Mother doubts Craigslist killing suspect's claims

In a jailhouse interview with a Pennsylvania newspaper on Friday, Miranda Barbour said she has killed more than 20 people across the country in the last six years as part of her involvement in a satanic cult.

"I feel it is time to get all of this out. I don't care if people believe me. I just want to get it out," Barbour told the newspaper.

Elizabeth Dean, who lives in Cary, said her daughter called her Friday morning to say she was planning to make a "shocking confession" but didn't elaborate.

Dean said Barbour became involved in a cult about seven years ago while they were living in Alaska. The teen came home with a swastika carved into the back of her neck and routinely got into trouble, her mother said.

After Barbour got pregnant two years ago and didn't know who the father was, the family moved to North Carolina, settling in Harnett County. Barbour told her mother she wanted to start a new life here.

Barbour married 22-year-old Elytte Barbour last October, and the couple moved to Pennsylvania shortly after that.

Within three weeks of the move, police say, they killed Troy LaFerrara after he responded to Miranda Barbour's Craigslist ad offering companionship for money.

Elytte Barbour told investigators they committed the crime because they wanted to kill someone together, according to court papers. The couple told police that Miranda Barbour stabbed LaFerrara in the front seat of her car while her husband held a cord around his neck.

Miranda Barbour told the newspaper Friday that she wants to plead guilty to LaFerrara's death and said she would kill again if she ever gets out of prison.

Dean said she can't imagine her daughter killed the 22 people she claims in Alaska, California, Texas and North Carolina, considering how quickly she was caught after LaFerrara's death.

Pennsylvania authorities have been talking to law enforcement agencies in North Carolina to determine if there is any credible information related to any unsolved crimes here.

All 21 homicides in Wake County during the time Miranda Barbour lived in the area have been solved, but Raleigh police say they have a few unsolved homicides during that period and are following up on her statements.

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation declined to comment other than saying agents are in contact with Pennsylvania authorities.