Farmville victims died from blunt force trauma
MARK GORMUS/TIMES-DISPATCH
Prince Edward prosecutor James R. Ennis said the quadruple slayings investigation is “coast to coast.“
Listen to Prince Edward Commonwealth’s Attorney James Ennis release information on the four victims of the Farmville attack.
Richard Samuel
Alden McCroskey III
The Prince Edward County prosecutor this morning officially confirmed the identities of four people found slain Friday in the home of a Longwood University professor and said the cause of death for each was blunt force trauma to the head.
Debra Sue Kelley, 53, an associate professor of sociology and criminal justice studies; her daughter, Emma Niederbrock, 16; and Emma’s friend, Melanie Grace Wells, 18, of Inwood, W.Va., were victims along with Kelley’s estranged husband, Pastor Mark Alan Niederbrock, 50, said Prince Edward Commonwealth’s Attorney James Ennis.
Niederbrock’s identity had been confirmed Saturday by police; the other victims had been named earlier by friends and associates.
Ennis said the medical examiner confirmed the identification of the victims yesterday and relatives were notified. He said preliminary autopsy reports list the cause of death for each victim as blunt force trauma.
Ennis declined to discuss what weapon may have been used or which day or days the victims were slain.
He said additional homicide charges are anticipated against Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III, 20, of Castro Valley, Calif., who is the suspect in all four killings but was initially accused only in the death of Mark Niederbrock.
Those charges would come “at some point in the future, after forensics evidence results have been received and the evidence has been reviewed,“ Ennis said.
The prosecutor would not say what was found at either the Kelley home in Farmville or McCroskey’s residence in California. He also did not provide information on the McCroskey’s activities leading up to the killings.
The prosecutor said that Andres Shrim, a friend of McCroskey’s who owns a record label that specializes in horrorcore, the violent genre with which the suspect identified, had been interviewed. Shrim yesterday said he saw McCroskey at a Sept. 12 music festival in Michigan and that he doesn’t believe that he is guilty. Ennis did not say what was learned from the interview.
Ennis said there are no other suspects in the case.
“I really don’t have time to tell you the extent and scope that this investigation entails,“ the prosecutor said. “We are going coast to coast on this investigation and every lead is being followed as it develops.“
He credited “good police work” for the speed with which investigators have been able to act so far, and in identifying the victims.
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Reader Reactions
lalu83 says: “it doesn’t mean they were horrible, irresponsible, immoral people”
Who said they were? Those are your words. Although actually I think it is irresponsible for a parent to become an enabler to one’s child when s/he is engaging in self-destructive behavior.
Sounds like LongwoodAlum’s posts. S/he also failed to see the point of several commenters - this event was not a random act. “any of us could be struck by tragedy” - absolutely. But, again, that’s not what happened here. The suspect was no stranger to the victims.
Some commenters will say anything, and misrepresent the facts of this incredibly sad situation, in order to justify their desire to make this out to be an unavoidable tragedy. Perhaps they could start a blog, where only people with the same viewpoints are allowed to post on this subject.
It is my sincere hope that, God forbid, nothing ever happens to anyone’s loved ones who have so passionately criticized Dr. Kelley’s parenting skills - please think for a moment about what you are saying on this board. Yes, I’m pretty sure by now we all agree that some of the family’s actions may not pass the “common sense” test by most people’s standards, but it doesn’t mean they were horrible, irresponsible, immoral people. Any of us - regardless of how safe we are trying to be - could be struck by tragedy when we least expect it. And parents, I’m sure the last thing you’d want to read if your child was murdered is how much of a failure others think you were/are. If you can question the family’s choices without being demoralizing, do so. If you can’t, maybe you should reassess the situation (or contact Jane Velez from CNN so you can continue your tirades…)
Hodgson, the colleague of Kelley, says: “Back in the day, you grew your hair long and wore bell-bottom jeans and listened to rock ‘n roll and who knows what else ... Our parents thought it was the end of the world, and we were acting so damned crazy” and “She’s either going to go on her own or I go with her and make sure she’s OK” - Wrong. Take the credit card, take the cell phone, take the computer out of the room, take the allowance away - do whatever you have to to protect your child.
To compare mild teenage rebellion like growing long hair, to engaging in the horrorcore culture, which glorifies rape & murder, is extremely foolish.
LongAlum, I sincerely hope that you’re able to get over your anger and respect the fact that other people have strong opinions about this tragedy because we don’t want it to happen to anyone else. This wasn’t a random act that happened out of nowhere - obviously the victims knew the murder suspect.
I hope you are never put in the position where you have to defend the name of a dead friend just because someone wants to exercise her Freedom of Speech.
