November 10, 2025 • 39 mins
In September of 2009, a police officer in Farmville, Virginia, arrived at a home to carry out a welfare check. As he stepped onto the property, a pungent odor hit him, strong enough to stop him in his tracks. It was clear that something inside wasn’t right.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Alright, so I'm making this video because if anybody finds this,
I really don't know what I'm trying to say, and
I'm breathtaking at what I've done.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
That's it. In the heart of central Virginia, Formville has
been a quiet center of trade and education since its
founding in seventeen ninety eight. This small town, which is
situated between Richmond and Lynchburg, carries the weight of American
history in its streets, from Civil War battles to the
birthplace of the modern civil rights movement. First Avenue Cut Street,
(01:20):
one of Formville's most established residential neighborhoods, a street where
mature oak trees tore over modest colonial homes and well
kept cape CODs. The houses along here tell stories of
generations families who have watched their children grow up playing
in yards bordered by white picket fences. It is the
(01:41):
epitome of small town America, where front porches still serve
their intended purpose. A neighbors wave as they pass by.
The white colonial at the end of the block fit
perfectly with its traditional clap board siding and rust red
shutters framing each window. It really could have been lifted
from a postcard. The mature tree surrounding the property provided
(02:06):
natural privacy. Multiple editions over the years had given the
house character, each section telling the story of a family
that had grown and adopted within its walls. But one
September afternoon in two thousand and nine, it became apparent
that something was wrong. A woman had been trying to
(02:26):
reach her daughter, who had been staying over at the house.
She eventually called police and asked them to do a
welfare check.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I don't know who I need to talk to or
my daughter is one of the family in Farmville, Virginia,
and he's he's been basically living for the two and
a half days. I can get ahold of burn himself
(02:55):
and turned off with work. As the girl that she
was staying with, nobody knows where she is. Herself has
turned off. This daughter's boyfriend has came there, and I've
talked him several times today and I've gotten different stories
and different stories. But my husband went down He was
the husband looked at my daughter yesterday and he went
down there. He arrived about eleven o'clock in the morning.
(03:17):
He factored for eight hours up fid the house and
nobody showed up nobody is a bore. I mean, what
about four hours lay here and and but I don't know.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
What else to do.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
The home at five oh five First Avenue in Farmville,
Virginia belonged to Deborah Kelly. Inside its walls, Daborah shared
her life with her sixteen year old daughter, Emma. The
hoist reflected a kind of quiet normalcy, a family that,
despite change, still worked hard to remain connected. Deborah and
(04:06):
Emma's father, Mark Allan Niederbrock, had divorced years earlier, but
theirs hadn't been a bitter split. Instead, it was the
rare kind of divorce that people speak of in admiration.
They remained friends, often still gathering together for outings and
family time with Emma. Mark was still a fixture in
(04:26):
the house, still part of Deborah's life in meaningful ways.
By two thousand and nine, Mark had been serving for
six years as pastor at Walker's Presbyterian Church in Hicksburg,
a small, tight knit congregation where bonds between church and
community ran deep. He was beloved not just as a pastor,
(04:47):
but as a friend. Reverend Jason Winnaker, who knew him well,
later said he was a very genuine servant of God.
He genuinely loved his Savior, and he genuinely loved his church.
Mark's story was one of faith, but also of reinventation.
Born in Illinois, he had once pursued a different path,
(05:08):
working as a graphic designer before answering the call to ministry.
His decision to ender the ministry was completely out of
the blue. An Eagle Scout and a graduate of the
University of Illinois, Mark's life had been built on service
and creativity, and those who knew him admired his sincerity.
He loved his daughter. A member of the church, Barbara Dickerson,
(05:31):
said her daddy would have done anything for her. Debor
two had carved out her own impressive path. At fifty
three years old, she was an associate professor of sociology
and criminal justice studies at Longward University, where she had
worked since nineteen ninety four after earning her doctorate from Illinois.
(05:52):
She was respected by her colleagues and beloved by her students,
no not only for her expertise, but also her warmth
and willingness to listen. Their daughter, Emma, was a teenager
straddling two worlds, one shaped by the expectations of her parents,
the other by the subculture she had discovered online. After
(06:13):
being bullied, Emma was homeskilled by her mother. She was curious, artistic.
Unlike many teenagers, she found herself drawn into music as
a form of identity. Her chosen genre was horror core rap,
a niche often controversial subculture of hip hop with lyrics
steeped in violence, death, and macabs storytelling. To outsiders, it
(06:37):
was troubling, even dangerous, but to Emma it was a community,
a place where she felt understood. Through forms and social media,
she found others who shared her passion. Among them was
eighteen year old Melanie Wells. The two bonded quickly over
the music, their friendship blossoming across state lines. Melanie's life
(07:00):
had taken its own winding course. She was originally from
Louisville and Kentucky, but her family had relocated to West
Virginia just as she was about to start high school.
Melanie struggled to that, eventually dropping out and working towards
her equivalency diploma, but those who knew Melanie described her
(07:20):
as kind and unassuming. One friend, Laura, remembered her fondly.
She was one of the few who talked to me
because I was a freshman. For Deborah and Mark, Emma's
fascination with Horrorcore raised concern. The violent lyrics, the fixation
on death. It all seemed so far away from the
world that they had built around her, But they were
(07:42):
also careful not to dismiss it outright. They wanted to
protect their daughter, but they also wanted to support her.
Their compromise was simple. Emma could go to concerts, but
only if they went with her. It was a condition
that Emma accepted and won. Deborah summed up bess when
she confided to a friend, She's either going to go
(08:04):
on her own or I go with her and make
sure she's okay. It was a balance between freedom and safety,
rebellion and protection, a balance thought for the Kellys seemed
to keep the family steady, But beneath it all was
a quiet unease, the kind that lingers when parents sense
their child is stepping into a world they don't fully understand.
(08:39):
Like many teenagers of that era, Emma built an online
identity through MySpace under the nickname Ragdoll. She shared pieces
of herself with the growing online community of friends who
like her felt most understood through music. Melanie Wells had
her own profile as well, where she described herself and
(08:59):
even listed her religion as Levene's Satanist. It was a
detail that seemed rebellious on the surface, but also spoke
to the way that teenagers often used the Internet to
experiment with who they were. It was on my Space
that Emma and Melanie struck up a friendship with a
young man named Richard Samuel Alden Maccrofsky the Third. Richard
(09:22):
was twenty years old and lived across the country in
Castro Valley, California. Online, though he went by two different
personas Lil dem Ondog his personal page and Psycho Sam,
the name under which he promoted his horror core music.
