Police arrest suspect in 4 killings in central Va.

[samanthajane13]

By ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON, Associated Press Writer Zinie Chen Sampson, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 11 mins ago

FARMVILLE, Va. – A 20-year-old man suspected of killing four people in a central Virginia college town was arrested at an airport Saturday, where he apparently tried to catch a flight to his home state of California, authorities said.

Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III was arrested by Richmond International Airport police officers who found him asleep in the baggage claim area, Farmville police Capt. Wade Stimpson said. He is being held in Farmville, where he faces charges of first-degree murder, grand larceny of an automobile and robbery, Stimpson said.

McCroskey is scheduled to appear Monday in court, when he can either hire an attorney or have one appointed, Stimpson said.

Officers found the bodies Friday afternoon in the home of Debra S. Kelley, an associate professor of sociology and criminal justice studies at Longwood University, school spokeswoman Gina Caldwell said Saturday.

Police cordoned off a one-block area around the home on First Street next to a Longwood athletic field with yellow tape. On Saturday, curious motorists slowly drove by to get a glimpse of the two-story gray house.

Residents sitting on their porches a block over said they saw officers in bulletproof vests and shotguns entering Kelley's home Friday afternoon. Most said they did not know her well.

Authorities are awaiting identification of the bodies from the state medical examiner's office, but that isn't expected until Monday. Stimpson declined to discuss the case, including how the bodies were found or how the victims were killed.

Police had sent flyers to authorities elsewhere to help identify McCroskey, of Castro Valley, Calif., Stimpson said.

McCroskey showed identification when officers approached him, didn't resist and wasn't carrying any weapons with him, airport spokesman Troy Bell said.

State police were assisting in the investigation in Farmville, about 50 miles west of Richmond.

Longwood did not issue an alert after the bodies were discovered because it happened off campus, Caldwell said. She said the 4,500-student school and the small town were unaccustomed to such violence.

"Not only on campus, but even in Farmville — it just doesn't happen here," she said.

___

Associated Press Writer Dena Potter contributed to this report from Richmond, Va.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090919/ap_on_re_us/us_virginia_killings

[samanthajane13]

Va. slayings suspect put violent rap songs on Web
By ZINIE CHEN SAMPSON and DENA POTTER, Associated Press Writers Zinie Chen Sampson And Dena Potter, Associated Press Writers – 1 hr 20 mins ago

FARMVILLE, Va. – A California man who rapped about murder in songs posted on his MySpace page was arrested Saturday by investigators who suspect him of killing four people in a central Virginia college town.

Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III, 20, of Castro Valley, Calif., was taken into custody at Richmond International Airport, where authorities believe he tried to catch a flight back to California. Officers found McCroskey asleep in the baggage claim area, Farmville police Capt. Wade Stimpson said.

McCroskey is being held in Farmville, where he faces charges of first-degree murder, grand larceny of an automobile and robbery, Stimpson said. McCroskey is scheduled to appear Monday in court, when he can either hire an attorney or have one appointed.

Officers found the bodies Friday afternoon in the home of Debra S. Kelley, an associate professor of sociology and criminal justice studies at Longwood University, school spokeswoman Gina Caldwell said Saturday.

Authorities are awaiting identification of the dead from the state medical examiner's office, but that isn't expected until Monday. Stimpson declined to discuss the case, including how the bodies were found or how the victims were killed.

McCroskey was immersed in the so-called horrorcore rap music scene, and he recorded songs that spoke of death, murder and mutilation under the name Syko Sam. His MySpace page says he has only been rapping for a few months.

One of several songs posted on his MySpace page under his stage name talks about the thrill of killing someone. A friend confirmed the site and the songs were McCroskey's.

"You're not the first, just to let you know. I've killed many people and I kill them real slow. It's the best feeling, watching their last breath. Stabbing and stabbing till there's nothing left," McCroskey sings in "My Dark Side."

On his personal Web page, McCroskey posted videos and pictures of a grave where a cross and miniature American flags had been turned upside down.

