SUNBURY, Pa. (AP) - A woman charged with her newlywed husband in the murder of a man lured to his death through Craigslist will remained locked up in a state prison while she awaits trial.
Judge Charles Saylor rejected 19-year-old Miranda Barbour’s request to be transferred back to Northumberland County Prison, The Daily Item of Sunbury reported Friday.
Warden Roy Johnson had sent Barbour to the Muncy state prison for women last week, saying the international attention to Barbour’s recent claim to a newspaper reporter that she killed more than 20 people had disrupted security at the county lockup. Investigators have found no evidence to substantiate her claim.
“It made it very, very difficult to focus on all the issues of all the inmates,” Johnson said earlier this week.
Barbour’s attorney, public defender Edward Greco, had argued the transfer violated her constitutional rights and harmed his ability to prepare a defense. Greco filed a motion seeking to have her returned to the county lockup.
Saylor said he would instead permit Barbour to meet with her attorney occasionally at the county lockup.
Police say Troy LaFerrara, 42, met Barbour through her Craigslist ad, which offered companionship in exchange for money.
Investigators allege the young woman stabbed LaFerrara, of Port Trevorton, about 20 times in her parked car as her husband, Elytte Barbour, held a cord tight against LaFerrara’s neck from the back seat and then dumped his body in an alley.
Elytte Barbour, who is also charged with homicide, is being held without bail at another jail.
Both defendants pleaded not guilty.
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Information from: The Daily Item, https://www.dailyitem.com
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