His my Space read like a manifesto of a young
(09:42):
man drank to both impress and reassure. Under fun facts,
he wrote, I am the Sam a web designer, a
graphic designer, a musician, a photographer, a gamer, a promoter,
a juggaloo. I'm not a creeper, a stalker, a rapist,
a serial killer, a zombie. He described himself as a
nerd somebody whose life revolved around music. On his music page,
(10:07):
he was more direct about his ambitions writing. Psycho Sam
is a new musician in the underground and only been
rapping for a few months now. His songs bore titles
such as Murderous Rage and Sick Minds Think Alike, dark,
violent themes that mirrored the genre that Emma and Melanie
had gravitated towards. Here's some samples of his songs.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Night Now, I Got Existed, Nice, held me through, I
love you you fine as I get your mouth and did.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Over time, the online friendship between Emma and Richard turned
into something more. They swapped phone numbers, talking almost every
single day, sometimes for ours. For Emma, it was the
rush of first love, exciting, private and all consuming. It
was a time before video calls, so they sent each
other recorded videos.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
All right, so you wanted a video and you made
me videos so and he said, please, So I'll make
you this video even though I'm not gonna like do
anything because my room's kind of dirty, and yeah, I
don't want to show you my dirty room.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
But this video is for Emma.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Because you just told me to say your name, So
I don't know. I'll make you another video once clean promise,
unless you just want to see my wall because that's
not dirty, but behind me is dirty, so that's not good.
(12:12):
All right, This video is for you, Emma, the rag doll, amazing,
amazing rag doll. And I really don't know what to
do for you on video, so I guess I'll like
show you my room a little bit if that's what you.
Speaker 6 (12:26):
Want to see.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
First off, we got my door, and then we got
my addiction for energy drinks. And then we got my
small underground CD collection going on right here.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
And then I've got my wall of awesomeness that I
call it. Lots of posters and flyers and I had
you man shot them and random stuff.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
I hat you.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Oh now the battery is dye.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
My September of two thousand to nine, They're long distance
relationship is all to take a major step. On the
morning of the seventh, Emma posted a message on Richard's
MySpace page. Her excitement spilled across the screen. Oh baby,
the next time you check your MySpace, you'll be at
my house. I love you so so much, baby, forever
(13:16):
and for always. She explained that she'd been awake since
four a m. Too restless to sleep. It was the
day that they were finally going to meet in person.
The plan was simple. Emma, Richard, and Melanie would travel
together to Southgate and Michigan for a horror core music
festival called Strictly for the Wicked. Scheduled for the twelfth
(13:39):
of September. The all day event promised a lineup of
underground ox such as mantle Ward Scum and Dismembered Fetus.
To Emma and her friends, this wasn't just a concert,
it was a pilgrimage. Richard flew in from California, and
Emma arrived at the airport with her parents to meet him.
She would later say that she knew noticed his shyness instantly,
(14:02):
but his first thought was how pretty her smile was. Mark, ever,
the steady presence, thought that Richard seemed like a nice
enough young man. Deborah extended the kind of hospitality that
came naturally to her. She allowed Richard to stay at
the family home for the weekend, welcoming him as her
daughter Emma's guest. Melanie's parents also agreed to let her
(14:24):
spend the weekend at the Kelly's house so that she
could attend the festival as well. When the weekend arrived,
Debora volunteered to drive the group to Michigan, with Mark
deciding to tag along. Emma wasn't thrilled about her father
shop ruining the trip, venting online talk about a long
ass drive sharing the car with a fucking preacher. It's
(14:45):
gonna suck, but no doubt is it worth it. The
group booked rooms at a motel near the venue Deborah,
with Emma and Melanie in one, Mark in another, and
Richard in his own. On the night before the festival,
they met up with friends from in the horrorcore community,
including a rapper known as Sectanic and his girlfriend, Mizkiel.
(15:06):
The teenagers hung out, laughing and trading stories. Mesicel even
braided Melanie's hair. The next day, the festival grounds filled
with roughly two hundred and fifty people. The group watched performances,
met friends, and immersed themselves in the aggressive theatrical energy
of horror core. It was loud, chaotic, but alive. By
(15:29):
the time the festival ended, the group was buzzing with
the shared high of the music. Melanie logged onto hermize
space to update her friends, sft W was fucking amazing
back in Virginia. Now be back in West Virginia on Wednesday.
I miss everyone, But Melanie never made it back to
(15:49):
West Virginia and Richard never made it back to California.
The next day, Richard placed a phone call. His voice
was quiet, almost tentative, as he left a message for
his family. I just wanted to make sure that everyone
was okay. I love you guys. On the afternoon of
(16:22):
the eighteenth of September, Melanie's father, Thomas Wells, was preparing
to drive from West Virginia to Formville. He'd arranged to
pick up his daughter from Emma's house and bring her
home and or Before setting off, he called Melanie to
let her know that he was on the way, but
his call went unanswered. When Thomas arrived at five o
(16:42):
five First Avenue, he walked up to the door and knocked.
Nobody came. He tried Melanie's cell phone again and again,
but it only rang. He waited outside for seven hours,
clinging to the hope that his daughter would appear or
at least call back, But as daylight slipped away, he
eventually got into his car and returned home, empty handled
(17:06):
and unsettled. Back in West Virginia, Melanie's mother, Kathleen became
more anxious. She reached out to Emma's father, Mark. Something
was wrong, she explained, Melanie wasn't answering, and neither was
anybody else inside the Kelly home. Mark reassured her that
he would go over and check, but ours ticked past
(17:29):
and he never called back. When Kathleen tried calling him directly,
he too wasn't answering. With dread mounting, Melanie's parents finally
called the Farmfield Police Department and requested a welfare check.
When officers arrived at the Kelley home, everything appeared ordinary.
The lawn was neatly trimmed, the house well kept, and
(17:51):
the lights glowing softly. Inside. They knocked on the front
door and was surprised when it opened. Standing before more
than was a young man. It was Richard mccrofsky. Calm
and on assuming, he explained that Amma and Melanie had
gone to the movies. He added that he'd already spoken
with Melanie's mother and told her the same thing. The
(18:14):
officers had no reason to doubt him. They left, noting
nothing out of the ordinary as.
Speaker 7 (18:20):
Well, Yeah, this is a Carmel police department. Okay, did
you just speak with somebody at the residence.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Ah, yes, I just spoke with I guess the daughter's boyfriend.
Speaker 7 (18:33):
Okay, well, I don't know. As my sergeant went over
there and he said that it was a young kid boy.
And then Melanie and the girl she's staying with her
at the movies. Now, yesterday they went to Richmond. Vehicles
had broken down and his cell phone dead and that
kind of thing. So is that when he talked to
(18:53):
you about somebody.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Told me yeah, And like I said, I but I
don't know where the mother is. I don't know where.
I mean usually that I give she drives them around,
and she's here. I haven't spoken to her at all.
The father I talked to you earlier on today, right,
he said that he was wanting he was gone to
play even knew. A matter of fact, he was on
the red line talk. He's going through farmability because she
(19:17):
prop at the house. I haven't heard from resern Okay,
like I said, I've just turned this be idle. Now
I'm not on the thing at all.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
But by the next morning, Kathleen's fear had only sharpened.
She still hadn't heard from her daughter. Melanie had never
gone this long without calling, and now the silence felt suffocating.
She called police again and begged them to check once more.
When officers pulled up to the house for a second time,
things felt different. As they approached the front door, a
(19:52):
foul odor hung in the air. The closer they got,
the strong grip became. It was the unmistakable stench of decomposition.