"We defiled the grave, and then lightning struck seconds ago. I think we were being warned," he says in the video, laughing. In the photos, the gravestone identifies the person buried there as a Marine.

McCroskey's page shows that he last logged in on Friday. His status is listed as "out of town" and his mood "determined."

The owner of a small, independent record label that specializes in the horrorcore genre said others shouldn't judge McCroskey by what they see on his Web site or hear in his music. Andres Shrim, who owns Serial Killin Records in New Mexico and performs himself under the name SickTanicK, described McCroskey as a "great kid," articulate, smart and professional.

Shrim said he has known McCroskey for at least two years, and he last saw him Sept. 12 at an all-day music festival in South Gate, Mich.

"You would never, ever imagine that kid even being a suspect," Shrim said. "If he is found to be guilty, I would be 100 percent shocked."

Shrim said even though horrorcore focuses on murder and other morbid subjects, performers and fans shouldn't be labeled as violent people.

"People get the impression we're these twisted, sick individuals and we don't have hearts and we just want to talk about murder and the devil," he said. "But we just want to express that other side of life."

In Farmville, police cordoned off a one-block area around the home on First Street next to a Longwood athletic field with yellow tape. On Saturday, curious motorists slowly drove by to get a glimpse of the two-story gray house.

Residents sitting on their porches a block over said they saw officers in bulletproof vests and shotguns entering Kelley's home Friday afternoon. Most said they did not know her well.

Police had sent fliers to authorities elsewhere to help identify McCroskey, of Castro Valley, Calif., Stimpson said.

McCroskey showed identification when officers approached him, didn't resist and wasn't carrying any weapons with him, airport spokesman Troy Bell said.

State police were assisting in the investigation in Farmville, about 50 miles west of Richmond.

Longwood did not issue an alert after the bodies were discovered because it happened off campus, Caldwell said. She said the 4,500-student school and the small town were unaccustomed to such violence.

"Not only on campus, but even in Farmville — it just doesn't happen here," she said.

___

Dena Potter reported from Richmond, Va.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090920/ap_on_re_us/us_virginia_killings

[samanthajane13]

Rapper suspected of killing Va. pastor, 3 others
By DENA POTTER, Associated Press Writer Dena Potter, Associated Press Writer – 34 mins ago

RICHMOND, Va. – A California rapper whose lyrics spoke about the thrill of murder and mutilation has been charged with killing a Virginia pastor, whose body was found along with three others inside the home of his estranged wife, authorities said Sunday.

Police on Saturday charged Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III, 20, of Castro Valley, Calif., with murder, robbery and stealing the automobile of Mark Niederbrock, a pastor at Walker's Presbyterian Church in Appomattox County.

Niederbrock has been tentatively identified as one of four people discovered Saturday in Farmville, about 50 miles west of Richmond, at the home of Longwood University professor Debra Kelley. Niederbrock and Kelley were separated, said Farmville police Capt. Wade Stimpson. He emphasized that the state medical examiner's office would not officially identify any of the victims until at least Monday.

McCroskey will be formally charged with the other three killings once the bodies are identified, Stimpson said. He said "there are a number of factors relating to why" police couldn't identify the victims. He would not say how they were killed.

Police went to Kelley's home Thursday after a West Virginia woman called to say that it had been days since she heard from her teen daughter, who was staying with Kelley and Niederbrock's daughter, Emma, Stimpson said.

Investigators went to the home, where a man matching McCroskey's description told them the girls had gone to the movies. When the mother still didn't hear from her daughter Friday, police went to the home and found the bodies.

Police arrested McCroskey at the Richmond airport Saturday as he waited to take a plane back to California. He is being held in the Piedmont Regional Jail and has an initial court appearance on Monday to determine if he needs a court-appointed attorney.

Stimpson said messages posted online led police to believe McCroskey knew Emma Niederbrock and that he may have been visiting her.

On McCroskey's MySpace page, someone who goes by Ragdoll, which friends identified as Emma Niederbrock, wrote several messages to McCroskey. In a post dated Sept. 7, Niederbrock says she is excited for McCroskey's visit to her house.

