HARRISBURG — A newlywed couple charged in the stabbing death of a stranger they lured through a Craigslist ad offering companionship pleaded guilty to murder on Tuesday and face mandatory sentences of life without parole.

Miranda Barbour, 19, and Elytte Barbour, 22, had previously pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges that carried a possible death penalty. They changed their pleas to guilty of second-degree murder at what was to have been a routine status conference in Northumberland County Court in Sunbury.

The Barbours married in North Carolina and moved to Pennsylvania about three weeks before they met up with the victim, Troy LaFerrara, when he accepted her offer of companionship in exchange for money.

Miranda Barbour picked up LaFerrara at a mall in Selinsgrove on Nov. 11 and drove in her car to Sunbury, a small city about 100 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

After they parked, Elytte Barbour came out of his hiding place under a blanket in the back seat and held a cord tight against LaFerrara’s neck while his petite wife stabbed the 6-foot-2, 278-pound man about 20 times. They dumped his body in an alley.

Elytte Barbour later told police the couple killed LaFerrara, who was 42, because they wanted to kill someone together.

The Barbours are scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 18 in Northumberland County Court, said a law clerk for Judge Charles Saylor, who’s handling the case.