This time, nobody came.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
To the door.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Officers forced it open and were immediately hit with the
overwhelming smell, so strong it seemed to cling to their
clothing and their skin. They followed the odor through the house,
their boots echoing in the silence, until it led them
to a downstairs bedroom. The door creaked open, and inside
was the scene that would stay with them forever. Three
(20:29):
bodies lay in the room, one sprawled on the bed,
two more crumpled on the floor. They had been bludgeoned
so savagely that their faces were destroyed their skulls shattered.
The victims were later identified as sixteen year old Emma,
her best friend Melanie, and her father More. But the
(20:50):
horror didn't end there. Upstairs, in the master bedroom, officers
found Debra Kelly. Like the others, she too had been
beaten to death. All of them had been bludgeoned with
them all. It left injuries so catastrophic that none of
the victims could be identified visually. Dental records would be
(21:11):
required to confirm their identities. After the gresome discovery inside
the Kelly home, detectives already had a suspect in mind,
twenty year old Richard Samuel Alden mccrosskey. The condition of
(21:33):
the three bodies revealed something chilling. They had been dead
for days, decomposing in the very house where mccrotskey had
calmly answered the door to police and told them that
Emma and Melanie had gone to the movies. But Mark
wasn't as decomposed as the others. Detectives theorized he was
(21:53):
killed when he went to check on the others. Investigators
quickly noticed something else. Mark's car was missing from the driveway.
It didn't take them long to track it down. In
the early morning hours before the bodies were discovered, Prince
Edward deputies had already received the call about a suspicious
vehicle on poor House Road. When a deputy responded, he
(22:16):
found a car stuck in the ditch after somebody had
tried to back out of a driveway behind the wheel
was mccrosskey. He didn't have a driver's license, so the
officer ticketed him and arranged for the car to be toted.
At the time, nobody realized the vehicle belonged to Mark,
or that the young man driving it had just left
(22:37):
behind a crime scene of unspeakable violence. In a college
town like Farmville, it wasn't unusual for somebody to borrow
a car. There was nothing at the time to raise
any suspicion. Tow truck driver Elton Napier later recalled giving
mccrosskey a ride into town. He recalled, I just asked
(22:57):
him where he was from, and all he would say
was he was from California. I said, what in the
world are you doing down here? He said, my girlfriend
lives down here. Elton noticed that there were red marks
across mc crotskey's neck. They were hickeys, and Elton teased,
she was about to eat you up, wasn't she. McCroskey
(23:17):
grinned and said they were from his girlfriend. To Elton,
he didn't seem strange, just quiet, but there was one
thing he couldn't forget. He later said, he stunk like
the devil. I'm going to tell you the truth that
boy was stinking. The smell clinging to mc crotskey wasn't
sweat or travel It was the stench of decomposition. He'd
(23:42):
been living inside the Kelly home for days, surrounded by
the bodies of the people he had killed. After being
dropped off, McCroskey wandered into a Sheet's convenience store. A
clerk remembered him saying he was waiting on a ride
to the airport. That detail proved invaluable. Detectives rushed to
Richmond International Airport, searching for any sign of him. They
(24:05):
found him in a boggage claim area, stretched out on
a bench, fast asleep. When officers surrounded him, Crosskey didn't resist.
The rast was quiet, almost anti climatic. Troy Bell, and
airport spokesman later described the moment. He was sitting there, real, calmly,
almost nonchalant. In his pocket. Police find a ticket to
(24:28):
California around the right.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
He said.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
You are stead, he writes, and you signed a form.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
Saying you will and talk to us, and you still
will and talk to us.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yes, but I would like to taste too, lacloye.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
Okay, that that is your option.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
So are you in looking your right to remain sound.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yes, the news of the quadruple murder spread through the
tight knit community like wildfire, but it didn't stop there
within ours. The story had exploded across the Internet, particularly
in the niche corners where McCroskey and Emma were known
figures in the horror core community. Despite the violent nature
of the music they listened to, people who knew them
(25:14):
were genuinely stunned. Andrew Schrum, who owned serial Killing Records,
captured the shock felt by many when he said, this
is not something from the p SSAM. I knew, this
is not something that I would ever, ever in a
million years envision him doing. Almost immediately, the media latched
onto the horrorcore angle. Local newscasts ran segments on murder music.
(25:38):
Headlines splashed across front pages tied the brutal killings to
the dark, violent lyrics of the genre. Reporters stood outside
the crimescene, warning of the dangerous influence of songs the
glorified murder Online. McCroskey's favorite tracks were dissected line by line,
with chilling meaning retroactively imposed on the coverage followed a
(26:01):
familiar pattern, one that often emerges whenever tragedy collides with
controversial art forms. Heavy metal was blamed for teen suicides
in the nineteen eighties. Violent video games became scapegoats after
school shootings. Now horror core was under the microscope, but
this narrative, while compelling for news cycles, fundamentally misunderstood the
(26:25):
relationship between music and behavior. Millions of people consume aggressive,
violent music across all genres without ever harming another person.
The horrorcore community itself, citing it and passionate, was horrified
precisely because they understood the distinction between performance and reality.
(26:46):
For most listeners, horrorcore was catharsis, not a call to arms.
While the public debate rage, detectives were still focused on
something more pressing motive. Mccrotsky's sister, Sarah told the tective
that she had heard from friends that he and Emma
had some kind of falling out at the music festival.
(27:06):
She didn't know the details. Then, detectives spoke with Curtis Gibson,
a taxi driver who had given mccrosskey a ride to
the airport. Gibson recalled a chilling conversation. McCroskey had told
him that he found a text message on Emma's phone
from a man she had met at the festival, saying
he loved her and wanted to be with her. When
(27:29):
McCroskey confronted Emma, she became angry and accused him of
invading her privacy. According to Gibbson, McCroskey said he hadn't
wanted to argue. He said he waited for her to
fall asleep, and then he left the house. He just
didn't tell Gibbson it was after he slaughtered the entire family.
(27:50):
On the twenty third of September, McCroskey was formally charged
with four counts of murder. The next day, Mark was
led to rest. Friends filled them modest White Church, where
Mark had spent so many Sundays preaching, guiding and comforting others.
They described him as a man whose life was centered
on God, but also as a father who had struggled
(28:11):
to reconcile his deep faith with his daughter's fascination with
macab music and imagery. Reverend Joseph mccrutcheen spoke to the crowd,
acknowledging that those gathered no better than anybody what Mark
would have said if he were alive To address such
a tragedy. Mark, he reminded them, was the one who
had spent his life in service to others, visiting their homes,
(28:34):
sitting at their bedsides during illness, and presiding over funerals
when they said goodbye to their loved ones. After the
service concluded, Mark was buried on the quiet grounds in
front of the church he had faithfully served for years.
The following week, services were held for Deborah Kelly and
her daughter Emma. Farmfully United Methodist Church was filled with mourners,
(28:55):
many of whom knew Deborah not only as a colleague,
but as a teacher and mentor who life often enduring impact.