Maybe you missed my previous post…so here’s a recap…
And yes, anon, there are specific sites for posting memorials for those that have passed, but this site is as appropriate as anything else for people to express how sad this whole situation is and how much they respected, loved, etc all of these victims. No one is telling you can’t post your ridiculous opinions, they are just telling you that is it in very poor taste.
Your obvious anger, LongwoodAlum, doesn’t negate the validity of my opinions. And you still don’t address my main points - you just want to “kill the messenger”, for lack of a better phrase. Manufacturing a “straw man” argument, by wrongly making me out to be some self-proclaiming “perfect” parent (which I NEVER claimed to be), just means you can dismiss what I’ve said. To act like we can’t learn from this tragedy because we don’t want to offend anyone who thinks differently is foolish.
My comments are certainly not misguided. I am sorry that you lost someone you cared about. Obviously it’s clouding your thought process. Why post on this article at all? There are memorial sites where those who grieve a loved one or friend can post positive messages - that’s the appropriate place to do so.
So far it’s still a free country - and I will continue to post my opinion, no matter how much you disagree.
PLEASE READ!
The Associated Press
© September 24, 2009
FARMVILLE
A criminal justice professor and her daughter, who police say were slain by a horrorcore rapper, were in counseling over the teenager’s obsession with the macabre music, and the mother took her daughter to the concerts to keep an eye on her, a family friend said Wednesday.
Debra Kelley, 53, an associate professor at Longwood University, was hoping that Emma Niederbrock was just “going through a phase,“ said James F. Hodgson, a former colleague who had known Emma since she was about 1 year old. He said Kelley took her to horrorcore concerts, which feature artists who rhyme violent lyrics over hip-hop beats, in Michigan and Illinois.
“She’s either going to go on her own or I go with her and make sure she’s OK,“ Hodgson, a former police officer and now an associate criminal justice professor at Virginia State University, said of Kelley’s reasoning. “She said that she needed to be there for her, and that she was going to grow out of this.“
Kelley and Emma were found bludgeoned to death Friday at their Farmville home in central Virginia along with Kelley’s estranged husband and Emma’s father, the Rev. Mark Niederbrock, 50, and Emma’s friend Melanie Wells, 18, of Inwood, W.Va.
Police have charged Emma’s boyfriend, Richard “Sammy” McCroskey III, 20, of Castro Valley, Calif., with first-degree murder in Mark Niederbrock’s death. McCroskey, who rapped under the name “Syko Sam,“ is also suspected in the other killings.
McCroskey and Emma, who went by “RagD0LL” online, appear to have met through the underground horrorcore scene. On Sept. 6, McCroskey flew to Virginia so they could attend a music festival together.
Authorities believe the killings occurred shortly after the group returned from the Sept. 12 concert in Southgate, Mich. The girls last logged onto their MySpace accounts Sept. 14. McCroskey was arrested Saturday at the Richmond airport while awaiting a flight back to California.
McCroskey’s sister, Sarah, said her brother’s friends told her that he and Emma had some kind of falling out at the concert.
Hodgson said Kelley, who specialized in violence against women but has taught classes in homicide, had been struggling since Emma got into horrorcore a couple of years ago. She and her husband separated about a year ago, and all three were in therapy “trying to move through this.“
“Clearly, she was very upset with it and didn’t necessarily approve of it,“ he said. “I mean short of locking them in their room or something and putting wires on the windows, I don’t necessarily know what you do.“
Hodgson said Kelley never mentioned McCroskey, but it was clear Emma was smitten with him. She had been sending McCroskey passionate messages on MySpace about hisimpending visit.
She was also looking forward to the Michigan festival, but complained in a post that her father, a Presbyterian minister, was coming along on the 16-hour drive.
Andres Shrim, owner of the horrorcore label Serial Killin Records, said it was not uncommon for parents to accompany their children to these concerts.
Hodgson said Kelley had tried to keep tabs on Emma, even installing software on her computer to monitor the Web sites she visited. She had been home-schooling Emma for the past several years because of bullying and discipline issues in middle school, and some of Emma’s postings talked about smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol.
Hodgson, who co-wrote a book on sexual violence with Kelley, acknowledged that people might find it strange that someone like Kelley would indulge such a fascination with music that glorifies rape, mutilation and murder. Kelley had been on paid leave this academic year to conduct research and had resigned from the university effective in May, school spokesman Dennis Sercombe said.
Students were shocked when they found that out two weeks before the semester began. Katie Austin, 21, of Portsmouth, said Kelley was a popular teacher who often hosted cookouts for students in Lambda Alpha Epsilon, a criminal justice fraternity Kelley helped form. She would occasionally bring Emma to class.