"The next time you check your myspace, YOULL BE AT MY HOUSE!" the post reads.

A friend said McCroskey, Emma and her friend were brought together by horrorcore music, which sets violent lyrics to hip-hop beats.

Andres Shrim, who owns the small, independent horrorcore music label Serial Killin Records in New Mexico and performs under the name SickTanicK, said he saw all three Sept. 12 at an all-day music festival in Southgate, Mich.

Shrim said despite the morbid music he and his friends loved, they were not violent people.

"You look at the music we do and it's kind of harsh and somewhat brutal at times, but there's a different side of life that people aren't normally accustomed to, and being an artist I think it's important to see both sides of life," he said.

McCroskey recorded songs that spoke of death, murder and mutilation under the name Syko Sam. His MySpace Web page said he has only been rapping for a few months but has been a fan for years of the horrorcore genre.

"You're not the first, just to let you know. I've killed many people and I kill them real slow. It's the best feeling, watching their last breath. Stabbing and stabbing till there's nothing left," McCroskey sings in "My Dark Side."

Shrim asked others not to judge McCroskey by the lyrics to his songs or his disturbing Web pages.

"This is not something from the Sam I know," he said. "This is not something that I would ever, ever in a million years envision him doing."

Stimpson called McCroskey's songs and writings "a little disturbing," and said police were looking into that.

A phone message left Sunday at McCroskey's California home was not immediately returned.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090920/ap_on_re_us/us_virginia_killings

[samanthajane13]

Suspect in 4 Va. killings appears in court
By DENA POTTER, Associated Press Writer Dena Potter, Associated Press Writer – 33 mins ago

FARMVILLE, Va. – An aspiring California rapper suspected in the slayings of a Virginia pastor and three other people will remain in jail following his first court appearance.

Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III appeared Monday by video conference in Prince Edward County court. He was given a court-appointed attorney and a preliminary hearing was set for Jan. 11.

McCroskey is charged with murder in the death of Mark Niederbrock, a pastor at a Presbyterian church in central Virginia. Niederbrock was one of four people found dead Friday at the home of a college professor in Farmville, about 50 miles west of Richmond.

The 20-year-old McCroskey raps under the name Syko Sam in the horrorcore genre, which sets violent lyrics to hip-hop beats.

McCroskey was arrested at the Richmond airport Saturday.

(This version CORRECTS the headline to show McCroskey is suspected in 4 killings, not charged)


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090921/ap_on_re_us/us_virginia_killings

[samanthajane13]

Suspect in 4 Va. killings had run-ins with police
By DENA POTTER, Associated Press Writer Dena Potter, Associated Press Writer – 38 mins ago

FARMVILLE, Va. – An aspiring California rapper who is suspected of killing a Virginia pastor and three other people had two run-ins with police in the days before his arrest, but authorities said they didn't notice anything unusual.

Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III, 20, answered the door of a home the day before the four bodies were discovered there and calmly told police looking for a teenager from out of town that she was at the movies with a friend. The teen's mother, from West Virginia, had called city police asking them to check on her daughter.

Authorities have not said when the slayings ocurred or how the four were killed.

When the worried mother called police again Friday, they went to the house and discovered the reportedly decomposing bodies.

About 12 hours earlier, McCroskey had been stopped by county deputies and was ticketed for driving the pastor's car without a license. The car hadn't been reported stolen, and police said they didn't realize until later that day they had let a suspected killer go free.

McCroskey, of Castro Valley, Calif., was an aspiring rapper in the horrorcore genre, which sets violent lyrics to hip-hop beats. He is accused of killing Mark Niederbrock, a pastor at a small Presbyterian church in central Virginia, and three others whose bodies were discovered at the home of Longwood University professor Debra Kelley. Niederbrock and Kelley had been separated for about a year and had a 16-year-old daughter, Emma Niederbrock.

The parents had taken their daughter and one of her friends, an 18-year-old girl from West Virginia, to a concert in Michigan on Sept. 12, and the girls hung out with McCroskey before and after the show, according to a friend Andres Shirm, who also attended.

