Calif. man faces capital murder counts in bludgeoning deaths of 4 people in Va.

Calif. man indicted in 4 Va. bludgeoning deaths

FARMVILLE, Va. — An aspiring California rapper has been indicted on capital murder charges in the deaths of four people found bludgeoned to death at a central Virginia home in September.

Twenty-year-old Richard “Sam” McCroskey of Castro Valley, Calif., was charged Tuesday in indictments returned 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 so-called “horrorcore” music and flew to Virginia on Sept. 6 to meet her.