The craiglist killer is a med student!

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hopslam said:
One day in the future, a sarcastic font will be invented and this issue will never occur on a forum again.
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yeah, great point, im sure we'll be seeing that real soon
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koko_eats said:
I'm pretty sure drizzt's last comment on the issue was a joke at your expense.

It's been 2 days since he posted on the topic, so congrats on continuing to harp on the issue.
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Both you and drizz have posted about how others have quoted and commented on a post "too long" after it has been posted.

Is there some SDN statute of limitations on responses about which the rest of us are unaware?

Some of us have lives and are not on SDN 24/7, hence some of our responses are not quite as timely as yours.

Oh, my sarcasm-meter is well calibrated and drizz's comment was not sarcastic. If it was intended as such, it failed.
 
Some people still think that he is only a suspect. But now there is so much evidence that he is guilty: the victims' underwears were found in his room, his gun was hidden under his med school textbook, his fingerprints were found at the criminal scene, and he got captured by the surveillance camera.
 
If he was this careless with the evidence, he must of been desparte. I mean he was a med student (intelligent). His gambaling addiction must of been out of control.
 
slowbutsteady said:
Both you and drizz have posted about how others have quoted and commented on a post "too long" after it has been posted.

Is there some SDN statute of limitations on responses about which the rest of us are unaware?

Some of us have lives and are not on SDN 24/7, hence some of our responses are not quite as timely as yours.
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You're the one that was commenting on how I wouldn't let the whole BU thing go. I wasn't entirely sure where you were coming from with this, but after reading a few of your posts I think you actually believe that I'm really upset about being rejected from BU, lol. I just took the opportunity to poke some fun at them because of the incident because I think it's amusing, but I couldn't really care less about not getting in there after the cycle. I'm perfectly happy where I am right now. I simply think that just because an applicant might get into "top tier" schools that doesn't mean that they might not be interested in BU for a variety of reasons so it's a bad idea to reject them. I don't take it personally lol. [/quote]

Oh, my sarcasm-meter is well calibrated and drizz's comment was not sarcastic. If it was intended as such, it failed.
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You probably don't read a lot of my posts but I don't take that many things seriously on SDN, the majority of my posts are probably sarcastic (not this one, so much, I guess <shrug> )
 
I bet BU medical school admission board only looked at MCAT and GPA.

Or these serial killers are so damn good at acting at their interviews, so they must sound like and look like a great-physician to be...:eek:.
 
This made me sick to hear I'm glad he wasn't a doc yet.

On another note I think it's safe to say, "gunner."
 
Newbie post -

Just wanted to say, I think you guys are absolutely hilarious. And I mean that in a good way (not sarcasticly pissed). I've lurked for a long time, finally decided to post and say thank you for all the good laughs on this forum!

Also, sad thread. Too bad this had to happen with a med student (especially at a school i'm on the waitlist for...:().


DukeMurken said:
I mean, as a group, we thought Batman was the most deserving candidate to be admitted into medical school. We, ourselves, picked a sociopath that dresses up at night as a flying rat to go out and kill and beat people, while being perfectly charming during the day ;-).
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drizzt3117 said:
I don't think MOST sociopaths are charming, just that were some notorious examples of charming ones. Most of them are like the crazy cat lady.
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The good ones are charming and upon meeting them you wouldn't be able to figure it out with the first month of knowing them because on the exterior they would seem well put together.
 
Landshark7 said:
Also, sad thread. Too bad this had to happen with a med student (especially at a school i'm on the waitlist for...:().
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that waitlist should see some good movement now :D
 
So many posts on here talk about BU's admissions process being at fault for not filtering out Markoff. Of course, most people reading this thread realize that that allegation is ridiculous. So I won't address it.

I will say that, for me, the admissions process was very personal and not at all "by the numbers." I believe that they recognized that I would fit in at the school -- even before I did.

And they were right. I am about to complete my first year and it has been amazing. My fellow students are remarkable, the faculty is first-rate and extremely supportive, and the curriculum is terrific. I had several other choices for med school, and perhaps I would have loved each of them, I don't know.

