Murder of Troy LaFerrara

Troy LaFerrara was a resident of Port Trevorton, Pennsylvania, who was murdered on November 11, 2013. LaFerrara connected with Miranda Barbour through a Craigslist advertisement in which she offered to meet him for a paid sexual encounter, with an agreed payment of $100. Elytte Barbour, Miranda's husband, has publicly disputed characterizations of Miranda as a sex worker, stating instead that men paid her for conversation.

On the night of the killing, Miranda allegedly met LaFerrara at the Susquehanna Valley Mall parking lot in Hummels Wharf, Pennsylvania. After agreeing on payment, the two drove approximately six miles to Sunbury, Pennsylvania. Elytte told police he hid under a blanket in the back seat of the couple's Honda CR-V during the drive. Once LaFerrara entered the vehicle, Miranda signaled to Elytte, who emerged and wrapped a cord around LaFerrara's neck while Miranda stabbed him 20 times. LaFerrara's body was found the next day, November 12, 2013, in a residential back yard in Sunbury. Police said that after disposing of the body, the couple purchased bleach wipes, towels, and cleaning liquid to remove blood from the vehicle's interior before going out to dinner. Per the arrest affidavit, Elytte stated that the couple killed LaFerrara because they wanted to murder someone together, and police characterized the killing as a thrill killing carried out about three weeks after the couple's wedding.

Investigators said the Barbours initially denied knowing LaFerrara, but police traced the last call from his phone to Miranda's phone, and the couple's accounts reportedly shifted from a claim of self-defense to a mutual confession of premeditated murder. Miranda Barbour, then 19, and Elytte Barbour, then 22, were initially charged with first-degree murder, which carried a possible death penalty. Both later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and were sentenced on September 18, 2014, to life without parole.

The case drew extensive international media attention after Miranda Barbour claimed, in an interview with the Sunbury Daily Item, to have been responsible for the deaths of "at least 22 people" between 2008 and 2013, allegedly beginning with a killing ordered by a satanic cult leader when she was 13. Her mother separately confirmed that Miranda had been molested by a relative at age four, and that the relative had been convicted of sexual abuse of a minor. A Northumberland County District Attorney expressed skepticism about the broader murder claims, stating that other law enforcement agencies contacted had not verified them, and the Alaska State Troopers stated they had no evidence Barbour had committed murders during her time in Alaska. The FBI and other police forces reportedly investigated the claims.