Morbid - The Farmville Murders

Episode Date: November 14, 2020

We’re stepping into an unknown world for us this week: the world of horrorcore. In 2009 twenty year old Richard Sam Mccroskey travelled across the country to go to a horrorcore music festival with t...wo girls he had become friends with via Myspace, sixteen year old Emma Niederbrock and eighteen year old Melanie Wells. Richard, Emma and Emma’s best friend Melanie would all be staying at Emma's house after the concert. Richard, aka Syko Sam, had it in his mind that Emma was his girlfriend, but after meeting her he realized his feelings were not reciprocated. Instead of moving on, he made the decision to brutally murder everyone staying in the home, including Emma.  Sources: https://richmond.com/from-the-archives/10-years-ago-horrorcore-rapper-killed-his-girlfriend-and-her-farmville-family-with-a-maul/article_157588fa-150c-545f-9aeb-413f96ba4966.html https://www.ranker.com/list/horrorcore-farmville-murders/cheryl-adams-richkoff https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/horrorcore-syko-sam/ https://www.adamquirk.me/blog/2017/7/28/syko-sam-and-his-quadruple-murder-spree-in-farmville-virginia As always, thank you to our sponsors: Amazon Music: For a limited time you can get three months of Amazon Music Unlimited for FREE.  Go to Amazon.com/morbid Upstart: Hurry to Upstart.com/morbid to find out HOW LOW your Upstart rate can be. Stamps: With our promo code, MORBID, you get a special offer that includes a 4-week trial PLUS free postage and a digital scale!! Just go to Stamps.com and type in MORBID. Embark: Go to Embarkvet.com now to get the best deal of the year AND free shipping. Use Promo code MORBID to save $64 off your Embark Breed and Health Kit. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Transcript
Discussion (0)
Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, weirdos. My name is Ash. And my name is Elena. And this has been and always will be morbid. So morbid right now. Oh, it's a hot rod off. How are you? Hi, everybody. We're back with a brand new wrap. Yep. Actually, that goes very well with my topic. Oh, I didn't even think of that because you just told me what you were doing. Yeah. Maybe that was like a subconscious thing that just came out of my mouth. You know what? Let's just pretend that it just happened naturally and organically. Yeah. God knows. I don't know. prepare anything I say. There you go. I'm sure everybody knows that. Fly by the seat of my pants kind of gal. That's right. So today's going to be a fun. I say fun. I always say it's going to be so
Starting point is 00:00:52 fun. You do always say it's a real brutal murder case. So that's not fun. But it's one that's like, whoa. Sometimes the details and like the lead up is just like, oh, okay. Yeah, it's it's fun in the way that you're going to be like what? Huh? Huh? Yeah. Not fun. Like as in people got murdered. I'm trying to think of like a real life situation it could relate to. Yeah, I don't really know. It's like doing your taxes. It's horrible, but you get a reward at the end. I don't know. Yeah, if you enjoy numbers, maybe it's fun. I don't know. I don't think it applies. But either way, you know what we mean. And if you don't know what we mean, then I don't know. You will at the end of this. Yeah, you'll get it at the end. So I think that we really don't really have any, you know,
Starting point is 00:01:31 no business to attend to. It's kind of, we're having a nice little calming couple of weeks, maybe. Yeah, there's no announcements or anything like. that. No big announcements. The one thing I would say was we have new merch on morbid pod. What is it? My God. Shop. Mortbordidpodcast.com. It's because I'm the one that always says it. Yeah, you're the one who always says it. It's in our store. And it's new murder apparel stuff and it's really fun. It is. Go check that out for the holiday season. And all the designs are so funny. Unfortunately, unfortunately, unfortunately. Right now the booty one is sold out, but I'm sure we'll restock it soon. Yeah. So keep an eye out. for that. Oh, and I actually wanted to say one of the podcasts on our network called That's Spooky, our good friends, our good Canadian boys. We love them. Johnny and Tyler, they just released
Starting point is 00:02:20 an episode on Wednesday, and it's episode 112 Jerry Beads, and it is hilarious. They're talking about Kenneth New and The Legend of the Banshee. And when I actually just sent them both a text message, I was cackling, like full on ash cackle crying in my car. You know, And you know what? That spooky is real good for that. Oh my God, they're so funny. They're so funny. They're a spooky gay bullshit. Just like, I thrive off of it.
Starting point is 00:02:47 So go. So go check that out. Go check it out because we love them and we know that you'll love them. They're our Canadian brothers. Our Canadian brothers. Our brothers up north. So I think that's it. Yeah, I think that's really it.
Starting point is 00:02:58 Just some love. Just as like a little side note, because since we just plugged another podcast, over on Scream, me and Caleb are doing some Thanksgiving movies this week this month. Thanksgiving horror movies. Okay. So go check those out because it's going to be fun. I'm excited. We've hit some real interesting ones.
Starting point is 00:03:17 I heard you're going to have like this really famous guest on soon. Yeah, it's going to be so much fun. So keep an eye out for that. I'm looking forward to it. So go check us out on Scream. And yeah, I think that's really all. We wanted to like be like, whart, whir. About.
