Stung by reports of yet another “Craigslist killer,” the free classifieds site is hinting at new steps to improve safety on the site and other Internet services.

Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster late Wednesday said “there is more work to be done, not just by Craigslist but by all Internet-based services, working cooperatively with law enforcement officials, to eliminate illegitimate activity … . Craigslist is fully engaged in pursuing this goal, and has several initiatives under way.”

Buckmaster’s statement came in response to of media reports, including a “Katie Couric’s notebook” on CBS News, hammering Craigslist because it has been used by several killers and attackers to find victims. (For the record and FWIW, we don’t necessarily think Craigslist should be tarred with that brush, any more than a newspaper would have been blamed when someone was scammed because of a classified ad.)

Most recently, of course, a man was arrested in Boston and accused of killing one woman, and robbing and assaulting two others, whom he met through Craigslist. And a few weeks back, police said a New York radio newsman was killed by a teenager whom he met through Craigslist.

Last November, Craigslist started charging $5 for ads in its “erotic services” section in the United States as part of an agreement with state attorneys general to help curtail ads for prostitution on the site. It was more a show of the naiveté of the attorneys general than of Craigslist’s good faith, since many of the ads for prostitution on the site appear under its “casual encounters” section rather than its erotic services section.

Connecticut state Attorney General Richard Blumenthal Wednesday wrote Craigslist a letter proposing “strong and specific measures to fight prostitution and pornography on Craigslist, including steep financial penalties for rule-breaking.”

In response, Buckmaster said Craigslist Inc. would “speak to the concerns expressed in Mr. Blumenthal’s letter, concerns which we also share. …

“We will have more to say on this subject in the days and weeks ahead,” Buckmaster said.

Buckmaster, along with the site’s founder Craig Newmark and P.R. representative Susan MacTavish Best, have been notably difficult to reach for comment about the most recent killings. Buckmaster has posted a few times to his blog, and appeared Wednesday morning on CNN. And Newmark posted once to his, saying “there appears to be a psycho on the loose around Boston” (before Markoff’s arrest). Otherwise, the site and its chief representatives have been mostly silent about the killings.

Newmark said this week he will speak at a May 3 fund-raiser in tribute to Katherine Ann Olson, the 24-year-old Minnesota woman who was killed in October 2007 after she answered a Craigslist posting for a babysitter. Three weeks ago, jurors found Michael Anderson, 20, guilty of murdering Olsen.

This week, Philip Markoff of Quincy, Mass., was charged with killing Julissa Brisman, a masseuse, and attacking Trisha Leffler, a prostitute from Las Vegas. Police said he met them, and possibly another woman who was attacked in Rhode Island, through Craigslist.

The Boston Globe interviewed Peter M. Zollman of the AIM Group about Craigslist and its “sleaze factor” in a Page 1 article published Wednesday.