Shirm, who owns a small, independent horrorcore music label Serial Killin Records in New Mexico, said the girls and McCroskey were brought together by the music.

"You look at the music we do and it's kind of harsh and somewhat brutal at times, but there's a different side of life that people aren't normally accustomed to, and being an artist, I think it's important to see both sides of life," he said.

McCroskey's older sister, Sarah, said her brother had been bullied when he was younger and spent much of his time in his room on the computer. She said he never fought back and wouldn't do anything unless provoked.

Sarah McCroskey said her brother left to go on a trip Sept. 6. and she heard that he got into an argument with his girlfriend at the music festival. Then, he left the family a cryptic phone message Thursday, saying "I love you guys." She said that was uncharacteristic of her brother because they were not a "'Leave It To Beaver' kind of family."

Farmville Police Capt. Wade Stimpson said McCroskey would be charged in the other killings once the identities were verified. Authorities have not said how they died, only that they have hundreds of pieces of forensic evidence.

The bodies were found in Farmville, a small, quiet college town about 50 miles east of Richmond.

During McCroskey's second encounter with police, he told deputies who responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle that he was headed back to California. Sheriff's Sgt. Stuart Raybold said deputies didn't think much of him driving someone else's vehicle, which is common in the college town, but towed the car because he didn't have a license.

A tow truck driver who dropped McCroskey off at a nearby gas station said he wasn't acting strangely.

"I just asked him where he was from and all and he said he was from California. I said, 'What in the world you doin' down here?' He said, 'My girlfriend lives down here,'" said Elton Napier, 52, owner of Napier's Wrecker Service.

On Monday, a judge appointed an experienced capital murder defender, Cary Bowen of Richmond, to work with McCroskey during a brief videoconference. Bowen said later he had not yet spoken to McCroskey.

The judge set a preliminary hearing for Jan. 11, and Prince Edward County Commonwealth's Attorney James Ennis said prosecutors needed the extra time to look over the evidence.

"We have so much of it, so we need a little longer," Ennis said after the hearing. "... The lab doesn't have a clue what's coming toward them."

Police also are examining online postings from McCroskey, Emma Niederbrock and her friend, Melanie Wells of Berryville, W.Va. In some of the messages, Emma Niederbrock professed her love to McCroskey.

In songs posted online, McCroskey performed under the name Syko Sam and rapped about killing, maiming and mutilating people. In one song, he talked about being stopped by the police while on his way to get rid of the bodies of people he has killed.

A spokesman from the Alameda County, Calif., Sheriff's Office said authorities searched the McCroskey's home early Monday at the request of Farmville police. Sgt. J.D. Nelson said deputies removed computers, although he could didn't say what additional items were taken.

As deputies escorted McCroskey to the police station Saturday after his arrest at the Richmond airport, McCroskey was asked by a reporter why he did it. He said, "Jesus told me to do it," WRIC television reported.

___

Associated Press writers Michael Felberbaum in Richmond, Allen Breen in Raleigh, N.C. and Sudhin Thanawal in San Francisco contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090922/ap_on_re_us/us_virginia_killings

[samanthajane13]

4 slain in Va. college town bludgeoned to death
By DENA POTTER, Associated Press Writer Dena Potter, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 37 mins ago

FARMVILLE, Va. – Four people found slain in a small Virginia college town were bludgeoned to death, authorities said Tuesday, and the aspiring rapper suspected of killing them befriended two of the victims through a subculture of violent, macabre music.

Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III, 20, is already charged in the killing of Mark Niederbrock, a pastor at a Presbyterian church in central Virginia. He's expected to face more charges in the future, after investigators sift through hundreds of pieces of forensic evidence.

At a news conference Tuesday, the other victims were identified as Longwood University professor Debra Kelley, 53; Emma Niederbrock, 16, the daughter of Kelley and Mark Niederbrock; and Melanie Wells, 18, of Inwood, W.Va.

The bodies were discovered over the weekend at Kelley's home in Farmville, about 50 miles west of Richmond. Debra Kelley and Mark Niederbrock had been separated for about a year.