Starting point is 00:03:30 I went on about everything I can think of. So let's dive into this. I'm really excited for this and I know that's fucked up. Excited because this is just one that's going to be like, like, what? Crystal Wilden. Yeah, it reminds me slightly, it has like a flavor of the Jasmine Richardson and Jeremy Stanky. Oh, okay. Kind of thing. It has a little bit of that flavor to it. I love that flavor. But yeah, it's pretty bad. So, cool, cool, cool. This is called the Farmville murders already in. That sounds like a movie. It does. And it's also, I immediately
Starting point is 00:04:03 thought of that game that everyone plays, Farmville and like Facebook. Oh, yeah. I never played. I have no idea what it is, but I remember people playing it all the time, or they'd send you notifications that were like, play Farmville with me. And you were like, fuck off. That's not how these people met, is it? No, it's not. I thought that that when I saw the Farmville murders, I was like, whoa. That would be a trip. Turns out it's not, it doesn't have anything to do with Farmville. But then I quickly saw another case, which I won't cover, but so I just want to mention it here. I won't ever do it. That does have to do with the Farmville thing on Facebook and it's a mom who killed her baby for interrupting her playing Farmville. Oh yeah, we don't cover that. So we won't cover that. There's
Starting point is 00:04:40 nothing to cover. She's a shit stain. What the fuck? She'll die someday, so that's good. I have to feed the cows and kill you. Yeah, I was like what. All right. So the reason this is called the Farmville murders is it takes place in in Virginia. All right. You're taking us back to Virginia. Taking you back to Virginia. We love Virginia in here. You got a lot of stuff going on, Virginia. And I say taking us back because you did that for one of the live shows. Yeah, so, you know, Virginia, we're back at you. We're back in you. Hey, happy to be here. In you. You got a lot going on. So we will dip our toes into you a lot. All right. You're disgusting. It's got real gross. All right. So we're going to talk about the, there's, this has to do with some teenagers and some online shenanigans. Oh, the best. Some MySpace is involved here. Shut the fuck up. We're really taking a back. I'm going to be 13 again. So we're going to talk first of all. We'll talk. We'll talk. about the three teenagers that had that this has to do with and how they met really quick and just what they're about so the first one is 20 year old richard samuel mccroski the third not a teenager he's a dude honestly when you hear about he has won the maturity level of a young teenager and he
Starting point is 00:05:53 looks like a teenager really well jeremy was very young a teenager so same deal but they act like a teenager they have the mentality of one yeah and you're 20 you might as well be honestly 20 i kind of still consider you a little bit of a teenager. 20 is 19 the sequel. Yeah, exactly. So he's from California. He was, he's kind of like a meek and mild kid. He's, he's always described as someone who is very passive, doesn't fight back, is teased a lot, doesn't really get, just doesn't really get along with a lot of people like, and it's, and it's not because he's aggressive, really, but like, like outwardly or anything. He's very passive, just very shy. keeps to himself.
Starting point is 00:06:36 Everyone who describes him says he would never fight back when someone teased him. He would just shut down and that's it. I already feel like this is going to ruin me. Which is very interesting when you find out who he is as a person later. All right. He's also, so this meek, mild kid who looks much younger than 20, blah, blah, bah. He has an online persona. Okay.
Starting point is 00:06:57 As a lot of people do. Online is a place to curate who you are. It is. Like, if you're not happy with who you are in real life, you get to be whoever you want online. We've all seen it. We've all seen, you know, the couples that are obsessed with each other and, like, constantly posts, like, crazy in your face, like, dripping with goo stuff. But you know them in real life.
Starting point is 00:07:18 And you're like, you guys literally hate each other. You hate each other. And or, like, the person who's just constantly, like, you know, showing all these pictures of them and all these wild places. And it's like, meanwhile, they took it on, like, the side of the highway and, like, a bunch of bushes and made it look like they were. a field of flowers. Yeah. Or the people involved in pyramid schemes. Those are my favorite. Exactly. So everyone, you know, we all know people like this. Yes. And especially teenagers,
Starting point is 00:07:43 especially in like the early aughts and stuff, we, online was a place you can go. You can have your own little fantasy world. And it was new. You can be who you want to be. Right. And that's, and honestly, a lot of people made a lot of friends online during like the heyday of this. I'm sure people still are. But during like the heyday of it, people were really like. Holy shit. I can talk to people far away. Yeah, like MySpace, holy shit. Like, that was crazy. So very into my space, very into social media. And he was very into the horror core scene. I had no idea what horror core was. It's very hard to say as well. It is because you honestly just end up saying horror core. It's like the rural juror. It's hard to say. It's really hard to say. It is.
Starting point is 00:08:27 So horror core is like a rap scene, a music scene. It's kind of akin to like the Juggalo scene where it's like ICP, like those kind of, you know, musicians who, horror core is rapping about, and like, I don't know if there's a lot of singing involved. I've only seen rapping from what I've looked into it. And I've only just looked into it for this case. Okay. Who knows? I was going to say I've never heard of it.