Reverend Sylvia Mettros delivered words of comfort, telling those in
attendance in the face of horror and tragedy, were claiming
that God is stronger. She spoke of Deborah as a
tough yet compassionate educator who devoted her professional life to
(29:18):
understanding criminals and victims alike, often challenging her assurance to
see the human story behind the crime. Emma was remembered
in a more complicated light as a teenager who had
a rebellious strike and an interest in the occult, but
who also retained the simple joys of adolescence, like her
love for the Backstreet Boys. Reverend Meadows reminded mourners that
(29:41):
grief in remembrance often involve embracing both sides of a person,
the struggles and the joys. She told them, we can
no longer live as though certain groups don't exist. We
can no longer pretend that darkness and forces of evil
aren't right under our noses. Is laid to rest in
a private service at Brown Funeral Homes, South Berkeley Chapel.
(30:05):
As a grief lingered over Farmville. The legal proceedings moved forward.
In November, McCroskey was indicted on six counts of capital murder,
as well as a charge of grand larceny. In Virginia,
capital murder is not a single defined crime, but a
category of offenses that can warrant the death penalty. A
person can be charged with capital murder for axe tied
(30:27):
to terrorism, for killing a law enforcement officer, or, as
in McCroskey's case, for committing multiple murders within a three
year period. Early the next year, McCroskey's defense attorney, Carrie Bowen,
filed a motion requesting a change of venue, citing the
intense publicity surrounding the case in Vornville. He also requested
(30:49):
that McCroskey undergo of mental evaluation, hoping to determine whether
psychological factors could play a role in the defense. Meanwhile,
speculation grew over weather prosecutors would seek the death penalty.
Among those who followed the case closely were people who
believed that seeking mccrotsky's execution wouldn't serve justice. Jessica Hence,
(31:11):
a former student of Deborah's, and her husband Scott, launched
an online petition urging prosecutors not to seek the death penalty.
Jessica explained their raisoning, stating, my husband and I both
have this overwhelming feeling that Deborah wouldn't want her murderer
to be put to death. She remembered Debra's extraordinary empathy
(31:32):
and her ability to recognize that people aren't defined by
a single act. She said, we wanted people to understand
that we're not just one thing or act, that we
are all products of a myriad of circumstances and our
social environment. Such pleas from victim's loved ones can sometimes
influence prosecutorial decisions, but in this case, None of Debora
(31:56):
or Mark's family members signed the petition. Support did come
from an unexpected source, McCroskey's own sister, Sarah. In a statement,
she expressed her own conflicted feelings, starting, I feel really
really bad for what happened to the family, whether my
brother did it or not, but I think that this
(32:16):
is something we can do for her family. If he's guilty,
then I think giving him the death penalty is the
easy way out and he should suffer the consequences for
what he did. On the nineteenth of September twenty ten,
(32:38):
Richard McCroskey was escorted into the courtroom. He stood before
the judge and quietly entered guilty place to two counts
of capital murder and two counts of first degree murder.
The decision came as part of a play agreement in
which prosecutors agreed to take the death penalty off the
table in exchange for mccrosskey accepting a life sentence. His
(33:00):
defense attorney, Carrie Bowen, explained that the overwhelming evidence left
little room for maneuver. He remarked, four bodies are pretty
compelling evidence. This is the kind of stuff that citizens
any place in this country are terrified it could happen
to them. This is the kind of case death penalties
arise from. Mccrosskey himself declined to make any statement in court,
(33:23):
though his attorney said that he was preparing a message
for the victim's families. Bowen described his client's mood as
somber and subdued, stating, there are four people dead here.
He's not happy at all. Prosecutor James Annis then outlined
some of the grizzly details that investigators had pieced together.
In the early hours of the fifteenth of September, McCroskey
(33:46):
had been drinking beer, smoking marijuana, and taking pain killers
before launching his attack around three a m Armed with
a heavy mall, he moved methodically through the home while
the occupants slept. Melanie Wells was the first to be
targeted as she slept on a sofa in a downstairs den.
(34:07):
Mcrotky then crept upstairs and bludgeoned Deborah Kelly in her bed. Afterwards,
he returned downstairs, entered Emma's bedroom and struck her repeatedly
as she slept. According to Ennis, none of the three
stirred during the attacks, and the absence of defensive wounds
suggested they had never awoken. Later that morning, Mark, Emma's father,
(34:30):
arrived at the house after being asked by Melanie's parents
to check on the teenagers. Mccrotsky confronted him in the
living room and killed him as well. Afterwards, he dragged
both Melanie and Mark's bodies into Emma's bedroom, leaving all
three victims together. In the days that followed, McCroskey remained
inside the house, coexisting with the four bodies as they
(34:51):
began to decompose. He even recorded a video of himself
with the digital camera, acknowledging what he had done, confessing
that he I knew he would have to face justice
and experissing thought of suicide.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
All right, So I'm making this video because or if
anybody finds this, I wat don't I'm trying today and
just I'm breathtaking at what I've done and I apologize
and I'm gonna pay for my consequences. You know, I
wish that I could have not done this. I just
lost my mind. I snapped and I did what I did,
(35:28):
and I gotta pay for now my consequences. I'm like
all shaky and stuff, but like to anybody that finds this,
tell my parents that, like, I love them and I'm
very sorry for doing this. And uh, there's nothing really
else to say. To everybody that is probably gonna hate
me for this. I'm sorry and I had to do it.
(35:49):
My mind just snaps. I couldn't control anymore. That's it.
Fuck you to the big world, Fuck everybody in the world.
I can't stand his place.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
When asked about a possible motive, Annis refused to speculate.
He said he's a very closed individual. Bowen, however, provided
some insight, suggesting that mccrotsky's anger had been fueled by
his turbulent relationship with Emma. Mccrotsky had believed that they
were in an exclusive relationship, while Emma appeared to see
(36:25):
things differently. According to some sources, Emma wasn't as attracted
to McCroskey when she met him in person. He apparently
didn't look like his MySpace pictures. According to Zekiel, Emma
texted her and said that she was uncomfortable. She found
mccrotskey to be immature. After discovering messages on her phone
(36:47):
that suggested she had been speaking to others. McCroskey's jealousy
enraged reached a breaking point. There was also questions raised
about whether his violent interest in music had played any
role in the killings, but when acknowledged the dark themes
present and much of mccrotsky's preferred genre, but was careful
not to draw a direct connection. He stated, much of
(37:10):
that music is so rampant with this exact kind of behavior,
you can't help but notice the coincidence. But I don't
have a sense the music led to this kind of behavior. Well,
(37:52):
that is it for this episode of Morbidology. As always,
thank you so much for listening, and I'd like to
say a massive thank you to my new supporters are Bompaidreon,
Lisa and Holly. In exchange for your support. Up on Patreon,
I upload adfree and early release episodes, as well as
bonus episodes of Morbidology Plus and behind the Scenes which
(38:13):
includes bonus video, audio and case files. You can join
for as little as one dollar a month and there's
absolutely no obligations. You can also sign up to Morbidology
on Apple subscriptions, where I upload adfree and early release
episodes as well as bonus episodes of Morbidology Plus. Remember
to check us out at morebiology dot com. For more
(38:34):
information about this episode and to read some true crime articles.
Until next time, take care of yourself, stay safe, and
have an amazing week.
