Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

WARWICK, R.I. -- Phillip Markoff, 23, the alleged "Craigslist killer" who is being held without bail in Boston, was indicted Tuesday by a Kent County grand jury on one count of assault with a dangerous weapon and one count of assault with the intent to commit robbery, the Rhode Island Attorney General's office reported Wednesday.

Those charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years each.

Warwick Police say Markoff assaulted a Las Vegas exotic dancer, 26, in Warwick with a pistol on April 16 and assaulted a second victim with the intent to commit robbery at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel, 901 Jefferson Blvd.

Markoff is also charged in the April 14 murder of Julissa Brisman, 25, of New York City, at the Boston Marriott Copley Place hotel and the April 10 robbery of a 29-year-old Las Vegas prostitute, Trisha Leffler, at the Westin Copley Place. Both women had advertised exotic services on the Web site craigslist.

He pleaded not guilty to one count of first-degree murder and six other charges in connection to those cases in Suffolk County Superior Court on June 22.

Markoff is awaiting trial at the Nashua Street jail in Boston.

After Markoff's trial for the murder of Brisman and the armed robbery of Leffler in Massachusetts, he will be returned to Rhode Island to stand trial, the Attorney General's Office said.

Prosecutors in Massachusetts said in court Wednesday they want a DNA sample from the former medical student, but Markoff's lawyer won't say whether he will turn it over voluntarily.

-- With reports from the Associated Press

The original version of this story was filed at 3:51 p.m.

 Tags  craigslist killer Phillip Markoff Warwick RI

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