Starting point is 00:08:51 I've only seen rap, but it's basically rapping about like the darkest shit you can imagine. Like murder. Yeah, it's like murder, mutilation, torture, rape, bah, but ah. Okay. It's just the dark shit. that you can pull out at the depths of your psyche is what they rap about. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:09:08 Which in and of itself is fine, in my opinion. In my opinion, because it's like, you know, people are shitheads are shitheads. Well, that's the thing. I don't believe that, like, music makes you do something. I don't either. You were going to do it. Like, you know. It's like when we talked about the kids that were, like, quote unquote Satanist and
Starting point is 00:09:28 then the parents, like, sued the rock bands and everything. Yeah, like, you can't blame the music. In my opinion. I agree. So he was very into this scene. It's a very, like, big scene, like, very underground, though, you know, because it's, it has to do with, like, the macabre and the morbid, if you will. Oh, my God, I know about that. Now, he himself, now this meek, mild kid who gets teased a lot is an amateur horror core rapper. I love that for him. Who goes under the name. Oh, my God. Hit me with it. Psycho Sam. Hell yeah, Psycho Sam. Spelled S-Y-C-O- Sam. Okay, I hate that. That's not how you spell psycho. That's actually very incorrect. I did look on the MySpace pages, though, because even though MySpace is like not a thing anymore, you can find like the front page of people's Myspaces, I think.
Starting point is 00:10:13 Oh, shit. And I found all these kids, their front pages of theirs. And I could see their friends list. And a lot of people, like, you can tell that these are from like 2009. Oh, hell yeah. And a lot of them had those names, like their nicknames in the scene. And like the asterix on the side. And a lot of them began with like Psycho and spelled like that.
Starting point is 00:10:32 It seems like that might be a thing in the scene. I love that. Now, he said, he named himself Psycho Sam because he was obsessed with Son of Sam. Oh. Which. Weird icon. What a fucking icon. First of all, serial killers don't, like, don't look up to them to begin with.
Starting point is 00:10:50 But Sam, son of Sam, like, the lamest. David, motherfucking Berkowitz is your pick of the litter? Yeah, he looks like a wretched. Like, again, don't pick any serial killer as your idol or your idol or your lameist. role model, but definitely don't pick David Berkowitz out of the pack. Do you know what, though? I feel like if David Berkowitz was like, like, I feel like he would, he would fit. You know what I mean? No. The chubby, like his horror core name would be Chubby Bohemoth. Yeah, that's true. Psycho chubby bohemist. He would fit into this. I still don't understand why anyone would idolize him.
Starting point is 00:11:23 No, I don't either. There's nothing. I mean, whatever. So his family again described him as two different people, somebody online and somebody in real life. And they didn't know a whole lot about his online persona. They just knew that he was online a lot and he kind of stayed to himself. He definitely used horrorcore and his online curated persona to portray himself as hardcore, a real tough guy, somebody who doesn't give a shit. It was a fantasy world. He could literally be whoever he wanted to be.
Starting point is 00:11:52 He could make friends in this scene. He became very close with members of this scene, like other artists and stuff. which in and of itself seems like it would be a positive thing. Right. He's a member of a community that he feels good about. Like I know a lot of like, you know, in the juggalo scene and all that, like they feel like it's a community. It's like a family.
Starting point is 00:12:11 Like a family where they feel accepted and all that. So that is positive to me. I agree. Of course there's going to be members of any community that are dicks and take it into a different realm. That's literally anything you can think of. Anything. Anything. So he also really liked photography and web design.
Starting point is 00:12:29 And I guess he was pretty good at it. That's cool. So that's cool. So he did a ton of web design and concert photography for small horror core labels in the area. Cool. Because again, he was an aspiring artist himself. So this is his like foot in the door in these little labels. His screen name was Lil Demon Dog.
Starting point is 00:12:48 And it's capital L, lowercase I, capital L, lowercase D, capital E, lowercase M. And it goes on like that. We love the SpongeBob writing. Well, and all obviously another reference to son of Sam, little demon dog. Yep. So that's who we have for Richard Samuel McCrosky, aka Psycho Sam. Cool, cool, cool. Then we have 16-year-old Emma Niederbrook.
Starting point is 00:13:12 She was born, and again, 16 years old. Yeah, he was 20. Very young. She was born October 15th, 192. She was described as sweet, smart, and beautiful. You look at pictures of her. She is beautiful. She was homeschooled, like, pretty early.
Starting point is 00:13:27 I think from the time she was like 11 or something. She was homeschooled. Okay. She was very into fashion, particularly goth fashion at the time, like the scene look and all that. She wanted to be a fashion designer when she grew up. She was also very interested in the occult. Okay. She grew up in a very strict, pretty religious home.
Starting point is 00:13:45 So I think she just went that way. Going against it. Like I said, her MySpace is one that I went on. Her MySpace is still up with photos. And you can see that she dyed her hair bright pink. She wore very intense makeup. I love it. She did this like, it's pretty cool actually.
