Clifford Miller charged in the murder of sisters Britny Haarup, 19, & Ashley Key, 22 in Edgerton, Missouri/4.29.2013 Miller pleads guilty to 2 counts of 1st degree murder

Relatives of two missing Platte County sisters fear the worst.

After all, 19-year-old Britny Haarup never would have left her 6-month-old and 18-month-old daughters alone in a crib. Yet that is where Haarup’s fiancé found the youngsters when he got home about 4 p.m. Friday in Edgerton, Mo.

Haarup’s cellphone was there — along with her purse, her sister’s purse and the shoes her sister had been wearing.

Worse yet, blood soaked a comforter left on the couch, according to her father, Paul Haarup of Smithville.

Saturday night, about 70 relatives and friends gathered near the northern Platte County house for a candlelight vigil for Britny and her 22-year-old sister, Ashley Key. As the candles danced in the dark of a city park, police continued to examine the crime scene across the street.

“I want you to come home,” fiancé Matt Meyers said tearfully of Haarup. “Your babies love you and they miss you.”

Retired pastor Rick Lumm led prayers for the family.

“They are heartbroken, they are grieving, and you being here is making a difference,” Lumm told the crowd.

He prayed that the sisters would return safely and that whoever was responsible for their disappearance would be brought to justice.

After Meyers reported the women missing Friday, authorities began searching for a white 2002 Dodge Ram pickup truck that had been parked outside until about 9:30 a.m. Friday. The truck belongs to Meyers’ father, Jay Meyers, who lives within sight of his son’s house.

If the women vanished when the truck did, 18-month-old Aleah and 6-month-old Adilynn would have been alone in the crib for hours.

Family members of the missing women quickly joined in the search, which spilled into nearby Clay and Clinton counties.

“We were hoping we would find it (the truck) moving, not standing still,” said Paul Haarup, who went through four tanks of gas looking.

A Platte County sheriff’s deputy spotted the truck about 11 a.m. parked in a shady area along a gravel stretch of 200th Street, about a quarter mile east of the Platte and Clay county line, or 1.5 miles west of U.S. 169.

Searchers from the Platte, Clay and Clinton county sheriff’s offices were joined by park rangers, Missouri Highway Patrol troopers, Kansas City police and agents from the Missouri Department of Conservation.

For hours, they searched a bean field to the south and a pasture and cornfields to the north. They called in the Kansas City police helicopter for a look from the air.

But they found no sign of the sisters, who attended school in Smithville before graduating from Park Hill South High School.

Investigators towed the truck to the Kansas City crime laboratory to check for evidence.

Kansas City crime lab crews spent part of Friday and Saturday inside Haarup’s one-story home on Perry Street. Crime scene tape marked the home as off limits to visitors.

Key, who has a 4-year-old daughter, had been through a rough year, her father said. He described her lifestyle as “colorful.”

She had reached out to her sister a week ago, asking to move in while getting back on her feet, he said. Now he fears someone from Key’s past abducted both of his girls.

He described Britny Haarup as a dedicated mother who was taking classes to become a registered nurse.

Alexis Sweeny, a friend of Key’s since third grade, described her as “really outgoing, funny, carefree.”

As the vigil closed shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, Britny’s father thanked “each and every one of you for coming out.”

“It means the world to us.”
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Ashley Key

Britny Haarup

At a vigil Saturday night in Edgerton, Mo., Matt Meyers (left), father of 6-month-old Adilynn Meyers, stood with his grandmother MaryAnn Goad (holding Adilynn) and Paul Haarup, father of the missing women. Haarup held Aleah Haarup, 18 months.

Edgerton Girls Missing Ashley Key and Britny Haarup - Kansas City News

The Platte County Sheriff's Office announced that Ashley Key and Britny Haarup are officially missing from Edgerton, Missouri as of today. Key and Haarup were last seen in Edgerton on Friday morning. Just a few minutes ago police found a 2002 Dodge Ram 2500 Series pickup truck abandoned along Clinton County Line Road near the small town of Trimble, Missouri. It is believed that this was the truck that the girls were last seen driving. Ashley Key and Britny Haarup were first reported missing when a call came in to police reporting two children that had been left at home unattended. The children belonged to Britny Haarup, and they are now safe in the care of their father in Edgerton, Missouri.

