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The ex-fiancee of accused Craigslist killer Philip Markoff will always love the man she once knew, her lawyer said Tuesday — but he added that Megan McAllister found emerging details of the case “disturbing.”
“I think she will always support the person she knew and that she loved. I think there will always be a part of her that loves that person,” attorney Robert Honecker told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira from Freehold, N.J.
Honecker’s client, Megan McAllister, had been looking forward to a wedding to Markoff on the Jersey Shore this summer when the former medical student was arrested on charges of robbing, assaulting and murdering a woman he lured to a Boston hotel on the pretext of purchasing sexual services.
Moving on
Police say that Markoff, who is suspected of at least one other attack in Boston and another in Rhode Island, met the women through personal ads he placed on Craigslist.
McAllister, 23, saw Markoff in late April, 10 days after he was arrested as a suspect in the April 14 murder of Julissa Brisman, 25, of New York City. She visited him in jail again in June, but by that time had already called off the wedding.
Now McAllister is moving on with her life, Honecker said, preparing to attend a medical school in the Caribbean.
She also cooperated with the grand jury that handed down a formal indictment. Markoff pleaded not guilty Monday to seven charges, including kidnapping, armed robbery and weapons violations.
Shocking details
McAllister had initially supported Markoff, saying that the man she knew was not the type who would commit such crimes. Honecker told Vieira that McAllister was shocked at some of the details of the crimes outlined by prosecutors at Markoff’s arraignment.
Video: Attorney: Ex-fiancee ‘moving on’ from Markoff “The indictment did not come as a surprise. What has come of more of a surprise to her were some of the facts that have been alleged,” Honecker said. “She knew very little [of the] facts about the case. What was outlined in court yesterday was disturbing to her.”
A prosecutor detailing the indictment said Markoff set out on his sinister prowl in February, when he bought some prepaid cell phones. That month he also used the driver’s license of an upstate New York man named Andrew Miller to buy a semiautomatic handgun in a New Hampshire gun store. Prosecutors wouldn’t say if Miller knew Markoff, who grew up in the upstate town of Sherrill, near Syracuse.
Investigators found the gun, magazines, cell phones, plastic ties and a laptop containing “remnants of communications” with Brisman when they searched Markoff’s apartment in Quincy, Mass. They also found four pairs of women’s panties stuffed in a sock and hidden between the mattress and box spring — apparent trophies from his victims.
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‘Emotional meeting’
Markoff’s lawyer questioned the grand jury’s objectivity, suggesting they were influenced by media reports. He added that his client’s parents “definitely are sticking by him.”
Video: Markoff solicited men, too?
McAllister monitored the story from her parents’ home in New Jersey while she prepares to leave for medical school, Honecker said. He added that his client has no plans to see Markoff again.
Vieira asked Honecker if he could describe McAllister’s last meeting with Markoff in June.
“It was an emotional meeting,” he said. “She advised him that she was finalizing her plans, her goals to enter medical school in just a short few weeks. She also let him know she did not expect to return to Boston in the very near future.”
Honecker said McAllister understands that this is just the beginning of a long legal process.
“There are difficult days ahead. She is going to let that legal and judicial process play out,” he said. “I think she loved the person that she knew, but ultimately, time and a court of law will decide whether or not that’s the real Philip Markoff.”
The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.
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