuerto Santamaría alertó a los cuerpos de socorro”, agregó.

Antes de partir, el piloto prometió a su novia hacer un viaje de esparcimiento a Osa, Zona Sur.

“Nos íbamos a ver en mi casa a eso del mediodía para ir a un hotel en Osa, pero Dios tenía otro plan para nosotros”, manifestó entre lágrimas y suspiros la novia del piloto.

SACARÁN CUERPOS A PIE

Una de las decisiones más importantes que se tomó en el centro de mando, ubicado en Pejibaye de Jiménez, Cartago, es que los cuerpos se sacaran por tierra.

Las inclemencias del tiempo hacen imposible que un helicóptero llegue al lugar.

Ayer dos aeronaves hicieron dos sobrevuelos a las 7.30 y las 10.30 de la mañana y lograron llegar a dos millas del lugar de la tragedia, pero debido a que a 5 mil pies había bancos de nubes no se permitía el descenso.

La patrulla que llegó al lugar tardó un día caminando, para salir sería por Villa Mills y el peso de los dos muertos representaría más de dos días para los socorristas.

Nave localizada en zona selvática

Helicóptero se accidentó en el cerro de la Muerte

Aparato se ve con pocos daños en un pequeño claro de muy difícil acceso

Hasta anoche se desconocía la condición de los dos ocupantes

Carlos Arguedas C.y Albert Marín | carguedasc@nacion.com

Villa Mills, Paraíso. El helicóptero matrícula TI-BBT que desapareció desde el viernes se accidentó en un sector selvático del cerro de la Muerte.

El aparato fue localizado ayer a las 7:52 a. m. por los pilotos Daniel Sandoval y Álex Ulloa cuando sobrevolaban la zona en una avioneta de la empresa privada Aerobell.

Nave localizada en zona selvática

Helicóptero se accidentó en el cerro de la Muerte

Aparato se ve con pocos daños en un pequeño claro de muy difícil acceso

Hasta anoche se desconocía la condición de los dos ocupantes

Carlos Arguedas C.y Albert Marín | carguedasc@nacion.com

Villa Mills, Paraíso. El helicóptero matrícula TI-BBT que desapareció desde el viernes se accidentó en un sector selvático del cerro de la Muerte.

El aparato fue localizado ayer a las 7:52 a. m. por los pilotos Daniel Sandoval y Álex Ulloa cuando sobrevolaban la zona en una avioneta de la empresa privada Aerobell.

MÁS SOBRE ESTE TEMA

• Ocupantes de helicóptero fueron encontrados muertos

“El helicóptero está en una zona selvática de muy difícil acceso. Los árboles tienen más de 30 metros de alto”, relató Ulloa.

Pilotos que llegaron al lugar por aire, pero esta vez en helicópteros, dijeron que no se observan rastros de los dos ocupantes. Empero, resaltaron que la nave siniestrada parece bastante entera, no explotó ni tiene señales de haberse incendiado y quedó con las puertas abiertas.

Álvaro Vargas, jefe de Operaciones Aeronáuticas de Aviación Civil, así como la Cruz Roja Costarricense y el Ministerio de Seguridad Pública informaron de que hasta anoche se desconocía la condición en que se encuentran los ocupantes del helicóptero.

Las fuentes prefirieron no hacer pronósticos. Una patrulla tratará de llegar hasta el sitio.

La esperanza es que el piloto Édgar Arguedas Alfaro, de 36 años, y el acompañante, el fotógrafo German Trejos, de origen mexicano, estén con vida.

Antecedente. El helicóptero TI-BBT pertenece a la empresa Grecem MRJ y prestaba servicios al hotel White House, situado en Escazú, informó Aviación Civil.

El viernes el aparato despegó del aeropuerto Tobías Bolaños, en Pavas, a las 6:10 a. m., con destino a Quepos. Iban el piloto Arguedas y el fotógrafo Trejos.

Álvaro Vargas informó de que el piloto reportó que el vuelo tenía como propósito realizar un trabajo fotográfico en un lugar no especificado. Asimismo, el piloto dijo a la torre de control del Tobías Bolaños que luego volarían de Quepos hasta el cantón de Turrialba, donde recogerían a una muchacha y regresarían a Pavas.

La alerta de un accidente aéreo se dio a las 11:10 a. m. cuando se activó una señal que emite un aparato conocido como ELT, el cual llevan todas las aeronaves y se activa cuando se recibe un fuerte golpe.

Aunque desde el viernes se supo que la señal provenía del cerro de la Muerte, fue ayer en la mañana cuando la pudieron localizar.

Sin embargo, las condiciones del tiempo y lo quebrado del terreno impidieron ayer que alguna de las patrullas de la Cruz Roja y la Fuerza Pública pudiera llegar al sitio donde se encuentra la nave.

Frustrado. Una de las opciones que se manejó ayer fue la posibilidad de que un equipo de cuatro personas descendiera desde un helicóptero. Empero, la operación debió abortarse pocos minutos después pues había mucha neblina.

Anoche se esperaba que tres patrullas que viajan por tierra pues ingresaron a la montaña a las 5 a. m. llegaran hasta donde está el aparato. No obstante, a las 5 p. m. decidieron suspender la caminata pues la oscuridad no les permitía avanzar.

Esos grupos estaban en un sector conocido como Rancho de Lalo, a unos tres kilómetros de distancia en línea recta de donde está el helicóptero.

Asimismo, otro grupo se trasladó hasta el sector de hacienda Atirro, en Turrialba. En el rescate trabajan aproximadamente 100 personas.

Respecto a las posibles causas del percance, se citan en primera instancia el mal tiempo y alguna falla mecánica.

El piloto Arguedas estaba capacitado para realizar vuelos visuales y algunos compañeros lo

Ocupantes de helicóptero fueron encontrados muertos

| 03:32 PM |

San José AFP y Redacción. Los dos ocupantes de un helicóptero caído hace dos días en el Cerro de la Muerte, el piloto Édgar Arguedas Alfaro, de 36 años y el fotógrafo German Trejos, de origen mexicano, fueron encontrados muertos este domingo a la 1:05 p. m., por las patrullas de rescate que llegaron al lugar del accidente, informó la Cruz Roja.

