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.

At the Virginia Military Institute, where three to six cadets share rooms “so small they put their bunks up during the day so they can get around,“ officials had expected roommates also would share the swine-flu virus. “But that’s not happening,“ said VMI spokesman Stewart MacInnis. “We’re really not sure of the pattern” of how the virus is spreading among cadets on the Lexington campus, he said.

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.

Horrorcore, little known until Farmville slayings, is called by one critic a “ventilation system for those with a generallly more sinister mindset.“

“I’m thinking this guy could be a big creep,“ said Pappas, who uses MySpace and Facebook. That didn’t turn out to be the case, and they dated for a year. But Pappas, like many Longwood students interviewed yesterday, is rethinking her relationship with the Internet in the aftermath of a quadruple slaying in the home of a Longwood professor that has been tied to a MySpace relationship between the suspect and the professor’s daughter.

The following are excerpts from an e-mail yesterday from Sarah McCroskey, 21, sister of Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III, sent to the Richmond Times-Dispatch: “A tragedy has been bestowed upon us and my heart goes out to the ones who lost their lives and to their loved ones whom are dealing with such a horrific loss. 4 innocent people in Farmville, Virginia are gone and no one knows why or how. . . .

April Harper walked her pit bull, Titan, near her former sociology professor’s home yesterday, feeling “sad and just amazed” by what had happened in the gray house shrouded by trees on First Avenue. “I wish I had said ‘Hi’ to her a couple of more times,“ said Harper, a Longwood University senior from Richmond. When she was a freshman, Harper had taken a sociology course taught by Longwood professor Debra S. Kelley.

The son of Henrico County’s chief prosecutor will serve a jail term for underage possession of alcohol but escaped a felony charge yesterday of malicious wounding. In a 10-minute Henrico General District Court proceeding that did not include testimony from the arresting officer, a substitute judge dropped a malicious-wounding charge against Samuel Raines Kizer but sentenced him to 30 days in jail, with 15 days suspended, on the possession charge.

Dr. Waverly Manson Cole agreed on the spot when it was suggested that he donate his collection of 19th-century Bohemian glass, Meissen porcelain figurines and English pottery. The 500-plus pieces are now part of The Cole Gallery at Longwood University and an expansive legacy of giving by the retired anesthesiologist. Dr. Cole died at age 80 on Friday after a battle with cancer.

Longwood University has received $1 million from a Farmville physician to finance a clinical simulation learning center for the university’s new nursing program. The gift from Dr. Edward I. Gordon, who also serves on the Farmville Town Council, is the largest gift ever from a local donor. Gordon has practiced pediatric and family medicine in Farmville for 36 years. He also serves as chief physician to The Woodland retirement community; medical director for Piedmont Regional Jail and Farmville Police Department; and as medical examiner for Prince Edward and Cumberland counties.

Longwood University selected 268 students to the President’s List for superior academic achievement during the spring 2009 semester. Among those who earned an academic average of 4.0 are: * Melissa Paige Bray of Chesterfield (23832) * Emily Suzanne Briggs of Chesterfield (23832) * Philip Lok of Chesterfield (23832)