On Sept. 18, 2009, as many students began their college lives and were still unfamiliar with Longwood's setting, an event disturbed their seemingly-stable environment. Four bodies were found in a residence not far off-campus and later identified as the remains of Longwood University Criminal Justice Professor Dr. Deborah S. Kelley, her husband the Rev. Mark Alan Niederbrock, their daughter 16-year-old Emma Niederbrock, and 18-year-old Melanie Wells, a family friend from Inwood, W.Va.
As founder of a viable Criminal Justice major at Longwood and Lambda Alpha Epsilon (LAE), the school's Criminal Justice fraternity, Kelley had directed the lives of many students until they graduated or were on the eve of their senior year. Her close involvement with students may have contributed to her winning the 2002 Maude Glenn Raiford Award for Outstanding Teaching and Service. However, due to graduation, her memory with the students is all but lost. The only current record of Kelley at the school is through her colleagues. Due to their long tenure at the school, they lend an unbroken idea of how Dr. Kelley was in her days at work.
In 1994, Professors Dr. Lee Bidwell, Dr. William Burger, Dr. Jim Jordan, and Dr. Lawrence Hlad were presided over the interview of a PhD graduate from the University of Illinois. This new associate professor, Dr. Deborah Kelley, was hired for specialization in statistics in criminal justice for predicting social phenomena, and later developed an interest in violent offending, murder, and police work. Based on her credentials, the decision was unanimous. Her reputation became one of "substantial scientific rigor," setting a high standard for both Kelley and her students. Kelley was described by Burger, a professor in the department since 1988 and department chair at the time of her hiring, as having "a compassion for students . a zest in the classroom." He added, "She would always take the time to talk to students . tried to understand . had a system" and furthermore, "she loved to teach." When entering Kelley's office, Burger said, "She'd give you as much time as you needed."
As Burger described her professional hopes for a future Longwood, he said she would like more university faculty members. "She talked about interaction," Burger said, observing that with more professors on hand, "the student/faculty percentage would be even lower," and this would allow for closer relationships with individual instructors.
Hlad said her best gift to the department was "making more obvious the attractiveness of the Criminal Justice major." Hlad, a long-time professor in the Anthropology, Sociology and Criminal Justice Department before Kelley's employment, knew her for eight to nine years, separated by a short retirement between 2003 and 2006. In the 1980s, Hlad came up with an increasingly popular concentration in Criminal Justice.
However, he referred to Kelley as the "chief initiator" of Longwood's Criminal Justice major and deserving of a "great deal of credit" for its existence. Though not a "good friend" of Kelley, Hlad said "she was always a warm and congenial colleague to me" and found in her a "research savvy" and an ability to "work data as she received it" without an agenda.
Since Kelley's employment, Hlad said, "It would be fair to say that this baby has grown in volume and maturity." Hlad also said, "Basically, she would love to see the major prosper in growth, enrollment, and professional recognition."
On a personal level, Dr. Jim Jordan said it was "hard to think that something so horrendous could happen to anyone." On a second level, it broke Farmville's ideal safety in smallness. The idea of a murder happening in Farmville that, as Hlad said, was the most brutal thing the Commonwealth Attorney had ever seen was an unsettling sign that anything could happen anywhere. On the third level, "death by another" became something fundamentally "horrible to happen to a human being." However, Jordan hinted at all these levels coming not in progression, but all at once. He called the event "a monument in my life" that "stands out on the horizon." Jordan said he "may never know how it affected him."
Burger said Kelley "left a void that was hard to fill" and "what happened to her shouldn't happen to anyone." He felt it was a tragedy, but they could only wait for a decision to be reached on her murder suspect, Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III. Hlad mentioned the shock to the community and the anguish of students. "How could this have happened" was a general reaction with to the four-person homicide that exceeded normal domestic disputes, taking on a much "larger scale."
In addition to those who knew Kelley on a collegiate and neighborly basis, Rev. Sylvia Meadows added her family's religious history. As one of her pastors, Meadows called the actions of McCroskey evil, citing what dangers people can involve themselves in. She had much more, however, to comment on the lives of her former church members. She was personally involved in Mark and Emma Niederbrock's baptisms, but left for eight years to fulfill another appointment. She returned to find the family's condition had changed. Mark had become a pastor, preferring to go into Presbyterian ministry. Emma usually went to her father's church and Kelley no longer attended consistently. Meadows recalled Kelley's business-like demeanor and that she had been brought up in the church.
In the end, Meadows conducted Kelley's funeral. She said, "Someone else could have done it," but shouldered the duty because of Kelley's name on the church roll. When considering the murder, Meadows said it was "horrific," "tragic," and "deeply upsetting on many levels." She said it was also "a wakeup call to churches" and they should "take seriously reaching out to others." If anything, she hoped something beneficial could come out of Kelley's murder, that other's lives could be saved and a "community of love and support" created.
However, it is clear to everyone involved decisions must be made to move on. There is natural pain for each person in the event of a murder. Yet it cannot be avoided that Kelley's work continues to be progressive, living through the lives of the Criminal Justice students, faculty, and the brothers of LAE.
