Calif. horrorcore rapper who is suspect in 4 slayings had a couple of run-ins with Va. police

Suspect in 4 Va. killings had run-ins with police

FARMVILLE, Va. — An aspiring California rapper who is suspected of killing a Virginia pastor and three other people had two run-ins with police in the days before his arrest, but authorities said they didn’t notice anything unusual.

Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III, 20, answered the door of a home the day before the four bodies were discovered there and calmly told police looking for a teenager from out of town that she was at the movies with a friend. The teen’s mother, from West Virginia, had called city police asking them to check on her daughter.

Authorities have not said when the slayings ocurred or how the four were killed.

When the worried mother called police again Friday, they went to the house and discovered the reportedly decomposing bodies.

About 12 hours earlier, McCroskey had been stopped by county deputies and was ticketed for driving the pastor’s car without a license. The car hadn’t been reported stolen, and police said they didn’t realize until later that day they had let a suspected killer go free.

McCroskey, of Castro Valley, Calif., was an aspiring rapper in the horrorcore genre, which sets violent lyrics to hip-hop beats. He is accused of killing Mark Niederbrock, a pastor at a small Presbyterian church in central Virginia, and three others whose bodies were discovered at the home of Longwood University professor Debra Kelley. Niederbrock and Kelley had been separated for about a year and had a 16-year-old daughter, Emma Niederbrock.

The parents had taken their daughter and one of her friends, an 18-year-old girl from West Virginia, to a concert in Michigan on Sept. 12, and the girls hung out with McCroskey before and after the show, according to a friend Andres Shirm, who also attended.

Shirm, who owns a small, independent horrorcore music label Serial Killin Records in New Mexico, said the girls and McCroskey were brought together by the music.

“You look at the music we do and it’s kind of harsh and somewhat brutal at times, but there’s a different side of life that people aren’t normally accustomed to, and being an artist, I think it’s important to see both sides of life,” he said.

McCroskey’s older sister, Sarah, said her brother had been bullied when he was younger and spent much of his time in his room on the computer. She said he never fought back and wouldn’t do anything unless provoked.

Sarah McCroskey said her brother left to go on a trip Sept. 6. and she heard that he got into an argument with his girlfriend at the music festival. Then, he left the family a cryptic phone message Thursday, saying “I love you guys.” She said that was uncharacteristic of her brother because they were not a “‘Leave It To Beaver’ kind of family.”

Farmville Police Capt. Wade Stimpson said McCroskey would be charged in the other killings once the identities were verified. Authorities have not said how they died, only that they have hundreds of pieces of forensic evidence.

The bodies were found in Farmville, a small, quiet college town about 50 miles east of Richmond.

During McCroskey’s second encounter with police, he told deputies who responded to a call about a suspicious vehicle that he was headed back to California. Sheriff’s Sgt. Stuart Raybold said deputies didn’t think much of him driving someone else’s vehicle, which is common in the college town, but towed the car because he didn’t have a license.

A tow truck driver who dropped McCroskey off at a nearby gas station said he wasn’t acting strangely.

“I just asked him where he was from and all and he said he was from California. I said, ‘What in the world you doin’ down here?’ He said, ‘My girlfriend lives down here,’” said Elton Napier, 52, owner of Napier’s Wrecker Service.

On Monday, a judge appointed an experienced capital murder defender, Cary Bowen of Richmond, to work with McCroskey during a brief videoconference. Bowen said later he had not yet spoken to McCroskey.

The judge set a preliminary hearing for Jan. 11, and Prince Edward County Commonwealth’s Attorney James Ennis said prosecutors needed the extra time to look over the evidence.

“We have so much of it, so we need a little longer,” Ennis said after the hearing. “… The lab doesn’t have a clue what’s coming toward them.”

Police also are examining online postings from McCroskey, Emma Niederbrock and her friend, Melanie Wells of Berryville, W.Va. In some of the messages, Emma Niederbrock professed her love to McCroskey.

In songs posted online, McCroskey performed under the name Syko Sam and rapped about killing, maiming and mutilating people. In one song, he talked about being stopped by the police while on his way to get rid of the bodies of people he has killed.

A spokesman from the Alameda County, Calif., Sheriff’s Office said authorities searched the McCroskey’s home early Monday at the request of Farmville police. Sgt. J.D. Nelson said deputies removed computers, although he could didn’t say what additional items were taken.

As deputies escorted McCroskey to the police station Saturday after his arrest at the Richmond airport, McCroskey was asked by a reporter why he did it. He said, “Jesus told me to do it,” WRIC television reported.

Associated Press writers Michael Felberbaum in Richmond, Allen Breen in Raleigh, N.C. and Sudhin Thanawal in San Francisco contributed to this report.