"Syko Sam" - The Farmville Murders

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For centuries, humans have formed bonds with one another as a result of listening to and experiencing music together. Whether it’s through concerts, jam sessions or kicking back and listening to a favorite record, people gravitate towards those who enjoy the same sounds as they do.

It was music that brought Richard “Syko Sam” McCroskey and Emma Niederbrock together. Richard was an amateur horrorcore rapper, and Emma was a huge fan of the genre. When Emma and Richard first met online in 2008, they quickly became close.

There was no way Emma could have known of the actual horrors that would result from her friendship with Syko Sam.

Horrorcore Rap

First of all, it’s essential that I briefly go over what horrorcore is, as it’s central to the story. I’m not going to try and describe it myself, so here is a definition from Wikipedia:

“(Horrorcore) is based on horror-themed and often darkly transgressive lyrical content and imagery. Its origins derived from certain hardcore hip hop and gangsta rap artists, which began to incorporate supernatural, occult, or psychological horror themes into their lyrics.

Unlike most hardcore hip hop and gangsta rap artists, horrorcore artists often push the violent content and imagery in their lyrics beyond the realm of realistic urban violence, to the point where the violent lyrics become gruesome, ghoulish, unsettling, or slasher film- or splatter film-esque.”

“Assassins” is a song by the Geto Boys, which from what I gathered, are the pioneers of the genre:

“Syko Sam”

Richard Alden “Sam” Samuel McCroskey III was born Dec. 26, 1988 in Hayward, California, a city in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lived with his parents and older sister, Sarah. In 2003, the McCroskey family moved to Castro Valley, CA, just 3 miles north of Hayward. Richard’s parents split up in the summer of 2009.

The McCroskeys were not unhappy per se, but they were not particularly close. “We weren’t a ‘Leave it to Beaver’-type of family,” Sarah McCroskey would later say. Richard did, however, take it hard when his mother moved out of the family home at the request of his father.

Richard “Syko Sam” McCroskey (source: MySpace)

Richard attended two high schools as a teenager, but he dropped out of both. School was a miserable place for him. He was bullied for being an outcast, being overweight, and his red hair. His sister Sarah described him as very passive, someone who rarely stood up for himself unless seriously provoked.

As a result of the bullying and his shyness, Richard had very few friends and spent the majority of his time at home by himself. The internet, particularly the social-networking site MySpace, became Richard’s escape from reality.

In 2008, Richard was living at home, working part-time as a graphic designer and dabbling in making music, namely horrorcore rap. He uploaded his music on MySpace under the name “Syko Sam” , and began communicating and making friends with other horrorcore fans and rappers.

"You're not the first, just to let you know. I've killed many people and I kill them real slow. It's the best feeling, watching their last breath. Stabbing and stabbing till there's nothing left.”
- From “My Dark Side” by Syko Sam

Emma Niederbrock

Emma Niederbrock was born Oct. 15, 1992 to parents Mark Niederbrock and Debra Kelley in Champaign, Illinois. The family moved from Illinois to Farmville, central Virginia, although it’s not clear when exactly. Mark began serving as a pastor at Walkers Presbyterian Church in Hixburg, Virginia in 2003. Debra was a professor in sociology and criminal justice at Longwood University in Farmville. Emma had been homeschooled since middle school.

At the beginning of 2009, Mark and Debra divorced. Emma stayed in the family home with her mother, and her father moved out.

As many teenagers do, Emma spent a lot of time on the internet, mainly MySpace, where she went by ‘RagDoll’. She used the website to listen to horrorcore and meet other fans. MySpace was also where Emma and her friends found out about upcoming horrorcore music festivals.

In Sept. 2008, Emma (then 15) met amateur horrorcore rapper Richard “Syko Sam” McCroskey (then 19) on MySpace. The two began chatting regularly, online and on the phone. If they were adults, you would not have thought twice about the age difference, but Emma was still a minor. That being said, Richard was pretty immature and looked young for his age.

“Strictly For The Wicked”

By Sept. 2009, the now 16-year-old Emma and 20-year-old Richard had been chatting daily for almost a year. I’m just going to say here that Richard thought of Emma as his girlfriend at this point. Emma sent Richard affectionate messages, but it’s hard to tell how serious she was about him, given how events would later unfold. They had never met in-person, but they were clearly close, given how often they talked.

