RICHMOND, Va. (Sept. 21) – A 20-year-old California man calling himself Syko Sam rapped in his horrorcore lyrics about “the best feeling” derived from killing people slowly, watching their last breaths.
Now Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III is accused of killing a Virginia pastor, with authorities saying Sunday they expect to charge him in three more slayings at the home of a college professor. Police charged McCroskey with murder, robbery and stealing the automobile of Mark Niederbrock, a pastor at Walker’s Presbyterian Church in Appomattox County.
McCroskey, of Castro Valley, Calif., was scheduled to appear before a judge Monday to determine if he needs a court-appointed attorney.
Niederbrock has been tentatively identified as one of four people discovered Saturday in Farmville, about 50 miles west of Richmond, at the home of Longwood University professor Debra Kelley. Niederbrock and Kelley were separated, said Farmville police Capt. Wade Stimpson. He said the state medical examiner’s office would not officially identify any of the victims until at least Monday.
McCroskey recorded horrorcore music, which sets violent lyrics to hip-hop beats, and his songs spoke of death, murder and mutilation. His MySpace Web page said he has only been rapping for a few months but has been a fan for years of the genre.
“You’re not the first, just to let you know. I’ve killed many people and I kill them real slow. It’s the best feeling, watching their last breath. Stabbing and stabbing till there’s nothing left,” McCroskey sings in “My Dark Side.”
McCroskey will be formally charged with the other three killings once the bodies are identified, Stimpson said. He said “there are a number of factors relating to why” police couldn’t identify the victims. He would not say how they were killed.
Police went to Kelley’s home Thursday after a West Virginia woman called to say that it had been days since she heard from her teen daughter, who was staying with Kelley and Niederbrock’s daughter, Emma, Stimpson said.
Investigators went to the home, where a man matching McCroskey’s description told them the girls had gone to the movies. When the mother still didn’t hear from her daughter Friday, police went to the home and found the bodies.
Police arrested McCroskey at the Richmond airport Saturday as he waited to take a plane back to California. He is being held in the Piedmont Regional Jail and has an initial court appearance on Monday to determine if he needs a court-appointed attorney.
Stimpson said messages posted online led police to believe McCroskey knew Emma Niederbrock and that he may have been visiting her.
On McCroskey’s MySpace page, someone who goes by Ragdoll, which friends identified as Emma Niederbrock, wrote several messages to McCroskey. In a post dated Sept. 7, Niederbrock says she is excited for McCroskey’s visit to her house.
“The next time you check your myspace, YOULL BE AT MY HOUSE!” the post reads.
A friend said McCroskey, Emma and her friend were brought together by horrorcore music.
Andres Shrim, who owns the small, independent horrorcore music label Serial Killin Records in New Mexico and performs under the name SickTanicK, said he saw all three Sept. 12 at an all-day music festival in Southgate, Mich.
Shrim said despite the morbid music he and his friends loved, they were not violent people.
“You look at the music we do and it’s kind of harsh and somewhat brutal at times, but there’s a different side of life that people aren’t normally accustomed to, and being an artist, I think it’s important to see both sides of life,” he said.
Shrim asked others not to judge McCroskey by the lyrics to his songs or his disturbing Web pages.
“This is not something from the Sam I know,” he said. “This is not something that I would ever, ever in a million years envision him doing.”
Stimpson called McCroskey’s songs and writings “a little disturbing,” and said police were looking into that.
Emma Stimpson.
What’s Your Take On The Matter? Register and/or sign in and sound off!
Some people are still talking about Kanyegate … except for Taylor Swift. The country-pop star was making the rounds on Friday morning doing radio interviews when she encountered MJ on the MJ Morning Show out of Tampa Bay who became stuck on stupid. After three attempts to shut that line of questioning down, Swift moved on to other interviews leaving MJ raving like a lunetic.
MJ
First, the jock asked her to lay out the scene of the night with Kanye West.
