FARMVILLE, Va. — Aspiring Castro Valley rapper Richard "Sam" McCroskey has been indicted on capital murder charges in the deaths of four people found bludgeoned at a central Virginia home in September.

McCroskey, 20, was charged in indictments returned Tuesday by a Prince Edward County Circuit Court grand jury.

McCroskey is charged in the Sept. 18 deaths of his girlfriend, 16-year-old Emma Niederbrock; her parents, 50-year-old Presbyterian minister Mark Niederbrock and 53-year-old Longwood University professor Debra Kelley; and Emma's friend, 18-year-old Melanie Wells, of Inwood, W.Va. Their bodies were found in a home in Farmville.

McCroskey met Emma Niederbrock online through their interest in "horrorcore" music. He flew to Virginia on Sept. 6 to meet her.

Court papers show that investigators recovered several possible weapons, including a ball-peen hammer and a wood-splitting maul. Three of the four bodies were found in a downstairs bedroom, and the other was found in a room upstairs.

— Associated Press


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