Markoff was arrested in April 2009 on charges of binding, beating and shooting the 26-year-old Brisman with a gun that prosecutors say he later stashed in a hollowed-out anatomy textbook. He became instant tabloid fodder and a cover story in People magazine.
“It has sex, it has enigma, it has the story of a respectable, smart, success-oriented, helpful young man who, without warning, becomes a killer, and that is why people pay attention to it,” said Jack Levin, a professor of sociology and criminology at Northeastern University in Boston who has written books on murder.
Authorities charged him in two other attacks — including the armed robbery of a Las Vegas woman at another Boston hotel and the assault of a stripper inside a Rhode Island hotel where authorities found his fingerprints on the wall. The three crimes occurred within a week.