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The Aspiring Death Metal Rapper Who Couldn’t Lose His “Girlfriend”
The story of a gruesome quadruple homicide in a small Virginia town.
On September 15, 2009 at around three o’clock in the morning, Richard Samuel McCroskey murdered three women at a Farmville, Virginia home and later another man. The victims were Melanie Wells (18), Emma Niederbrock (16), Dr. Debra S. Kelley (53), and Mark Niederbrock (50).
Richard Samuel McCroskey was born on December 23, 1988 and grew up in Hayward, California before moving to Castro Valley with his father and sister.
McCroskey was known by everyone in his life to be a meek and insecure kid. He was often bullied for his weight and red hair. According to his sister, she described him as a “mild mannered and kind person who never fought back or defended himself unless provoked”.
McCroskey was also known to have two personas. In person, he was a pushover and a social outcast whereas on the popular social networking site MySpace, McCroskey portrayed himself as a tough, confident, aspiring horrorcore rapper.
Horrorcore is a genre of music that involves hip hop and rap incorporated with dark themes such as death, murder, suicide, and mental illness. McCroskey was an aspiring horrorcore rapper and was a part of Razakel’s promotional team, who was a fellow established rapper in the industry. McCroskey helped Razakel with marketing and web design for her branding. Through doing this, the 20-year-old boy met two other girls through MySpace: 16-year-old Emma Neiderbrock and 18-year-old Melanie Wells.
Emma Niederbrock was known to be a well rounded girl growing up. Aside from participating in the horrorcore community on MySpace, she dabbled in the occult, listened to macabre and The Backstreet Boys, and played soccer.
Melanie Wells was an 18-year-old who lived in Inwood, West Virginia with her parents and had close relationships with both of them. Melanie met Emma and Richard through Razakel on MySpace, but Emma and Melanie soon became inseparable best friends.
Emma was an only child and lived in Farmville, Virginia with her parents Debra Kelley and Mark Niederbrock. Nine months before the murders, Emma’s parents were in the process…
