Charges were filed today against a Missouri man in the deaths of two sisters from Platte County.

Platte County Prosecuting Attorney Eric Zahnd says Clifford D. Miller of Trimble was charged today in the deaths of 19-year-old Britny Haarup and 22-year-old Ashley Key on Friday.

Miller is charged with two counts of first degree murder.  The death penalty is being considered.

The bodies of the sisters were found Sunday near Trimble in Clinton County, not far from where a truck owned by one of the sisters was spotted earlier in the weekend.

The sisters were reported missing Friday after Haarup’s fiance, Matt Meyers, came home to find his 6 and 18 month old daughters alone in the same crib at their home at 406 Perry Street in Edgerton.

A white pickup truck and some firearms were also reported missing. That truck was spotted in the Trimble area Saturday morning. Investigators say Miller was seen driving it. Authorities also say he was selling some firearms similar to those reported missing.

Sheriff Richard Anderson told reporters they pursued an “intense investigation,” that included searches in three counties, but he says based on the evidence, the women were dead before the search began.

Miller was arrested Sunday. Authorities say he admitted to being high on methamphetamine and going to Haarup’s residence to sexually assault her. His plans allegedly changed when he found and confronted Key in the house. He told police he beat and smothered the two women.  According to the affidavit, Miller smoked some more methamphetamine after he had killed the women.  He told detectives he then put the women’s bodies in the truck and dumped them along a tree line in the 7500 block of SW County Line Road in Clinton County.

Miller is being held in the Platte County Jail on a $500,000 cash bond.

A memorial fund has been setup for Haarup and Key.

Donations can be made to:

The Haarup and Key Memorial
Kansas City Police Credit Union
2800 East 14th St.
Kansas City, MO 64127