Pese a la lluvia y al terreno escarpado, los socorristas se abrieron paso hasta los restos del aparato Bell 206, matrícula TI-BBT, que había despegado de San José el viernes para tomar fotografías en la cordillera de Talamanca y cayó en una ladera del cerro de la Muerte, en Villa Mills, Paraíso.

La información la confirmó Guillermo Arroyo, de la Cruz Roja. Arroyo agregó que las patrullas de la Cruz Roja llegaron con mucho esfuerzo hasta el lugar del siniestro la tarde de este domingo, pues el terreno era muy escarpado y las condiciones climáticas eran malas.

Tras el hallazgo inició el levantamiento de los cuerpos, para que sean extraídos del lugar el lunes a primera hora vía terrestre, ya que el rescate aéreo en el lugar del accidente no es viable.

Se prevé que llevar los cuerpos a un lugar seguro será un proceso lento, debido a las condiciones del terreno

El helicóptero, que cayó a 200 km al sureste de San José, era piloteado por Édgar Arguedas, un exoficial del Servicio de Vigilancia Aérea de la policía costarricense formado como piloto hace 15 años en la policía chilena.

El fotógrafo mexicano Germán Trejos, iba a tomar imágenes para una empresa inmobiliaria que había comprado terrenos en la zona y que era la propietaria del helicóptero.

La nave desapareció el viernes hacia el mediodía tras emitir una señal de que había sufrido un percance, pero se desconocen las causas del accidente.

calificaron como una persona de mucha experiencia y quien sabe volar en zonas peligrosas.

Fuene : La Nación

Trisha Leffler Tells 48 Hours

From CBS :http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/04/25/48hours/main4968896.shtml News

Exclusive: Craigslist Victim Speaks Out

Boston Robbery Victim Trisha Leffler Tells 48 Hours About Encounter At Boston Hotel

Trisha Leffler (CBS)

Craigslist: Classified For Murder?

In Full: 48 Hours delves into the life of Philip Markoff to uncover how he went from promising young medical student to alleged killer. | Share/Embed

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  Craigslist: Classified For Murder? (41:44)
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  Markoff Victim Speaks Out (4:24)

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The Craigslist Killing

A Boston med student is accused of killing a woman who advertised as a masseuse on the popular Web site.

Stories

• Craigslist: Classified For Murder?

• The Craigslist Killing: Case Overview

(CBS) Trisha Leffler, a Las Vegas masseuse who advertised her services on Craigslist, says she was bound with a plastic cord and robbed at a Boston hotel by Philip Markoff, the man later accused of the Craigslist killing. She talks exclusively with 48 Hours Mystery.

Read the complete transcript of the interview.

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QUESTION: So, Tricia, if you could do the thing that we talked about. First, identify yourself, and what your relationship is in this case.

TRICIA LEFFLER: I am Trisha Leffler. I am the first victim robbed in the Phillip Markoff Craigslist murder case.

QUESTION: All right, so, Trisha, give me a little bit through - you live here in Las Vegas. And how did you end up in Boston, and how did you end up in a hotel room at all? How did this all come about?

LEFFLER: I went out there to work.

QUESTION: How did you end up meeting Philip Markoff? How did this -

LEFFLER: I had placed an ad on Craigslist. And he called my - I had my number on Craigslist. He called my number off of Craigslist. And asked me what, you know, what part of town I was in, what location I was in, and he'd like to come see me, and spend some time with me.

QUESTION: So, you decided to go to Boston. So, how was it that you and Philip ended up meeting?

LEFFLER: Like I said originally, I placed an ad on Craigslist. My number was on there. He ended up calling my number, and asking me basically what - where I was located at, and I gave him the location. And about 20 minutes later, he called me when he got to the Westin.

QUESTION: When you placed that ad on Craigslist, what did you say in the ad? What was it that you - what - you know?

LEFFLER: It basically went along the lines of, you know, if you'd like to come spend some time with a, you know, a blonde that you would like to -

QUESTION: So, what did you write in the ad? I mean, you obviously lived in Las Vegas. But did you say, "I'll be in Boston?" What did it say in the ad?

LEFFLER: It was just I was in Boston already, and that if you'd like to come spend some time with a sweet blonde, give me a call so we can spend some time together. That's basically the ins and outs of it.

QUESTION: The ad, obviously, if someone was on that ad, they would know what they were looking for?

LEFFLER: Yes.

QUESTION: Tell me a little bit about the assumption was already there. He knew when he got there, what was the assumption that both you knew was gonna happen that night?

LEFFLER: He was just gonna pay me for my time.

QUESTION: How did you get to the hotel? Were you - was this something that he was arranging to pay for?

LEFFLER: No, not at all.

QUESTION: Tell me a little bit about that. Like, what were the expectations from you and him, in terms of -

LEFFLER: I mean, I just - I was in the hotel room, and I just placed an ad on Craigslist. And, I mean, he called off my ad. I mean, that's - there wasn't any, anything like previously discussed or anything, from the time that he called me to the time that I met him. It was probably about a half hour, so.

QUESTION: Oh, so it was really quick?

LEFFLER: Yes.

QUESTION: So about a half-an-hour in time?

LEFFLER: Yes.

QUESTION: What was he like on the phone? What did he say to you? Was there ever talk about money?

LEFFLER: He just asked me how much it was for, you know. I have a half- hour rate, and an hour rate. He asked me how much it was for the half hour and the hour. And I told him it was $200 for the hour. He asked me, he said, "Okay, hour sounds fine." And then, about a half hour later, he called me when he got to the Westin.

QUESTION: And you basically said, "This is my room, you can come up?"

LEFFLER: No. He called me when he got to the Westin, and I met him by the elevator.

QUESTION: Do you do that for security purposes?

LEFFLER: Yes.

QUESTION: Tell me a little bit about that. I mean, you have precautions in place.

LEFFLER: Yes.

