No shows escaped death by Craigslist killer

Published 5:58 pm Monday, March 31, 2014

Miranda Barbour says other central Pennsylvania men responded to her Craigslist ad before murder victim Troy LaFerrara of Port Trevorton, but they dodged death when they failed to appear for her  promise of female companionship.

Email newsletter signup

“I tried it a few times but it never worked out,” Barbour recounted in her second jailhouse interview in six weeks. “I knew we were going to do this since the day we met, and we tried but the others just didn’t show up.”

Barbour, 19, and her husband, Elytte Barbour, 22, are charged in the November 11 stabbing and strangulation death of LaFerrara, 42, in the couple’s car. Police said LaFerrara was lured to his death through a Craisgslist website ad.

Miranda claimed in her first jailhouse interview on Feb. 14 at the Northumberland County Prison that she committed at least 22 other killings over the last six years in a cross-country murder spree driven by her satanic cult beliefs.

The second jailhouse interview occurred Tuesday at the State Correctional Institution in Muncy, a maximum security women’s prison where she was moved after the sensational details of the first interview drew widespread media attention.

She again repeated her claims of multiple murders and said she has not been questioned by federal authorities about them even though she was prepared to locate where some of them had occurred from Alaska to Florida and North Carolina.

“I said before I would talk to them (FBI) about all of this,” she said, “but they never came to see me.”

Three murder locations mentioned by Barbour in her second jailhouse interview were Big Lake, Alaska; Mexico Beach, Fla., and Raleigh, N.C.

Local investigators in all three places told The Daily Item they were taking Mrs. Barbour’s claims seriously, but they have no unsolved homicides that they know about.

“They are looking for full bodies,” said Miranda. “They won’t find any. But they will find body parts” of runaways and individuals she described as bad people.

Search the waters of Big Lake, she said. “There is some parts in there.”

And Mexico Beach, near Panama City, Fla., where she said she once worked as a 15-year-old go-go dancer. “There is some there as well.”

She also said she dumped a body off Interstate 95 near Raleigh, N.C., but gave no other details.

Miranda Barbour lived in Alaska, Florida and North Carolina before moving to Selinsgrove, Pa., last fall with her husband. Sunbury police say the couple murdered LaFerrara the day of their three-week wedding anniversary and the husband’s 22nd birthday.

Alaska state troopers last week would neither confirm nor deny investigations are unfolding into Miranda Barbour’s claims. Any leads they get would be followed up appropriately, a spokesperson said.

Big Lake is a 13-square-mile body of water in southern Alaska, located about 13 miles from Wasilla, where Miranda once lived. Wasilla is a suburb of Anchorage.

Mexico Beach police Chief Glenn Norris said he was unaware of Miranda’s claim of a body there and that the beach to which she refers is extensive. He said the town doesn’t have any unsolved homicides that he’s aware of.

While there are also no unsolved homicides in Raleigh, N.C., police spokesman Jim Sughrue said authorities are actively investigating Miranda Barbour’s statements even though “her information is very vague.” He said Interstate 95, where she said a body or body part could be found, is 30 miles from the city limits and covers several miles.

LaFerrara’s body was found in a Sunbury alley, off Catawissa Avenue.

He responded to Miranda’s Craigslist ad for female companionship, met her in Hummels Wharf and, police report, was strangled and stabbed to death by the Barbours inside the couple’s Honda CRV.

Police arrested the Barbours the first week of December after they tracked Miranda’s cellphone calls to LaFerrara’s cellphone. Police said the couple told them they wanted to kill someone, anyone, just for the thrill.

Francis Scarcella is a reporter with the Sunbury, Pa., Daily Item.