Starting point is 00:14:02 Like I was like, who knows to you for rocking that? Like confidence girlfriend? Because she did this like eyeliner that like went all the way down. Like it like pointed down towards her nose. Oh, that's cool. So it made her eyes look even like almost like ominous. I don't know how to describe it. But I'll like link all these pages if you want to see them.
Starting point is 00:14:21 But again, she rocked it. Her photos are the typical like hot topic kind of. You know, it's very hot topic in there. This whole scene seemed to me very hot topic. Yeah. But, you know, that's just my... You know, it's hilarious. I remember, like, wanting to do that so badly, but I am not of that mold at all.
Starting point is 00:14:38 Like, I would walk into Hot Topic and all of the employees would walk to the back and be like, why the fuck is that girl here? I would have died if you suddenly were like, I am this girl. Like, I remember thinking scene girls were so cool. I, like, cut those bangs. I mean, they were. Yeah. I remember, like, cutting those bangs and everything. I love that shit.
Starting point is 00:14:56 Oh, yeah. But I did not fit that scene at all. I didn't fit the scene scene. You certainly know that. At all. But I love you for that. So she went by the name, especially online, rag doll. Cute.
Starting point is 00:15:09 Because they all go by those nicknames. And she wore a necklace all the time with the word doll on it. Cute. I looked through her MySpace. A lot of her friends were similar, like, juggalo's and horror core people. Very emo and scene looking. A few of them. Again, had like the psycho moniker before them.
Starting point is 00:15:30 Most of them had nicknames as their names. So I think that's just part of the culture. Even though she was deeply entrenched in this horror core world, so hard to say. It is. You should just say HC. HC. She was also like into mainstream music. She liked NSYNC and the Backstreet Boys.
Starting point is 00:15:48 Hell yes. So she liked all of it. I think she just was really into this scene and probably like the aesthetic. She was into the people. She felt good with these people. But she also liked to rock out to backstreet boys and in sync, which is kind of fun. She also played soccer. So she was a very well-rounded individual. We love an eclectic gal queen. Now, she met one of her best friends who she was inseparable from online. Okay. Who was an 18-year-old girl named Melanie Wells. She was born on February 13, 1991 in Louisiana. She lived in West Virginia at the time when she was 18 years old. had dropped out of high school and ended up finishing her education through homeschool as well. Okay. All three of them had been homeschooled in some capacity or another, which is interesting. Sam too. Or Richard, Sam? Sam, I guess Richard slash Sam, he did like a half thing where
Starting point is 00:16:40 like he would go to school certain days a week and then homeschool the rest. Oh, I knew kids that did that. So all of them in some capacity had, which I think is interesting. Yeah, that is interesting. I'm not saying it has anything to do with what happened, but like weird coincidence. It's just a very weird and interesting thing. So Melanie was described as very sweet, very kind. Her and Emma were like best friends, like immediately. They just totally bonded. And I think they were very alike. Yeah. Melanie was also very entrenched in the scene. So they had that. Now, Melanie and Emma, the way they met, they met Richard. They met each other online through another horror core artist. Okay. Hard to say. But I'm going to keep trying. Good. You're doing it. They liked this.
Starting point is 00:17:22 artist who I'm going to talk about in a second. Her name is Rosickel, I think. Cool. And she ended up talking to the two of them separately, Melanie and Emma, like through DMs on MySpace, like MySpace messaging. And then she ended up talking to them. They were saying how much they loved her music. And then she was like, oh, you two should meet because you're in the same area and you're both really cool. And I think you would like each other. I love that. So she kind of just like set them up and they became friends. They met Richard also through this kind of scenario. all three of them had become part of an online promotional team for Rosickel. And this now she, Rosickel is also called the Queen of the Wicked shit.
Starting point is 00:18:04 Fuck yeah. Which I was like, awesome. Okay, Rosicale. Same Rosickel. Right. And her promo teams were called the unholy apostles. Is she you? Are you Rosicale?
Starting point is 00:18:16 Am I, Rosickel? Are you pretending right now that you're not? I'm going to be honest. The Unholy Apostles is awesome as that sounds. It's also like, the over the topness of this whole scene. But it fits so perfectly for this time period. It totally does.
Starting point is 00:18:29 Everything was so over the top online. It's over the top in like an endearing way. Yes. Like you're like, yeah. Like I love that she's a team. Like what did you say they were a marketing team? Yeah, they're a promotional team. I love that.
Starting point is 00:18:41 I love it. And she's still doing music by the way. I will talk about Rosicel later. Is it good? Because she, um, not in your opinion, but like maybe for someone else. She's making it. Okay. It's all I got.
Starting point is 00:18:54 It's fine. You know what? You guys might dig it. Yeah. Who am I to say? It's just not my thing, but like get it. Well, I mean, like, I like music that you don't like. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:19:03 I mean, you definitely wouldn't like it. But somebody might like it. So I will definitely say that. And she's doing the damn thing, and I respect her for that. Hell yeah. But I will talk about her reaction to this whole thing later. Now, the three of them talked online for a long time. Emma and Richard.
