Farmville murders
| Farmville murders | |
|---|---|
| Location | 37°17.7971′N 78°24.0735′W / 37.2966183°N 78.4012250°W 505 First Avenue Farmville, Virginia, United States |
| Date | September 2009 |
Attack type | Quadruple homicide |
| Weapons | Ball-peen hammer and splitting maul |
| Deaths | Mark Niederbrock (age 50) Debra Kelley (age 53) Emma Niederbrock (age 16) Melanie Wells (age 18) |
| Perpetrator | Richard Samuel McCroskey (age 20) |
The Farmville murders occurred in Farmville, Virginia, in September 2009 – the quadruple bludgeoning homicide of Mark Niederbrock, Debra Kelley, their daughter Emma Niederbrock and friend Melanie Wells.
Emma Niederbrock shared an online friendship with Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III, a troubled aspiring rapper who travelled from California. Together, Emma, McCroskey, Emma's parents and Wells attended a concert the week before. When Wells' mother could not locate her daughter, she alerted police, who discovered the murders.
McCroskey, 20 years old, was subsequently arrested, convicted of the murders and sentenced to life in prison.