FARMVILLE, Va., Sept. 21 (UPI) -- An aspiring so-called horrorcore musician from California has pleaded guilty to killing his 16-year-old girlfriend, her parents and her best friend in Virginia.
Richard Samuel Alden McCroskey III, 21, pleaded guilty Monday to capital murder and first-degree murder, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported. Under his plea agreement, he will be sentenced to life with no possibility of parole, avoiding the death penalty.
"What it really means is death in prison," James Ennis, Commonwealth's attorney for Prince Edward County, said after Monday's hearing. "It's a guaranteed outcome, and hopefully it will bring some measure of closure to the family".
McCroskey met Emma Niederbrock, who was 16 when he killed her, online. A year later, in September 2009, he visited her in Farmville, Va., and traveled with her, her parents and her friend, Melanie Wells, 18, to a horrorcore festival in Michigan.
Because he was finding the relationship unsatisfactory, McCroskey decided to kill Emma. He used a maul to attack Wells, Niederbrock and her mother, Debra Kelley, killing them in their sleep back in Virginia.
He killed Mark Niederbrock, who was separated from his wife, when he came to the house two days later.
UPI
