SUNBURY -- Two newlyweds from central Pennsylvania accused in a homicide case have been featured on news reports around the world since reports broke on Friday evening that they may have murdered a man in Sunbury simply for the thrill of the kill.
Media outlets from all over the world are referring to Elyette and Miranda Barbour as the “newlywed thrill killers” but for some people in Selinsgrove, they were simply known as new neighbors.
One neighbor says since the Barbors moved to Selinsgrove from North Carolina, he saw more police cars on their street. Now he knows why.
Elyette and Miranda Barbour allegedly met a man on craigslist.com - an online classified advertising site - last month and killed him in Sunbury. Police say Elyette told them they killed Troy LaFerrara because they just wanted to murder someone together.
It is a far cry from what he told reporters just one day earlier at his house in Selinsgrove. Elyette went public, defending his new bride, who was charged with LaFerrara’s homicide early last week.
"I do not believe this was malicious. I believe she was attacked, and under those circumstances she took the necessary measure to defend herself,” Barbour said on Thursday.
Troy LaFerrara’s wife Colleen did not want to go on camera, but she tells us she and Troy were married for two years and were dating for 10 years. She says she plans to attend all of the Barbour's court hearings to face her husband's alleged killers.
"I'm glad they're caught, but it's not going to bring him back to me. Nothing is ever going to make this right,” she said
Elyette and Miranda Barbour recently moved from North Carolina and lived on North Water Street in Selinsgrove. Their roommate did not want to go on camera but tells Newswatch 16 she just wants this to be over.
Neighbors say there were more police in the neighborhood since the Barbours moved in.
“Now it all comes together why they were around here,” said a neighbor.
He says he cannot believe the alleged "newlywed thrill killers" lived on his street.
"At first it makes you wonder but then whenever you find out the husband is supposedly involved, too and this was a fantasy, it's like there's some really weird people out there."
Sunbury Police Chief Stephen Mazzeo says the investigation may lead police to other states. Elyette and Miranda Barbour are scheduled to appear in court in Northumberland County later this month.
Neighbors in Sunbury are shocked by the negative attention this case has brought.