Prince Edward County Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Ennis would not reveal what kind of weapon was used, if the victims suffered other injuries or a possible motive. He confirmed that McCroskey was staying in Kelley's home during a visit to Virginia and called the investigation "unparalleled."

"We are going coast to coast on this investigation," Ennis said.

McCroskey has not cooperated with police since his arrest on Saturday.

Ennis said there was no indication anyone else was involved and would not say when the victims died.

The girls had last logged in to their MySpace pages on Sept. 14. Mark Niederbrock was last heard from on Thursday, when he told the church treasurer he was going to Richmond for a meeting.

Sarah McCroskey has said her brother — who rapped about killing, maiming and mutilating people under the moniker "Syko Sam" — was a meek and kind person who never fought back when picked on and wouldn't do anything unless provoked.

"He was extremely passive, so just hearing that my brother is the main suspect just really blows my mind," she said.

That low-key demeanor was described by police who had two run-ins with him in the days before his arrest Saturday. Authorities said he was calm, never acting in a strange or suspicious manner.

A day before the bodies were found, Richard McCroskey answered the door at the home and calmly told police looking for Wells that she was at the movies with a friend. Her mother had called city police asking them to check on her daughter.

When the worried mother called police again Friday, they went to the house and discovered the bodies.

Niederbrock and Kelley had taken their daughter and Wells to a concert in Michigan on Sept. 12, and the girls hung out with Richard McCroskey before and after the show, according to a friend.

In another encounter with police about 12 hours before the bodies were found, he had been stopped and was ticketed for driving Niederbrock's car without a license. The car hadn't been reported stolen, and police said they didn't realize until later that day they had let a suspected killer go free.

On Monday, a judge appointed an experienced capital murder defender, Cary Bowen of Richmond, to work with McCroskey during a brief videoconference. Bowen said later he had not yet spoken to McCroskey.

The judge set a preliminary hearing for Jan. 11, and Ennis said prosecutors needed the extra time to look over the evidence.

Police also are examining online postings from McCroskey, Emma Niederbrock and Wells. In some of the messages, Emma Niederbrock professed her love to McCroskey.

As deputies escorted McCroskey to the police station Saturday after his arrest at the Richmond airport, McCroskey was asked by a reporter why he did it. He said, "Jesus told me to do it," WRIC television reported.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090922/ap_on_re_us/us_virginia_killings_44

[samanthajane13]

'Horrorcore' rap drew together suspect, victims
By DENA POTTER and ALLEN G. BREED, Associated Press Writers Dena Potter And Allen G. Breed, Associated Press Writers – 18 mins ago

FARMVILLE, Va. – When the tow-truck driver had finished pulling the car out of the ditch and onto a wrecker, he offered the 20-year-old driver a ride.

As the two men made small talk, the truck driver was almost overwhelmed by an odor, a stench he later concluded was that of rotting flesh. "He stunk like the devil," he says.

That young man, an aspiring rapper who wrote macabre lyrics about the thrill of killing people, is now suspected in the slayings of four people whose bludgeoned bodies were found in a home in this quiet Virginia town.

Richard "Sammy" McCroskey III told deputies who responded to the desolate stretch of Poor House Road early Friday that the car belonged to his girlfriend's father. Police say he appeared to be turning around when he backed into the ditch. The car wasn't damaged, but because McCroskey had no license, the car had to be impounded.

The truck driver, 52-year-old Elton Napier, asked the youth where he was from. He said he was visiting from California to see his girlfriend.

Napier could see what appeared to be red hickeys or "love bites" all over his passenger's neck. He couldn't resist asking.

"My girlfriend did that," McCroskey replied.

Napier chuckled. "She was about to eat you up, wasn't she?" he said.

McCroskey just grinned.

He did not tell Napier that he and 16-year-old Emma Niederbrock, a local Presbyterian minister's daughter, had found each other through their mutual love of "horrorcore" music, an obscure hip-hop genre obsessed with mutilation, murder and satanism.

Throughout the conversation, Napier did his best to ignore the powerful stench emanating from the passenger seat. He had noticed it inside the Honda when winching it out of the ditch.