But BU is everything I hoped my medical education would be, and much more. Any of you who are pondering your acceptance, I hope you will not be affected by the Markoff tragedy. He could have been at any med school.
 
slowbutsteady said:
So many posts on here talk about BU's admissions process being at fault for not filtering out Markoff. Of course, most people reading this thread realize that that allegation is ridiculous. So I won't address it.... He could have been at any med school.
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But he wasn't at any med school. And (if you read some of the threads on SDN, you will see) he is actually not even the first alleged murderer that BU has let slip through the cracks. Nobody is saying BU is at fault. But some of us are saying that with their optional secondary essay, they are giving up another opportunity for an applicant to rub them the wrong way or show s/he isn't a good fit. The fewer questions you ask, the less you know the applicants. BU does this to get more people to apply, and it works -- tons of people send apps there because it's really not much extra work compared to other apps. But it does cost the school an additional opportunity to screen for odd answers. So you have to wonder whether it's coincidence that a few alleged murderers have chosen this school and vice versa. I'm not saying another essay would have kept this guy out, or that BU did anything wrong. But if you don't ask, how do you know you wouldn't get that bad vibe that likely some other places with more significant essays that this guy didn't get into perhaps did.
 
you are suggesting that bu isn't filtering bad people based on such a small number of cases that have made it to mainstream media (over what time period?)...we don't know the outcome of other schools. that number could be in the noise for all we know.

i agree that the more you get to know the applicant, the better. but i doubt secondary essays are going to make much of a difference. letters of rec, personal interviews...these give a much better look into who a person is.
 
Law2Doc said:
But he wasn't at any med school. And (if you read some of the threads on SDN, you will see) he is actually not even the first alleged murderer that BU has let slip through the cracks. Nobody is saying BU is at fault. But some of us are saying that with their optional secondary essay, they are giving up another opportunity for an applicant to rub them the wrong way or show s/he isn't a good fit. The fewer questions you ask, the less you know the applicants. BU does this to get more people to apply, and it works -- tons of people send apps there because it's really not much extra work compared to other apps. But it does cost the school an additional opportunity to screen for odd answers. So you have to wonder whether it's coincidence that a few alleged murderers have chosen this school and vice versa. I'm not saying another essay would have kept this guy out, or that BU did anything wrong. But if you don't ask, how do you know you wouldn't get that bad vibe that likely some other places with more significant essays that this guy didn't get into perhaps did.
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But you are saying exactly that: more essays keep out murderers. It is absurd. Your "logical, legal" mind is failing you here.
 
BozoSparky said:
you are suggesting that bu isn't filtering bad people based on such a small number of cases that have made it to mainstream media (over what time period?)...we don't know the outcome of other schools. that number could be in the noise for all we know.

i agree that the more you get to know the applicant, the better. but i doubt secondary essays are going to make much of a difference. letters of rec, personal interviews...these give a much better look into who a person is.
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I believe the period of time is 7 years, that's not really that long if you think about it. Anyways, I think what Law2Doc is saying that is if BU's essays were like Duke's (some of my friends' essays were 20 pg single spaced) they would have less applicants but the applicants would be screened more thoroughly.
 
You folks need to stop now. This is not a situation for you to speculate about in order to amuse yourselves on a Saturday afternoon.

The BU students, faculty and administrators are reeling from all of this. A woman is dead and a man has been accused of murder.

The administrators at BU have been following this and other threads on SDN and are, frankly, appalled by the callousness of many of the posts. They said so at a school town meeting. And I am sure other administrators from other schools are reading these too, as is the media.

These people are among your audience.

Please act like the respected physicians you hope to be one day. Show some compassion. Your words are no less hurtful because you are anonymous. The anonymity just makes you cowards.

Law2D and drizzt and others, why don't you put your names on your inflammatory posts. No? Too ashamed? Then you shouldn't be saying these things.
 
It's callous to say that a school should try to select a class that doesn't include sociopaths?

I've come across as saying that it is NOT BU's fault that Markoff is in the class. By all accounts it would have been difficult to pick up. He didn't have a criminal record. His neighbors (and presumably his fellow students) all probably though the was a good guy. This type of stuff happens, whether it's at a medical school or otherwise. Whether or not they had more essays or not, perhaps they wouldn't have saw it coming.

That said, the whole thing with the previous murderer looked horrendous. He had been arrested for threatening to kill his gf, but after that was admitted. A number of people said he was unstable. He was also a trained killer. After that, he cut someone's ear off with a knife, was arrested, and lost in a civil trial. Wouldn't that be something that would warrant a suspension? I don't know about any of you all, but personally I wouldn't want someone like that in my class?