Britny Haarup is 19 years old, is 5'3" / 130, and Ashley Key is 22 years old and 5'5" 100. No further information has been released about the girls and their typical social lives. It is not uncommon for girls that age to pull an "all nighter" and drink themselves through one day and night (Friday) and keep partying on into Saturday. Although the discovery of the abandoned truck on the side of the road definitely raises a flag of foul play. The road that the girls' truck was found on today was a gravel / dirt road and the truck appeared to have been carefully pulled over to the side of the road and parked neatly off to the side of 200th street near 169 Highway and about 3 miles away from Trimble, Missouri. Police are searching for Britny Haarup and Ashley Key today in the surrounding areas near the abandoned truck.

If you have any information on the missing Edgerton girls please contact the Platte County Sherrif's Office at 816-858-3521.

Britny Haarup, Ashley Key missing girls from Edgerton, Missouri by Kansas City News, official kc news site with breaking stories on The Kansas City Royals, Chiefs, charity events, the 2012 MLB All Star Game, weather, sports, MU, KU, ufo sightings, dui checkpoints, Kansas City neighborhoods, nightlife, concerts, the Sprint Center, the Power and Light District and current Kansas City news articles.
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The search continues north of Kansas City for two young mothers last seen Friday morning.
The Platte County Sheriff's Office is looking for Britny Haarup, 19, and Ashley Key, 22. The sisters were last seen at Haarup's home in Edgerton.
Haarup's fiancee, Matt Meyers, 24, came home to find his two young daughters alone and in the same crib. He called 9-1-1 when he failed to locate Haarup.
Saturday morning, authorities located the truck the women were believed to be in, abandoned on SW 200th Street, near Trimble, Mo. Officers said they were unable to locate any additional evidence near the truck.
The women's father, Paul Haarup, spent his Saturday at the search site and begged for his daughters' safe return at a vigil in Edgerton that night.
"Wherever they're at, whoever's with them, whoever has them, just give them a phone, have them call us," said Paul Haarup. "Put an end to this."
Britny is a mother to two young girls. Aleah is 18 months old and Adilynn is six months old. Family members said that Ashley is a mother to a four-year-old girl.
Haarup's fiancee, Matt Meyers spoke with 41 Action News after the vigil. He said his daughters need their mother back home.
"She stays at home and plays with them all day. They love her to death," said Meyers. "She was so mad when Aleah said 'dada' first. Now we can't even get her to say it. It's always 'mama, mama, mama.'"
Family members said they do not know who could be responsible for the disappearances. However, they said Ashley had been involved with drugs and was running with a bad crowd.
"That's why she came to Britny and Matt's house. To get help, to get out of that lifestyle. She was very serious about getting help," said Cassandra Meyers, sister-in-law of Matt Meyers.
Ashley Key is 5'5" and weighs 100 pounds. Britny Haarup is 5'3" and weighs 130 pounds.
Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the women is asked to call the Platte County Sheriff’s Office at 816-858-3521 or the TIPS Hotline at 816-474-TIPS.


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Family members said that Ashley is a mother to a four-year-old girl.

Where is this child?

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Good question BJ about where her 4 yr old daughter is.

Ashley Key
June 29
When I walked out this morning, I cried as I walked to the door... cried about how long I'd be away for, cried about leaving you all alone... I wanna hold you, protect you from all the things that Ive already endured. And I wanna show you, show you all the things that this life has in store for you... And Ill always love you- the way that a *mother should love *her daughter... Sweet Vaeh Rae.

EDGERTON, Mo. — Authorities continued to search Sunday for two sisters who disappeared from a western Missouri home, leaving behind two young children, their purses and a cellphone.
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19-year-old Britny Haarup never would have left her 6-month-old and 18-month-old daughters alone in a crib.

She is very young to have two children under the age of two, and her fiancee who is the father is 24. WOW! Yet, she sounds like the responsible one. I just hope Ashley didn't get herself into trouble w/drugs or owe a drug debt and they were kidnapped. I did find it interesting that their father said that he believes Britny asked whoever took them to spare her children and that they were both in the crib.

As BJ, asked it would be nice to know more about Ashley and where her daughter is and who the dad is.

Authorities found the bodies of two women in a rural field late Sunday after interrogating a suspect in the disappearance of a pair of sisters from an Edgerton, Mo., home.

The Platte County sheriff’s office said it could not immediately confirm the identities or causes of deaths of the women discovered near Trimble, Mo., in extreme southwest Clinton County.

They were white, said Capt. Erik Holland, “and we can say we were led here based on information from a suspect in the disappearance of Britny Haarup and Ashley Key.”

“That individual is under arrest and in custody,” he said.