Alright, so I'm making this video because if anybody finds this,
I really don't know what I'm trying to say, and
I'm breathtaking at what I've done.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
That's it. In the heart of central Virginia, Formville has
been a quiet center of trade and education since its
founding in seventeen ninety eight. This small town, which is
situated between Richmond and Lynchburg, carries the weight of American
history in its streets, from Civil War battles to the
birthplace of the modern civil rights movement. First Avenue Cut Street,
(01:20):
one of Formville's most established residential neighborhoods, a street where
mature oak trees tore over modest colonial homes and well
kept cape CODs. The houses along here tell stories of
generations families who have watched their children grow up playing
in yards bordered by white picket fences. It is the
(01:41):
epitome of small town America, where front porches still serve
their intended purpose. A neighbors wave as they pass by.
The white colonial at the end of the block fit
perfectly with its traditional clap board siding and rust red
shutters framing each window. It really could have been lifted
from a postcard. The mature tree surrounding the property provided
(02:06):
natural privacy. Multiple editions over the years had given the
house character, each section telling the story of a family
that had grown and adopted within its walls. But one
September afternoon in two thousand and nine, it became apparent
that something was wrong. A woman had been trying to
(02:26):
reach her daughter, who had been staying over at the house.
She eventually called police and asked them to do a
welfare check.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I don't know who I need to talk to or
my daughter is one of the family in Farmville, Virginia,
and he's he's been basically living for the two and
a half days. I can get ahold of burn himself
(02:55):
and turned off with work. As the girl that she
was staying with, nobody knows where she is. Herself has
turned off. This daughter's boyfriend has came there, and I've
talked him several times today and I've gotten different stories
and different stories. But my husband went down He was
the husband looked at my daughter yesterday and he went
down there. He arrived about eleven o'clock in the morning.
(03:17):
He factored for eight hours up fid the house and
nobody showed up nobody is a bore. I mean, what
about four hours lay here and and but I don't know.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
What else to do.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
The home at five oh five First Avenue in Farmville,
Virginia belonged to Deborah Kelly. Inside its walls, Daborah shared
her life with her sixteen year old daughter, Emma. The
hoist reflected a kind of quiet normalcy, a family that,
despite change, still worked hard to remain connected. Deborah and
(04:06):
Emma's father, Mark Allan Niederbrock, had divorced years earlier, but
theirs hadn't been a bitter split. Instead, it was the
rare kind of divorce that people speak of in admiration.
They remained friends, often still gathering together for outings and
family time with Emma. Mark was still a fixture in
(04:26):
the house, still part of Deborah's life in meaningful ways.
By two thousand and nine, Mark had been serving for
six years as pastor at Walker's Presbyterian Church in Hicksburg,
a small, tight knit congregation where bonds between church and
community ran deep. He was beloved not just as a pastor,
(04:47):
but as a friend. Reverend Jason Winnaker, who knew him well,
later said he was a very genuine servant of God.
He genuinely loved his Savior, and he genuinely loved his church.
Mark's story was one of faith, but also of reinventation.
Born in Illinois, he had once pursued a different path,
(05:08):
working as a graphic designer before answering the call to ministry.
His decision to ender the ministry was completely out of
the blue. An Eagle Scout and a graduate of the
University of Illinois, Mark's life had been built on service
and creativity, and those who knew him admired his sincerity.
He loved his daughter. A member of the church, Barbara Dickerson,
(05:31):
said her daddy would have done anything for her. Debor
two had carved out her own impressive path. At fifty
three years old, she was an associate professor of sociology
and criminal justice studies at Longward University, where she had
worked since nineteen ninety four after earning her doctorate from Illinois.
(05:52):
She was respected by her colleagues and beloved by her students,
no not only for her expertise, but also her warmth
and willingness to listen. Their daughter, Emma, was a teenager
straddling two worlds, one shaped by the expectations of her parents,
the other by the subculture she had discovered online. After
(06:13):
being bullied, Emma was homeskilled by her mother. She was curious, artistic.
Unlike many teenagers, she found herself drawn into music as
a form of identity. Her chosen genre was horror core rap,
a niche often controversial subculture of hip hop with lyrics
steeped in violence, death, and macabs storytelling. To outsiders, it
(06:37):
was troubling, even dangerous, but to Emma it was a community,
a place where she felt understood. Through forms and social media,
she found others who shared her passion. Among them was
eighteen year old Melanie Wells. The two bonded quickly over
the music, their friendship blossoming across state lines. Melanie's life
(07:00):
had taken its own winding course. She was originally from
Louisville and Kentucky, but her family had relocated to West
Virginia just as she was about to start high school.
Melanie struggled to that, eventually dropping out and working towards
her equivalency diploma, but those who knew Melanie described her
(07:20):
as kind and unassuming. One friend, Laura, remembered her fondly.
She was one of the few who talked to me
because I was a freshman. For Deborah and Mark, Emma's
fascination with Horrorcore raised concern. The violent lyrics, the fixation
on death. It all seemed so far away from the
world that they had built around her, But they were
(07:42):
also careful not to dismiss it outright. They wanted to
protect their daughter, but they also wanted to support her.
Their compromise was simple. Emma could go to concerts, but
only if they went with her. It was a condition
that Emma accepted and won. Deborah summed up bess when
she confided to a friend, She's either going to go
(08:04):
on her own or I go with her and make
sure she's okay. It was a balance between freedom and safety,
rebellion and protection, a balance thought for the Kellys seemed
to keep the family steady, But beneath it all was
a quiet unease, the kind that lingers when parents sense
their child is stepping into a world they don't fully understand.
(08:39):
Like many teenagers of that era, Emma built an online
identity through MySpace under the nickname Ragdoll. She shared pieces
of herself with the growing online community of friends who
like her felt most understood through music. Melanie Wells had
her own profile as well, where she described herself and
(08:59):
even listed her religion as Levene's Satanist. It was a
detail that seemed rebellious on the surface, but also spoke
to the way that teenagers often used the Internet to
experiment with who they were. It was on my Space
that Emma and Melanie struck up a friendship with a
young man named Richard Samuel Alden Maccrofsky the Third. Richard
(09:22):
was twenty years old and lived across the country in
Castro Valley, California. Online, though he went by two different
personas Lil dem Ondog his personal page and Psycho Sam,
the name under which he promoted his horror core music.
His my Space read like a manifesto of a young
(09:42):
man drank to both impress and reassure. Under fun facts,
he wrote, I am the Sam a web designer, a
graphic designer, a musician, a photographer, a gamer, a promoter,
a juggaloo. I'm not a creeper, a stalker, a rapist,
a serial killer, a zombie. He described himself as a
nerd somebody whose life revolved around music. On his music page,
(10:07):
he was more direct about his ambitions writing. Psycho Sam
is a new musician in the underground and only been
rapping for a few months now. His songs bore titles
such as Murderous Rage and Sick Minds Think Alike, dark,
violent themes that mirrored the genre that Emma and Melanie
had gravitated towards. Here's some samples of his songs.