QUESTION: Tell me a little bit about that?

LEFFLER: Obviously, if I don't feel comfortable, then I'll just walk away from from the person. Yeah, I do it for security reasons. That way they don't know exactly what room number I'm in. I just tell 'em if I'm not comfortable, I just tell 'em, "No thanks."

QUESTION: You felt that he was safe?

LEFFLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: Tell me a little bit about that.

LEFFLER: I mean, his appearance was just - he was tall, a good looking guy. It, I mean, I felt - when I first laid eye - eyes on him, I was comfortable. Because it was, you know, just regular. Just a regular looking guy.

QUESTION: He felt like someone that you could trust in your room that night?

LEFFLER: Not really. Not really. It's not really a trust issue. It's kind of like a - I don't know what the word. Kind of like, you know, get to know the person a little bit. Come and, you know, spend some time with me. Let's get to know each other type of stuff, you know.
CBS)
QUESTION: You didn't feel like you were in danger immediately with him?

LEFFLER: Not immediately, no.

QUESTION: Tell me a little bit about. Tell me why you didn't feel like you were in danger?

LEFFLER: 'Cause, I mean, he looked regular to me. It - he didn't look like he had any other tendencies, other than just spend a little time and leave.

QUESTION: So, what does he say to you when he comes to meet?

LEFFLER: I just said, "Hi." He said, "Hi." And I said - I just motioned to him to follow me. And 'cause I really don't want to talk out in the hallway and, you know, whatnot. So, we went into the room. And as soon as I had closed the door, I had turned around, and he was standing just inside the door. And he pulled out the - when I turned around and looked at him, that's when he pulled out the gun.

QUESTION: What was going through your mind?

LEFFLER: I was a little nervous. Like, I immediately started shaking. Like, my heart started beatin' real fast. I started shaking.

QUESTION: What did he say to you?

LEFFLER: Told me to lie down on the ground.

QUESTION: What did you think was going to happen?

LEFFLER: I wasn't sure at that point.

QUESTION: What did he - what was he saying to you?

LEFFLER: He - he just told me to lay down, and I - I did. And then - he put the gun back in his pocket, once I laid down and stepped behind me. And he kneeled on the ground with one knee in the middle in between my legs, and told me to put my hands behind my back, which I did. And then - he tied me up one - one hand at a time.

QUESTION: And what is he saying to you?

LEFFLER: I was basically saying, you know, "You don't have to do all this. You don't - you don't have to tie me up. You know, I'll give you whatever you want. You don't have to tie me up." And he basically told me, "If you just be quiet, you know, no harm's gonna come to you."

QUESTION: Is he telling you he wants something at this point from you?

LEFFLER: No. As soon as he tied me up, he stepped back in front of me, and pulled out some black leather gloves, and put the black leather gloves on. And then, he asked me where my money was.

QUESTION: And what do you do? Do you - what do you - what are the instructions at that point?

LEFFLER: I told him they were in - in the - in my purse. And he walked over to - there was a desk in the room. I had my makeup case on the desk. And he picked it up. He says, "In here." I said, "No. My purse is in the top drawer of the entertainment center." And that's when he walked over and took the purse out of the entertainment center.

QUESTION: And he just took it? Took everything?

LEFFLER: No. He opened up my purse, and immediately went for the money. Took out the money, and put it in his pocket. And then, he knelt down on the floor, and was like kind of rifling through my purse and stuff. And he took out my wallet, and started going through my wallet. Like, taking each credit card out, asking me what kind of credit cards they were. I told him they were prepaid, there was no money on 'em.

Then he took out my bank card. He asked me what my pin number was on my bank card, and at that time, my adrenaline was rushing so much, I couldn't think of a lie. So, I gave him the pin number. He told me that, "That'd better be the pin number or I was gonna - there was gonna be a problem later." Whatever that meant. And then, after he took all the credit cards out and put them in his pocket, he then took my whole wallet and shoved it in his pocket. And then, at that moment, I realized that my ID was in the wallet. And I asked him if he could please leave me my ID so I could get home.

And he took it out and studied it for a good minute like he was memorizing my address. And then threw it down with all the rest of the stuff. And then, because I told him that the credit cards were pre-paid credit cards, I asked him if he could please leave me at least one of the credit cards, so I could also get home with, you know, with a credit card. And he said, "I thought you said there wasn't any money on 'em."

I said, "There's not. But I can have people, you know, put money on it so I can get home." He asked me which one I wanted - he wanted me to leave - or him to leave. And I said, "The one ending..." I gave him the one ending in - 7-6-4-9. Obviously, that was the one that he took, 'cause I think he thought there was money on there, 'cause that was the one that I pointed out. So, he gave me another one. And he threw that down, too. And then he had also picked up my camera at this point, and asked if there was - if this was my camera, and I said, "Yeah." But he had thrown that down at the time. He didn't take it right then.

QUESTION: Did he eventually take that?

LEFFLER: Yeah, he did. I didn't realize 'til about a day later.

QUESTION: Are you crying at this point? Are you -

LEFFLER: No, I mean, I'm still shaking, I'm still nervous. His demeanor's very - really was actually very calm. Like he had done it before. I mean, I'm not making presumptions. But he was actually very calm. He basically knew what to look for, that kind of stuff.

QUESTION: And you're as calm as you can be, considering?

LEFFLER: Yeah. At this point, I had asked him if I could sit up. So, I was actually sitting on the floor, with my hands tied behind my back.
(CBS)
QUESTION: What are you thinking at this point? Are you nervous that he was going to hurt you? Kill you?

LEFFLER: No, because I wasn't as nervous as before, 'cause he had actually put the gun away. When he got done going through my purse, he got up and asked me where the phone was that he had called me on. I said it was on the table. He picked it up and started going through it. And from - and - actually erased his number out of the call log.

QUESTION: Obviously, it's never permanently erased.

LEFFLER: Right.

QUESTION: What did you, I mean, did you think of that at the time? That obviously the police could trace a call. I mean, were you thinking like, "This is silly?"

