Prince Edward County

505 First Avenue, Farmville

Blunt force

Unknown

Suspect’s sister expresses remorse in Farmville slayings
By Reed Williams

Published: September 22, 2009

FARMVILLE—The sister of the California man suspected in the slayings of four people near Longwood University said she failed her younger brother and wishes she could ask him what happened.

In an e-mail yesterday, Sarah McCroskey, 21, described Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III, who rapped about killing people and disposing of their remains, as a boyish 20-year-old who avoided trouble, walked away from fights, and rarely showed emotion.

Police arrested him Saturday at Richmond International Airport after finding the bodies in a Longwood professor’s home. A Prince Edward County judge appointed an attorney for him yesterday at an initial hearing.

“He’s sweet, he’s talented, he’s like the best brother anyone can ask for,“ Sarah McCroskey said in a phone interview, adding that he was troubled by their parents’ recent separation. She also apologized to the victims’ families.

Early yesterday morning, she said, authorities in Alameda County, Calif., raided the home she shares with the suspect and their father, seizing their computers and other items, including a Halloween costume of Joey Jordison, drummer for the heavy-metal band Slipknot. Alameda officials confirmed they entered the house about 1:30 a.m. PDT while no one was home and that they stayed until about 6 a.m.

“My house is trashed,“ Sarah McCroskey said. “It’s upside down.“

She said her grandmother’s ashes are missing.

Farmville authorities still have not positively identified the four victims found Friday at the home of professor Debra S. Kelley, or discussed how they were killed. Police tentatively identified one of the victims as Kelley’s husband, Mark Niederbrock, pastor at Walker’s Presbyterian Church in Appomattox County.

Friends and associates identified the others as Kelley; her daughter, Emma Niederbrock; and Melanie Wells, a friend of Emma visiting from West Virginia. Emma was the suspect’s girlfriend, Sarah McCroskey said.

Police discovered the bodies Friday after an officer smelled what he believed was human decay. Officials say the victims might have been killed on different days, although they have not presented a timeline.

Investigators charged McCroskey with first-degree murder in the death of Mark Niederbrock, robbery of money from him, and grand larceny of his 2000 Honda.

Prince Edward authorities ticketed McCroskey about 4:20 a.m. Friday for driving without a license after he got a 2000 Honda stuck in a ditch on Poorhouse Road, where someone reported seeing a suspicious vehicle.

The car had not been reported stolen, and Prince Edward sheriff’s Sgt. Stuart Raybold said there was no reason for deputies to be suspicious. In a college town, he said, it’s not unusual for someone to be driving another person’s car.

“He told deputies he was going back to California in the very near future,“ Raybold added.

Elton Napier, owner of Napier’s Towing, said he arrived to tow the car and gave the man a ride to Sheetz, which authorities also confirmed. Napier said the man smelled like a dead animal, making Napier lean toward his open window.

“He smelled so bad it made me heave,“ Napier said. “I don’t know what kind of smell it was. It was a strong smell.“

Napier said he noticed that the front of the man’s neck was covered with what appeared to be hickies, and when he asked the man about them, McCroskey told him his girlfriend had left them.

In Farmville yesterday, Prince Edward General District Judge Robert G. Woodson Jr. appointed defense attorney Cary B. Bowen of Richmond to represent McCroskey. The suspect appeared for the hearing by videocast from the Piedmont Regional Jail.

Officials said a preliminary hearing was set for Jan. 11 unless there is a bond hearing before then. Bowen represented Ray Dandridge, who pleaded guilty to the deaths of the Harvey family and the Tucker/Baskerville family in Richmond in January 2006.

Bowen said he visited McCroskey yesterday at the jail and described his client as in shock. The suspect has no criminal record, according to court papers.

“Twenty years old—he’s never been locked up before,“ Bowen said. “He’s wrestling with it.“

Bowen said it’s possible prosecutors could charge him with capital murder. Prince Edward Commonwealth’s Attorney James R. Ennis declined yesterday to discuss his plans.

Bowen also said McCroskey might have been using sarcasm Saturday when he told television cameras what sounded like “Jesus told me to do it” while he was being moved by police.

Airport police had found him Saturday sleeping in a baggage-claim area at Richmond International Airport waiting for a flight back to California the next day.

McCroskey was visiting Emma Niederbrock, and they attended a music festival in Michigan on Sept. 12 with Wells, according to online friends. McCroskey was a fan of the horrorcore genre, which is hip-hop music accompanied by violent lyrics.

Sarah McCroskey, 21, described their family as musically inclined. She said their father plays guitar and she used to play drums for a heavy-metal band. She said her parents’ separation a couple of months ago was a blow to her brother, whom she described as a “mama’s boy.“

“We were the only kids of all our friends that still had our parents under one roof,“ she said.

She said her brother, who went by Sam, apparently met Emma Niederbrock at a horrorcore music show in California, possibly last year.

Amber Edwards, 18, of Indiana, said she is an online friend of Sam McCroskey and was in touch with Emma Niederbrock and Wells. “They were actually really nice girls,“ Edwards said. “They were innocent pretty much.“

Wells’ cell phone had a Backstreet Boys song as a ring-back tone.

Sarah McCroskey said she doesn’t believe the horrorcore lyrics influenced him but added that he doesn’t show his emotions. “He didn’t let anyone in,“ she said. “He had such a big brick wall built up.“

Before he left for Virginia, McCroskey told his sister he planned to join the Army as soon as he got back, she said.

“I wish I could have been there for him way more then I was,“ her e-mail said.

In a later phone interview, she said, “Even though I’m surrounded by my friends, I feel so very alone.“

—-
* date listed is when the body was found.