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Night Now, I Got Existed, Nice, held me through, I
love you you fine as I get your mouth and did.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Over time, the online friendship between Emma and Richard turned
into something more. They swapped phone numbers, talking almost every
single day, sometimes for ours. For Emma, it was the
rush of first love, exciting, private and all consuming. It
was a time before video calls, so they sent each
other recorded videos.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
All right, so you wanted a video and you made
me videos so and he said, please, So I'll make
you this video even though I'm not gonna like do
anything because my room's kind of dirty, and yeah, I
don't want to show you my dirty room.
Speaker 6 (11:44):
But this video is for Emma.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Because you just told me to say your name, So
I don't know. I'll make you another video once clean promise,
unless you just want to see my wall because that's
not dirty, but behind me is dirty, so that's not good.
(12:12):
All right, This video is for you, Emma, the rag doll, amazing,
amazing rag doll. And I really don't know what to
do for you on video, so I guess I'll like
show you my room a little bit if that's what you.
Speaker 6 (12:26):
Want to see.
Speaker 4 (12:27):
First off, we got my door, and then we got
my addiction for energy drinks. And then we got my
small underground CD collection going on right here.
Speaker 6 (12:40):
And then I've got my wall of awesomeness that I
call it. Lots of posters and flyers and I had
you man shot them and random stuff.
Speaker 5 (12:51):
I hat you.
Speaker 4 (12:53):
Oh now the battery is dye.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
My September of two thousand to nine, They're long distance
relationship is all to take a major step. On the
morning of the seventh, Emma posted a message on Richard's
MySpace page. Her excitement spilled across the screen. Oh baby,
the next time you check your MySpace, you'll be at
my house. I love you so so much, baby, forever
(13:16):
and for always. She explained that she'd been awake since
four a m. Too restless to sleep. It was the
day that they were finally going to meet in person.
The plan was simple. Emma, Richard, and Melanie would travel
together to Southgate and Michigan for a horror core music
festival called Strictly for the Wicked. Scheduled for the twelfth
(13:39):
of September. The all day event promised a lineup of
underground ox such as mantle Ward Scum and Dismembered Fetus.
To Emma and her friends, this wasn't just a concert,
it was a pilgrimage. Richard flew in from California, and
Emma arrived at the airport with her parents to meet him.
She would later say that she knew noticed his shyness instantly,
(14:02):
but his first thought was how pretty her smile was. Mark, ever,
the steady presence, thought that Richard seemed like a nice
enough young man. Deborah extended the kind of hospitality that
came naturally to her. She allowed Richard to stay at
the family home for the weekend, welcoming him as her
daughter Emma's guest. Melanie's parents also agreed to let her
(14:24):
spend the weekend at the Kelly's house so that she
could attend the festival as well. When the weekend arrived,
Debora volunteered to drive the group to Michigan, with Mark
deciding to tag along. Emma wasn't thrilled about her father
shop ruining the trip, venting online talk about a long
ass drive sharing the car with a fucking preacher. It's
(14:45):
gonna suck, but no doubt is it worth it. The
group booked rooms at a motel near the venue Deborah,
with Emma and Melanie in one, Mark in another, and
Richard in his own. On the night before the festival,
they met up with friends from in the horrorcore community,
including a rapper known as Sectanic and his girlfriend, Mizkiel.
(15:06):
The teenagers hung out, laughing and trading stories. Mesicel even
braided Melanie's hair. The next day, the festival grounds filled
with roughly two hundred and fifty people. The group watched performances,
met friends, and immersed themselves in the aggressive theatrical energy
of horror core. It was loud, chaotic, but alive. By
(15:29):
the time the festival ended, the group was buzzing with
the shared high of the music. Melanie logged onto hermize
space to update her friends, sft W was fucking amazing
back in Virginia. Now be back in West Virginia on Wednesday.
I miss everyone, But Melanie never made it back to
(15:49):
West Virginia and Richard never made it back to California.
The next day, Richard placed a phone call. His voice
was quiet, almost tentative, as he left a message for
his family. I just wanted to make sure that everyone
was okay. I love you guys. On the afternoon of
(16:22):
the eighteenth of September, Melanie's father, Thomas Wells, was preparing
to drive from West Virginia to Formville. He'd arranged to
pick up his daughter from Emma's house and bring her
home and or Before setting off, he called Melanie to
let her know that he was on the way, but
his call went unanswered. When Thomas arrived at five o
(16:42):
five First Avenue, he walked up to the door and knocked.
Nobody came. He tried Melanie's cell phone again and again,
but it only rang. He waited outside for seven hours,
clinging to the hope that his daughter would appear or
at least call back, But as daylight slipped away, he
eventually got into his car and returned home, empty handled
(17:06):
and unsettled. Back in West Virginia, Melanie's mother, Kathleen became
more anxious. She reached out to Emma's father, Mark. Something
was wrong, she explained, Melanie wasn't answering, and neither was
anybody else inside the Kelly home. Mark reassured her that
he would go over and check, but ours ticked past
(17:29):
and he never called back. When Kathleen tried calling him directly,
he too wasn't answering. With dread mounting, Melanie's parents finally
called the Farmfield Police Department and requested a welfare check.
When officers arrived at the Kelley home, everything appeared ordinary.
The lawn was neatly trimmed, the house well kept, and
(17:51):
the lights glowing softly. Inside. They knocked on the front
door and was surprised when it opened. Standing before more
than was a young man. It was Richard mccrofsky. Calm
and on assuming, he explained that Amma and Melanie had
gone to the movies. He added that he'd already spoken
with Melanie's mother and told her the same thing. The
(18:14):
officers had no reason to doubt him. They left, noting
nothing out of the ordinary as.
Speaker 7 (18:20):
Well, Yeah, this is a Carmel police department. Okay, did
you just speak with somebody at the residence.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Ah, yes, I just spoke with I guess the daughter's boyfriend.
Speaker 7 (18:33):
Okay, well, I don't know. As my sergeant went over
there and he said that it was a young kid boy.
And then Melanie and the girl she's staying with her
at the movies. Now, yesterday they went to Richmond. Vehicles
had broken down and his cell phone dead and that
kind of thing. So is that when he talked to
(18:53):
you about somebody.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Told me yeah, And like I said, I but I
don't know where the mother is. I don't know where.
I mean usually that I give she drives them around,
and she's here. I haven't spoken to her at all.
The father I talked to you earlier on today, right,
he said that he was wanting he was gone to
play even knew. A matter of fact, he was on
the red line talk. He's going through farmability because she
(19:17):
prop at the house. I haven't heard from resern Okay,
like I said, I've just turned this be idle. Now
I'm not on the thing at all.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
But by the next morning, Kathleen's fear had only sharpened.
She still hadn't heard from her daughter. Melanie had never
gone this long without calling, and now the silence felt suffocating.
She called police again and begged them to check once more.
When officers pulled up to the house for a second time,
things felt different. As they approached the front door, a
(19:52):
foul odor hung in the air. The closer they got,
the strong grip became. It was the unmistakable stench of decomposition.