Starting point is 00:19:21 began being very like got into kind of a romantic thing. Okay. Now, Richard thought that Emma was his online girlfriend. Emma never said she was his girlfriend, but they were flirty and like we're talking for up to a year. Okay. So she was also posting at times saying like she loved him and blah blah, blah, but then she'd tell people like, no, he's not my boyfriend. Which I get because it's online. Well, that's the thing.
Starting point is 00:19:48 And that was like so of that time. So of that time. Like, I was flirting with, like, four different dudes on MySpace. Like, I was such a little ho on MySpace. I get it. Yeah, like, we, everybody, you know, had an online boyfriend or girlfriend. And it's so different. Because, like, you would, like, you would talk to somebody for the whole summer and be like,
Starting point is 00:20:06 oh, my God, like, we're going to date freshman year. And then you would go to school and they'd be, like, not for you. Yeah, exactly. So, yeah. And these two are from opposite sides of the country. It's not like, and they're 16 and 20. It's not like, I think he, unfortunately, what happened. was he built this relationship up in his mind and had certain expectations and certain ideas of what
Starting point is 00:20:27 it was. And she looked at it as like a fun, I'm flirting with this cool guy who's into stuff I am. Lighthearted. And she kind of went with it because she's writing like, I love you and we're soulmates. But then she's telling people like, no, we're just talking online. Okay. Which I can't believe it. No, I respect it.
Starting point is 00:20:43 It's an online thing. I didn't. So, I did it. So yeah. So they, after about a year, they want to. all three of them, Melanie, Emma, and Richard, they want to meet up and go to this, like, concert slash festival, like, with a bunch of horrorcore artists that are going to perform. It's in Southgate, Michigan, and it was called Strictly for the Wicked.
Starting point is 00:21:05 Hell yeah. Which sounds awesome. We should start calling our live shows that. Yeah, like, this is strictly for the wicked. Strictly for the weirdest. Yeah, like, that's amazing. So I get it. And they were like, we want to do this.
Starting point is 00:21:16 Of course, it's like 1,500 miles away or something from where, uh, Melanie and Emma live. Right. And Richard would have to fly across the country. So there's that problem. Now, her parents tried to, they tried to be good parents.
Starting point is 00:21:33 Emma's parents. Yeah, Emma's parents really tried here. And I just want to give them, like, they, I feel like they did what they thought was right, and they tried really hard, and it kind of backfired on them, the biggest way it possibly could. Oh, no.
Starting point is 00:21:56 So her parents, Parents are 53-year-old Deborah Kelly and 50-year-old Mark Neederbrook. So they were in the process of divorcing. That's why Deborah took back her last name. Oh, okay. So Deborah was born September 28, 1955 in Richmond, Virginia. She was a sociology and criminology professor at Longwood University. Good for her.
Starting point is 00:22:20 She had like a doctorate. She was brilliant. Her father was a reverend, Reverend Mark Neederbrook. He was born March 20th, 1959 in Illinois. He was the head of the Walker's Presbyterian Church in Hicksburg, Virginia for six years. Wow. So parents are a professor and a reverend. Yes.
Starting point is 00:22:39 So, and of course, like she's like a preacher's daughter, you know, like she's a typical, like, let's rebel against it. She was their only child, too. Now, in 2009, when this all went down, they weren't divorced. They were just in the process of separating. Okay. They were trying to, like, trying to make it work, but they had separated out of the, like, they had stayed in the home, Deborah and Emma. Mark had moved out. They were going to counseling.
Starting point is 00:23:04 They were trying to, like, get back to it. Okay. And it seemed, by all accounts, the things were amicable. They weren't like a, it wasn't this awful thing. And they were also very respectful of each other and co-parenting. That's great. They wanted to make sure that they made decisions together. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:23:20 So it was like, it seemed like it was a good thing. But Emma was having a little bit of a issue with it. She's 16. When your parents divorced at 16 years old, I imagine it must be tough. Yeah, that must be a horrible. But 16, you've gone through 16 years of having them together. And that's just like such a fucking horrible time. It's a hard age anyway.
Starting point is 00:23:36 So, you know, I feel like it was bad. So this is when she got like really into horrorcore. I think she just kind of like threw herself into it. Yeah. It was an escape. Right. Now they knew Emma was into this, like scene. They hated it.
Starting point is 00:23:51 Yeah. But they, and in fact, they hated it so much that Deborah was going to counseling with Emma to try to make sure that this was like safe. Okay. Okay. And trying to keep an open channel of communication with her about it. Because the lyrics are very like. Very, they're a lot. And they're very violent.
Starting point is 00:24:09 And especially for a mom off putting, I would assume. It would be scary as a parent to hear your kid listening to this. I will say that. Yeah. Like I get, I can see all sides of this. And again, they weren't telling her forbidding her from listening to it or being a part of it. They just wanted to make sure they were a part of it too, basically. Which is smart.
