19-year-old former Alaskan woman, Miranda Barbour, in jail on charges of murder in Pennsylvania, says that her killing spree as "Super Miranda" began in Alaska at the age of 13.
It was at the age of thirteen, Barbour told reporters, that she helped to kill her first victim in Alaska after joining a satanic cult. She said that she joined the cult in the small community of North Pole and a short time later, the cult’s leader, who she declined to identify, let her tag along on a hit to kill someone who owed him money. She stated that the man shot the victim then handed the gun to her to finish the victim off. When she couldn’t finish off the murder, she claims the cult leader placed his hands over hers and helped her pull the trigger.
That, she says, was the beginning of her killing spree that took the lives of over 22 people, most of which, she claims were in Alaska. She told a Daily Item reporter in a jailhouse interview that she had a favorite knife that she would use for the killings and would notch the handle after every killing, but stopped counting at 22.
But, Fairbanks News-Miner reporter Weston Morrow points out that school records show that Barbour, then known as Miranda Dean, likely left the North Pole area after attending kindergarten and first grade there and that records show no school enrollment after that time. Morrow wrote in the Miner, “The trail picks up in the Matanuska-Sustina Borough School District. Barbour attended school in Mat-Su through the 2009-10 school year, spending her first semester at Colony High School before transferring to Valley Pathways High School near Palmer and Wasilla, according to Mat-Su spokeswoman Catherine Esary.”
Records show that Barbour moved from Alaska to North Carolina in 2011, it was there that she met her husband Elytte Barbour.
Barbour was arrested and charged with the murder of 42-year-old Port Trevorton resident Troy LaFerrara, who, police say, was strangled and stabbed to death in the front seat of Barbour’s red Honda CR-V. She had met Ferrara after he answered a “companionship” ad on Craigslist. On November 11, 2013, Barbour and LaFerrara met at the Susquehanna Valley mall parking lot in Hummels Wharf, where they settled on having sex for $100, then left and drove to Sunbury, six miles away, where the killing took place. Elytte Barbour was hidden under a blanket in the back seat waiting.
When they arrived at the small city 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia, Barbour’s husband sprung from hiding and began strangling LaFerrara with a cable cord while Barbour stabbed their victim over 20 times. Ferrara’s body was discovered in the backyard of a Sunbury home the next day.
Barbour said that after committing the murder, the two went to Walmart where they purchased cleaning supplies to attempt to clean the evidence of the murder from the vehicle. Barbour said there was so much blood that they couldn’t get it all, according to police. Barbour stated that after that they went to a strip club to celebrate Elyette’s birthday.
The two admit to going back to the scene where they had dumped LaFerrara’s body and watched as investigators looked for clues at the dump site.
Police checked LaFerrara’s phone records and found that the last two calls made on Ferrara’s phone was to Barbour. This discovery led to an investigation of Barbour and her husband. Texts on LaFerrara’s phone were linked to Barbour’s phone. Those texts read, “Alright, I’m pretty close to the mall.” “Good.” “I’m dropping my daughter off right now, then I’ll be at the mall in about 15.” “I’m here. I don’t see you.” “I am so sketched out right now. I will wait 10 more minutes.”
The couple had moved to Pennsylvania from North Carolina only three weeks before the slaying.
The two suspects have pleaded “not guilty” to the murder charges in court, but confessed to the crime to investigators and to the Daily Item newspaper. Ed Greco, Barbour’s attorney is seeking to have the confession to police thrown out saying that Barbour had requested a lawyer during her interview with police, but confessed before her attorney arrived. During that interview police investigators say that Barbour told them that they murdered LaFerrara because they wanted to commit a murder together. The murder was committed on the couple’s three-week wedding anniversary.
Barbour has said that she is willing to cooperate with investigators in the murders that she claims to have committed in other states, including Alaska, California, North Carolina and Texas. She says she will pinpoint where her victims are at.
Police say that Barbour had contact with at least 30 men through Craigslist in the past where she offered “companionship.” They are continuing in their efforts to locate those men.
Greco was not aware that hs client was gong to speak with reporters. Greco is seeking a psychiatric evaluation for Barbour, who states that she was sexually abused at the age of four by her uncle. That sexual abuse was substantiated by Barbour’s mother, Elizabeth Dean, who said her sister’s husband was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor and was subsequently sentenced to 14 years in prison.
Barbour had a child by a man in Alaska named Forest, who she said, was a leader in the Alaskan cult. That man is now dead according to Barbour and is now part of the investigation that now includes the FBI. Barbour’s mother said that the statement of Forest’s death are not true, although she also said that she did not know the father of Barbour’s two-year-old daughter.
Pennsylvania police and the FBI are working with investigators from other states, including Alaska, that have unsolved murders that could be connected with Barbour. Investigators at the Anchorage Police Department said in a tweet this morning, “APD will thoroughly investigate claims requiring assistance of our agency and as details emerge from leading authorities”
Pennsylvania prosecutors are asking for the death penalty for the murder of LaFerrara. But, Barbour said that she should not be subject to the death penalty because it’s “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Barbour’s husband, Elytte told police that the two had plotted killing other people prior to the November murder of LaFerrara, but were unsuccessful in their attempts.
Miranda told reporters that she only killed “bad people.” She continued by saying if released she would do it again.
When confronted by reporters outside of the Sunbury Police Departmment on Tuesday where she was taken for fingerprinting, she did not answer questions about whether she killed 22 people over the last six years.