Man charged in slaying of Mo. sisters

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TRIMBLE, Mo., July 16 (UPI) -- A suspect was charged Monday with killing two women whose bodies were found in a Missouri field the day before, authorities said.

The Platte County Sheriff's Office said Clifford D. Miller, 31, of Trimble was charged with two counts of first-degree murder for allegedly suffocating Britny Haarup, 19, and Ashley Key, 22. Police confirmed Monday two bodies discovered Sunday near Trimble were those Haarup and Key, who had been missing since Friday afternoon, The Kansas City Star reported.

Authorities said Miller suffocated Haarup and Key while he was under the influence of methamphetamine.

Miller, who was being held on $500,000 bail, could be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole of convicted of killing the sisters, although Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd said it was possible his office would seek the death penalty.

Prosecutors said Miller admitted going to the home Haarup and Key shared in Edgerton, intending to have sex with Haarup. Court records indicate Miller found Key asleep on a sofa and attacked her after she woke up and confronted him -- hitting her with an object he took from a table and then smothering her with a pillow when she screamed.

Charging documents indicate Miller then went into Haarup's bedroom and hit her with a stick before suffocating her with a pillow when she screamed.

Investigators said Miller smoke more meth before putting his alleged victims' bodies in a pickup truck and dumping them in Edgerton.

Haarup's fiance, Matt Meyers, found her two infant daughters alone in a crib at her home and investigators found a blood-soaked comforter on a couch in the home.

Haarup's cellphone and purse, along with her sister's purse and shoes, were also in the house, while family members said guns were missing, the newspaper said.

"We all had held out hope," said Cassie Meyers, Matt Meyers' sister-in-law, after the two bodies were found.