Even Though She's a Satanist, She May Not Be a Mass Murderer

That's Miranda Barbour.  She's 19. The mother of a 2-year old.  The cops say that she and her husband Elytte killed Troy LaFerrara, apparently an almost randomly unlucky guy.  She stabbed him 20 times while her husband strangled him. They got to him through an ad they pub on Craigslist. They'd planned to kill other folks during their three weeks of marriage.  They wanted to, as a couple, kill someone.  The other plans didn't work out.  This one did.  C'est la vie.

She claims to have killed at least 22 times since she was 13, though not as many as 100.  (She says she stopped counting after 22.)  As part of a Satanic cult, she says.  Murders in Alaska and Texas and North Carolina and California and, of course, Pennsylvania where she and Elytte are supposed to have killed LaFerrara. 

The FBI is investigating all those killings.  So are local authorities.  She says she can show them where the bodies are.  Help clear up the backlog of unsolved cases.  Bring peace to the families of the victims. 

Except, you know, maybe you guessed, there don't seem to be any unsolved homicides that match. And Miranda?  Her father, Sonny Dean, says her story isn't true.  It can't be true.  Francis Scarcella, of the Daily Item, 

The father of Barbour’s child, also a satanist, was murdered, she said during the jailhouse interview.
“I didn’t kill him,” Barbour said. “But I know all about it.”
Barbour wouldn’t provide details of the alleged murder, but her father said: Believe very little of what Miranda says. She has a long history of extreme manipulation and dishonesty. I would be very surprised if any evidence was found concerning other victims in the states of Alaska, Texas, California and North Carolina.” All are states in which Barbour said she had killed someone.
Miranda, her father said, is simply a liar.
“Miranda lives in a fantasy world made up in her own mind,” Dean said. “She craves attention, is selfish, dishonest and manipulative,” he said.

Oh, maybe one guy in Alaska.  That time when she was 13 and ran away from home.  She might have killed then.  But really, that's the only chance she'd have had.  The rest of her life she's either been locked up or watched like a hawk.

“She is good at manipulating people,” her father said. “She is the most manipulative person I have ever known.”
His daughter has spent most of her life in and out of treatment facilities after she became hooked on heroin, Dean said.
“But she was able to talk the doctors into letting her out of treatment,” he said. “We couldn’t stop it from happening and she was out.”

What to do?  As they didn't quite sing in The Sound of Music, How do you solve a problem like Miranda? 

After all, she's either a mass murderer or she's that crazy, drug-addicted, lying, manipulative, bitch living in a total fantasy world her father says she is.

Northumberland County DA Tony Rosini knows the answer.  The Barbours should be killed.  He's going after the death penalty for both of them.  And Sonny's cool with that - or at least cool with killing his daughter.

As a Christian, he said in a written statement for LaFerrara's family, he's struggled with the death penalty.  Now he's at peace with it.

However, as the reality of it settled in over the past few weeks, I believe God has brought me peace with the fact that capital punishment, if chosen by the jury, is an appropriate end in this situation. In that case, I would stand side by side with you, take your hand, and silently pray that some good may come of this.

Which has a certain generosity of spirit toward the LaFerrars if not exactly towards his daughter.  But then, she is a Satanist.  

Satanism is real,” he said. “It is a growing cult that will go to great lengths to seize our children. You don’t have to be affiliated with the ‘Church of Satan’ to worship him.

Sigh.

Meanwhile, Miranda's mother and grandmother drove 600 miles from North Carolina to Sunbury to see Miranda in the local jail.  They were told to hurry.  So they did.  Arriving shortly after she was transferred to a state prison where, they learned, they won't be allowed to see her for 10 to 12 days.   

No word yet on whether they think Miranda should be killed.  Even if she is a Satanist.