Indictments reveal details in Farmville slayings

FARMVILLE -- Authorities believe two weapons -- a ball-peen hammer and a wood-splitting maul -- were used to bludgeon four people to death inside a Longwood University professor's home in September, a source close to the investigation confirmed yesterday.

Also yesterday, Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III of Castro Valley, Calif., was served with indictments on six counts of capital murder in the bludgeoning deaths of professor Debra S. Kelley, 53; her estranged husband, Mark Niederbrock, 50; their daughter, Emma Niederbrock, 16; and Melanie Wells, 18, Emma's friend from Inwood, W.Va. All four were discovered dead Sept. 18 in Kelley's Farmville home.

McCroskey, who recorded violent rap music using the name "Syko Sam," also faces a charge of grand larceny that accuses him of stealing Mark Niederbrock's car.

Indictments in the case were returned Oct. 19 but were not unsealed until yesterday.

Investigators recovered several possible weapons from the home, including a ball-peen hammer and a wood-splitting maul, according to the court papers unsealed yesterday. A maul is a tool with a long handle with a head like an ax on one side and a hammer on the other.

Authorities believe both the hammer and the maul were used on each of the victims, according to the source close to the investigation. All four victims were bludgeoned beyond recognition, the source added.

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Officials also removed from the Kelley home a meat cleaver and a red-stained knife, but authorities do not believe either of those weapon was used in the killings, the source said.

Three of the four bodies were found in a downstairs bedroom, according to court documents. The other was found in a room upstairs. Authorities have not said which bodies were found in which room.

Authorities believe one or more of the victims might have been attacked while asleep, but they don't know that for certain, the source said.

McCroskey has not discussed the crimes with investigators.

Authorities say they might never know on what day the three female victims died, although investigators say they believe Mark Niederbrock was killed after Kelley and the two teens. Charging documents say Niederbrock was killed Sept. 17, the day before the bodies were found.

At least 98 items were recovered from Kelley's home, including sketchbooks, electronic equipment and a note to Wells found on a kitchen table. The search warrant return did not indicate what the note said or who wrote it.

Documents also show items seized from Niederbrock's stolen car and from a satchel McCroskey had with him when he was arrested Sept. 19 at Richmond International Airport. Police believe he spent the night at the airport awaiting a return flight to California.

Investigators also have sought to search various cell phones and other electronic devices for images, text or other evidence. According to an affidavit for a search warrant, investigators were seeking to determine whether the suspect had documented his activities while at Kelley's home using a computer, cell phone or video camera.

McCroskey, 20, met Emma Niederbrock online through their mutual interest in horrorcore rap music. He flew to Virginia on Sept. 6 to meet her for the first time and to attend a horrorcore show with her and Wells in Michigan. Kelley and Mark Niederbrock accompanied the teens and McCroskey to Michigan.

In Virginia, a person can be charged with capital murder when there are certain aggravating circumstances such as the murder of a police officer; murder in the commission of a rape or robbery; or more than one murder in a three-year period. A defendant can be charged, tried and convicted of more than one count of capital murder for the same murder.

Each of the capital-murder indictments against McCroskey charges him with killing multiple people within three years.

His next court date is Jan. 19, when a trial date is scheduled to be set.

Contact Reed Williams at (804) 649-6332 or .