Response: “I’m just honestly trying not to make it into a bigger deal than it already is. It’s kind of become more of a big deal than I ever thought it would be. I just, you know, it happened on TV, so everybody saw what happened. I just would like to move on maybe a little bit.”
Acting as if he didn’t hear a single word she just said, MJ asked if she thought the whole thing was scripted.
Response: “Well … you know, I um … I didn’t know what to think, but I think that we should maybe talk about something else, because, um, I’ve talked about this in one interview, and that was going to be it. It’s not something I feel like we need to keep talking about.”
Finally, the host asked if she thought West’s apologies have been sincere.
Response: “I really would appreciate it if we could talk about something else, because I’ve asked you three times now, and I’m trying to be nice about it. It just isn’t something we need to spend this whole interview talking about.”
At that, MJ offered to give Swift “a couple of tips” about handling interviews, rightly saying that questions about the VMAs incident were not going to end with him. He started asking YET ANOTHER Kanye question before Swift’s publicist jumped on the line to ask if they could move on. Arguing ensued and the call was terminated … by the radio host.
Whose the Jackass now?
What’s Your Take On The Matter? Register and/or sign in and sound off!
NAPLES, Fla. (Sept. 20) – The husband of a woman found dead in a Florida apartment along with her five young children boarded a flight for Haiti, and police said Sunday the couple had a history of domestic violence calls to their homes over the past decade.
Mesac Damas, 33, who has family in Haiti, left Miami International Airport on Friday, said Collier County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Michelle Batten. Sheriff’s officials said they want to talk to Damas, who is a person of interest. They were not calling him a suspect.
The victims found Saturday were Guerline Damas, 32, and her children: Michzach, 9; Marven, 6; Maven, 5; Megan, 3; and 11-month-old Morgan. Batten would not say how they died.
Family members contacted authorities Friday saying they hadn’t heard from the mother. A deputy went to the home and knocked on the front door, but got no answer, said Capt. Chris Roberts of the sheriff’s special investigations division.
He did not look through any of the apartment’s windows.
“With the information the deputy had, I think what he did was reasonable,” Roberts said.
A missing person report was filed Saturday, and the sheriff’s office later entered the home in a gated community in Naples in southwest Florida and found the bodies, Batten said.
“In no uncertain terms, this is the most horrific and violent event this community has ever experienced,” said Sheriff Kevin Rambosk. He characterized the homicides as “the worst of the worst.”
Roberts said the couple had been married two years but together for about 10. Police had been called a handful of times to their homes since 2000 for domestic disturbances, he said.
Damas on Thursday night left Miller’s Ale House in Naples, where he worked as a cook. His car was found at the airport and investigators were checking it for evidence.
Roberts said the children attended school on Thursday but were absent Friday. Their mother works at a local Publix supermarket and did not show up on Friday either.
The sheriff’s office has declined to release details of how the six were killed.
The man’s father, Jean Damas Sr., told the Naples Daily News that his son had called his brother from Haiti. Roberts said local investigators were working with U.S. agencies that can assist them in Haiti. Any extradition would take time, Roberts said.
Damas Sr. also said his son and his wife have had domestic problems. A phone message left Sunday by The Associated Press for Damas Sr. was not immediately returned.
Collier County court records show Mesac Damas has prior charges for domestic violence against his wife. Roberts said that in January, Damas pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge against his wife.
Haitian police spokesman Frantz Lerebours could not immediately be reached for comment. A message was also left with the FBI.
Neighbors said they often saw the three older children at the bus stop in the morning. The oldest was protective of his two younger siblings, warning them to stay out of the street. They could also be seen playing in their yard and saying hello to neighbors in the community landscaped with palm trees and filled with light colored town homes, many of which have screened patios in the back.
Neighbor Vebi Shuaipi said the family was very nice and friendly.
He said he never saw the couple fighting, although the police were at their house all week because they had been yelling.
What’s Your Take On The Matter? Register and/or sign in and sound off!
