by RJ Parker
In 2003, another female body was found in the Manorville pine barrens. She too was found headless, with no hands, but police were able to determine her identity—it was twenty-year-old Jessica Taylor. The heads and other body parts of both Jessica and the body of the woman found in 2000 (now dubbed Jane Doe #6) were all located on Gilgo Beach in March and April of 2011. Both victims were included in the LISK body count that same year.
While these two victims were disposed of differently from the other eight LISK victims, their dismembered remains were found in such close proximity of a number of the other victims, investigators had to consider them as victims of the same murderer. And they have a distinct link to Manorville, where Bittrolff was living at the time of the murders.
While police can tell the media that the crime scenes are unique and the evidence collected from the victims doesn't suggest a link, many are starting to believe the Manorville connection, the fact that all of the identified victims were prostitutes (or leading similar lifestyles), and the fact that a number of the bodies were mutilated or dismembered in some way are three obvious links. In addition to Jessica Taylor and Jane Doe #6, four other victims were found in the Manorville area between the years of 2000 and 2012 (two more females and two males). In all, there are a total of seventeen bodies possibly linked here—four men, twelve women, and one toddler. Speaking exclusively to channel PIX11 news in August 2014, Vernon Geberth told reporters that he believes the torsos in Manorville and at least the four bodies found on Gilgo Beach are all connected. He suspects it would be highly unlikely that two or more serial killers in the area would be using the same location to discard their bodies. What are the chances that a serial killer discarding ten bodies on the Long Island Coast also left remains from two of his victims just three miles from another serial killer’s house—a killer who also murders prostitutes and kills them in a similar manner?
If Bittrolff has been killing for over twenty years and truly is the LISK, it is reasonable to assume his methods of killing and disposal of the bodies have evolved over time. Comparing the crime scenes and the manner in which the bodies were discarded doesn’t seem terribly important when you are dealing with someone who started killing in his twenties and has since grown into a middle-aged man. If you add Craigslist into the equation for his later victims, it would also make sense that his methods for finding his victims have changed as social media has evolved in the past few decades.
So who is John Bittrolff anyway? And does his profile match up with what FBI experts suspect about the LISK? John Bittrolff is a forty-eight-year-old white male who has worked as a carpenter for most of his life. He grew up in Mastic Beach, New York, attending the William Floyd school system. He is a married father of two, and neighbors claimed he knew everyone in their neighborhood and has always been incredibly friendly and helpful. One of the neighbors went so far as to tell the media he was like the town “mayor.” Many of these qualities seem to fit the profile of the LISK, but it’s important to note that these correlations do not indicate he is the same killer that has been terrorizing Long Island for decades.
One thing is for sure—police aren’t rushing this one. They charged Bittrolff with the murders of Tangredi and McNamee in July of 2014 and they are actively working to connect him to the murder of Costilla. Maybe they are just taking their time to piece together a strong case against him. Or maybe they do have some sort of evidence that clearly proves he's not the LISK and they are keeping it from the public so as not to compromise the case. Is it possible Tangredi, McNamee, and Costilla are Bittrolff’s only victims? If so, what do you think made him lie dormant for twenty years? And could there really be several serial killers that have been using the Long Island area as their own personal hunting grounds for the last several decades?
Chapter 21: Christopher Dannevig
Christopher James Dannevig was born on November 4, 1989. His life seems like a long list of violent offenses strung together, precariously leading towards a culmination that was bound to be deadly. When he was five years old, Christopher was subjected to psychological testing and ultimately diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). His medical records indicate he grew up suffering from depression, self-harm, substance abuse, and several behavioral issues, including aggressive behavior towards others. His relationships always seemed to end in disaster and violence.
In 2005, sixteen-year-old Christopher was arrested in New South Wales for pulling a knife on a woman taking a walk in the bushland. He sliced her with the knife and threatened to take her life, but she managed to escape when Christopher realized other people were nearby. In 2008, he managed to lure a sixteen-year-old girl into the bushland to help him find a bag he pretended he had lost in the area. As they walked deeper into the brush, he pulled a knife and physically restrained the girl. According to reports, he pinned her to the ground by sitting on top of her body. Somehow, the girl was able to break free and report the incident to police. He was sentenced to six months in prison for this attempted kidnapping.
Days after he was released on parole for that sentence, twenty-year-old Christopher Dannevig was already looking for his next victim. He set up several profiles on dating sites in an attempt to meet girls. His profiles seemed to be crafted in an attempt to make him appear harmless to others. He wrote about his favorite ice cream flavor (chocolate), how he played guitar, was a sports fan, and claimed not to be one who cared about appearances; rather he just waned to find a girl he could trust, someone who liked him for who he was. It was through an Australian dating site called Oasis Active where he set his sights on his next victim.
