commentary by Patrick H. Moore
There are lots of reasons why a man and a woman, or a man and a man, or a woman and a woman may choose to get married. It can be strong mutual passion; it can be a sense of compatibility and respect; it can be the desire to have kids and raise a family; or it can even be an act of rebellion: “We’ll show them and just get married for the hell of it.” Never, though, have I seen a marriage based on the mutual desire to murder someone just for the hell of it. Yet that’s precisely what happened in Sunbury, PA, a small community about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia on Nov. 11th of last year.
Newlyweds just three weeks removed from their wedding day lured a Pennsylvania man to his death with a Craigslist ad because they wanted to kill someone together, police said.
Elytte Barbour told officers before his arrest Friday night that he and his wife, Miranda, had planned to kill before but their plans never worked out until last month when Troy LaFerrara responded to an online posting that promised companionship in return for money.
In his mea culpa, Elyette Barbour sang like a bird and described not only the murder itself but also described certain lifestyle peculiarities on the part of his wife Miranda that he condoned.
According to the Sunbury police, LaFerrara was stabbed 20 times and left for dead in an alley after he jumped into Miranda Barbour’s red Honda CRV after they met for the first time at the Susquehanna Valley Mall in Hummels Wharf. Unbeknownst to LaFerrara, when he got into the vehicle, Elytte was hiding under a blanket in the backseat of the car. He waited for the go-ahead signal from his wife, then rose up and wrapped a cord around LaFerrara’s neck and pulled it tight as Miranda began to plunge what was probably a 3-inch pocket knife — which was normally kept in the console of the Honda — into the victim’s body.
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Miranda Barbour was charged Wednesday, Dec 4th. At first she apparently tried to stonewall and denied knowing LaFerrara. Her story evolved, however, according to the police affidavit, as investigators gathered evidence and discovered that the last call received on the victim’s cellphone was made from her number.
The affidavit stated that Miranda Barbour acknowledged meeting LaFerrera in Selinsgrove and then driving with him to Sunbury, where they parked. She claims that LaFerrara got grabby and tried to fondle her private areas, upon which she took a knife from between the front seats and stabbed him after he put his hand around her throat. (Perhaps LaFerrara was thinking a little auto-erotic asphyxiation would wear down Miranda’s resistance).
Police said that Miranda Barbour — who was apparently a tidy homemaker — told them that she purchased cleaning supplies at a department store after stabbing LaFerrara before picking up her husband and taking him to a Gentlemen’s club for his birthday. (This couple apparently had things backwards. To my knowledge, which is admittedly imprecise with respect to these matters, the husband is not supposed to start frequenting the Gentlemen’s clubs until after the thrill is gone.)
Elyette Barbour also appears to have changed his story a few times during the course of the investigation. He visited The Daily Item on Wednesday, hours after his wife’s arrest, and insisted she wasn’t a “cold killer” and that he knew nothing about what his wife had done until she told him moments before surrendering to the state police at Selinsgrove early Tuesday morning. Elytte also told The Daily Item that he kept the probable murder weapon, the 3-inch pocket knife, in the console of the Honda
While talking to the police on Friday, after intense questioning from Travis Bremigen, an officer with the Sunbury Police Department, Elyette confessed that it was actually him who went to the store and purchased the cleaning supplies. A video camera in the department store parking lot shows Elyette getting out of his car and walking inside on the night in question. Another security camera inside the store shows Elyette buying cleaning liquid, paper towels, bleach wipes, and a red shop rag.
Elyette also told the police that LaFerrara fought back as he was being strangled, and that he had pulled the cord tighter as Miranda repeatedly plunged the short knife into LaFerrara.
It seems clear that as Elyette got warmed up, he decided there was no reason to hold anything back. He told the police where the stab wounds were located on LaFerrara’s body, and where the Barbours had dumped the body.
It was important to Elyette that people understand that his wife is not a prostitute. He explained to the Daily Item that Miranda — whom he had married on Oct. 22, three weeks before the murder – regularly hired herself out as a “companion” to men she met on various websites, a business venture he said he supported because it did not involve sexual contact.
Barbour informed that his wife made anywhere from $50 to $850 for meeting with these men. Their activities included having dinner together or walking around a mall. The ads she placed on the websites, including Craigslist, clearly stated that sex was not part of the equation, according to Elyette. (Of course, he probably did not use the term “equation.”)
“She is not a prostitute,” said Elyette firmly. “What she does is meet men who have broken marriages or have no one in their lives and she meets with them and has delightful conversation.”(Perhaps he did use the term “equation” after all.)
After his arrest Friday night, Elyette appeared before District Judge Ben Apfelbaum around 9:23 p.m. When he walked into the courtroom, he shrugged his shoulders and flashed an “aw shucks” smile to the reporters.
Elyette is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, simple assault, criminal conspiracy and possession of instruments of crime.
Everyone in Sunbury apparently talks to The Daily Item and Sunbury police Chief Steve Mazzeo told them that investigators will also be looking into the death of a man with whom Miranda Barbour had a 1-year-old child.