Despite rolling down both windows, Napier heaved visibly twice.

Napier dropped McCroskey at a local gas station, and that was the last he saw of him — until footage of the arrest appeared on television.

___

On his MySpace page, McCroskey is hooded, his face obscured by a skull bandanna. He stands before a Gothic church in a lightning storm, a hatchet in his raised right hand. In a song posted on YouTube, the Castro Valley, Calif., man growls about the "evil voices inside my head."

"They just want me to murder continuously.

"They want me to take lives on a mass murder spree.

"They love the smell of a body that's rotten and decayed.

"That's what I think about when I'm stalking my prey."

Fellow horrorcore artist Andres Shrim cautions against reading too much into such lyrics.

Shrim, who goes by the stage name SickTanicK the Soulless, writes about killing Christians and dismembering people. While he acknowledges the genre's words and imagery can seem "brutal," he says the songs only reflect "the reality of the world we are living in."

"If life imitated art," says Shrim, the owner of Albuquerque, N.M.-based Serial Killin Records, "there would be a lot of dead people in the world."

On Friday, authorities found four bodies in a quaint Dutch Colonial home in this rural college town about 50 miles southwest of Richmond.

Emma Niederbrock lived there with her mother, Debra Kelley, an associate professor of criminal justice and sociology at nearby Longwood University. On Tuesday, officials identified the victims as the 53-year-old Kelley, Emma, her 50-year-old father, Mark Niederbrock, and Emma's friend and fellow horrorcore fan Melanie Wells, 18, of Inwood, W.Va.

McCroskey was arrested at the Richmond airport on Saturday and charged with murder in Mark Niederbrock's death. Police are still analyzing evidence and expect more charges.

Farmville police Capt. Wade Stimpson says authorities are looking into McCroskey's "disturbing" songs. But it's clear horrorcore had arrived in Farmville long before McCroskey came to town.

___

Shrim says he met Emma and Melanie at a horrorcore festival a couple of years ago in Chicago. Emma's mother brought them.

Little information has surfaced about Emma. She was home-schooled. And unlike McCroskey's MySpace page, her site is marked private, except for photos of a pretty girl with long, pink-colored hair.

Wells and her family moved to West Virginia from Louisville, Ky., just before Wells was to enter high school. She dropped out but was studying for her high school equivalency diploma, says friend Marcella Kennedy.

"Melanie had so much character and imagination," she says. "She sported the kind of optimism that didn't leave a sickly sweet taste in your mouth, if that makes any sense."

But a darker Wells emerges from the pages of her MySpace page.


Continued...

[samanthajane13]

On the site, she lists her religion as LaVeyan Satanism, in which there is no deity but one's self. She posted violent poems in which she details torturing and killing boyfriends who have been unfaithful, and photos show her cavorting in cemeteries and lying atop gravestones.

Under interests, Wells listed, among other things, "cigarettes, alcohol, partying, sex, drugs, metal, SKR (Serial Killin Records), lust, restorative arts, blood and gore, open graves, dead people, animals."

Her musical tastes ran from the Backstreet Boys and bubble-gum pop star Aaron Carter to Marilyn Manson and groups such as Bullet For My Valentine and Cradle of Filth. Her favorite movies include "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" but also "Pretty In Pink."

It appears she and Emma got to know McCroskey online.

McCroskey's sister, Sarah, says their dad, a rock guitarist, raised her and her brother on a steady diet of heavy metal bands like Insane Clown Posse, Metallica and Primus. A 5-foot-9, 200-pound kid who took bullying without fighting back, "Sammy" spent most of his time in his room, composing music on his computer, designing Web pages or playing video games such as Halo and World of Warcraft, his sister says.

McCroskey had been into horrorcore since 1999, but decided several months ago that he wanted to "contribute to the genre."

Thus, he wrote on MySpace, was born his horrorcore alter ego: Syko Sam.

Sarah McCroskey says her brother met Emma about a year ago, at a concert near San Diego. They were on the phone so much after that, Sarah had to buy herself a cell phone.