I can understand why people from BU might be upset about it. That said, it's a topic that warrants discussion, whether or not one thinks BU is at blame for the situation. Furthermore, if you don't want people to reply to the thread, maybe you should just stop replying and let it die... there's a thought.
 
Just a programming note for those of you stuck at home studying on this Saturday night -- 48 Hours is profiling this case. It's on at 10 p.m. ET on CBS.
 
ButImLETired said:
2) well, one more spot for someone on the BU waitlist!

:scared: I think I'm a horrible person.
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Don't feel bad, I was just shadowing a doc the other day, and during the procedure:

Doc: So, what do you have in mind for schools?

Me: Well, I'm thinking of Northeastern because of its association with Tufts medical

Doc: Tufts eh? Well I hear there's an opening at BU medical now

Everyone in the room: laughter and eye rolling :D
 
drizzt3117 said:
It's callous to say that a school should try to select a class that doesn't include sociopaths?

I've come across as saying that it is NOT BU's fault that Markoff is in the class. By all accounts it would have been difficult to pick up. He didn't have a criminal record. His neighbors (and presumably his fellow students) all probably though the was a good guy. This type of stuff happens, whether it's at a medical school or otherwise. Whether or not they had more essays or not, perhaps they wouldn't have saw it coming.


That said, the whole thing with the previous murderer looked horrendous. He had been arrested for threatening to kill his gf, but after that was admitted. A number of people said he was unstable. He was also a trained killer. After that, he cut someone's ear off with a knife, was arrested, and lost in a civil trial. Wouldn't that be something that would warrant a suspension? I don't know about any of you all, but personally I wouldn't want someone like that in my class?

I can understand why people from BU might be upset about it. That said, it's a topic that warrants discussion, whether or not one thinks BU is at blame for the situation. Furthermore, if you don't want people to reply to the thread, maybe you should just stop replying and let it die... there's a thought.
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I like this:biglove::biglove:
 
slowbutsteady said:
You folks need to stop now. This is not a situation for you to speculate about in order to amuse yourselves on a Saturday afternoon.

The BU students, faculty and administrators are reeling from all of this. A woman is dead and a man has been accused of murder.

The administrators at BU have been following this and other threads on SDN and are, frankly, appalled by the callousness of many of the posts. They said so at a school town meeting. And I am sure other administrators from other schools are reading these too, as is the media.

These people are among your audience.

Please act like the respected physicians you hope to be one day. Show some compassion. Your words are no less hurtful because you are anonymous. The anonymity just makes you cowards.

Law2D and drizzt and others, why don't you put your names on your inflammatory posts. No? Too ashamed? Then you shouldn't be saying these things.
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:laugh::laugh::laugh: at this post. They're "reeling" from the loss of one crazy student?
 
DrSno said:
:laugh::laugh::laugh: at this post. They're "reeling" from the loss of one crazy student?
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... I am hoping that you are not like this in person. It is extremely disheartening that you find it funny. Please show some respect to BU.
 
Fakesmile said:
Some people still think that he is only a suspect. But now there is so much evidence that he is guilty: the victims' underwears were found in his room, his gun was hidden under his med school textbook, his fingerprints were found at the criminal scene, and he got captured by the surveillance camera.
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Which is exactly why I think he was framed :D. No one could possibly have been this careless if they were to actually commit these sorts of crimes. He was a smart guy too, he would have definitely been more careful with this.
 
ChairmanMao said:
Just saw these articles on the NY Daily news. I think it's interesting how they try to portray him as some kind of sexual deviant/drunk frat boy in their coverage. Kinda reminds me of the Duke Lacrosse player scandal.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_...craigslist_murder_of_julissa_brisman.html#ph0

And of course the obligatory interview with the ex-girlfriend.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_c...l_markoff.html

From her comments, I detect a hint of jealousy given the fact that the guy got into medical school whereas she got into podiatry school. Also, he dumped her for a much hotter looking girlfriend.
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Actually, I thought they were trying to portray him as a normal college boy with the salacious touch that makes them the daily news. And I think it is not "typical" that he cornered that girl to the extent that some other guy had to pull him off. Sure, hitting on a girl who doesn't like you is no crime, but it sounds like this guy had a history of crossing the line (though maybe not to the extent that it was easily detectable in the admissions process.)

For the rest of you who can't pull your eyes away, here is the wedding site, and screenshots on gawker of some of the stuff that's no longer up.
 