Nona Belomesoff was an eighteen-year-old TAFE (Technical and Further Education) student who wrote on her Oasis Active profile that she loved art, music, photography, and animals. She was taking a course on working in the animal care industry. She also wrote a tagline for her profile in typical teenage text-speak, “I don’t add ppl without a picture, feels as if im talking to myself never knoww u might be psychoo killer or sumthingg lol.” Christopher contacted Nona through Oasis Active and the two also began communicating through Facebook, where he began to learn a lot more about her, including her love for animals. After communicating with Nona for several weeks, Christopher then set up a fake Facebook account using the alias Jason Green. He claimed to be a team leader working for the Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service (WIRES). Soon after friending Nona under this fake account, ‘Jason’ offered her a job with WIRES. Over the next several weeks, the two planned to meet up at the Leumeah train station to begin a series of meetings over several days as a recruitment process. The two met five separate times during a five-day period from May 6 through May 10, 2010. During those meetings, they would walk along a path near the bushland and talk. On one of the last meetings, Nona later told her family that ‘Jason’ had asked her if she knew self-defense and had physically pushed her to the ground, lying on top of her. Once he released her, he said he wanted to teach her how to fight back, in case she was ever kidnapped or raped. Nona claimed he then tied her hands behind her back and blindfolded her. He then pushed her to the ground and asked, “What would you do?” After Nona began to cry and become upset, Christopher released her, apologized, and offered to call an ambulance. Nona declined.
Despite this seemingly violent and unsettling encounter, Nona agreed to meet ‘Jason’ again two days later, under the ruse that this time they would meet up with several of his colleagues for an overnight camping trip, which would serve as the final stage for her recruitment into WIRES. Nona told her mother that she would be compensated for her time on the overnight trip. It would be the first time she had ever slept away from home.
On May 12, Nona met up with Christopher at their usual spot in Leumeah for the fictional training camp. Despite his earlier claims that two of his colleagues from WIRES would accompany them on the camping trip, Christopher arrived alone. When Nona did not return home the next day, her concerned family reported her missing to the Liver
pool police. On May 14, police spoke with Christopher, who told them that the last time he had seen Nona was on Monday, May 10. He attempted to give investigators an alibi for his whereabouts on the day Nona disappeared, but the police were unable to corroborate his account. They also uncovered that Nona’s bank account had been accessed via an ATM at the Leumeah train station on the evening of May 12. Someone had requested an account balance and then withdrew the maximum amount allowed, $170.00. Surveillance footage showed that person to be Christopher Dannevig.
When confronted with this information, Christopher admitted he had taken Nona’s purse and stolen the money from her account after learning what her PIN number was. On Friday, May 14, he was arrested. He later led investigators to a remote area in the Smith Creek Reserve, where Nona’s body was located. She was fully clothed, was wearing a sleeping mask covering her eyes, and her face was partially submerged in the creek. Most of her belongings were scattered around her.
Christopher admitted to police he had created the fake Jason Green profile to befriend Nona after learning about her love for animals. He told them that he was the only one with Nona when she died, but he wasn’t quite sure what had happened. According to his version of events, the two had been sitting side by side on the creek bed when he suddenly “blacked out.” When he became aware of his surroundings, he claimed that Nona was lying face down in the water. He told police he stood there for about 30 to 120 seconds, watching her body, but took no actions to pull her out of the water or attempt to resuscitate her. He then took her bankcard from her purse and left her body where it was.
Unfortunately, the medical examiner could not pinpoint the exact way Nona had died. Her body was in relatively good condition, not indicative of having put up a fight with an attacker. Her death was ruled as a drowning, and Christopher was arrested.
In a recorded conversation with an undercover officer in prison, Christopher changed his story, claiming he had gotten into an argument with Nona near the creek and he had pushed her. He stated she had fallen, hitting her head on the rocks before he held her face underwater for two minutes, drowning her.
During his trial, Christopher’s attorneys claimed that he had not met Nona that day intending to kill her. However, the prosecution argued that Christopher’s actions to befriend the victim using the fake profile and persona of someone working in the animal care field showed he had taken the time to cultivate a relationship in order to gain her trust. In addition, his actions two days prior to the fatal attack showed an escalating behavior of violence. The fact that the victim was found with a blindfold over her eyes gives credence to the earlier story Nona told her family—that ‘Jason’ had been trying to teach her self-defense tactics before her death. This goes directly against Christopher’s claim that the two had been sitting and talking before he “blacked out.”
Christopher’s lawyers also tried to claim that he had a mild intellectual disability that could have played a role in his behavior. He was given an Adaptive Behavioral Test, which indicated that his cognitive reasoning and adaptive behavior skills were significantly compromised and, in a sense, he was mentally disabled. However, he was never diagnosed with any particular disorder or illness.
In August 2011, Christopher pleaded guilty to Nona’s murder. He was sentenced to twenty-one years in prison. He will be eligible for parole in August 2032, just a few months shy of his forty-third birthday.
In response to this horrific case, a Facebook spokesman spoke out against the crime. “This case serves as a painful reminder that all internet users must use extreme caution when contacted over the internet by people they do not know. We echo the advice of the police who urge people not to meet anyone they have been contacted by online unless they know for certain who they are, as there are unscrupulous people in the world with malevolent agendas.”