Starting point is 00:24:25 Which I think is really smart. And they were determined to remain in her life in an open channel of communication. So they wanted to kind of just not push her away by saying like, no, I'm going to chain you up and not let you go out. So they were trying. But they figured we need to be aware of everything. We need to try to support her. We hope this is a phase that she's going through. Let's ride it out together, you know.
Starting point is 00:24:50 So they agreed together. that they would participate in this meetup that they wanted to happen for this festival. That's cool as hell. So they said, you know, Richard has to fly here. He has to figure that out. Yeah. We're not flying him out. Like, figure that out.
Starting point is 00:25:05 But you and Melanie can stay in our home and we will take you to that festival, the three of you together. Wow. And as we will drive you there, we will pick you up so we know where you are. We're going to be there to see what's going on. That's great. I get why they thought this was the best way to go about it. Yeah. I myself would not have a 20-year-old I didn't know stay in my house, but I understand.
Starting point is 00:25:32 So Richard was going to be staying in the house too. Richard and Melanie. Oh, I thought just Melanie. Okay. So that is not. I wouldn't do that, but I can see that they were trying. Well, and it's their house. So they're like, we're going to see everything.
Starting point is 00:25:46 Yeah. And I feel like they thought that they had a handle on this. I can see what they were going for. feel really bad because they really gave it a shot to be like, you know, parents that are there and listening and supportive. And I think it just, they should have been a little harder and I think would have been a little better. But I don't know. But they were trying to do what they thought was the best. Yeah. You do what you think is best and they thought this was best. So they were going to pick, they were going to pick Richard up from the airport and then they were going to drive straight to
Starting point is 00:26:15 the concert. Okay. And then he would stay with Melanie. He must have been tired. I know for a couple of days at the house. So they could all just like get to know each other and hang out. So September 12th, 2009. Okay. He arrives at the airport. They go to pick them up, Melanie, Emma, and Deborah. Uh-huh. Immediately, the online persona has fallen away. Yes. And now it's real people meeting each other. Which is always awkward, like in and of itself. Always awkward, no matter what. But when you don't have that perfectly angled, my space photo or the mirror shot. It's like you're naked. It's, you look little different. Yeah. You just look a little different. Emma was immediately not attracted to him. So she was like, oh, no. And when you look at the pictures he posted, you can see that like different.
Starting point is 00:27:01 Because then you see him afterwards and you're like, yeah, you really angled those pictures. Oh, we all know a Myspace angle. We all know. And so she was immediately not attracted to the school, who walked off the plane. And, you know, he's portraying online this tough guy, this hardcore, psycho Sam rapper. Right. She was like, ooh, I'm into that. And then he walks off the plane and he's like, and he just like has no self-confidence.
Starting point is 00:27:29 Right. It's very meek, very quiet. And she's like, what the fuck is this? Right. And Emma was like, I'm not into it. So he immediately felt the rejection, like right off the bat. Because she was like, yeah, no, this isn't going to happen.
Starting point is 00:27:41 And we all know how 16-year-olds act when they're like, oh, fuck, never mind. Well, that's the other thing. She's 16 years old. Mm-hmm. She's 16 years old. So you know she was like, mm, nope. I had a very similar experience to this. Did you really?
Starting point is 00:27:56 I did. And I actually got in trouble. I was very, very mean to somebody that I went on a family vacation with, who I, like, had a crush on. And I was a little twat. And it's actually one of my biggest regrets to this day. Oh, my God. Yeah. Oh, I feel bad.
Starting point is 00:28:08 That's sad. I know. Wow. But I totally understand exactly how she feels. The mentality of just like, no, I don't like this person now. Yeah. I totally get it. It doesn't fit my fantasy of what the online.
Starting point is 00:28:19 And she's with her best friend and her best friend is older. This exact thing happened to me. And her best friend is probably like, oh. I met this other girl on the family vacation and she was older and she was like so cool. We had a lot in common. And you both were like, and I think I acted like a lot older and cooler. It was exactly the situation. I know.
Starting point is 00:28:39 Oh, that's so sad. And I got into so much trouble. I was like grounded. You deserved it. I did. I did. I absolutely did. Kyler, if you're listening, I'm a horrible person and it looks like you're doing great these days.
Starting point is 00:28:49 Also, I'm gay now. Also, I'm gay now. So it's fine. In the end, everything was where it should be. But this didn't. So let's get back on track. So it's the same thing. So it's literally, you know, she's got her best friend with her.
Starting point is 00:29:04 The two of them are sitting there like, no, this is not Psycho Sam. This is Richard the third that just walked out of the plane. Oh, no. So that's not cool. So again, he's immediately feeling that rejection. Yeah. He's immediately feeling like he's not with his. his people. He's not, he has not just met his like online, you know, and that sucks, I can imagine.
