Two weeks ago on September 18, Longwood University and the Farmville Community received shocking news of a murder in town. The first statement made came out that evening as an email to the Longwood community from Vice-President for Student Affairs, Tim Pierson. A portion of it read, “…You may have heard the sad news about the tragedy on First Avenue this afternoon. Initial reports from the Longwood and Farmville Police departments indicate that multiple victims were found dead in a residence on First Avenue in Farmville.

The deceased have not yet been identified by the Medical Examiner’s office and we are awaiting confirmation of their identity…” The next day, Reed Williams, Karin Kapsidelis, and Michael Martz—writers for the Richmond Times-Dispatch published the murder was 20 year-old, California resident Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III. Police arrested McCroskey at the Richmond Airport while sleeping on a bench, awaiting his departure back to California, reported the Times-Dispatch.

On Tuesday, September 22, Longwood University’s website posted that the victims were confirmed as “Farmville residents Dr. Debra S. Kelley, 53, associate professor of sociology at Longwood University, along with her daughter Emma Niederbrock, 16, her husband Mark Alan Niederbrock, 50, and Melanie Wells, a family friend from Inwood, West Virginia.” Later that week on September 26, Reed Williams published an article in the Times-Dispatch where he interviewed two people who interacted with McCroskey after the incident.

One of the witness was a Huddle House employee who reported that McCroskey directed him to a MySpace page where McCroskey had uploaded some original music, one of which “he raps about murder, rotting corpses and stashing human remains.” The Times-Dispatch also reported that the eyewitnesses smelt “a dead animal” when around McCroskey, but nothing further was made of it.

On September 27, the Times-Dispatch published a timeline of events. Some of the dates are as follows: “Monday, Sept. 6: Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III…[is] picked up by girlfriend Emma Niederbrock, 16, of Farmville…Sunday, Sept. 13: The group returns to Farmville [from a horrorcore festival in Southgate, Michigan]. Wells [Emma’s friend] posts on MySpace that she’s back in Virginia after the festival and that she plans to return to West Virginia on Sept. 16. Thursday, Sept. 17, afternoon: Wells’ mother calls Mark Niederbrock about 2 or 2:30 p.m. to say she’s concerned about her daughter and can’t reach her.

Niederbrock tells his own mother he’s going to check on them at Kelley’s house. Sept. 17, 11:58 p.m.: A Farmville police officer goes to the Kelley home to check on Wells after her mother can’t reach her. McCroskey answers the door and tells the officer that Wells is at the movies…” Around 4:00pm on September 18, Farmville officers entered the Kelley home to discover three, decomposing bodies, the fourth was found upon reentry of the home. McCroskey was arrested at the airport at 11:25am on September 19.

McCroskey is being held for trial on January 11, 2010, stated the ¬Times-Dispatch. As of currently he is charged with murder in the first-degree of Rev. Mark Niederbrock, but more charges are expected. Even so, many questions remain unanswered, and may continue as so until the trial. Nevertheless, we should all remember Dean Klein’s words that instances like this “remind us all how fragile and precious life is.” Longwood will be holding memorial services for Dr. Kelley and Emma Niederbrock Saturday, September 3 at the Farmville United Methodist Church. For more information, please visit Longwood’s homepage at www.longwood.edu. Let us all keep the Niederbrock-Kelley family and the Longwood University community in our thoughts and prayers.