Chapter 22: Philip Markoff
Philip Haynes Markoff was born on February 12, 1986 and grew up in Sherill, New York. His father, Richard Markoff, was a dentist working in Syracuse, New York. He was the younger brother of Jon Markoff. After the divorce of his parents, he stayed with his mother, Susan Haynes, while his father took custody of his older brother.
As a child, Philip was a good student and well behaved. Growing up, this did not change. In his high school years, he was seen as popular and involved in various student activities; he was a member of the History Club, the bowling team, the golf team, the Youth Court, and the National Honor Society. In 2004, Philip graduated from Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School. Others described as a smart student and a nice guy. He was also good looking. When it came to education, Philip was serious in high school and continued that reputation in college. After his graduation from high school, he went to SUNY Albany pre-med school. Three years later, in 2007, he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology. Socially, Philip kept more to himself because he was constantly studying. For fun, he would spend a few rare nights playing poker with his friends.
Philip volunteered at the emergency room in the Albany Medical Center Hospital, where he met Megan McAllister, who was older than him by two years, in 2005. They started dating and on May 17, 2008, they became engaged. They set the date for their marriage as August 14, 2009. After graduation, Philip was accepted to Boston University Medical School. Megan was accepted to St. Kitts in the Caribbean, but she decided to postpone her studies until after the wedding.
Philip and Megan were pretty different—she wanted a first class wedding while he was in debt and lived on borrowed money. Due to their lack of money, Philip and Megan often stayed at home and did not go out much. According to Megan, Philip didn’t have a lot of friends.
Despite being known as a nice guy and never having a criminal record, Philip had a dark side no one, not even Megan, knew about. It is believed he began prowling Craigslist’s exotic ads for victims in early 2009, during his second year in medical school.
On April 10, 2009, Philip replied to an ad for a massage placed by Trish Leffler under the exotic services section on Craigslist. They met at the Westin Hotel in Boston, Massachusetts, where Trish had booked a room. She met him in the hallway first, and when she thought he looked safe enough, she let him into her room. As he had told her before, he looked like a college student. After letting him in, she turned around to find him pointing a gun at her. He forced her to lie down on her stomach and he tied her hands behind her back using a plastic zip-tie. He told her that he was just there for the money and that he did not intend to hurt her. He was able to steal $800 in cash, but she begged him not to take her bankcard so she wouldn’t be left without any money. Before he left, he deleted some numbers on her phone, took two pairs of her thongs, tied her to the bathroom door, and put duct tape on her mouth. After he left, she was able to free herself and call for help. The police checked for any fingerprints left by the attacker, took Trish’s phone as evidence, and asked her to look through the hotel’s surveillance videotapes to identify the man.
Four days later, on April 18, twenty-five-year-old Julissa Brisman was found dead in the doorway of her room at the Marriott Copley Hotel in Boston. She was a masseuse who had also placed an ad for her services on Craigslist. A man using the name ‘Andy’ had contacted her concerning her ad, and they agreed to meet at 10:00 p.m. that night. Julissa had an arrangement with her friend Beth that she would text her when she finished the massage as a security measure, but Beth never got that text. Police were called to the hotel after guests reported hearing screams coming from a room. Julissa was found with her hands bound with a zip-tie, in her underwear, covered in blood. According to the medical examiner, Julissa was hit on her head with an object, and then shot three times: in the chest, stomach, and heart. It appeared that she resisted her attacker because she was bruised on her wrists and was able to scratch him. The skin found under her nails provided the police with the DNA of Julissa’s killer. The police also went through the surveillance footage where they found a familiar man: the same one who attacked Trish. When Julissa failed to
text Beth, her friend became worried. She called the hotel to ask if someone could check on her friend and was directed to the police. Beth gave the investigators the cell phone number and the email address of ‘Andy,’ which proved to be a huge contribution to the advancement of the investigation.
Once investigators concluded they had a serial attacker and killer on their hands, they released the pictures and a statement to the public about the crimes. The case instantly gained national media coverage as stories began circulating about a new ‘Craigslist killer.’
Only two days later, the killer struck again. Cynthia Melton was a stripper and also placed exotic ads on Craigslist. On April 16, she arranged to meet a man at the Holiday Inn Express in Rhode Island. As a security measure, her husband Kevin was in the room next door, waiting for her. The man arrived at 10:51 p.m. After she looked at him and decided he seemed safe enough, Cynthia let him in. When she turned around, the man was pointing a gun at her. He appeared to be nervous. As with his previous victims, he bound her hands together with zip-ties. He assured her that he was just looking for money. During that time, Kevin became concerned when his wife did not let him know that her client had arrived, so he went to check on her using a duplicate room key. As he opened the door, the man inside became startled. Kevin was surprised to see a gun pointed at him, so he backed out, tripped, and fell down. The man used this opportunity to escape.
The couple called the police and gave them a description of the man. They were also able to identify him from the footage from the hotel security camera. Investigators knew that they were looking for the same man that the Boston Police Department had issued warnings about. They now knew that their killer was choosing all his victims through Craigslist. The Rhode Island police were able to supply more images of the attacker obtained from the security cameras of a nearby Wal-Mart to aid in the investigation.