In for "Are you planning on killing anyone during your tenure at BU?" on next year's BU secondary.
 
drizzt3117 said:
They're reeling from the negative publicity.
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I'm sure the negative publicity does not make them feel any better.

I am no medical student, but most med students are a tight knit class, no? If someone I knew in one of my undergrad classes murdered another person I would be "reeling" from that just like BU students and staff are. It's the fact that you trusted someone who turned out to be not-trustworthy.


I would say what happened is nearly impossible to predict.

Image what would happen if you went to a school official and said, "I believe X may be homicidal" with circumstantial evidence such as "He has a gambling problem" and "he seems off". Unless there were other obvious indicators, I don't believe an investigation would have happened nor would it have been productive.
 
Forbes said:
I'm sure the negative publicity does not make them feel any better.

I am no medical student, but most med students are a tight knit class, no? If someone I knew in one of my undergrad classes murdered another person I would be "reeling" from that just like BU students and staff are. It's the fact that you trusted someone who turned out to be not-trustworthy.


I would say what happened is nearly impossible to predict.

Image what would happen if you went to a school official and said, "I believe X may be homicidal" with circumstantial evidence such as "He has a gambling problem" and "he seems off". Unless there were other obvious indicators, I don't believe an investigation would have happened nor would it have been productive.
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Yeah, I'm not sure about all of that, but there seems to be some crazy weird stuff going on with this case...

For example: According to the NYDN article, he'd spent at least four nights in the casino in a period of two weeks... a casino that is 100 miles away, never mind the nocturnal visits with massusses, etc. I'm not one to judge but this seems like pretty strange behavior for a med student a few months from boards... esp one who as mentioned in the story would regularly spend many many hours studying as a premed. In every med class there's people you never see except come exam time, and this is perhaps one of those situations, but everything about the case just seems bizarre, such as him allegedly holding up the girl in Warwick, which was halfway between Boston and Foxwoods, at a time when his fiance was supposedly with him... Maybe some of these things will be cleared up in the trial.
 
My money is on sociopathy + a gambling addiction.
I also was wondering how a 2nd year med student has time to do the things he did, like spend hours driving around, going to casinos and robbing people, and still is passing his classes? Also, didn't people, esp. his girlfriend, wonder where he was?
 
dragonfly99 said:
My money is on sociopathy + a gambling addiction.
I also was wondering how a 2nd year med student has time to do the things he did, like spend hours driving around, going to casinos and robbing people, and still is passing his classes? Also, didn't people, esp. his girlfriend, wonder where he was?
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I wonder what his grades were like for this semester. It's very possible he was failing everything. I also wonder how many hints the gf had that she overlooked because she didn't want anything to be wrong. And how long it will take her to officially dump him. I'm sure it's coming, especially with all the new evidence that leaves little doubt that this guy did it.
 
any updates on this case? new articles link?
 
Well....I dont think that student loans get cancelled when one goes to jail right?
I read somewhere that he cldn't afford an attorney cos he was broke (so the state had to assign one to him)...and he was like 110k already in student loans debt....
I'm guessin that the interest keeps on growin while he's in the slammer? So he'll be in a ton when he's out...?
This is sad all round...
 
BJPENNSTATE said:
any updates on this case? new articles link?
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Well it seems he's also into transexuals.MSNBC did a news story this morning with one said transexual who exchanged explicit photos and text with him.Interesting twist.I wonder if the gf will still defend him after this......
 
BJPENNSTATE said:
any updates on this case? new articles link?
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This just in: Phillip Markoff eats a club sandwich!
People who have no idea what they are talking about said they remembered him bullying children who did not like club sandwiches!!!!!!!1
 
MegaProjectile said:
Well it seems he's also into transexuals.MSNBC did a news story this morning with one said transexual who exchanged explicit photos and text with him.Interesting twist.I wonder if the gf will still defend him after this......
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From the Examiner:

examiner said:
"This story keeps getting creepier as they dig deeper into Philip Markoff's double life. The latest is that he responded to an ad for 'males for transsexuals.' Markoff went by the user name sexaddict5385 and sent very revealing photos of himself to this person. Those same photos matched those on Markoff's hard drive.

His family came to visit him, but he told them, 'There's more coming out ... Forget about me and move to California.' I can only imagine what's about to hit next. All I can think about is how his fiancé must be dealing with these facts about someone she thought she knew and was about to marry. Apparently, she is still in denial by making a statement that Markoff wouldn't hurt a fly. Hopefully, she has a support system in place to help her through this horrific ordeal.

