On September 18, 2009, four people were found bludgeoned to death inside a home on First Avenue in Farmville, Virginia: 53-year-old associate professor Debra Sue Kelley, her 50-year-old husband Mark Alan Niederbrock, their 16-year-old daughter Emma Niederbrock, and 18-year-old Melanie Wells. The family home was the scene of a particularly violent attack carried out with a maul.

The investigation focused on 20-year-old Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III, who had an online relationship with Emma and traveled from California to meet her. Authorities say he attacked Wells first, then killed Debra Kelley upstairs, Emma in her bedroom, and Mark Niederbrock when he returned to the house. McCroskey fled in Mark Niederbrock’s car and was arrested the next day at Richmond International Airport.

McCroskey was charged with multiple counts of capital murder; in September 2010 he pleaded guilty and received multiple life sentences. Does anyone have information about the victims’ lives or the trip that preceded these killings that could add context to what happened?