Los Angeles police are aware of reports regarding a claim made by a Pennsylvania woman charged in the death of a man she met through Craigslist that she killed someone in Los Angeles, but the LAPD will not be involved until a local connection is determined, police told NBC4 Tuesday afternoon.
Miranda Barbour, 19, is charged along with her newlywed husband in the slaying of a man they met through Craigslist -- a killing to which she admitted in a jailhouse interview with a Pennsylvania newspaper.
Barbour also claimed in the Daily Item interview that she has killed more than 20 others across the country, including Los Angeles. A Pennsylvania police officer told the Times that Barbour was not specific about the location.
The Los Angeles Times, citing police, reported Tuesday that the LAPD is looking into whether there is any "validity" to claims regarding an LA connection.
Miranda Barbour offered few details on the slayings she claimed to have participated in in Alaska, Texas, North Carolina and California. Authorities in Pennsylvania and other parts of the country are investigating Barbour's claim, which prosecutors described as unverified, according to the Associated Press.
As for the Craigslist killing case, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Barbour and her husband, 22-year-old Elytte Barbour. Authorities said Miranda Barbour told investigators she met the victim after he responded to her Craigslist ad offering companionship for money.
Police allege in court papers that Elytte Barbour told investigators they committed the crime because they wanted to kill someone together, the Associated Press reported. The couple -- they married in North Carolina and moved to Pennsylvania about three weeks before the crime -- told police Miranda Barbour stabbed LaFerrara in the front seat of her car while her husband held a cord around his neck.
She said in the jailhouse interview that she doesn't want to get out of jail and that she would kill again if released.
Last week, a judge granted a lawyer's request to have a forensic psychiatrist evaluate Miranda Barbour, who said she joined a satanic cult in Alaska when she was 13 before moving to North Carolina. The judge earlier approved a psychiatrist to evaluate Elytte Barbour.
