Calif. police raid home of quadruple murder suspect

FARMVILLE— Police in Castro Valley, Calif., this morning raided the home of a man held in connection with the slayings of four people whose bodies were found in a house here.

Lt. Dave Alvey of the Alameda County Sheriff’s office said the raid was conducted about 1 a.m. California time.

There was no immediate information on what items may have been seized.

In Farmville today, General District Judge Robert G. Woodson Jr. appointed prominent defense attorney Cary Bowen of Richmond to represent Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III.

A court appearance was set for Jan. 11 at 10 a.m. unless there is a bond hearing before then.

McCroskey appeared for the hearing by a videocast from the Piedmont Regional Jail, where he is being held after his arrest Saturday.

McCroskey was captured at Richmond International Airport following the discovery Friday of four bodies at the Farmville home of a Longwood University professor. Police confirmed the death of Mark Niederbrock, a pastor who was separated from the associate professor, Debra S. Kelley. In addition to Kelley, friends and associates have identified the others killed as their daughter, Emma Niederbrock, and Melanie Wells, a friend of Emma’s visiting from West Virginia.

A court document said McCroskey did not have a criminal record. So far he has been charged only with the killing of Niederbrock, but official identifications of the others have not been released.

On Saturday, police said McCroskey stole Niederbrock’s 2000 Honda and wrecked it before being spotted at a Farmville Sheetz store about 7 a.m. Friday.

Additional details today gave a fuller account of that element of the case.

Prince Edward Sheriff’s Sgt. Stuart Raybold said that shortly after 4 a.m. Friday the sheriff’s office received a call from the 1400 block of Poor House Road to report a suspicious vehicle.

When a deputy arrived, he found that McCroskey had pulled into a driveway, aparently to turn around, backed up across the road and got the vehicle stuck on the other edge of the pavement, Raybold said. The deputy issued him a summons for driving without a license. The vehicle was damaged and had to be towed; the tow truck driver dropped him off at the Sheetz.

Raybold said there was no reason for the deputy 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 said.

The bodies were discovered by police Friday afternoon. McCroskey was seen at the Richmond airport that day but it was unclear what he did between that time and his capture Saturday.