Pocono News Section

I-Team: Craigslist Postings Cause Police Concern

I-Team: Craigslist Postings Cause Police Concern - Wednesday, May 6, 2009 at 5:55PM EST

Charges are mounting for the man called the Craigslist killer. Police say the Boston man plucked his victims straight from the website.
Craigslist is very popular in our area. You can find just about anything there.

The I-Team looked at Craigslist postings in the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre area. Some of the posts can be dangerous. Several killers have used the internet to meet and kill their victims, including most recently the Craigslist killer.

Other killers include the notorious John Edward Robinson whose internet moniker was "slavemaster."He’s convicted of killing three women he met on-line, accused of murdering five others. Their bodies were all found stuffed in barrels.

Thomas Montgomery, a. k.a. "tommyluvswvfox." He gunned down another man in a bizarre internet love triangle.

Michael Anderson of Minnesota killed a 19-year-old who responded to a phony advertisement for a babysitter on Craigslist.

Philip Markoff, accused of killing a masseuse he met on Craigslist, robbing another masseuse from Craigslist and charged with pulling a gun on a stripper, investigators say he met through Craigslist.

Pennsylvania State Police trooper Bill Satkowski says, "People are putting an awful lot of personal information out on the internet that really shouldn't be out there."

Police say they're monitoring Craigslist more than ever. The website is an electronic newspaper classified section.

The Wilkes-Barre and Scranton version has job listings and furniture fire sales. Personal information can be posted too, by people hoping to make a love connection.

Trooper Satkowski says, "If you were to write all your personal information down on a piece of paper, walk down the street and start handing it out, is that something you want to do?"

In our area Craigslists postings can be very personal. There have been no deadly encounters here in Pennsylvania.

But in Minnesota, Michael Anderson killed a woman responding to his phony babysitter add. Craigslist's founder Craig Newmark spoke at a tribute to the victim. Newmark said, "Despite the overwhelming goodness of people reflected in Craigslist, we've got to remember that, although thankfully they're really rare, truly evil intentions do exist."

Psychologist Gerald Solfanelli talked to us about Craigslist and other internet networking sites. Solfanelli says, "It opens more doors that didn't exist otherwise."

Solfanelli says the internet can remove the walls of safety we normally put in place. "We might get a sense of what they're like without having that sixth sense and women are particularly adept to that sixth sense to really know is this someone I really am comfortable with," said Solfanelli.

Trooper Satkowski says always stay on the safe side with internet encounters. "Tell somebody else, get good information. Meet that person in a public place and when you get there if you feel uncomfortable, turn around and walk away," says Satkowski.