'She's a Dexter fan, not a serial killer'
A teenage girl claiming to be a serial killer does not have a murderous streak, claims her family, and instead is a fantasist modelling herself on the TV character Dexter.
Miranda Barbour, 19, and her husband Elytte Barbour are charged with luring Troy LaFerrara through Craigslist and killing him.
Investigators allege the young woman stabbed Mr LaFerrara about 20 times in her parked car as Elytte Barbour held a cord tight against the victim's neck and dumped his body in an alley, says the New York Daily News website.
Since her arrest on December 3, Ms Barbour has claimed she has killed more at least 22 other people over the past six years but the newlyweds have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr LaFerrara.
The Daily News said Ms Barbour admitted killing LaFerrara in a police interview and that she had targeted others "who did bad things and didn't deserve to be here anymore".
The line echoes the motivation of the fictional TV character Dexter, a vigilante serial killer who holds down a police job in his spare time.
Ms Barbour's sister says she believes Ms Barbour has a drug problem but that Miranda, a Dexter fan, fabricated the serial killer claim.
“If you listen to what she is saying, she is using descriptions from the show,” sister Ashley Dean told The Daily News.
Ms Barbour’s father, Sonny Dean, had previously told The Daily News that his daughter was a heroin addict, a liar and a manipulator who “lives in a fantasy world”.