This time, nobody came.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
To the door.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
Officers forced it open and were immediately hit with the
overwhelming smell, so strong it seemed to cling to their
clothing and their skin. They followed the odor through the house,
their boots echoing in the silence, until it led them
to a downstairs bedroom. The door creaked open, and inside
was the scene that would stay with them forever. Three
(20:29):
bodies lay in the room, one sprawled on the bed,
two more crumpled on the floor. They had been bludgeoned
so savagely that their faces were destroyed their skulls shattered.
The victims were later identified as sixteen year old Emma,
her best friend Melanie, and her father More. But the
(20:50):
horror didn't end there. Upstairs, in the master bedroom, officers
found Debra Kelly. Like the others, she too had been
beaten to death. All of them had been bludgeoned with
them all. It left injuries so catastrophic that none of
the victims could be identified visually. Dental records would be
(21:11):
required to confirm their identities. After the gresome discovery inside
the Kelly home, detectives already had a suspect in mind,
twenty year old Richard Samuel Alden mccrosskey. The condition of
(21:33):
the three bodies revealed something chilling. They had been dead
for days, decomposing in the very house where mccrotskey had
calmly answered the door to police and told them that
Emma and Melanie had gone to the movies. But Mark
wasn't as decomposed as the others. Detectives theorized he was
(21:53):
killed when he went to check on the others. Investigators
quickly noticed something else. Mark's car was missing from the driveway.
It didn't take them long to track it down. In
the early morning hours before the bodies were discovered, Prince
Edward deputies had already received the call about a suspicious
vehicle on poor House Road. When a deputy responded, he
(22:16):
found a car stuck in the ditch after somebody had
tried to back out of a driveway behind the wheel
was mccrosskey. He didn't have a driver's license, so the
officer ticketed him and arranged for the car to be toted.
At the time, nobody realized the vehicle belonged to Mark,
or that the young man driving it had just left
(22:37):
behind a crime scene of unspeakable violence. In a college
town like Farmville, it wasn't unusual for somebody to borrow
a car. There was nothing at the time to raise
any suspicion. Tow truck driver Elton Napier later recalled giving
mccrosskey a ride into town. He recalled, I just asked
(22:57):
him where he was from, and all he would say
was he was from California. I said, what in the
world are you doing down here? He said, my girlfriend
lives down here. Elton noticed that there were red marks
across mc crotskey's neck. They were hickeys, and Elton teased,
she was about to eat you up, wasn't she. McCroskey
(23:17):
grinned and said they were from his girlfriend. To Elton,
he didn't seem strange, just quiet, but there was one
thing he couldn't forget. He later said, he stunk like
the devil. I'm going to tell you the truth that
boy was stinking. The smell clinging to mc crotskey wasn't
sweat or travel It was the stench of decomposition. He'd
(23:42):
been living inside the Kelly home for days, surrounded by
the bodies of the people he had killed. After being
dropped off, McCroskey wandered into a Sheet's convenience store. A
clerk remembered him saying he was waiting on a ride
to the airport. That detail proved invaluable. Detectives rushed to
Richmond International Airport, searching for any sign of him. They
(24:05):
found him in a boggage claim area, stretched out on
a bench, fast asleep. When officers surrounded him, Crosskey didn't resist.
The rast was quiet, almost anti climatic. Troy Bell, and
airport spokesman later described the moment. He was sitting there, real, calmly,
almost nonchalant. In his pocket. Police find a ticket to
(24:28):
California around the right.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
He said.
Speaker 2 (24:32):
You are stead, he writes, and you signed a form.
Speaker 6 (24:35):
Saying you will and talk to us, and you still
will and talk to us.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
Yes, but I would like to taste too, lacloye.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
Okay, that that is your option.
Speaker 3 (24:49):
So are you in looking your right to remain sound.
Speaker 2 (24:52):
Yes, the news of the quadruple murder spread through the
tight knit community like wildfire, but it didn't stop there
within ours. The story had exploded across the Internet, particularly
in the niche corners where McCroskey and Emma were known
figures in the horror core community. Despite the violent nature
of the music they listened to, people who knew them
(25:14):
were genuinely stunned. Andrew Schrum, who owned serial Killing Records,
captured the shock felt by many when he said, this
is not something from the p SSAM. I knew, this
is not something that I would ever, ever in a
million years envision him doing. Almost immediately, the media latched
onto the horrorcore angle. Local newscasts ran segments on murder music.
(25:38):
Headlines splashed across front pages tied the brutal killings to
the dark, violent lyrics of the genre. Reporters stood outside
the crimescene, warning of the dangerous influence of songs the
glorified murder Online. McCroskey's favorite tracks were dissected line by line,
with chilling meaning retroactively imposed on the coverage followed a
(26:01):
familiar pattern, one that often emerges whenever tragedy collides with
controversial art forms. Heavy metal was blamed for teen suicides
in the nineteen eighties. Violent video games became scapegoats after
school shootings. Now horror core was under the microscope, but
this narrative, while compelling for news cycles, fundamentally misunderstood the
(26:25):
relationship between music and behavior. Millions of people consume aggressive,
violent music across all genres without ever harming another person.
The horrorcore community itself, citing it and passionate, was horrified
precisely because they understood the distinction between performance and reality.
(26:46):
For most listeners, horrorcore was catharsis, not a call to arms.
While the public debate rage, detectives were still focused on
something more pressing motive. Mccrotsky's sister, Sarah told the tective
that she had heard from friends that he and Emma
had some kind of falling out at the music festival.
(27:06):
She didn't know the details. Then, detectives spoke with Curtis Gibson,
a taxi driver who had given mccrosskey a ride to
the airport. Gibson recalled a chilling conversation. McCroskey had told
him that he found a text message on Emma's phone
from a man she had met at the festival, saying
he loved her and wanted to be with her. When
(27:29):
McCroskey confronted Emma, she became angry and accused him of
invading her privacy. According to Gibbson, McCroskey said he hadn't
wanted to argue. He said he waited for her to
fall asleep, and then he left the house. He just
didn't tell Gibbson it was after he slaughtered the entire family.
(27:50):
On the twenty third of September, McCroskey was formally charged
with four counts of murder. The next day, Mark was
led to rest. Friends filled them modest White Church, where
Mark had spent so many Sundays preaching, guiding and comforting others.
They described him as a man whose life was centered
on God, but also as a father who had struggled
(28:11):
to reconcile his deep faith with his daughter's fascination with
macab music and imagery. Reverend Joseph mccrutcheen spoke to the crowd,
acknowledging that those gathered no better than anybody what Mark
would have said if he were alive To address such
a tragedy. Mark, he reminded them, was the one who
had spent his life in service to others, visiting their homes,
(28:34):
sitting at their bedsides during illness, and presiding over funerals
when they said goodbye to their loved ones. After the
service concluded, Mark was buried on the quiet grounds in
front of the church he had faithfully served for years.
The following week, services were held for Deborah Kelly and
her daughter Emma. Farmfully United Methodist Church was filled with mourners,
(28:55):
many of whom knew Deborah not only as a colleague,
but as a teacher and mentor who life often enduring impact.