“I remember instances where she would talk about how she didn’t understand some of the things that were going on with teens these days, and she could have been referring to Emma,“ Austin said.
Hodgson last saw Kelley and Emma about three weeks ago, when he and his daughter were driving through Farmville. He remembered joking with Emma about her pink hair. Like his friend, he hoped horrorcore was something she would get over.
“Back in the day, you grew your hair long and wore bell-bottom jeans and listened to rock ‘n roll and who knows what else,“ he said. “Our parents thought it was the end of the world, and we were acting so damned crazy. But somehow we grew out of some of that and got jobs and moved on with our lives. I mean, some of us did.“
Furious? Who is furious? You assume a lot anon. First with the VICTIMS in this crime and now with me. This does hit close to home for me…not because I am struggling as parent (which for the record, I am not), but because I KNEW one of the victims. I RESPECTED her a lot and I LEARNED a lot from her. Does it pain me to see her name dragged through the mud by some one who has delusions of grandeur? Absolutely. I respond to your comments so others will take a moment to understand how misguided you are in your opinions of someone that you have never met. I applaud you for “doing your homework” and for “raising a good kid.” I haven’t said otherwise. What I have said, is that although, the decisions Dr. Kelley made were different from the decisions you MIGHT have made if you were ever in the same situation, those decisions do not make her a bad parent who ALLOWED this to happen to her daughter.
But boy am I glad that you keep informing us of how perfect you are as parent just so we all know because really, I thought that my mom was God’s Gift to Children, but clearly I was wrong. Thanks for setting us all straight. How are we all still alive, well and successful for not having the exact rearing that you provided your daughter?
Go ahead & be furious, Longwood Alum- I could not care less. Maybe my points just hit a little too close to home.
I was a single parent from the time my daughter was two, and to say it was difficult is an understatement. But I actually tried hard to be a good parent - I talked to parents of “good”, successful kids and gave a lot of thought to what kind of parent I needed to be in order to provide the best foundation for my child. Sorry, but a lot of parents don’t really think about what they do - they blame their kids’ problems on “society” or they allow their child to be the boss, and abdicate their own authority as parents.
You are going to really hate me now. This isn’t about being a victim “at any time” (that’s what you said, comparing these murders to the murder of Annie Le, which is absurd). This is about a perhaps preventable tragedy. The 16-yr old opened the door to an incredibly evil world, and after her parents knew what she was doing, they didn’t do whatever they could to stop it, instead they enabled her to stay engaged in the horrorcore culture. But you’re going to ignore whatever I say anyway, because you’re so desperate to justify the actions of the parents.
Monitor internet usage? They could have yanked the computer. Boundaries laid by her parents? What boundaries? Obviously she was the one calling the shots. Explore her own interests? What if her interests were meth & LSD? Is that ok too? You fail to understand that her interests were dangerous - just like drugs are dangerous. “Taking action” & “doing what she thought would keep her daughter safe” - how in the world do you think you’ll keep your child safe by accompanying your child to one of these events? The argument that “oh, she’d just go anyway” is specious. How would she get the money? Only by her parents enabling her once again.
“Extremely self-righteous”? Nope - just extremely outraged. Too bad you aren’t just as outraged, by the fact that there were so many warning signs of extreme danger.
So you attacking me as a parent now, anon? Really?
Maybe you should have a discussion with your adult daughter about what things she did as a teenager behind your back because she knew that you would disapprove. Maybe you should remind yourself about how difficult it is to deal with a child through a divorce and how difficult it is for a child to transition through a divorce. You should be counting yourself lucky that she turned out the way she did and stop suggesting that you solely got her there by being this perfect parent who would NEVER allow her to attend concerts such as this or listen to such horrible music.
My point is not to say that Dr. Kelley was a perfect parent who made no mistakes. My point is that you can’t blame this tragedy on the fact that she allowed her daughter to explore her own interests with in the boundaries laid out by her parents (if you read the entire article from Hamptonraods.com, then you know that they were doing things like monitoring her internet usage).
My point is that we all could become a victim at any time, even all of you “perfect” people and your children who you raised “perfectly.“ There are sick people everywhere. Point in case: Annie Le, killed while working in a lab at Yale University.
The point is that you can not blame this murder on Dr. Kelley. She did take action and she did do what she thought would keep her daughter safe and not push her even further over the edge. Just because in doing so, she took a different path than you would have does not mean she lead her daughter to the slaughter.
Also, please pay attention, there are several people posting under some form of a Longwood Alum user name. We all disagree with your extremely self-righteous rants about a person that many of us personally knew.
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