Juggalos, Wiccans, Satanists and vampires are all subcultures of the occult that are on the periphery of the mainstream. But the recent quadruple homicide in Farmville at the home of a Longwood University professor has thrust these lifestyles into the headlines. Don Rimer, a retired member of the Virginia Beach Police Department who studies ritual crime and the occult, spoke yesterday about these cultures and ritual crime to about 100 people at Farmville United Methodist Church.

FARMVILLE—More than 100 people attended a speech today about Juggalos, Wiccans, Satanism and vampires in the wake of September’s quadruple homicide in Farmville. Don Rimer, who studies ritual crime and the occult, spoke at Farmville United Methodist Church on these cultures and ritual crime. “This is all about education. This is awareness and recognition about all of these behaviors, and the crimes associated with them,“ said Rimer, a retired veteran of the Virginia Beach Police Department.

A ball-peen hammer and a wood-splitting maul were used to bludgeon four people found dead inside a Longwood University professor’s home in September, a source close to the investigation confirmed yesterday.

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.

Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III of Castro Valley, Calif., faces six counts of capital murder and a charge of grand larceny.

The initial shock of last month’s quadruple homicide has begun to fade for some town residents, allowing them to step back and examine the impact of a baffling crime. Some Farmville residents have lost sleep thinking about the bludgeoning deaths of Longwood University professor Debra S. Kelley; her estranged husband, Mark Niederbrock; their daughter, Emma Niederbrock; and her friend Melanie Wells, who was visiting from West Virginia. Police found the bodies Sept. 18 in the home that Kelley and Emma shared near the Longwood campus.

The father of quadruple-homicide victim Melanie Wells drove from West Virginia to pick her up and waited outside her friend’s house in Farmville for seven hours Sept. 16.

Mark Niederbrock was on the phone with his 70-year-old mother in Illinois when he got a call on the other line that would lead to his death. It was Kathleen Wells, calling from West Virginia, and she couldn’t get in touch with her daughter, Melanie, who was in Farmville visiting Mark’s daughter, Emma.

Monday, Sept. 6: Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III, 20, of Castro Valley, Calif., leaves on a flight to Richmond International Airport. He’s picked up by girlfriend Emma Niederbrock, 16, of Farmville, whom he met online through their common interest in horrorcore music, and her mother, Longwood University professor Debra S. Kelley.
  Thursday, Sept. 10: Kelley and her estranged husband, Mark Niederbrock, leave town with McCroskey, Emma Niederbrock and her friend, Melanie Wells, 18, of Inwood, W.Va. The parents take them to Southgate, Mich., for the Strictly for the Wicked Festival, an all-day horrorcore show Sept. 12.

The suspect in the killings of four people in Farmville told a cab driver hours before the victims’ bodies were found that he had confronted his girlfriend after finding a text message from another man on her phone.

It was a somber evening at the Brown Funeral Home’s South Berkeley Chapel, as about 150 of Melanie Wells’ friends and family gathered to remember the young woman and mourn the tragic loss of a loving friend, daughter and sister. Wells, 18, was one of four victims found bludgeoned to death Sept. 18 in Farmville. Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III, 20, of Castro Valley, Calif., is suspected in all four deaths.

Driver who took Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III to the Richmond airport said the young Californian, who was not a suspect at that time, told him he was upset about another man’s text to Emma Niederbrock.

HIXBURG—Mark Niederbrock was remembered yesterday as a gifted and compassionate pastor who dearly loved his congregants and ministered in their homes and hospital rooms. “He just really came to know God, and there was no turning back from there,“ said Bert Cloud, pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in Disputanta. The Rev. Joseph McCutchen officiated at the graveside service at Walker’s Presbyterian Church in Appomattox County, where Niederbrock had been pastor about six years.

Performer contacted suspect’s mother, who tried calling 16-year-old Emma Niederbrock, her son’s girlfriend and one of the four victims in last week’s killings in Farmville.

Call to Farmville came soon after officers found four bodies in the home of a Longwood University professor; investigator was told suspect’s photo could be found on MySpace.