She says her brother was devastated when his father asked their mother to move out about five months ago. But he was excited for a planned trip to Virginia to see Emma. Clearly, Emma was eager, too.

The "next time you check your myspace, YOULL BE AT MY HOUSE!" she posted Sept. 7, the day after he left California. "i love you sooo SO much baby; forever and for always."

The group were all heading to Southgate, Mich., for the Sept. 12 Strictly for the Wicked festival. Among the acts slated to play were Mental Ward, SCUM and Dismembered Fetus.

Shrim says Kelley — who studied violence against women — drove them. This time, he says, the father came along.

Sarah McCroskey says her brother's friends told her that he and Emma had had some kind of falling out at the concert. If anything happened, Wells didn't let on.

"SFTW was (expletive) amazing," she wrote on MySpace at 10:43 p.m. on Sept. 13. "back in Virginia now, be back in West Virginia on Wednesday. I MISS EVERYONE!!!"

She never made it.

On Thursday, McCroskey called home and left a message. He said he wanted to make sure everyone was OK.

When he ended with "I love you, guys," his sister knew something wasn't right.

"We weren't like lovey-dovey and stuff," she says, "like a 'Leave-It-to-Beaver' kind of family."

That same day, Wells' family contacted authorities to say they had not heard from her.

Sarah McCroskey acknowledges that people might listen to her brother's songs and watch his videos and think him capable of the slayings. But she insists he is not his music.

Since the news broke, horrorcore fan sites have been awash in tributes to Emma and Melanie. The girls who reveled in satanic imagery have been eulogized as "fallen angels."

When McCroskey was brought back to Farmville, a reporter for WRIC television heard him say, "Jesus told me to do it."

But in one of his videos, he said his mistakes began elsewhere.

"It's not my fault, those bad (expletive)-up choices," he rasped. "Don't blame me. You can blame all the voices."

___

Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C. Associated Press Writer Michael Felberbaum in Richmond also contributed to this story.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090922/ap_on_re_us/us_virginia_killings


Sounds to me like SOMEONE is gearing up for an insanity defense...

[samanthajane13]

Slain Va. mom, daughter had counseling over music
By DENA POTTER and ALLEN G. BREED, Associated Press Writers Dena Potter And Allen G. Breed, Associated Press Writers – 51 mins ago

FARMVILLE, Va. – 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 his impending 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.

"talka bout a long ass drive sharin the car with a (expletive) preacher," she wrote. "its gona suck but no doubt is it worth it :D"

Andres Shrim, owner of the horrorcore label Serial Killin Records, said it was not uncommon for parents to accompany their children to these concerts.

"I mean, her father being a pastor, that proves he was a true Christian man," said Shrim, who raps under the name SickTanicK the Soulless about killing Christians. "The Bible says, `Judge not, lest ye be judged.' He knew that this was just entertainment. He may not have agreed with what statements we make, but that made him a good father. Because he was interested in being a part of his daughter's life and the things SHE was interested in."

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."

___

Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090923/ap_on_re_us/us_virginia_killings

[samanthajane13]

Singer: Slayings off limits to horrorcore rappers
By ALLEN G. BREED, AP National Writer Allen G. Breed, Ap National Writer – Mon Sep 28, 3:30 am ET

The quadruple murder allegedly committed by a horrorcore music fanatic is just the kind of scenario so-called "death rappers" write songs about.

But the woman whose music brought Richard "Sam" McCroskey and his victims together says no one in her circle will be rapping about this case.

"People can call it hypocritical, but I call it respect," Razakel, the self-described "Queen of the Wicked (expletive)," told The Associated Press Saturday in an exclusive interview. "I'm not going to talk about people I loved like that. ... It would be disrespectful."

Normally, the genre is all about murder, gore and vilifying organized religion, particularly Christianity. But the recent slayings in the little college town of Farmville, Va., have shaken the underground music scene.

"We rap about it, and it finally happens," Razakel, 25, who refused to divulge her given name, said by telephone from her home near Albuquerque, N.M. "It should be like a slap in our face, right? Well, no. S--- happens."

