ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist&reg;.com: Duke's Damage Control</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style1 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="116" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="24" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="465" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="18" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="283" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr height="26"> <td width="624" height="26" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong>HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#149; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#149; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#149; <a href="teflon.html">THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#149; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com">REACTIONS</a> &#149; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="1"> <td width="116" height="2574" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="489" height="1" colspan="3"></td> <td width="18" height="2574" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> <tr height="2573"> <td width="489" height="2573" colspan="3" align="left" xpos="116" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="5"><b> <br /> Homicidal Med Student</b></font><p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b>by John M. Curtis<br> (310) 204-8700</b><br> </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright April 24, 2009<br> All Rights Reserved.</i></font></p> <p><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span class="style1">A</span>ccused of murdering masseuse Julissa Brisman April 14, 22-year-old Boston University med student Philip Markoff stood silently during a brief arraignment in Boston Municipal Court.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Markoff, a second-year med student, stands accused of finding Brisman on Craiglsist, luring her to the Marriott Copley Plaza Hotel and shooting her through the heart.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Boston police also fingered Markoff in another Craigslist robbery at a different hotel on April 10.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>An unnamed police source speculated that Markoff might have had a gambling problem, prompting his armed-robberies and even murder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Despite finding as semiautomatic pistol and duct-tape at Markoff s apartment, his fiancée, Megan McAllister told ABC News in an e-mail that Philip Markoff<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> could not hurt a fly, insisting they had the wrong guy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>But Boston police were confident a methodical investigation led to the right man.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Murderers, gamblers and sex perverts come in all shapes in sizes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>It s not uncommon for loved ones or friends to be shocked when they learn of possible criminal activities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Few people wanted to believe that O.J. Simpson s friendly face on Monday Night Football or Hertz Rent-a-Car commercials could have slashed his ex-wife and her friend to death.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>McAllister is going to be in disbelief until she looks objectively at the same evidence as Boston police.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Boston police tracked Markoff carefully, following computer records that linked him to an account used to set Craigslist appointments with two women attacked at his Quincy apartment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Markoff s muteness at his arraignment indicates he sees no reason to protest too loudly, something inconceivable for an innocent man.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> No innocent man accused of murder could keep himself from loudly setting the record straight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Police investigators confirmed Markoff s identity on two separate surveillance tapes, including one at Marriott s Copley Plaza Hotel.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Though told by police, Markoff s fiancée still called him  a beautiful person, inside and out, wishing  and share a wonderful, meaningful life together, personifying the meaning of the expression  love is blind. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Suffolk County District Atty. Daniel Conley said investigators found a semiautomatic handgun and duct tape, calling the evidence against Markoff  critical, powerful. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> This was a brutal, vicious crime savage, and it shows Philip Markoff is a man who will to take advantage of women, to hurt them, to beat them, said Conley, describing the second-year BU med student as a vicious predator.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While McCallister remains in denial, all evidence points to a psychopathic killer, cleverly concealing his violent propensities.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Whether the motive was robbery or misogynism, the same psychopathic core made up Markoff s exterior façade, covering up the internal caldron of rage that seeks out innocent bystanders for perverse gratification.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> It s hard for me to get into his mind. The evidence that we have is that Julissa put up a pretty tough struggle and it s in the context of the struggle that she lost her life, said Conley, ignoring what s known about psychopathic killers or sex perverts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Family and friends don t know what lurks beneath the outward façade, frequently making pleasing appearances.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Unconfirmed police reports suspect Markoff had gambling debts from the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal casino near Mystic, Connecticut.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Compulsive gambling, sexual perversity, domestic abuse, violent propensities and an atrophied sense of guilt are all part of the psychopathic core leading to aberrant behavior.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Reports of family and friends display disbelief when psychopaths find their way into the legal system.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>  This is not my grandson.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>I know my grandson, Markoff s lawyer grandfather told the Boston Globe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I hate to see a rush to judgment . . .<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He s a wonderful boy, just absolutely wonderful, and couldn t be better.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>I m proud of him and proud of his abilities as a medical student.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He always wanted to be a doctor, expressing the denial accompanying psychopathic personalities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Family and friends miss the warning signs, especially the charming demeanor that camouflages the compulsive lying and hidden perversity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Boston police have at least two surveillance tapes placing Markoff at two crime scenes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>State University of New Yorkk at Albany friend James Kehoe confirmed Markoff s identity on the tape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Markoff s fiancée, grandfather and friends share the same denial.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Markoff s lack of a response at his arraignment tells the whole story.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>No innocent man falsely accused of murder would not loudly protest his innocence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Robbery represents a feeble motive, unfairly diverting attention away from Markoff s psychopathic personality, whose twisted self-structure derives sadistic pleasure from domination and ultimate violence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>No one knows for sure all the motives behind psychopathic predators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Their amicable dispositions mask a disturbed core of rage and sexual perversity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While it s not known whether or not Markoff sexually assaulted his victims, sexual frustrations are typically found as the basis of criminal behavior and violent propensities.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Targeting women who advertised  exotic services on Craigslist gives a free X-ray into the misogynist internal core that drove Markoff to target innocent women as his victims.</p> <p>&nbsp;<u><b>About the Author</b></u></p> <p><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He&#39;s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet </a>and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma</a>.<u><br> </p> <p></p> </td> <td width="1" height="2573"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2573"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="116" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="116" height="1"></td> <td width="24" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="24" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="283" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="283" height="1"></td> <td width="18" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="18" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong>Home</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> || <a href="articlesindex.html">Articles</a> || <a href="books.html">Books</a> || <a href="teflon.html">The Teflon Report</a> || <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com">Reactions</a> || <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">About Discobolos</a></strong></font> <div align="left"> <p><font size="1" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">This site designed, developed and hosted by the experts at</font><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"> <a href="http://www.cmeonline.net" target="_blank"><img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">&copy;1999-2002 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>