KSP adds Instagram account

FRANKFORT - Kentucky State Police has added Instagram to its current social media platform. The agency already hosts a large following on its Facebook and Twitter pages and hopes IG will complement those existing formats. Instagram is a free online photo-sharing, video-sharing and social networking service that enables users to take pictures and videos, apply digital filters to them and share on a variety of other social networking sites. KSP spokesman Sgt. Michael Webb said IG has quickly gone from a trendy iOS-only app, to a massive social network with Android and web presence. 'Instagram hasn't shown any sign of slowing down, and with the popularity it has with the younger generation, its growth will surely continue,' said Webb. Webb said the KSP IG account will differ from the agency's Facebook and Twitter feeds. 'We intend to share a side of the agency that the public doesn't always get to see,' he said. 'We use Facebook and Twitter to share pertinent information, scheduled events and breaking news. Instagram will be a completely different feed, sharing photos of troopers and civilian staff at work and play.' Instagram has 150 million monthly active users with 70 percent of those logging onto the site at least once a day. More than 16 billion photos have been shared on the site since its October 2010 launch date. Webb says adding IG to the current KSP social media lineup will increase interaction with the 18- to 24-year-old demographic. 'Facebook users under the age of 25 represent 31 percent of its market shares, whereas Instagram users in that same demographic represent 54 percent,' said Webb. 'It is important for KSP to create a social media platform that will attract young and old alike.' The KSP IG site can be found at http://ift.tt/1j4NVCG or go to the IG homepage and search KY_STATE_POLICE.

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KSP adds Instagram account

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SUNBURY, Pa. -

A diminutive teenage mother charged with the stabbing death of a central Pennsylvania man she lured with an online companionship ad says she has been on a cross-country murder spree since she became involved with a satanic cult six years ago.

Miranda Barbour, 19, made the shocking admission to the Sunbury Daily Item during a recorded interview Friday in the library of the Northumberland County Prison where she is an inmate.

The soft-spoken, five-foot tall Barbour could not recall specifically how many murders she had committed, saying: 'When I hit 22, I stopped counting.'

She said some of the slayings occurred in Alaska, Texas, California and North Carolina and that she had no remorse because she killed only 'bad people.'

Barbour said she confessed to the murder spree because 'it is time for me to be honest and I feel I need to be honest.' She said she is willing to work with authorities 'to pinpoint ... on a map' where the murders occurred.

Sunbury police said they are working with authorities from several states and the FBI regarding Barbour's possible involvement with unsolved murders elsewhere. The investigation includes looking into the death of a man with whom Barbour had a 1-year-old child.

'From information we gathered, we are seriously concerned and have been in contact with proper authorities,' said Sunbury Police Chief Steve Mazzeo.

Barbour and her husband, Elytte Barbour, 22, are accused of killing Troy LaFerrara, 42, of Port Trevorton, Pa.. three months ago. Both are being held without bail.

LaFerrara's body, with 20 stab wounds, was found Nov. 12 in an alley in Sunbury. Police said he had responded to a Craig's List posting promising female companionship in exchange for money.

The murder occurred three weeks after the Barbours were married and had moved to the Sunbury area from North Carolina. Elytte Barbour told police at the time of the couple's arrest in early December that they had planned to kill someone to celebrate their marriage, and that his wife took him to a strip club afterwards as a birthday present.

Miranda Barbour said in her jailhouse interview that she became associated with a satanic cult when she was 13 and living in Alaska with her mother. She said she came under the influence of the cult leader and that he helped her kill her first victim.

'It was in an alley and he shot him,' she said. 'Then he said to me that it was my turn to shoot him. I hate guns; I don't use guns. I couldn't do it so he came behind me and he took his hands and put them on top of mine and we pulled the trigger. And then from there I just continued to kill.'

Eventually, she said, she moved to North Carolina, had a baby and sought 'to start over and forget everything I did. I knew something was bad inside me and the satanic beliefs brought it out. I embraced it.'

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Francis Scarcella is a reporter with the Sunbury, Pa., Daily Item.

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A diminutive teenage mother charged with the stabbing death of a central Pennsylvania man she lured with an online companionship ad says she has been on a cross-country murder spree since she became involved with a satanic cult six years ago.

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