A woman accused of shooting her boyfriend dead has blamed an apocalyptic alien cult for turning against them.
Barbara Rogers, 42, killed her boyfriend Stephen Mineo at their home in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania, in July 2017.
The couple were said to be members of the cult 'Sherry Shriner' which expresses a belief in extraterrestrials and an impending apocalypse.
Rogers said she spent her last night with Mineo at a local bar before going to the woods behind their house and shotting him with his 0.45-caliber handgun.
She told jurors it was Mineo that put the gun to his head, wrapped her hands around it and told her to pull the trigger, according to WNEP.
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She then called the police, according to investigators, and said: "My boyfriend had a gun. He told me to hold it here and press the trigger. Oh my God, he's dead."
However, prosecutors argued that she could have prevented the incident.
In Monroe County Courthouse, Rogers rejected a guilty plea deal of third-degree murder before the trial.
Police lieutenant Steven Williams told local station WBRE in 2017: "[Rogers] identified that the deceased was having online issues with a cult and he wanted to be killed and requested she do it."
It is reported that members of the cult believed Rogers was a witch or a reptile who wanted to kill Mineo.
The alleged cult leader, Sherry Shriner, defended herself in a series of posts.
In 2017, she wrote: "I warned [Stephen] she was a Super Soldier who would kill him and move on...but I'm the 'false prophet'.
"Perhaps he finally figured her out...but it was too late for him. It wasn't the 'online cult' that killed him...they always try and paint me as a cult...nice try libtards."
In another post she explained that she was trying to protect Mineo from Rogers.
She wrote: "They're trying to spin it that I'm responsible for Steve's death? No, Barb is. I tried to protect Steve.
"I tried to warn him about Barbara Rogers and he wouldn't listen to me."
