In September 2009, four members of a Farmville, Virginia household were brutally killed in their home. Sixteen-year-old Emma Neiderbrock, her mother Debra Kelley, and Emma’s friend 18-year-old Melanie Wells were bludgeoned to death during the early morning after a trip to a horrorcore music festival. Emma’s father, 50-year-old Mark Niederbrock, was found killed three days later when he returned to check on the family.

Investigators tied the killings to 20-year-old Richard Samuel McCroskey III, an online acquaintance Emma had met after nearly a year of daily communication about horrorcore music. McCroskey flew to Virginia in early September, traveled with the family to the festival in Michigan, and then returned to the Farmville home where the attacks occurred. He was arrested at Richmond International Airport while attempting to fly back to California.

McCroskey remained in the house for a period after the killings. Facing the possibility of the death penalty, he pleaded guilty to the murders and on September 20, 2010 was sentenced to life in prison. Does anyone have details about Emma’s life or the local community that could shed light on how this online friendship developed?