Sisters Haarup, 19, and Key, 22, had been missing since Friday afternoon, when Haarup’s fiancé, Matt Meyers, found her two infant daughters alone in a crib at her home in northern Platte County.

Haarup’s cellphone also was in the house, along with her purse, her sister’s purse and the shoes her sister had been wearing. On a couch was a comforter soaked in blood. Family members said guns were missing from the home.

“We all had held out hope,” said Cassie Meyers, Matt Meyers’ sister-in-law, after the two bodies were found. “We were hoping they’d just show up OK, or that they’d call someone ...

“With this news, even if it isn’t yet confirmed, the hope’s not there.”

Holland would not describe the relationship between the suspect in custody and the sisters.

Authorities earlier Sunday talked to the suspect, whom they then called a “person of interest,” and served two search warrants as the investigation focused on a field near 200th Street and the Platte-Clay county line. There, a Platte County deputy on Saturday discovered a parked vehicle linked to the sisters’ disappearance.

They had been searching since Friday for a white 2002 Dodge Ram pickup truck that had been parked outside the Edgerton home that morning until about 9:30 a.m.

There were no visible signs of foul play in or on the vehicle located Saturday, and an initial search of the field did not produce any additional evidence, the sheriff’s department said.

The bodies found late Sunday northeast of where the truck was parked were transferred to the Jackson County medical examiner’s office for identification and autopsies.

Holland of the sheriff’s office said “we have one individual in custody and we believe that person accounts for all the individuals involved” in the sisters’ disappearance.

Prior to the discovery, the women’s father, Paul Haarup, said the family was on “pins and needles” as they awaited the results of the investigation, which has included sheriff’s deputies from Platte, Clay and Clinton counties as well as investigators from the Missouri Highway Patrol and the Kansas City Police Department.

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OMG!!!!

Sounds like Britny got caught up in some bad stuff associated with her sister's lifestyle...One that she was trying to help her get out of. So sad for the little ones that will never know their mother... (if the bodies are theirs, and they probably are since the POI gave the info that led LE there.)

This is so sad!!!!!

KANSAS CITY, Mo. • A man who told investigators he was high on methamphetamine when he killed two sisters at a northwest Missouri home was charged Monday with two counts of first-degree murder.

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Miller told investigators he had smoked meth before going to Haarup's home in Edgerton, about 30 miles north of Kansas City, early Friday morning, planning to rape her, Platte County Sheriff Richard Anderson said. Authorities declined to say how Miller knew Haarup, but Anderson did say Miller told investigators he had never had a sexual relationship with her.
When Miller entered the home through an unlocked front door, he found Key asleep on the couch, Anderson said. Key awoke and confronted Miller, who hit her in the head before suffocating her, Anderson said.
Miller told authorities he then went into Haarup's room, where he beat her with a stick and suffocated her. He then wrapped up the bodies in sheets and dragged them to Haarup's pickup truck, the sheriff said at a news conference Monday.
"Miller smoked some more meth and then cleaned up the blood and moved the bodies to a pickup truck in the back of the house," Anderson said.
Haarup's fiance, Matt Meyers, discovered the women were missing when he came home Friday. Meyers is the father of Haarup's 6- and 18-month-old children, whom he found alone but unhurt at their home.
Anderson said the younger girl was in the bedroom when Miller killed Haarup. Miller told investigators he put the baby in the crib in a different room with the older child, then returned to Haarup's room, where he planned to have sex with her but couldn't.
Miller was arrested Sunday at his girlfriend's home in the Kansas City suburb of Parkville. He later told investigators where they could find the women's bodies, authorities say.
Paul Haarup, father of the victims, on Sunday had pleaded for his daughters' return and told reporters Key had a "colorful past." At the news conference Monday, Haarup said he regretted that description.
"The reason she was at my daughter's house, she made the decision it's time to dust herself off and lead a good life, for her daughter and her family. It's apparent ... she was making an attempt to protect her sister," Paul Haarup said. "By no means in any of this is any dark shadow cast on my daughter Ashley. That's not where any of this stemmed from."
He said the family would have no other statements for the media at this time.
Miller was being held on $500,000 cash-only bond. He has not been arraigned and does not yet have an attorney.

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So, it seems that Britny was actually the target of an acquaintance instead of the perpetrator being an unsavory character from Ashley's lifestyle...It is so easy to jump to conclusions. I wonder how Miller knew Britny and why he decided to go there to rape her...

That is one big guy!! These poor girls!

