Accused Craigslist Killer Philip Markoff pleaded not guilty Monday to charges that in April he lured masseuse Julissa Brisman, 25, to a Boston hotel, then bound her, beat her and fatally shot her.
Speaking clearly during his arraignment in Massachusetts's Suffolk County Superior Court, the former Boston University medical student, 23, replied "not guilty" when asked to respond to seven criminal charges that include kidnapping, armed robbery and weapons violations, according to news reports.
A tentative trial date was set for June 2010.
Listening in court with the aid of a Spanish-speaking translator, Brisman's mother, Carmen Guzman, heard how her daughter allegedly fought against her attacker, then was found dead in the entrance of her hotel room with three gunshot wounds to her torso.
Julissa "was the light of our lives," said Jeremy Silverfine, a spokesman for the Guzman family. "She was also a college student who would have graduated this May with a degree in counseling after long hard years of studying and financing" her schooling.
Markoff was denied bail. His mother, Susan Haynes, and father, Richard Markoff, left the courtroom after the arraignment and did not speak to members of the press.
Asked if Markoff's family would continue to support him, the accused's attorney, John Salsberg, told the Associated Press, "They're definitely sticking by him."
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