McCroskey, 20, of Castro Valley, Calif., is charged with first-degree murder in the death of the Rev. Mark Niederbrock, 50. Similar charges are expected in the killings of Niederbrock's estranged wife, Debra S. Kelley, 53, their daughter, Emma Niederbrock, 16, and her friend, Melanie Wells, 18, of Inwood, W.Va.

All four were found bludgeoned to death Sept. 18, in Kelley's home. McCroskey and Emma had met online through the horrorcore scene, and all five had just returned from the Sept. 12 Strictly for the Wicked festival outside Detroit.

Razakel and boyfriend Andres Shrim, aka SicktanicK the Soulless, were among the festival's organizers and headliners. McCroskey, an aspiring rapper himself, was a Web site designer and promoter of Shrim's label, Serial Killin Records.

Razakel said it was she who first introduced Emma and Melanie.

Emma discovered Razakel's music about two years ago and began communicating with her through instant message and MySpace, the rapper said. They shared a love for such diverse musical acts as Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, Porcelain and the Tramps, and Slipknot.

"We both liked the same stuff, like photography and makeup and doing hair and all that," said Razakel, whose MySpace page features a crowned female demon holding a fetus in one hand and a severed head on a pike in the other.

The Chicago native didn't know it at the time, but they were also both daughters of Presbyterian ministers.

"I always had an idea that she ... was brought up strict," she said. "I was brought up strict. And so I thought I could relate with her, because I know how it goes, and I messed up a lot, and I just, I didn't want to see her go down the same path. And so I was there for her."

About a year into their online friendship, Melanie contacted Razakel. The singer noted they lived just a few hours apart and suggested Emma and Melanie meet.

"They were inseparable," she said.

She and Shrim first met Emma and Melanie — who went by the names "RagDOLL" and "Ms. Free Abortions," respectively — last summer at the Underground United concert in Chicago, Razakel said.

McCroskey, who went by the screen name "LiLdEmOnDoG," had been doing Web work and promotions for another horrorcore label, Wicked Intent Records, when he first approached Razakel about a year and a half ago. They met in January at a gathering in Apple Valley, Calif.

"He was actually really shy to approach me or Sick," she said. "And I had to call him out."

She said McCroskey was a wizard with Flash Art and really beefed up the label's and its artists' Web pages. He filmed concerts and took photographs.

In the meantime, Emma and Melanie had become members of Razakel's online promotions team, dubbed "the unholy apostles."

Contrary to earlier reports, Razakel said McCroskey and Emma did not meet until he flew to Virginia on Sept. 6. Emma wrote gushing messages to McCroskey's MySpace page, professing her love for him.

"But she never flat out told me, `He's my boyfriend,'" Razakel said. "I just knew that they were close and getting closer, and at the show they were going to meet up and take it on from there."

McCroskey's sister, Sarah, said his friends spoke of a falling out they had at the show. McCroskey, who recently began rapping under the moniker "Syko Sam," told the cab driver who took him to the Richmond, Va., airport the day before his arrest that the two had fought over an amorous text message Emma had received from another man.

Razakel knew nothing of that. Before the concert, the girls hung out in her hotel room, and she spent hours putting dread falls in Melanie's hair.

"I thought everything was cool," she said.

When she heard of the killings, and that McCroskey was the suspect, she said she couldn't believe it.

"This sounds kind of messed up, but to me it makes more sense if some random person would have broken into that house and did all that before it makes sense with Sam," she said. "You could push over this kid and walk all over him."

The Monday before she died, Emma texted Razakel a little heart on her cell phone.

Many have blamed Razakel and horrorcore music for the killings. She said she gets her ideas from books and the news, and refuses to accept responsibility for what happened.

"To me, it's people do whatever they do," she said. "Our music wasn't playing in his ears when he bludgeoned four people. He did that on his own."

But while Razakel said she has no feelings of guilt, people should not assume she is unfeeling.

"We rap about some ugly, evil, evil stuff, but that doesn't mean we're not human," she said.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090928/ap_on_re_us/us_virginia_killings