LEFFLER: I actually asking him if I could do it for him, because I just wanted him to leave. But he was like, "No, I'll - I'll take care of it. I got it."

QUESTION: Did you think that was an odd scenario for him to try to cover his tracks that way?

LEFFLER: Yeah. Like 'cause I'm - I mean, obviously he brought gloves. He knew how to erase his number from my phone. And then, to make sure that I didn't get to my phone right away, he turned it over, opened up the back of it, and actually took the battery, and threw it behind the entertainment center, so I couldn't get to it right away.

QUESTION: When you say he put away his gun, where did he put it away?

LEFFLER: He put it in his pants pocket.

QUESTION: So, he leaves. Walks out?

LEFFLER: No.

QUESTION: When?

LEFFLER: Not yet.

QUESTION: What does he do?

LEFFLER: He started like looking around my room a little bit. The one thing that I thought was really weird that I didn't really say anything to him about is he walked over towards by where my suitcase was. And he picked up a pair of my underwear that were on the floor, and put them in his pocket.

QUESTION: What did you think of that?

TRISHA LEFFLER: I thought it was weird. Like, I didn't ask him what he was doing. Nothing, 'cause I didn't, you know, 'cause I didn't care to know. But it was just weird to me.

QUESTION: Did you ask him?

LEFFLER: No.

QUESTION: You just wanted him out?

LEFFLER: I just wanted him out. I wasn't trying to keep him there for anything longer. And then, eventually, he asked me if there was a safe in the room. I said, "Yes, but I haven't put anything in it." Of course he checked anyway. And then, he was kind of like walking around the room. And by this time, I was getting antsy, like I just wanted him to leave. So, I asked him what he was doing. 'Cause he was like going around, like trying to move, like furniture and stuff.

And I was like, "What are you doing." He's like, "I'm trying to find something to tie you to, 'cause I need more time to get away." And he's like, "Or should I just cut you loose." And I said, "Yeah, you can cut me loose, I'm not gonna tell anybody." And he's like, "I don't believe you." He's like, "I think I - I think I need to tie you to something so I can get more time to get away."

And so, I actually was like trying to suggest places for him to try to me, so he would just tie me up and leave. I asked him to tie me to the entertainment center door, 'cause there was a door that opened. He was like, "Oh, you can bust that right off." I was like, "I'm not that strong," you know. So, basically, he ended up tying to the bathroom door.

And then, as soon as he tied me to the bathroom door, he said, "Hold on a second," and he went back in the room. Where he went, I couldn't see, 'cause the line of vision was blocked. There was like a little wall or something there. But I heard a zipper on my suitcase. I don't know what he was doing. I didn't hear him like rustling around in my suitcase, but I just heard the zipper.

And then, he came back over and took something else out of his pocket. And he ended up taping my mouth. Putting three pieces of tape over my mouth. But I was noticing as he was doing it that he was not wearing gloves. So, I just let him put the tape on me. And also, at some point, during the robbery, he did cut both the phone lines in the room, so I wouldn't have a direct outlet right after he left. And he walked back into the room, just took one more look around, and then just walked out the door.

QUESTION: What did he tie you up with?

LEFFLER: He tied me up with some plastic zip cords.

QUESTION: You mean to the door?

LEFFLER: Yes.

QUESTION: They were long enough for him to do that?

LEFFLER: Yeah.

QUESTION: When he walks out, what does he say to you?

LEFFLER: Nothing. He did, at one point, tell me that he would wait about 15 minutes after he had left the hotel and call security, and say that he had heard something come from the room, and asked me the room number. And I gave him - I gave him the room number. I mumbled it, 'cause my mouth was taped. But - and then, he just walked out the door.

QUESTION: Did you really think he was going to do that?

LEFFLER: No.

QUESTION: How did you get out?

LEFFLER: Within one minute of him leaving, I actually twisted right out of the ties. It hurt, but I twisted out of the ties, and like, took the tape off my mouth. And I crumbled up the tape, and threw it on the bed. And I waited for probably about a minute, and looked out into the hallway to just to make sure he wasn't standing out there, and then I went to the room next door, and knocked on the door, and asked if I could use their phone to call security, 'cause I had just been robbed.

QUESTION: So, security comes. The police come. Did you give them the tape with the fingerprints?

LEFFLER: It was, I mean, everything was in the room still. I had left the room, and I hadn't been back in there.

QUESTION: Do you know if they took the tape?

LEFFLER: They took - yeah, they took everything.

QUESTION: Describe what they took.

LEFFLER: They took the tape. They took the zip ties that were on the door. They took pictures of everything, obviously. And they took my cell phone.

QUESTION: Did they ever look into your Craigslist account to try to identify who he was?

LEFFLER: No, they didn't. Not that night, no. They didn't - no, they didn't look into my Craigslist account that night.

QUESTION: When did you find out who he was, in terms of this investigation?

LEFFLER: The day that he was arrested.

QUESTION: How did you find out that Philip Markoff was the person that was the same person that ended up murdering someone?

LEFFLER: I got a call on April 13 that my phone was going to be returned to me the next day, at about 10:30 in the morning. At 9:00, I got a call saying that they had to talk to me. It was very important that they talk to me, and where I was staying. I gave them the hotel. And then the room number. He said, "Okay, we'll be there in five minutes."

They showed up. And they gave me a piece of paper with a picture on it. And I said, "Ooh, this is a really good picture of him. Where did you get this." They said, "Is that guy that robbed you." I said, "Yes." They said, "How do you know." I said, "He's wearing the same exact clothes." I said, "Is this from the surveillance from the same night."

And they said, "No. That's actually from the Marriott." And I kind of looked at him funny. And he was like, "There was a girl murdered there last night, and we think this is the same guy. He's used the same M.O. She was tied up with plastic zip cords." And my heart just dropped.

QUESTION: Did you think that you could've died that night?

LEFFLER: Yes.

QUESTION: What was going through your head when you heard that?

LEFFLER: That it could've been me. That had - I mean, he could've killed me that night.

QUESTION: What were you thinking. I mean, what was going through your head at that time? What was swirling?