And yes, lisette..how ironic!

lisette wrote:So, it seems that Britny was actually the target of an acquaintance instead of the perpetrator being an unsavory character from Ashley's lifestyle...It is so easy to jump to conclusions. I wonder how Miller knew Britny and why he decided to go there to rape her...

Clifford Miller lived with his mother in Trimble. Slaying victim Britney Haarup lived across the street with her boyfriend and two daughters until a few weeks ago. Miller is charged with killing Haarup and her older sister, Ashley Day.

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There's a pretty interesting video at the above link.

A Missouri man has been charged with murder in the beating and suffocation deaths of two Missouri sisters who went missing over the weekend.

Police confirmed at a news conference Monday that the bodies of two women found Sunday in a field in Clinton County were those of Britny Haarup, 19, and Ashley Key, 22, who went missing Friday from their Edgerton home. Platte County prosecutor Eric Zahnd said Clifford Miller, 31, had been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the women's deaths, according to ABC News station KMBC.

Miller is being held in jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond. If convicted of the crimes, he could face life in prison.

Zahnd said the state is reviewing the case to determine whether to seek the death penalty.


ABC News
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Platte County Sheriff Richard Anderson said at the news conference that Miller told detectives he was high on methamphetamines when he went to Haarup's home early Friday morning with the intent of having sex with her. Miller said he found Key asleep on a couch, and that after she woke up and confronted him, he beat and smothered her before going to Haarup's room and killing her, KMBC reported.

Haarup's fiance, Matt Meyers, reportedly found their two children, 6 months and 18 months old, alone in their crib when he returned home Friday evening. Meyers then ran to neighbors, saying there was blood inside the house. Police were called to the scene.

On Saturday morning, a white pickup truck belonging to the father of Haarup's fiance was found abandoned miles from the women's home.

No visible signs of foul play were found in or on the vehicle, police said.

The purses of both women and Haarup's cell phone were found inside the house, but bed sheets from the home were reportedly missing. Haarup and Key were last seen Friday morning.

"She is a very good mother. She would never leave her kids at home, especially for that amount of time," said Cassandra Meyers, Haarup's sister-in-law.

Friends and family members had held a candlelight vigil Saturday night in Edgerton to pray for the women's safe return.
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Video at link, it auto starts so I don't want to bring it over here.

Memorial services for two sisters slain last week are set for Friday evening at the Mount Zion Baptist Church in Edgerton, Mo.

The services for Britny Haarup, 19, and Ashley Key, 22, both of Edgerton, is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m. at the church located at 5705 Route Z. The family has asked those attending to dress in bright colors, not black attire.

The bodies of the two women were found Sunday close to a tree line near Trimble in southwest Clinton County. On Monday, Platte County authorities charged Clifford B. Miller, 31, of Trimble, with first-degree murder in the slayings. Miller, court documents contend, told investigators he beat and suffocated the two women in a rape attempt that turned deadly.

Before the attacks, Miller said he had smoked methamphetamine before arriving at Haarup’s home in Edgerton early Friday.

Haarup’s fiancé, Matt Meyers, discovered the women missing when he came home Friday afternoon. Meyers is the father of Haarup’s 6- and 18-month-old children. He found them alone inside the residence. They were unharmed.

A website has been set up as a memorial.

A memorial fund has been set up for the women’s children:

Haarup & Key Survivor Benefit Fund

c/o Platte Valley Bank

P.O. Box 26

Dearborn, Missouri 64439

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Website for Britney and Ashley: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

EDGERTON, Mo. — Friends and family gathered at an Edgerton church on Friday evening to say goodbye to two sisters found dead in a field earlier this week.
Ashley Key, 22, and her 19-year-old sister Britny Haarup were found dead in a Clinton County field on Sunday after disappearing from their Edgerton home on Friday. Prosecutors have charged 31-year-old Clifford Miller with first-degree murder in their deaths.
According to authorities, Miller admitted killing the sisters after smoking meth. He is now in custody in the Platte County Jail in lieu of $500,000 cash-only bond.
But the focus of the celebration of life on Friday night wasn’t on how the sisters died, but instead on their lives. A sea of bright colors filled the Mount Zion Baptist Church, at the request of the victim’s father – who on Monday vowed to celebrate his daughters’ lives.
“From this day on, none of us are going to wear black,” said Paul Haarup. “Not at any memorial service, not at any funeral, not at anything because we’re not grieving this. We want this to be a colorful remembrance of two amazing lives.”
The family asked for privacy during the service, which included pictures and videos of Ashley and Britny, some from when they were babies.
“My daughters Ashley Lynn key, and Britny Marie Haarup, were very wonderful people. Their short lives are not going to be forgotten,” said Paul Haarup. “Our duty is to make sure that the three granddaughters left behind are very aware of how special their mothers are.”
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Video at link

Clifford D. Miller’s fate was decided when he stepped inside a Platte County courtroom Tuesday morning and admitted killing two sisters during a drug-fueled plan to forcibly have sex with one of them.
Clifford D. Miller appeared on Monday in Platte County Circuit Court, where he pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Britny Haarup and Ashley Key.