Reverend Sylvia Mettros delivered words of comfort, telling those in
attendance in the face of horror and tragedy, were claiming
that God is stronger. She spoke of Deborah as a
tough yet compassionate educator who devoted her professional life to
(29:18):
understanding criminals and victims alike, often challenging her assurance to
see the human story behind the crime. Emma was remembered
in a more complicated light as a teenager who had
a rebellious strike and an interest in the occult, but
who also retained the simple joys of adolescence, like her
love for the Backstreet Boys. Reverend Meadows reminded mourners that
(29:41):
grief in remembrance often involve embracing both sides of a person,
the struggles and the joys. She told them, we can
no longer live as though certain groups don't exist. We
can no longer pretend that darkness and forces of evil
aren't right under our noses. Is laid to rest in
a private service at Brown Funeral Homes, South Berkeley Chapel.
(30:05):
As a grief lingered over Farmville. The legal proceedings moved forward.
In November, McCroskey was indicted on six counts of capital murder,
as well as a charge of grand larceny. In Virginia,
capital murder is not a single defined crime, but a
category of offenses that can warrant the death penalty. A
person can be charged with capital murder for axe tied
(30:27):
to terrorism, for killing a law enforcement officer, or, as
in McCroskey's case, for committing multiple murders within a three
year period. Early the next year, McCroskey's defense attorney, Carrie Bowen,
filed a motion requesting a change of venue, citing the
intense publicity surrounding the case in Vornville. He also requested
(30:49):
that McCroskey undergo of mental evaluation, hoping to determine whether
psychological factors could play a role in the defense. Meanwhile,
speculation grew over weather prosecutors would seek the death penalty.
Among those who followed the case closely were people who
believed that seeking mccrotsky's execution wouldn't serve justice. Jessica Hence,
(31:11):
a former student of Deborah's, and her husband Scott, launched
an online petition urging prosecutors not to seek the death penalty.
Jessica explained their raisoning, stating, my husband and I both
have this overwhelming feeling that Deborah wouldn't want her murderer
to be put to death. She remembered Debra's extraordinary empathy
(31:32):
and her ability to recognize that people aren't defined by
a single act. She said, we wanted people to understand
that we're not just one thing or act, that we
are all products of a myriad of circumstances and our
social environment. Such pleas from victim's loved ones can sometimes
influence prosecutorial decisions, but in this case, None of Debora
(31:56):
or Mark's family members signed the petition. Support did come
from an unexpected source, McCroskey's own sister, Sarah. In a statement,
she expressed her own conflicted feelings, starting, I feel really
really bad for what happened to the family, whether my
brother did it or not, but I think that this
(32:16):
is something we can do for her family. If he's guilty,
then I think giving him the death penalty is the
easy way out and he should suffer the consequences for
what he did. On the nineteenth of September twenty ten,
(32:38):
Richard McCroskey was escorted into the courtroom. He stood before
the judge and quietly entered guilty place to two counts
of capital murder and two counts of first degree murder.
The decision came as part of a play agreement in
which prosecutors agreed to take the death penalty off the
table in exchange for mccrosskey accepting a life sentence. His
(33:00):
defense attorney, Carrie Bowen, explained that the overwhelming evidence left
little room for maneuver. He remarked, four bodies are pretty
compelling evidence. This is the kind of stuff that citizens
any place in this country are terrified it could happen
to them. This is the kind of case death penalties
arise from. Mccrosskey himself declined to make any statement in court,
(33:23):
though his attorney said that he was preparing a message
for the victim's families. Bowen described his client's mood as
somber and subdued, stating, there are four people dead here.
He's not happy at all. Prosecutor James Annis then outlined
some of the grizzly details that investigators had pieced together.
In the early hours of the fifteenth of September, McCroskey
(33:46):
had been drinking beer, smoking marijuana, and taking pain killers
before launching his attack around three a m Armed with
a heavy mall, he moved methodically through the home while
the occupants slept. Melanie Wells was the first to be
targeted as she slept on a sofa in a downstairs den.
(34:07):
Mcrotky then crept upstairs and bludgeoned Deborah Kelly in her bed. Afterwards,
he returned downstairs, entered Emma's bedroom and struck her repeatedly
as she slept. According to Ennis, none of the three
stirred during the attacks, and the absence of defensive wounds
suggested they had never awoken. Later that morning, Mark, Emma's father,
(34:30):
arrived at the house after being asked by Melanie's parents
to check on the teenagers. Mccrotsky confronted him in the
living room and killed him as well. Afterwards, he dragged
both Melanie and Mark's bodies into Emma's bedroom, leaving all
three victims together. In the days that followed, McCroskey remained
inside the house, coexisting with the four bodies as they
(34:51):
began to decompose. He even recorded a video of himself
with the digital camera, acknowledging what he had done, confessing
that he I knew he would have to face justice
and experissing thought of suicide.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
All right, So I'm making this video because or if
anybody finds this, I wat don't I'm trying today and
just I'm breathtaking at what I've done and I apologize
and I'm gonna pay for my consequences. You know, I
wish that I could have not done this. I just
lost my mind. I snapped and I did what I did,
(35:28):
and I gotta pay for now my consequences. I'm like
all shaky and stuff, but like to anybody that finds this,
tell my parents that, like, I love them and I'm
very sorry for doing this. And uh, there's nothing really
else to say. To everybody that is probably gonna hate
me for this. I'm sorry and I had to do it.
(35:49):
My mind just snaps. I couldn't control anymore. That's it.
Fuck you to the big world, Fuck everybody in the world.
I can't stand his place.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
When asked about a possible motive, Annis refused to speculate.
He said he's a very closed individual. Bowen, however, provided
some insight, suggesting that mccrotsky's anger had been fueled by
his turbulent relationship with Emma. Mccrotsky had believed that they
were in an exclusive relationship, while Emma appeared to see
(36:25):
things differently. According to some sources, Emma wasn't as attracted
to McCroskey when she met him in person. He apparently
didn't look like his MySpace pictures. According to Zekiel, Emma
texted her and said that she was uncomfortable. She found
mccrotskey to be immature. After discovering messages on her phone
(36:47):
that suggested she had been speaking to others. McCroskey's jealousy
enraged reached a breaking point. There was also questions raised
about whether his violent interest in music had played any
role in the killings, but when acknowledged the dark themes
present and much of mccrotsky's preferred genre, but was careful
not to draw a direct connection. He stated, much of
(37:10):
that music is so rampant with this exact kind of behavior,
you can't help but notice the coincidence. But I don't
have a sense the music led to this kind of behavior. Well,
(37:52):
that is it for this episode of Morbidology. As always,
thank you so much for listening, and I'd like to
say a massive thank you to my new supporters are Bompaidreon,
Lisa and Holly. In exchange for your support. Up on Patreon,
I upload adfree and early release episodes, as well as
bonus episodes of Morbidology Plus and behind the Scenes which
(38:13):
includes bonus video, audio and case files. You can join
for as little as one dollar a month and there's
absolutely no obligations. You can also sign up to Morbidology
on Apple subscriptions, where I upload adfree and early release
episodes as well as bonus episodes of Morbidology Plus. Remember
to check us out at morebiology dot com. For more
(38:34):
information about this episode and to read some true crime articles.
Until next time, take care of yourself, stay safe, and
have an amazing week.
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