LEFFLER: That it was, well, I was in this even deeper now than just me being robbed. It was now a murder investigation, and that I was right in the middle of it.
(CBS)

QUESTION: Were you at all scared?

LEFFLER: I got really scared. Yeah.

QUESTION: What kinds of things were the police now - were they helpful?

LEFFLER: Yes. Very. They were just like, you know, "We really do need you in order for us to catch this guy now." And I said, "Whatever you need."

QUESTION: So, you saw security photos. What kind of things did you see on the security photos?

LEFFLER: I'd seen him the way he was dressed. When he robbed me, he was in a black leather coat, dark jeans, with a tan shirt underneath. And about 6'2", blonde hair. And, of course, you can't see his eyes in the surveillance, but I knew they were light-colored eyes. And they asked me if I knew how old he was. And I really thought he was upper 20s. But obviously, he's 22, so.

QUESTION: The night that he had pulled out the gun, did you at all think that night that you could die?

LEFFLER: I was just so wrapped up in trying to comply with everything that he said to not think about it. I was trying to not think about me being hurt, harmed.

QUESTION: Did you think that night that you could die?

TRISHA LEFFLER: To tell you the truth, it wasn't really a thought at the time. I thought he would - you know, I had a feeling he was just there for the money. He just wanted the money, and to get out. 'Cause as soon as he pulled the gun, he had put it away, I didn't see it the rest of the time.

QUESTION: The night that he was attacking you, did you think when he pulled out that gun, I mean, obviously been attacked with a gun before. Did you think that, "I'm facing death here?"

LEFFLER: I mean, truthfully, no. Like, it was just like I got scared, obviously, 'cause he had a gun. But in the back of my mind, I'm thinking, "Oh, it's not loaded," you know. It's a toy, you know. Stuff like that. Just something to scare me. Like, he just wants my money and to get out. Like never once did he touch me, other than to tie me up, and then to tie me to the doorknob. He was very calm. He didn't tell me to shut up, he told me to be quiet, you know. I guess you could call him polite. Didn't call me names and swear at me. Nothing.

QUESTION: It only dawned on you later that -

LEFFLER: Yeah, when the other girl got killed, yes.

QUESTION: Tell me that in a full sentence. What dawned on you later?

LEFFLER: It dawned on me later that he could have very well killed me.

QUESTION: When you saw the surveillance photos, how sure where you that it was Philip Markoff?

LEFFLER: I was - I was 100 percent sure.

QUESTION: How 100 percent sure were you that it was the same person? Tell me how sure you were that it was the same person?

LEFFLER: I was 100 percent sure. Well, obviously, the first photo that they showed me, I actually thought it was from the Westin the night that I got robbed. They didn't tell me beforehand that, you know, it was from different surveillance from another hotel. I thought maybe they had gotten another clearer picture. So, I mean, I was 100 percent sure it was the same guy. He was even dressed the same, wearing the same clothes.

QUESTION: When did you start finding out who he was, his background? Did the police start telling you about that, or did you only start reading about it in the media?

LEFFLER: I only started reading about it in the media, after he was actually arrested.

QUESTION: What did you think about it?

LEFFLER: Well, I just don't understand how somebody that is obviously smart, has his own life ahead of him, has a beautiful fiancée, you know, getting married, gonna have, you know live the life, could do something like this.

QUESTION: Obviously, you know, you're reading about him. About this. He was in medical school, he seemed to have all these things going for him. Does it seem like the guy that came to your room that night?

LEFFLER: Yes and no. I mean, yes, because I know what he looks like. No, because I didn't know anything about him, characteristic type, nothing. When he called me, I did ask him what he did for a living, and he actually told me he was a student. He didn't tell me what type of a student, but he said he was a student.

QUESTION: Did he raise his voice to you? You said he was very - I mean, he, he wasn't nasty to you?

LEFFLER: He did not raise his voice to me. I kept asking him, "Can I say something, can I say something," he just kept telling me to be quiet. He didn't want to hear anything. He just wanted to, I think he just wanted to get what he wanted, and get out.

QUESTION: But he didn't curse at you, he wasn't violent?

LEFFLER: No, not at all.

QUESTION: Describe that a little bit for me. Describe his demeanor to me?

LEFFLER: I mean, he was calm. He, to me, it felt like he knew what he was doing.

QUESTION: When you started reading about him, did you have any kind of reaction about who he was, and what brought him to you? Or what would drive him to kill another woman?

LEFFLER: I mean, I can't get inside his head. But, I mean, it's just - it's just disbelief that just someone who had their whole life set out for him, and whole life ahead of him that could even fathom to do something like this. As far as - I mean, I don't know if he thinks that by targeting girls on Craigslist that somebody's not gonna come forward. But I feel that if I wouldn't have come forward, he'd still be on the streets.

QUESTION: And you did come forward immediately?

LEFFLER: Yes.

QUESTION: I mean, you gave a police report. You had no problem identifying who he was. But he might have still been out there, if someone wasn't killed, don't you think? I mean, do you have any speculation about that?

LEFFLER: I had a good possibility that they were working on the case before she had gotten murdered. 'Cause they were working with me on the case before that happened.

QUESTION: So, you think he would've been caught?

LEFFLER: Yes.

QUESTION: So, you think the police took your case seriously?

LEFFLER: Yes.

QUESTION: Tell me a little bit about why you felt that the police took it?

LEFFLER: The next day after, after the robbery, they did - they had me down at the police station, looking at photos already, and going through phone numbers in my phone, calling my bank to see if my bank card had been used. And also, calling my phone company to see if I could get the phone records.

QUESTION: You were clearly the victim in this case, but obviously you've learned some important things from all this. Do you have a warning out there for anyone? Or anything you'd want to say?

LEFFLER: Just, I mean, trust your instincts. Obviously, my instinct was this guy was good. But not all money's good money.

QUESTION: I mean, you had a lot of precautions in place. You had a system down, you knew that you had indicators. You had alert signs that you - you took that - would send off signals whether someone could be trusted or not. Philip Markoff kind of met those initial signals. I mean, he didn't - it didn't work this time. Is there something that can be said for that, or not really?