Here is a video from the Today Show of the advertiser that posted the ad seeking male transsexuals. The man said he advertised in a Craigslist category called “casual encounters.” Markoff, he said, was looking to meet with “men who dress as women, with transsexuals — anyone who he can get a hold of online.

I hope the others are not afraid to come forward with their story. What are your thoughts?"
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you know it's a BIG story when attention ***** Dr. Phil does a show on Philip Markoff....
 
So the girl who was standing by her man, is no longer standing by her man, but perhaps some other guys are still standing their Man. It must have been a difficult conversation with his parents, hey, Mom and Dad, don't make reservations for my med school graduation. WTF. Move to California and pretend that I was never born.

If he were my kid, I would go to the jail and try to figure out what happened.
 
slowbutsteady said:
You folks need to stop now. This is not a situation for you to speculate about in order to amuse yourselves on a Saturday afternoon.

The BU students, faculty and administrators are reeling from all of this. A woman is dead and a man has been accused of murder.

The administrators at BU have been following this and other threads on SDN and are, frankly, appalled by the callousness of many of the posts. They said so at a school town meeting. And I am sure other administrators from other schools are reading these too, as is the media.

These people are among your audience.

Please act like the respected physicians you hope to be one day. Show some compassion. Your words are no less hurtful because you are anonymous. The anonymity just makes you cowards.

Law2D and drizzt and others, why don't you put your names on your inflammatory posts. No? Too ashamed? Then you shouldn't be saying these things.
Click to expand...

I don't know how to tell you this but don't you guys have better things to do than monitoring random postings on a public forums?

The administrators at BU have been following this and other threads on SDN and are, frankly, appalled by the callousness of many of the posts. They said so at a school town meeting. And I am sure other administrators from other schools are reading these too, as is the media.

Oh really? If this is a case, why didn't they pay any attention to the guy before he went homicidal? As some of the other posters have noted, Markoff was gambling night after night, and was gone for extended stretches of time. If this was the case, he could have been failing classes and teetering on the edge of a mental breakdown. Would that have raised any red flags? Also, as with the previous guy (the ex-Israeli commando), why did they let in a guy who was a trained assassin and had threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend? How come they didn't pick that up on their background check?

Also, I'm puzzled as to why BU would be interested in what we are saying instead of what is happening inside their medical school. I believe that this is an internal matter and it's up to them how they handle it. Regardless of what happens, there are going to be negative publicity directed towards the school, they shouldn't be suprised by it. But why don't they find a better use of their time and try to get counseling and support to their students instead of wasting time on SDN and discussing how callous we are. I think they need to get their priority in order first and focus on their students rather than on what we or the media are thinking.
 
Doctor Bagel said:
I wonder what his grades were like for this semester. It's very possible he was failing everything. I also wonder how many hints the gf had that she overlooked because she didn't want anything to be wrong. And how long it will take her to officially dump him. I'm sure it's coming, especially with all the new evidence that leaves little doubt that this guy did it.
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Well, now with all of the internet guy sex, probably time for the honey to cancel that summer wedding. I am feeling sorry for his parents, unless, of course, they locked him in a closet as a small child, and did not let him play soccer in first grade.
 
BJPENNSTATE said:
you know it's a BIG story when attention ***** Dr. Phil does a show on Philip Markoff....
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Dr. Phil is annoying beyond words. I wish that Dr. Phil had to courage to go mano a mano with Simon, Simon would destroy him, if Dr. Phil were trying out for American Idol. Dr. Phil would not make the top 10. Anoop is much better.
 
ChairmanMao said:
Also, as with the previous guy (the ex-Israeli commando), why did they let in a guy who was a trained assassin and had threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend? How come they didn't pick that up on their background check?
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You're right. They totally shouldn't allow in any members of the world's armed forces. We don't want any trained marksmen in med school!
 
koko_eats said:
You're right. They totally shouldn't allow in any members of the world's armed forces. We don't want any trained marksmen in med school!
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Ban only those who have criminal records and who've threatened to kill their girlfriends. Personally, I think it would be cool if we had trained SEALs, Israeli commandos, Delta Force, and ninjas hanging around medical school. But of course, we should screen them to make sure that they're not psychotic.
 
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