Starting point is 00:29:26 So then they go to the concert and they had to drive hours in the car. So it was probably the most fucking awkward shit. With her parents, like that already was going to be awkward and then you add that like they're not into him and they're probably acting like shitty to him. Because in that situation you just don't want to be near the person. Yeah, you don't even want to be near them because you're like gross. I've been flirting with him for like a year and now really not attracted to him. Like, that's a rough situation. I know this. So at the concert, people at the concert said that she was very flirty with other guys, like,
Starting point is 00:29:58 in front of him. There's rumors that she was, like, flirting with a band member of one of the, like, groups, which, like, good for you. Honey, if you get that opportunity, get it. Like, if I could have flirted with one of the members of, like, Yellow Card or, like, all-time low. Seriously, like, if I, Ryan Key from Yellow Card, yes.
Starting point is 00:30:16 If I could have flirted with Ryan Key from Yellow Card at one of the shows we went to, I would have taken that opportunity in a second. I threw my bra at Jack Barrettat. That's something I didn't need to know. You're welcome. But it's funny because now I'm dating a woman. But like I know, that is amazing. But I had like a stupid boyfriend in high school.
Starting point is 00:30:35 Yeah. Sorry about it. You're listening. But like he sucked. And I honestly, if I had that opportunity to like flirt with Andrew McMahon, hello. Like I would have taken that in a second. Sign me up. So I did.
Starting point is 00:30:47 I get you. You know, these are your idols. She is very. relatable. But he's pissed. And he's getting more and more pissed. And he's feeling slighted. He's feeling slighted because, again, not just this rejection, but the fact that he has built this relationship into something different for him than it was for her. Yeah. And the two of them did not communicate this to each other. So I think they were both thinking different things about what this was. And then it became a rejection thing. And now it seems to him like it's being
Starting point is 00:31:15 thrown in his face. Yep. That's what he's taking it as. So, September 13th, 2009. They're back at home now. They went to the concert. Everything seems to be fine. They're like getting along. Everything's fine. They're all hanging out.
Starting point is 00:31:29 Melanie posts on her MySpace that she's going to be back in West Virginia on the 16th. Okay. So now Melanie's family all of a sudden stops hearing from her. At the concert? No, this is when they're home. Oh, they're home. Oh, Melanie. Okay.
Starting point is 00:31:45 Now Melanie's family just doesn't hear from her. Right. And they're like, wait, she's staying at these people's like, why is it? isn't she answering all of a sudden? Oh, no. So Wednesday, September 16th, when she's supposed to be going home, Melanie's father, Thomas showed up at the home of Deborah Kelly to get his daughter because he was like, why isn't she texting back? No one's answering the door. He can't see in any of the windows. He's calling no one's answering. He stayed out there for hours because he was like, they must not be home, but where are they? Oh, my, I can't imagine this poor man's feeling. Literally like
Starting point is 00:32:15 hours outside to wait for them or just to get a hold of someone. Can you imagine that feeling? He's panicking. Yeah. I can't even fathom this. He leaves because he's like, I don't know what else to do here. And he leaves to go home to talk to the like the mom and be like, what do we do now? Should we call the police?
Starting point is 00:32:33 They're both very upset. Her mom had texted the night before at the concert, like texted Melanie. Okay, have fun. Love you. And Melanie wrote back, we will love you too, mom. And that's the last text she sent. Oh, God. Now, the next series of text that goes to Melanie is just her mother, and it says,
Starting point is 00:32:52 Honey, where are you? Please call me. Are you okay? Very worried. Where are you? Question mark, question mark. Is something wrong? And then Melanie, Melanie, please call me. Oh, God. And none of them co-answered. Oh, God. So Kathleen, Melanie's mom, starts calling everyone they know to see if they know where Melanie is. Yeah. Because the other thing is she's 18. Right. So this becomes a little more difficult for them. Absolutely. Because she's not a child, technically. So they call, so the mom, which I'm like Kathleen, Melanie's mom, I'm like, you are a like sleuth. And I love it. Very impressed by her. She must have been up on what.
Starting point is 00:33:30 And it seemed, I mean, you can look those text messages to see they loved each other. They had that relationship that they said that and were, it seemed like they were close. Yeah. So I think she was keeping tabs on what she was doing and at least knew who she was talking to. When you're 18, you're still a child. And like, good for her mom for like knowing these things. things. Right. Because, you know, you can use them in these situations. So she calls this guy Andre Schrimm. And this guy runs serial killing records in New Mexico. Obviously.
Starting point is 00:33:59 She knew that Melanie was friends with this guy and talked to this guy. I love that mama called serial killing records to find where her kid was. And she knew that Richard and Emma were also friends with this guy. So she was like, they're all connected here. I'm going to start calling people in this scene. We love a mama bear. She's deeply involved in this scene. So I'm going to start calling people. Good for her. Wow. And by all accounts, Andre was very helpful and was like very like, I'm glad she called me. This is his community. This is his family. So like good for them. And he himself wraps under the name Sictanic the Solis. Obviously. The Solis. The Solis. The Solis. Siktanic. Oh, I, I'm not going to say Tanaic.
