Elytte Barbour hid in the backseat of a car before killing 42-year-old Troy LaFerrara. (Reuters)
Elytte Barbour hid in the backseat of a car before killing 42-year-old Troy LaFerrara. (Reuters)

Two newlyweds have confessed to the murder of a man they lured to his death through an advertisement on Craigslist.

Elytte Barbour, 22, and his 18-year-old wife Miranda killed 42-year-old Troy LaFerrara, whose body was discovered with 20 stab wounds in an alley in Sunbury, a small city north-west of Philadelphia.

The couple, who had been married for just three weeks at the time of the killing, picked up LaFerrara in a car park after he responded to an advertisement offering companionship in return for money.

Barbour told investigators that he hid under a blanket in the back seat of the couple's car as his wife collected LaFerrara. After receiving a signal, Barbour choked the victim with a cable cord while Miranda repeatedly stabbed him.

Barbour told police that after the killing he went to a department store to buy cleaning supplies for the bloodstains in the car. After cleaning up the car, Barbour and his wife drove to a strip club where they celebrated Barbour's 22<sup>nd birthday.

The 22-year-old has been charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault, simple assault and criminal conspiracy, as well as possessing instruments of crime.

Barbour told police that he and his wife had plotted unsuccessfully in the past to kill someone but took advantage of the opportunity to murder LaFerrara when they came across him on Craigslist.

During her interview, Miranda told prosecutors that she would regularly meet men for "companionship" and would often be paid up to $850 (£520). She initially denied knowing LaFerrara but changed her story after police analysed the dead man's phone records and found that Miranda was the last person he spoke to.

LaFerrara married his girlfriend of eight years in June 2011. According to his obituary, he was employed as the senior resident engineer at the Lycoming County Landfill.

In April, 53-year-old Richard Beasley was sentenced to death for luring three men to their deaths at an Ohio farm after posting bogus job advertisements on Craigslist.