LEFFLER: Not really at this point. I mean, other girls that are on Craigslist, I mean, we all have our own screening process. I mean, obviously, some people need to be screened a little bit more than others, so.

QUESTION: Anything else that you think is really important for you to say? Is there anything else you really want to get across? I mean, this is your time.

LEFFLER: Basically, I just want to say that. I mean, I'm glad that he's behind bars, and I'm glad that I came forward with my story because I feel that if I didn't, he would still be out there possibly hurting other people. And it might have escalated into more than just what it did. And just I'm gonna be there to help through the whole thing.

QUESTION: And they just want me to ask one last question. In your words, how would you describe what you do for a living. And what you were anticipating happening that night in your words?

LEFFLER: It was just to put - I don't - I don't feel comfortable answering that question.

QUESTION: What are your plans with your Craigslist ad, and what's happening with your Craigslist ad right now?

LEFFLER: Nothing. I'm not gonna be advertising on Craigslist anymore. Don't want to go through this again.

QUESTION: What do you want to do now for a living?

LEFFLER: I don't know. Probably going to go back to school.

QUESTION: What would you like to do?

LEFFLER: No idea yet.

QUESTION: Do you have aspirations to do something in the future?

LEFFLER: I don't know. I'm kind of taking it one day at a time right now.

Philip Markoff

Suspected 'Craigslist Killer' Philip Markoff tells family 'forget about me'

BY Tracy Connor
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Updated Saturday, April 25th 2009, 10:51 AM

Senne/AP

Susan Haynes, front, and Richard Markoff, left, parents of accused Craigslist killer Philip Markoff are escorted by police as they arrive to visit their son in jail in Boston, Friday April 24.

Warga/News

Markoff at a college party while he was attending SUNY Albany, in 2005. He reportedly told family members to 'forget about me.'

Marino for News

Markoff's fiancee Megan McAllister has dinner with family and visitors in her Little Silver, N.J. home this week following his arrest

A day after trying to hang himself in jail, accused Craigslist killer Philip Markoff reportedly told relatives to "forget about me" - and suggested they haven't heard the worst.

"There is more coming out," the med student-turned-murder suspect told his brother Jonathan and sister-in-law Deanna at the Boston lockup, the Boston Herald reported Saturday.

"Move to California," Markoff advised the couple during the emotional sit-down Friday afternoon, a jail source told the paper.

The encounter came a day after Markoff, 23, was put on suicide watch because jail officers found shoelace marks around his neck.

He's now in the jail's psychiatric unit, constantly monitored by video camera and checked on by three guards, sources told the Daily News.

He also traded in his jail jumpsuit for a heavy smock called a Ferguson that is designed to stop inmates and mental patients from hurting themselves.

His parents, Richard Markoff and Susan Haynes, came to Boston from upstate New York to visit him Friday, followed by Jonathan Markoff and his wife.

"Philip's brother and sister-in-law both are very happy they had a chance to see him," defense lawyer John Salsberg said. "They love him dearly. They continue to remain very supportive to him."

A SUNY-Albany grad who was attending Boston University medical school, Markoff is charged with murdering Manhattan masseuse Julissa Brisman in a Boston hotel.

He's also accused of robbing hooker Trisha Leffler and is expected to be charged in the botched stickup of a stripper in a Warwick, R.I., hotel.

"He didn't look like he had any other tendencies, other than just spend a little time and leave," Leffler said.

But as soon as they entered the room, Markoff pounced, she said.

"I had closed the door, I had turned around, and he was standing just inside the door. ... That's when he pulled out the gun," Leffler said.
She said she had agreed to meet Markoff and arranged a $200 payment after he contacted her through a number she listed on a Craigslist ad.

Their meeting took place just days before he allegedly killed Brisman in another Boston hotel.

The 29-year-old said he told her to get on the floor, where he put a knee in the middle of her back and tied her hands.

"I was basically saying, "You don't have to do all this. You don't have to tie me up. ... You know, I'll give you anything you want."

He grabbed her purse and went straight for the cash. He then rifled through it, pulling out credit cards and demanding their PIN numbers.

She said he also fumbled around with her cell phone, trying to delete his phone number from the call record.

"I actually was asking him if I could do it for him, because I just wanted him to leave. But he was like, 'No., I'll take care of it. I got it,'" she said.

Then as he was ready to leave, he started glancing around the room.

"And he picked up a pair of my underwear that were on the floor and put them in his pocket," she said.

tconnor@nydailynews.com

With Tanyanika Samuels

From the NYT the following:

Details, but Little Insight, on Craigslist Killing Suspect

By ABBY GOODNOUGH, NATE SCHWEBER and JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ

Published: April 28, 2009

This article was reported by Abby Goodnough, Nate Schweber and Javier C. Hernandez, and written by Ms. Goodnough.

BOSTON — An eviction notice hangs on Philip

Markoff’s door at the apartment complex where he lived with his fiancée, and the medical school where he took the Hippocratic oath has suspended him indefinitely.

Mr. Markoff’s wedding is now officially delayed, too: his fiancée’s family canceled the B-Street Band, hired to play Bruce Springsteen hits at the beachfront reception on Aug. 14, its lead singer said Monday.

But while Mr. Markoff’s seemingly normal life has crumbled in the week since his arrest on charges of killing one woman and robbing another at gunpoint after meeting them through Craigslist, hints have been slow to emerge as to why he might have committed the crimes.

“What has been portrayed and leaked to the media is not the Philip Markoff that I know,” said Megan McAllister, his fiancée, in a statement released Monday through her lawyer. “To me and my family, he is a loving and caring person.”

But contrary to statements she made last week, Ms. McAllister did not assert that Mr. Markoff had been “set up.”

Pressed for details of his character, friends and acquaintances have described a young man who was competitive but not cutthroat, politically opinionated but not confrontational, nerdy but not painfully so.