“Strictly For The Wicked” was an all-day horrorcore festival that was scheduled for Sept. 12, 2009 in Southgate, Michigan. Emma and her best friend, 18-year-old Melanie Wells, had made plans to attend. Emma and Melanie, who lived in Inwood, West Virginia (about 3.5 hours from Farmville), had been to many of these festivals before and always had a great time.

Emma and Richard spoke about the Strictly For The Wicked festival and decided it would be a great opportunity for them to meet in-person for the first time. Emma’s parents, however, were understandably apprehensive about their 16-year-old daughter meeting up at a festival with a 20-year-old man she had only ever spoken to on the phone.

But they wanted Emma to be happy. So Mark and Debra decided that they would drive Emma, Melanie and Richard to Southgate and hang out in the city for the day while the festival was going on. Bear in mind, Mark and Debra were divorced at this point, so they were going out of their way to make things work for Emma.

The poster for the Strictly For The Wicked Festival on Sept. 12, 2009 (source: here)

A Not-So-Perfect First Meeting

On Sept. 6, Richard left California for Virginia. Emma was excited to finally be meeting him in-person. She posted to his MySpace on Sept. 7:

"Next time you check your myspace, YOULL BE AT MY HOUSE!" she added: "I love you sooo SO much baby; forever and for always."

The timeline isn’t completely clear, but I think Richard arrived at Emma’s home in Farmville on the 7th (or maybe the 8th). Melanie arrived at Emma’s on the 7th. I find it a little odd that Richard was allowed to stay at Emma and her mother’s house for several days before the concert, given that they had never met him in person before. For all they knew, he could turn out to be a complete psychopath.

The drive from Farmville, VA to Southgate, MI is around 10 hours (639 miles) with no stops. The festival doors opened at 1pm on Sept. 12. I’m guessing that Emma’s parents drove Emma, Richard and Melanie part way on Sept. 11, stayed over somewhere that night, and then drove the rest of the way to the festival on the morning of the 12th. This is just a guess; maybe they all piled in the car at 3am and drove non-stop for 10 hours. Anyway, it’s not that important to the story.

What is important is that when Emma first set eyes on Richard the day he arrived at her house, she was not impressed. He had evidently made an effort to change his appearance for his MySpace photos. In reality, he looked like a different person - he appeared far younger than his 20 years and was quite short. He wore an oversized, black hooded sweatshirt and baggy black cargo pants. His greasy, red hair was combed straight down on his forehead. Emma did not find him attractive.

On top of his appearance, he also came across as immature, like a young teenage boy. Emma was polite to Richard, but rather aloof. If she had shown signs of wanting to be in a relationship with him before, this first in-person meeting clearly changed her mind. I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that Emma and Melanie found Richard irritating. The five of them - Emma, Melanie, Richard and Emma’s parents - were in for a long, awkward car ride together.

Richard hoped that once they arrived at the festival and were both in their element, immersing themselves in the music and the vibe, Emma might see him in a different light. But this was wishful thinking on his part. In fact, the situation only went downhill once they reached their destination.

According to others at the festival, Emma paid Richard little attention throughout the event. Not only was she not interested in him, she was reportedly flirtatious with other guys (in-person and by text). Richard noticed, and did not take this well.

The festival ended at 11pm on Sept. 12. The following day, Emma, Melanie, Richard and Emma’s parents drove back to Farmville from Michigan.

At 2:43am on Monday, Sept. 14, Melanie posted to her MySpace page:

“SFTW was fuckin amazing, back in Virginia now, be back in West Virginia on Wednesday. I MISS EVERYONE!!!”

Melanie’s final MySpace status (source: MySpace)

Where Is Melanie?

After the post to her MySpace page, Melanie went quiet. Neither her friends nor her family heard from her at all that Monday, or on Tuesday. It was not like her at all.

After repeated failed attempts to get in touch with their daughter, Thomas and Kathleen Wells became worried. On Wednesday, Sept. 16 (the day Melanie was due to come home), Thomas drove 200 miles from Inwood, West Virginia to Farmville.

When nobody answered the door at the home of Debra Kelley and Emma Niederbrock, Thomas sat outside in his car and waited. He hoped that the women were just out and he would see them return home. After waiting for upwards of 7 hours, however, Thomas was quite sure that no one was coming. Reluctantly, he drove away from Emma’s house, unable to shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong.

