Markoff was indicted on charges of murder and armed robbery in 2009. He claimed innocence of all the charges, but there's a mountain of evidence that he was the "Craigslist killer" who met with and robbed at least three women via Craigslist and murdered one.
The family of Craigslist killer murder victim Julissa Brisman released a statement saying they are "shocked and dismayed" by Markoff's apparent suicide because the "long-awaited criminal prosecution was their only opportunity to confront him, and now he has taken that away as well."
When he was first accused, his fiancée Megan McAllister stood by him, telling the Boston Herald that he was "a beautiful man inside and out" and that "he would not hurt a fly." She then broke off their relationship after meeting with him a couple of times in prison, according to her attorney.
Saturday would have otherwise been McAllister and Markoff's first wedding anniversary, and Markoff had been placed on suicide watch before for attempting to take his life other times since he has been in prison awaiting a trial that would have begun in January of next year. Now he's dead, and the county district attorney said in a statement, "Markoff was alone in his cell, and all evidence collected thus far indicates that he took his own life."
Markoff's trial would likely have been a brutal one. His fingerprints were found at a crime scene, and his apartment contained a gun with blood stains on it, a collection of women's panties and other items believed to have been stolen from the victims of the robberies. Additionally, authorities were able to trace several e-mails and Craigslist postings back to Markoff's home.