Post by Joanna on Feb 20, 2014 1:07:35 GMT -5
Scant evidence of Satanic 'Craigslist killer' Miranda Barbour’s claims of mass murder
Authorities and a missing persons group said there is little evidence that Miranda Barbour (above) has been a mass murderer since the age of 13, as she claimed in an interview over the weekend. Barbour, 19, and her husband are facing the death penalty in Pennsylvania for fatally stabbing a man they met on Craigslist in November.
Authorities and a missing persons group are casting doubt on a 19-year-old Pennsylvania woman's claims that she killed 22 people in a satanic, cross-country killing spree.
Accused "Craigslist Killer" Miranda Barbour claimed most of the victims from her six-year spree were in Alaska, where she shot her first victim when she was 13.
On Tuesday, state police there said they hadn't seen any evidence of serial killer-style slayings.
"At this time the Alaska State Troopers are not aware of any information, beyond Barbour's comments quoted in the press, or evidence that would implicate Barbour with a homicide committed in Alaska," state police spokeswoman Megan Peters told the Anchorage Daily News.
Similarly, a volunteer missing persons group, Seeking Alaska's Missing, said Tuesday that Barbour's jailhouse tales of mass murder seemed far-fetched.
"Based on the extensive research conducted by our dedicated team, the numbers Ms. Barbour has suggested simply do not add up," the group wrote in a Facebook post.
"We at Seeking Alaska's Missing remain skeptical of her unsubstantiated claims and until proof of such atrocities is given we will not expend our resources on any further investigation.
Meanwhile, in Pennsylvania – where Barbour and her husband are facing the death penalty for allegedly fatally stabbing a man they met on Craigslist in November – Northumberland County District Attorney Tony Rosini said there was "no verification" that Barbour's claims are true.
Neither the Pennsylvania State Police nor the state Attorney General's Office was involved in the investigation.
The FBI said it was in contact with local authorities and would "offer any assistance requested," but hasn't commented further.
Barbour touched off a frenzy of speculation over the weekend when she told a local Sunbury, Penn., newspaper she killed at least 22 people in a half-dozen states as part of her involvement in a satanic cult.
Her bloody trail stretched from Alaska and California to Texas, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, she claimed, as she hunted down people "who did bad things and didn't deserve to be here anymore."
The man she admitted to killing, 42-year-old electrical engineer Troy LaFerrara, apparently fell into that category.
Prosecutors said Barbour and her husband, Elytte, lured LaFerrara into a meeting in her car on November 11 using a Craigslist ad promising "companionship" and friendly conversation in exchange for cash.
The pair then ambushed him, wrapping a cord around his neck and stabbing him some 20 times before dumping his body in a Sunbury alley, authorities said.
After their arrest, Elytte told police they killed the lonely engineer because they "wanted to murder someone together."
Meanwhile, Barbour told the Daily Intel newspaper she and her husband, who were married some three weeks before carrying out the thrill killing, had "no regrets."
LeFerrara had sealed his own fate by offering her $100 for sex while believing she was underage, she said.
"I lied to him and told him I just turned 16," she told the paper. "He told me that it was OK. If he would have said no, that he wasn't going to go through with the arrangement, I would have let him go."
Source: Philip Caulfield, The New York Daily News, February 19, 2014.