When her husband returned home with no word from Melanie, Kathleen Wells began calling anyone she could think of who might know of Melanie’s whereabouts. She had called Emma’s home several times, but nobody answered.

Calls From A Concerned Mother

Serial Killin’ Records (SKR) is a small, independent record label owned by Andres Shrim based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A lot of the horrorcore music Emma, Melanie and Richard listened to was produced by SKR. They also organized the Strictly For The Wicked festival. Andres writes and performs his own horrorcore rap under the name SickTanicK.

I’m not really sure what the dynamic is between horrorcore artists and fans now, or if the music has become more or less popular since 2009. But in 2009, from what I could tell, rappers and fans were friends who would meet and talk on MySpace and hang out at festivals.

After some of her own investigation, Kathleen came across the phone number for Andres Shrim and gave him a call. Andres answered, and told Kathleen that he had seen Melanie, Emma and Richard at the festival. They had gone home with Emma’s parents when the event ended. Beyond that, he did not have any more information. If he found out anything else, he would let her know, he assured Kathleen.

After calling Andres, Kathleen called Emma’s home again. This time, to Kathleen’s surprise, somebody did answer. It was Richard. Kathleen asked him where Melanie was, but he couldn’t give her a straight answer. Kathleen grew frustrated with Richard, whom she was sure was lying.

On the morning of Thursday, Sept. 17, Kathleen called the police in Farmville. She explained the situation and asked them if they could go by the house and do a welfare check.

The Police Get Involved

When the police arrived at the home of Debra Kelley and Emma Niederbrock, they were greeted by none other than Richard McCroskey. When they asked him where Emma, Melanie and Debra were, he told them the women were at the movies.

The police did not know who Richard was (I’m assuming he told them he was Emma’s boyfriend), but they took him at his word. I find it a little strange that they did not do a bit more investigation; they did not question him further or ask to take a look inside. I assume that Kathleen would have told them the most important parts of the story - that Melanie was supposed to be home two days ago, but she had not heard anything from her, nor had she heard from Emma or Debra, despite multiple attempts to get in touch.

I suppose Melanie was 18, therefore an adult, so she could technically do what she wanted (including going missing if she pleased). The police also didn’t know that Richard did not live in the house, so they did not really have reason to be suspicious of why he was there on his own.

After the welfare check on the morning of Sept. 17 turned up nothing, Kathleen called Mark Niederbrock. She explained that she was worried about Melanie, who was supposed to come home the previous day, but she had not heard anything from her. Mark, who lived in Pamplin, VA, about a 20 minute drive from Farmville, told Kathleen he would go to Emma and Debra’s house and see what was going on. He told her not to worry, and that he would call her after he spoke to Melanie. This was around 5pm.

Kathleen would not hear from Mark again after that phone call.

A Scene Too Horrible To Speak Of

On the morning of Sept. 18, Kathleen called the police again. She was at her wits end; she had not gotten a single piece of useful information for days. Mark Niederbrock never got back to her. I’m not sure what she said to the police, if she asked to file a missing persons report for Melanie, but she managed to convince them to return to Debra and Emma’s house.

When the police arrived at the house at around 3:20pm on Friday, Sept. 18, they found the door to the home unlocked. Richard, whom they had spoken to the previous day, was gone. But what hit them like a ton of bricks when they opened the door was the thick, pungent, unmistakable stench of death. The smell was what gave the police probable cause to enter the home.

I don’t know how police didn’t notice the smell the day before when they performed the welfare check. Perhaps Richard saw them coming, came out of the home and spoke to them on the doorstep?

A woman who later spoke to CNN about the murders recalled walking by the home with her friend on Sept. 17. They remarked to each other that something smelled foul and assumed it was a dead animal. Not for a second did they think it could be human corpses inside the house.

Inside the home, police found three dead bodies in what looked like Emma’s bedroom downstairs. The discovery of the bodies was what allowed them to obtain a search warrant. Once they had their warrant, and they were able to perform a full search of the home, they discovered another body in a room upstairs.

The bodies belonged to Mark Niederbrock, Debra Kelley, Emma Niederbrock and Melanie Wells, although they were not formally identified until Monday, Sept. 21. The scene was described by police as being so horrifying, they would not elaborate on details other than the victims had died from blunt force trauma.

