Associated Press
FARMVILLE, Va. -- A criminal justice professor and her daughter, who police say were slain by a horrorcore rapper, were in counseling over the teenager's obsession with the macabre music, and the mother took her daughter to the concerts to keep an eye on her, a family friend said Wednesday.
Debra Kelley, 53, an associate professor at Longwood University, was hoping that Emma Niederbrock was just "going through a phase," said James F. Hodgson, a former colleague. He said Kelley took her to horrorcore concerts, which feature artists who rhyme violent lyrics over hip-hop beats, in Michigan and Illinois.
"She's either going to go on her own or I go with her and make sure she's OK," Hodgson, a former police officer and now an associate criminal justice professor at Virginia State University, said of Kelley's reasoning.
Kelley and Emma were found bludgeoned to death Friday at their Farmville home in central Virginia along with Kelley's estranged husband and Emma's father, the Rev. Mark Niederbrock, 50, and Emma's friend Melanie Wells, 18, of Inwood, W.Va.
Police have charged Emma's boyfriend, Richard "Sammy" McCroskey III, 20, of Castro Valley, Calif., with first-degree murder in Mark Niederbrock's death. McCroskey, who rapped under the name "Syko Sam," is also suspected in the other killings.
McCroskey and Emma appear to have met through the underground horrorcore scene.
On Sept. 6, McCroskey flew to Virginia so they could attend a music festival together. Authorities believe the killings occurred shortly after the group returned from the Sept. 12 concert in Southgate, Mich. The girls last logged onto their MySpace accounts Sept. 14. McCroskey was arrested Saturday at the Richmond airport while awaiting a flight back to California.
McCroskey's sister, Sarah, said her brother's friends told her that he and Emma had a falling out at the concert.
Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C.
