Craigslist Murder Confession

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Overview

Craigslist Murder Confession refers to American teenager Miranda Barbour’s admission to killing at least 23 strangers over the course of six years. Barbour’s self-incriminating allegations first came to public attention during her jailhouse interview in February 2014, two months after she surrendered herself to the authorities and confessed to killing Troy LaFerrara, a 42-year-old Pennsylvania man whom she had met through the classified ad website Craigslist, in November 2013.

Background

On November 11th, 2013, Troy LaFerrara of Port Trevorton, Pennsylvania was stabbed a total of 20 times in the front seat of Selinsgrove teenager Miranda Barbour's vehicle. On December 3rd, Barbour surrendered herself to the police and was arraigned on charges of criminal homicide, aggravated assault, possession of instruments of crime and simple assault. In her statement to the authorities, Barbour claimed to have met LaFerrara through the classifieds on the site Craigslist, where she had previously set up meetings with other men for "companionship."^[2]

On December 6th, her husband Elytte Barbour was arrested after telling investigators he had planned to kill LaFerrara with his wife and had wrapped a cord around Barbour's neck during the stabbing. During a prison interview on February 14th, Barbour confessted to killing many others over the past six years, claiming "when I hit 22, I stopped counting."^[11] In addition, she claimed to have joined a satanic cult while living in Alaska, where she purportedly killed people with other cult members.

Notable Developments

Police Investigation

On February 16th, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) released a statement confirming that its Philadelphia division was in contact with the the Sunbury Police Department regarding Miranda Barbour and it "will offer any assistance requested in the case."

Online Reactions

That same day, Redditor Orchard_Park submitted an article about the confession to the /r/news^[3] subreddit, where it gained over 10,100 up votes and 1,800 comments in the first 24 hours. In the comments section of the post, many Redditors expressed skepticism for Barbour’s claims of killing 22 people, with some suspecting that her confession could be driven by her troubled mental state or an ulterior motive to seek fame.

News Media Coverage

On February 17th, many news sites reported on the murder confession, including CNN,^[4]NPR,^[5]ABC News,^[6] Fox News,^[7] TMZ,^[8]USA Today^[9] and The Daily Dot.^[10] Several articles labelled Barbour a "real life Dexter," in reference to the American television drama series Dexter which centers around a vigilante serial killer who hunts down criminals that have managed to evade imprisonment.