"He Stunk Like The Devil"

After going through evidence in the home and checking the social media accounts of Emma and Melanie, it did not take police long to figure out that Richard had been with the girls at the festival, had come back to Farmville with them, and was now nowhere to be found.

An officer who had gone to Emma’s home to carry out the welfare check remembered speaking to Richard. On being shown photos of him from social media, he confirmed that it was the same man he had had a conversation with about Melanie and Emma’s whereabouts.

A manhunt for Richard McCroskey was declared.

Much earlier on Friday, Sept. 18, at around 4am, a homeowner who lived on Poor House Road in Farmville called police to report a car that had gotten stuck in a ditch at the end of their driveway.

A tow truck and a deputy showed up at the home and Richard was given a ticket for driving without a license. When asked whose car it was, he responded that it belonged to his girlfriend’s dad.

The bodies of Mark, Debra, Emma and Melanie would not be discovered for another 12 hours, so Richard was not wanted by the police at this point. Somehow, while the deputy and Richard were talking, it came up that Sam had plans to fly home to California the following day, Saturday the 19th.

The tow truck driver, Elton Napier, offered to give Richard a ride, which he accepted, asking to go to a gas station. Describing Richard, Napier told the media that he had never experienced such a terrible smell in his life and had to hold his head out of the window to stop himself from gagging.

“He stunk like the devil,” Napier said.

Captured

Up to this point, it seemed as though Richard had gotten pretty lucky. However, his luck would soon run out.

Richard caught a cab to Richmond International Airport on the evening of Friday the 18th. He planned to stay the night there before catching a flight to California the next day.

When the responding deputy saw that the wanted man was the same person who he had given a ticket to for driving without a licence at 4am that morning, he alerted fellow officers that the man had told him about his plans to fly to California the following day.

Early in the morning of Sept. 19, police apprehended Richard McCroskey, who had been sleeping in a chair in baggage claim at Richmond International. He was initially charged with the murder of Mark Niederbrock, grand larceny for stealing Mark’s car, and robbery for taking money from his wallet. More charges would come imminently.

Reactions

After it came out that Richard had been arrested, his friends and family expressed their disbelief. Richard’s sister, Sarah, said that at first she could not believe it. But then reality hit her.

On Monday, Sept. 21, Alameda County Sheriff’s Office deputies served a search warrant at the McCroskey home in Castro Valley, CA. They seized phones, computers - everything connected to Richard.

“I just fell to my knees. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t talk. I feel I failed as his big sister.”
- Sarah McCroskey to The Mercury News.

Sarah sensed something was wrong on Sept. 17 when Richard called home and left a message. He said he wanted to make sure “everyone was okay”. Before he hung up, he said, “I love you guys”. According to Sarah, it just was not something Richard would say.

Sarah also insisted that the murders were not a result of Richard’s music.

“Much of horrorcore rap is taking you through the mind of a killer and their point of view. Syko Sam was just a stage name. It wasn’t his alter ego,” Sarah said.

Andres Shrim would echo Sarah’s initial belief, that Richard just was not capable of such an act of violence:

"You would never, ever imagine that kid even being a suspect. If he is found to be guilty, I would be 100 percent shocked.”

At the airport, as he was being led away by police, Richard reportedly said to a reporter who asked him why he had done what he did:

“Jesus made me do it.”

Members of Mark Niederbrock’s church responded to this comment from Sam:

"I think it's deeply rooted in Satan, if you want to know the truth."
- Luther Glenn, a member of Walker's Presbyterian Church

Syko Sam Is Sentenced

On Oct. 19, 2009, Richard McCroskey was indicted on six counts of capital murder - one for each of his four victims, as well as capital murder for murdering multiple people within three years.

Richard McCroskey’s mugshot (source: Murderpedia)

The evidence against him was overwhelming. His court appointed attorney, Cary Bowen, told Richard that they would have to reach a plea deal in order to avoid a trial and with that the death penalty.

Nearly a year later, on Sept. 20, 2010, Richard McCroskey plead guilty to two counts of capital murder and two counts of first degree murder, and waived his right to an appeal. He was given four life sentences in prison.