Pleading guilty to two counts of first-degree murder meant Miller faced mandatory sentences of life in prison with no chance of parole.

Miller, a 32-year-old Trimble resident, beat and smothered Britny Haarup, 19, and her sister, Ashley Key, 22 on July 13 in Edgerton in Platte County.

Afterward, Miller left Haarup’s 5-month-old and 18-month-old children alone in a crib, loaded the women’s bodies into a truck, drove them to a remote area and dumped them next to a soybean field. Frantic family members and friends spent two anguished days searching for the sisters before authorities found their bodies.

Though Miller did not speak at the hearing, his public defender, Thomas Jacquinot, said he was remorseful.

“I do believe that despite these evil actions he is not an evil person,” Jacquinot said.

Miller looked down as prosecutors presented the facts of the case in a court- room packed with friends and family of Miller and the two victims.

Miller admitted he was high on methamphetamine when he went to Haarup’s home unannounced with a plan to have sex with her, although the two had no previous sexual relationship, said Platte County Prosecutor Eric Zahnd, who called the crimes “outrageously, wantonly vile, horrible and inhuman.”

Key loved music, and Haarup planned to become a neonatal intensive care nurse, said their father, Paul Haarup. He described them as loving and caring and talked of the difficulty ahead for when the family must tell their daughters how their mothers died.

“We are forever broken and damaged,” Haarup said. “We cannot lean on those around us because this has broken all of them too.

“The continued loss of sleep is taxing at best and what little slumber is to be had is invaded by nightmares.”

The crime unfolded just after sunrise, when Miller walked into Haarup’s home. A startled Key awakened from her sleep on a living room couch and confronted Miller, who punched her, grabbed an object from a table and struck her in the head. Miller then smothered Key until she stopped moving. He sat on the couch next to Key’s body contemplating his next move, Zahnd said.

“He decided his only option was to get rid of both women,” he said.

After that, Miller walked into Haarup’s bedroom intending to kill her.

Haarup was asleep on her side facing away from Miller. He struck her head with a stick. Haarup sat up and screamed as Miller repeatedly struck her in the head before suffocating her with a pillow, Zahnd said.

One of Haarup’s daughters was in the room at the time, and the second was in a crib in another room. Miller moved one girl into the crib with her sister.

And, then, after Haarup was dead, he decided he still wanted to have sex with her. He admitted his genitals touched hers, and authorities found his DNA on her knee.

Before leaving the home an hour later, Miller smoked more methamphetamine and wrapped the women’s bodies in plastic and bedsheets. He placed them in the back of a Dodge Ram pickup truck, grabbed the truck keys from Haarup’s purse and took the bodies to tree-lined property near County Line Road.

Miller also stole two rifles plus a 12-gauge shotgun and a double-barrel shotgun. Miller later said he needed money, so he drove the pickup and the weapons to an apartment complex near Prairie View Road in Kansas City, North.

No one knew the sisters were missing until Haarup’s fiance, Matt Meyers, came home that afternoon and found her two daughters alone in a crib.

Haarup’s cellphone and purse, her sister’s purse and her sister’s shoes were at the home. A blood-soaked comforter remained on the couch.

Authorities later found Miller at his girlfriend’s residence in Parkville. Miller was arrested without incident. He’d been spotted in Kansas City and near Trimble driving the truck authorities had associated with the women’s disappearance. Witnesses also told of Miller trying to sell the weapons.

Miller later told investigators that he had known Haarup for some time and was attracted to her.

After the hearing, Miller’s relatives declined to comment.

Paul Haarup said the family continues to struggle with putting their lives back together.

“It is just the last leg of one journey in this situation,” Haarup said as he left the courthouse. “He is put away for life, and that was the goal and we reached that goal.”

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“It is just the last leg of one journey in this situation,” Haarup said as he left the courthouse. “He is put away for life, and that was the goal and we reached that goal.”

What a horrible case!!

Thank you Raine, for this update!