There are new developments concerning the quadruple homicide in Farmville. On Tues., Nov. 3, court documents indicated that Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III was indicted with six counts of capital murder and a single count of grand larceny of a vehicle. The six capital murder charges all fall under a Class 1 Felony charge, the most serious in Virginia. On Fri., Sept. 18, four bodies were found bludgeoned to death in a home on First Avenue. The bodies were identified as Longwood University Professor Debra Kelley, 53, her estranged husband, Pastor Mark Alan Niederbrock, 50, their daughter, Emma Niederbrock, 16, of Farmville, and her friend, Melanie Grace Wells, 18, of Inwood, W. Va.
McCroskey was arrested in the Richmond International Airport on Sat., Sept. 19 and was originally only charged with a single count of first-degree murder in addition to robbery and grand larceny. Each felony charge announced Tuesday explicitly states McCroskey "did unlawfully, feloniously, willfully, deliberately and with premeditation kill" the said victims. The deaths occurred between the dates of Sept. 13 and 18 at Dr. Kelley's home. The exact times of death of the victims have not been officially verified, however investigators believe Mark Niederbrock was murdered after the three female victims.
Preliminary autopsy reports indicate the cause of death for all four victims was blunt trauma to the head. It is not confirmed at this time what the murder weapon was. Three of the four bodies were discovered in a downstairs bedroom, according to court documents. The fourth body was found upstairs.
Nearly 100 pieces of evidence were taken from the crime scene. Electronic devices were obtained so investigators could determine if McCroskey documented his activities during his stay at the home. Police also seized items from Mark Niederbrock's vehicle and from McCroskey's duffle bag he was carrying at the Richmond International Airport.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, special investigators recovered possible weapons from the crime scene. The weapons include a ball-peen hammer and a wood-splitting maul, according to the search warrant by police. According to a source close to the investigation, authorities believe both weapons were used on each of the victims, reported the Richmond Times-Dispatch. A meat cleaver and a knife were also seized, but authorities do not believe those weapons were used in the murders.
A maul is a farm tool with a long handle and a head like an ax on one side and a hammer on the other. According to sources close to the investigation, all four victims were bludgeoned beyond recognition, but were not dismembered.
In Virginia, capital murder is constituted as the killing of more than one person in less than a three-year period. McCroskey's crime is in violation of Section 18.2-31(8), amended in 1950, of the Code of Virginia, because he is thought to have killed four people.
McCroskey has not given a statement to police in regard to the investigation. The 20-year-old remains in isolation at the Piedmont Regional Jail. His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 19, 2010.