Prince Edward County Commonwealth's Attorney Jim Ennis said of Richard’s motive for the murders:

"I think he had a certain expectation of the relationship with Emma Niederbrock; what it was going to be like after a year on the computer and it did not turn out to be what he imagined it was going to be like.”

The families of the victims declined to speak to the media, but they issued a written statement, expressing that they were relieved the case was over and they believed justice had been done.

Richard did not say anything during or after the hearing. He was said to be smirking as he left the courtroom and was led to the van which would take him back to jail. Farmville residents questioned whether he really felt remorseful for his actions, as his lawyer said he was.

Richard McCroskey is currently incarcerated at Wallens Ridge State Prison in Big Stone Gap, Virginia.

Wallens Ridge State Prison (source: Google Maps)

How Did The Killings Unfold?

After the hearing, Richard’s lawyer relayed Richard’s statement to the media, regarding what happened to Mark, Debra, Emma and Melanie.

Richard’s motive for the murders was his rage towards Emma for rejecting him at the music festival. Mark, Debra and Melanie were really just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Richard had been drinking and smoking marijuana, his blood boiling as he became increasingly furious.

Melanie was killed first while she slept on the couch in the den. He then killed Debra in a room upstairs, and finally Emma in her downstairs bedroom. The three women were murdered in the early hours of Sept. 15, with a ball-peen hammer. None of them awoke during their attacks, indicated by the absence of any defensive wounds.

From around 3am on Tuesday, Sept. 15 to 5pm on Thursday, Sept. 17 (when Mark arrived), Richard sat in the home with three dead bodies. The police came by the home during this time to carry out the welfare check Kathleen Wells requested.

When Mark Niederbrock went to the home on Sept. 17 after receiving a call from Kathleen Wells regarding Melanie’s whereabouts, he was ambushed in a room downstairs. Mark was ultimately beaten to death with an 8lb wood-splitting maul.

Richard said that he used the maul to kill Mark because he believed the weight of it meant he would not suffer.

After murdering Mark, he dragged his and Melanie’s body into Emma’s room. For some reason, he then tried to “clean up the den” (I’m not sure why he would bother doing this). He also recorded a video of himself in which he spoke to camera, talking about how he knew he would have to pay the consequences for what he had done and that he was contemplating suicide.

At around 3:45am on Friday, Sept. 18, Richard fled the scene in Mark Niederbrock’s 2000 Honda after stealing the cash Mark’s his wallet. Shortly after, the car got stuck in the ditch on Poor House Road.

Don’t Blame The Music

Following the murders of Emma, Mark, Debra and Melanie, there was (unsurprisingly) an outcry from the public over horrorcore rap. I’m not saying that the music isn’t extremely dark and disturbing, but does that make everybody who listens to it a cold-blooded killer? I think not.

After an unspeakable tragedy like this one, people are quick to point fingers at things they don’t understand. For example, people might resort to panic over “violent video games” (something that took hold after Columbine), “Satanism” (see: Satanic panic) or in this case “horrorcore”, to explain away these atrocities. Placing the blame on games, music or Satan worship allows people to distance themselves from the terrible thing that happened.

It’s sort of like saying, “I don’t understand that. I can’t explain it. There’s nothing I could have done about it. It’s not part of my world. Those people are freaks.”

This sort of mentality gives society an excuse to put off addressing real problems. We become passive when we feel things are out of our control. But part of it is also the desire to just shove these pressing issues under the rug and pretend they don’t exist.

In America, one such issue is the totally out-of-control gun culture (which I realize does not relate to this case, but it’s relevant all the same). I’m not looking for a debate about guns and I’m not saying take all the guns away. But Lord, something has got to be done about it.

The stigmatization of mental health issues and lack of affordable and accessible treatment for people with serious mental illness is another crisis society has faced for years. This is a global issue and in many parts of the world, it does not appear to be improving.

While people might be shocked and appalled at the content of horrorcore rap, it was not the reason Richard murdered Emma, her parents and Melanie. It’s much more straightforward than that - Emma was messaging and chatting with other guys and was not interested in Richard. He could not stand it. He was bitter and enraged that the wonderful relationship he built up in his head did not work out how he wanted it to.

People don’t like this as a reason for murder, as it’s just too simple. Hence why they would rather blame it on this dark, violent music.

Andres Shrim would later say that despite the morbid music they loved, fans of horrorcore were not violent people. He went on:

"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.”