Though he grew up middle class and had planned a costly wedding, Mr. Markoff, 23, was poor enough to have the court appoint him a lawyer after his arrest, according to a court document. A probation officer who signed the document reported that Mr. Markoff, who has pleaded not guilty, said he received no financial support from his parents and was “essentially living off” $130,000 in student loans.

The tuition at Boston University Medical School, where he was in his second year, is $45,000.

Mr. Markoff grew up outside Syracuse, in Sherrill, population 3,150. A welcome sign boasts it is “the smallest city in New York State.”

He was a child of divorce who lived with his mother, Susan, after the breakup while his older brother, Jon, eventually went to live with their father, Richard, a dentist. Both parents remarried; Mr. Markoff’s mother had a baby girl with her new husband in 1991, when Mr. Markoff was 5.

Mr. Markoff’s stepfather, Gary Carroll, worked as a banker, said a neighbor, Dorothy Guider. Mr. Carroll once worked at a toy store over the Christmas holidays, Mrs. Guider said.

Mr. Markoff’s mother, a doll collector, did not work during his childhood, but later worked in the gift store of the Turning Stone casino outside town.

“Every little bit helped,” Mrs. Guider said, adding that she had no idea that the mother’s second marriage had broken up until she saw her selling off her doll collection at her own garage sale.

Several former teachers said Mr. Markoff had shown no signs of emotional turmoil. He was a model student, said Sonja Hluska, a former teacher.

A bowling alley was the biggest draw for teenagers, and Mr. Markoff was avid enough to practice there daily. He was so intent on being a good bowler that, unsatisfied with the grip, he had his bowling ball redrilled.

“Everything had to be just so,” said one childhood friend.

Ms. Hluska said that high school students in Sherrill looked forward to turning 18 so they could gamble at the nearby casino. Mr. Markoff, whom several friends remembered as an exuberant poker player, would round up members of his bowling team after a match and say, “ ‘Let’s go to the casino,’ ” said Jessica Scheuerman, 22, who was a year behind Mr. Markoff at Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School.

Later, at the University at Albany, Mr. Markoff was a member of the College Republicans, and traveled to Washington in 2004 to hear speeches by Ann Coulter and Karl Rove.

“We were surrounded by such a left-wing student body, and he was more like me: he didn’t really share those sentiments,” said one classmate, Jonathan Zierler, who said he had accompanied Mr. Markoff on the trip. “He was a traditionalist as far as things like men and women’s roles in society. He was a throwback from a more conservative era.”

Mr. Zierler could not remember Mr. Markoff’s ever having a girlfriend until he met Ms. McAllister in his sophomore year at Albany, when they volunteered in an emergency room.

Mr. Markoff graduated summa cum laude in 2007 with a degree in biology. His hard work in college paid off, and he was accepted at the Boston University School of Medicine, where 11,000 applicants compete for 150 slots.

On a handsome brick campus in Boston’s trendy South End, Mr. Markoff more or less blended in, several classmates said.

“He seemed like the rest of us in med school,” Shanna Rone, a classmate, wrote in an e-mail message, “making ends meet with some skeletons in the closet ... nothing out of the ordinary.”

Another classmate, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Mr. Markoff “was pretty passive.” The classmate added: “He seemed a pretty chill guy. He seemed to be definitely smarter than other students.”

In Quincy, Mass., Mr. Markoff and Ms. McAllister paid $1,400 a month for a one-bedroom apartment at Highpoint, an upscale complex with a pool and a clubhouse for social gatherings.

But Mr. Markoff apparently did not spend much time socializing; several neighbors said he was rarely home and when he was, he would say a quick hello before locking the door behind him.

In Ms. McAllister’s statement Monday, which her lawyer, Robert Honecker Jr., read outside her parents’ home in Little Silver, N.J., she said she would continue to support Mr. Markoff, emphasizing that he was innocent until proven guilty.

“I just can only hope that the criminal justice system will not be overwhelmed and persuaded by what is being put forth in the media,” she said. “My fiancé’s fate should not rest in the court of public opinion, but rather in a court of law.”

Abby Goodnough and Javier C.. Hernandez reported from Boston, and Nate Schweber from Sherrill, N.Y. Coleen Dee Berry and Caren Chesler contributed reporting from Little Silver, N.J., and Katie Zezima from Boston.

Julissa Brissman and Philip Markoff

A Markov process, named after the Russian mathematician Andrey Markov, is a mathematical model for the random evolution of a memoryless system, that is, one for which the likelihood of a given future state, at any given moment, depends only on its present state, and not on any past states.

In a common description, a stochastic process with the Markov property, or memorylessness, is one for which conditional on the present state of the system, its future and past are independent^[1].

Often, the term Markov chain is used to mean a Markov process which has a discrete (finite or countable) state-space. Usually a Markov chain would be defined for a discrete set of times (i.e. a discrete-time Markov Chain)^[2] although some authors use the same terminology where "time" can take continuous values.^[3] Also see continuous-time Markov process.

Contents [hide] 1 Formal definition 2 Markovian representation

Craigslist killer Philip Markoff and victim Julissa Brissman led secret lives

BY Patrice O'Shaughnessy
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Sunday, April 26th 2009, 1:05 AM

Garfinkel/Pool

Accused 'craigslist killer' Philip Markoff stands during his arraignment in Boston Municipal Court.

Mark Pines

Markoff is charged with the murder of Julissa Brisman.

Their lives intersected in the anonymous fog of the Internet, tailor-made for a young woman who made a living meeting strangers in hotels and a man looking for easy victims.

Julissa Brisman was from the upper West Side, a beautiful aspiring actress whose tough life drove her to drink and to a shadowy job offering massages on craigslist.

Philip Markoff is clean-cut, studying to be a doctor, and planning a dream wedding with his college sweetheart. Police say he also had a secret life, robbing and brutalizing women he met on craigslist.

Their shadow worlds came to light when she was shot dead in a posh Boston hotel and he was arrested as the "Craigslist Killer."

All who knew them were shocked, but looking back, there clearly were some signposts along their disparate journeys to that fateful moment 12 nights ago in Boston.

***

Brisman, who would have turned 26 on Friday, lived on W. 107th St., just outside Central Park, and had a younger sister she doted on.

She was 5-feet-5, had shimmering blond hair. A photo of her on a Web site about cell phone safety shows her with pale pink pouting lips, her almost-golden eyes giving a sultry look.

"Vivacious," "fun," "hardworking," they all said of her.

Markoff, 23, is a tall, blond, Abercrombie & Fitch type. He was raised in an upstate town, Sherill, near Syracuse. His father is a dentist and his mother worked in a casino shop. He has an older brother, Jon.

Markoff excelled in Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School, where he was on the bowling and golf teams, and was an honors student who liked poker.

"Polite," "clean-cut," "kind," "funny," they all said about him.

When Markoff was shining in high school, Brisman was 19, a sales associate in Macy's Herald Square. She was arrested in June 2002 for stealing $3,700 in merchandise from Macy's. Cops say she falsely credited her store account for returned items and used the bogus credits to buy other things. Brisman apparently did not serve any time for this.

Markoff graduated from high school in 2004 and went to SUNY Albany to study biology. In 2005, he revealed juvenile subterfuge, and a disturbing roughness to fellow student Morgan Houston.

Houston said that before their cram sessions, Markoff would study for hours. He was a better student than she, but pretended he didn't know the material so he could spend time with her.

He frightened her once by grabbing her, shoving her against a wall on campus and trying to kiss her as they walked on campus late at night.

"I couldn't physically get him off of me," Houston told the Daily News. "Thankfully, he wasn't on top of me." A male student passing by pulled him off her.

In 2006, Brisman's life took another downward detour. She was arrested and spent six days in Rikers Island. The case is sealed and no information is available on why she was jailed.

Everything was falling into place for Markoff. He met his fiancée, Megan McAllister, when they worked at the Albany Medical Center emergency room. He graduated from SUNY in 2007 and entered Boston University School of Medicine.

That year, Brisman found some fame by making a public service ad for the Near Ear Foundation on the dangers of distraction when talking on a cell phone while walking down the street.

Last May, Markoff and McAllister got engaged. He proposed on a horse-drawn carriage ride in Connecticut. They enjoyed gambling at Foxwoods Resort.

They posted a bridal registry online, listing Vera Wang wine goblets, sterling silver picture frames and Emerilware pots and pans. On the Knot Web site they announced they'd marry on a Jersey Shore beach on Aug. 14.

A lab partner who worked closely with Markoff at Boston University would later tell reporters she was troubled by his profound mood swings.

Brisman battled alcohol abuse, and then enrolled in a two-year City College program to become a drug and alcohol counselor.

In January, a friend said, she did a photo shoot in a pink bikini for a tanning salon ad. She also worked on music videos.

Another friend said she had been paid $1,000 to fly to private parties in Chicago and strut in a bikini or topless; eye candy, nothing more. Brisman used some of the money to buy her teenage sister a computer.

***

Three weeks ago, a cousin of Brisman says, the aspiring actress told her mother, Carmen Guzman, she was going to Boston to meet a medical student she had met on the Internet.

"My aunt was like 'You better be careful, because people who are on the Internet are sometimes bad people,'" the cousin told a reporter.

On April 10, a 29-year-old Las Vegas woman, Trisha Leffler, who also advertised as a masseuse on craigslist, was attacked at the Boston Westin Copley hotel. She later identified Markoff as the man who bound her with plastic ties and robbed her.

Two days later, on April 12, Markoff was gambling at Foxwoods. Two days after that, he returned to Boston, to meet Brisman in a 20th-floor room at the posh Marriott Copley Place, arranged by e-mails, cops say.

He allegedly bludgeoned her and shot her three times and left her in a pool of blood.

The next day a friend of Brisman's looked at Brisman's e-mail account and saw messages from a man Brisman was scheduled to see the night before for a massage. The friend immediately forwarded the e-mail to detectives.

On April 16, it was another night of gambling at Foxwoods, with Markoff winning $5,300.

That same night, he is suspected of an attempted robbery in the Warwick, R.I., Holiday Inn Express of a woman who had posted a craigslist ad as a stripper. She was held at gunpoint before her husband entered the hotel room and her attacker fled.

Last Saturday, Boston cops pinpointed the physical location of the computer used to send the e-mail to Brisman - the luxury towers in Quincy, Mass., where Markoff lives with his betrothed.

On Monday, cops staked out his building, and saw Markoff and McAllister leave. They were headed to Foxwoods. Cops pulled them over on I-95 and arrested him.

***

Brisman's friends said they didn't know she had a secret life.

"What we know is that Miss Brisman was advertising masseuse services on craigslist," said Boston police spokeswoman Elaine Driscoll.

McCallister insisted her fiancée could not hurt a fly.

On Tuesday, Markoff pleaded not guilty to Brisman's murder. Evidence mounted: cops found a gun, duct tape, and plastic restaints in his apartment, along with panties reportedly from the victims stuffed in a copy of a "Gray's Anatomy" textbook.

Some speculate the motive for the attacks was to finance his gambling habit, but Vernon Geberth, a former NYPD homicide investigator and expert on sexual murders, doesn't buy the gambling theory. "He's a sexual predator, no matter what they say."

***

They are linked in the virtual world forever, their lives laid bare to millions.

Last Wednesday, a new Facebook group called "Phil Markoff is Innocent Until Proven Guilty" was launched, to rally against the media "that has forgotten that people like Phil are suspects, not killers."

Markoff is shown in a red high school graduation gown, holding a red mortarboard, with a neat haircut, tinted eyeglasses, posed against a puffy cloud-dotted sky.

The Near Ear Fundation's Web site featured a memorial page with an almost inappropriately sexy photo of Brisman. Her hair is tousled, her doe eyes peer over her bare shoulder. A videographer she worked for wrote a poem about killers.

Markoff's and McAllister's Knot Web page noted, "114 days to go!"

That same day, in the real world, Markoff sat behind bars in a Boston jail - and Brisman's mother cried in the Ortiz Funeral Home in Washington Heights.

poshaughnessy@nydailynews.com

source: Daily News