Starting point is 00:34:46 you right now, I was about to ask you what a tanic was. No, at first, it took me a second. Okay, cool. And then I was like, oh, satanic. Sick Tannic, Satanic, yeah. Sick Tannick, the Solis. He is actually the boyfriend of Rosickel, the artist. Oh, we love this.
Starting point is 00:35:00 So see, we're all connected. This is so cool. I know, right? But not. So when she talked to him, when Mama talked to him, he said, I didn't see them all day, but he said, I did see them at that music festival the day before. So he was like, I did see them. They were all fine.
Starting point is 00:35:15 And he was like, and they went home with, you know, the parents. The mom and dad. Like, you don't have to worry. I don't think. Like, I saw them and they were fine. Oh, no. So she's like, okay. Now, the way that Andre knows Psycho Sam is because Psycho Sam was a web designer for his rap label.
Starting point is 00:35:35 Okay. For the serial killer. Yeah. And obviously, he was aspiring himself. So we figured if I could help out with web design, maybe he'll sign me to record label. Again, foot and a door. So she. She then, so then Mama Kathleen, Melanie's mom, calls Deborah's home some more, like, just, okay, she's got to be there.
Starting point is 00:35:53 Yeah, like, what the hell is going on? They got to be out somewhere. And maybe I'm just, maybe her phone died. I don't know. But then suddenly, she gets an answer when she calls Richard answers. I knew it. Psycho Sam. I mother fucking knew it.
Starting point is 00:36:05 Psycho Sam answers. She's like, hey, where's Melanie? Can I talk to her? Every. Why are you answering the phone at a house you don't live in? And he was like, oh, you know, they're out. They're at like a movie and I stayed in and they just told me to like answer the phone if one of you called so I could tell you. No.
Starting point is 00:36:22 And she was like, okay. That would not sit right with me. He's like, that's weird. So then she calls back like two hours later and he answers again. And she's like, where are they? And he gives them a different excuse. What's it? Do you know what else?
Starting point is 00:36:33 I don't know what these were. But so far every time she calls, he keeps giving different reasons why they can't come to the phone. It's also like, why are you still answering if you know that they're clearly not there? Exactly. And it's always different. every time. It's just, oh, this is why they can't come now. Right. They went to dinner. Now they're this, now they're that. Now the parents are getting super stressed and they know he's lying. Yeah. So September 17th, Kathleen called Mark, Emma's father. Sure. Because Mark doesn't live in that house. Right.
Starting point is 00:37:01 So she calls Mark and she's like, can you go check on your fucking wife and like daughter? Like, in my child? Like, I don't know what's going on. And I'm sorry, how long was this a day after? This was, so this was on the 17th, and the last they had talked was on the 16th, Melanie was supposed to be home. Okay, okay. So, I mean, it was on the 13th that she posted on MySpace, so she's been there since the 12th. Oh, okay. So this is the 17th. Okay.
Starting point is 00:37:30 And she was hearing up until the 16th from her. Okay. So then Kathleen's like, you know, Mark, can you go check? And Mark's like, oh my God, yeah, like, absolutely. Like what the fuck, sorry. So he's like, holy shit. So he says at 5 p.m. He's going to go check because he's on his way.
Starting point is 00:37:44 I think he was on his way. I think when they talked, it was close to 5 p.m. So he's like, I'll drop by there on my way to this other thing for work. And they're like, okay, cool. Now, Richard's mother later would say that the last time she talked to her son was when he called her that same night on the 17th at around 7 p.m. And she said, quote, he sounded perfectly fine. My mother's intuition is pretty strong. He said he was having a good time and he loves me.
Starting point is 00:38:13 Oh. Just putting that out there. Now midnight rolls around. Kathleen has not heard back from Mark. Uh-huh. So now she's like, what the fuck is going on? So she calls the police. Oh, no.
Starting point is 00:38:24 Richard, what have you done? So she calls the police and she's like, can you do a welfare check? And she explains the whole thing. I've been calling for days. This kid is answering the phone. I don't know who this fucking kid is. Like, he's an online kid. And then I sent the dad to look.
Starting point is 00:38:36 I send the dad. And I'm not getting anything. from the dad now? The police were probably like, what the fuck are we going to find? So the police show up to the house. Oh my God. This story is fucking insane. I know. This blew my mind. Richards answers the door. And they're like, hi. Hi there. You don't live there. And he goes, oh, no, I don't live here. All the women are out at the movies. And where's daddy? And they were like, where's the dad? And he was like, oh, he stopped by here, but I don't, he left. Like, I don't, no, he's not here. The police are just like, okay, cool, thanks.
Starting point is 00:39:08 And they leave. Okay. So that was the LAPVS the door. Like, what the fuck? Really? They just are like, okay, cool.
Starting point is 00:39:15 Kid who doesn't live in this home and can't offer us any real explanation for where these people are. I mean, but you think about it. It's like they would have had a search warrant to go any further. Exactly. So it is. But they couldn't even ask.
Starting point is 00:39:26 Can we look inside? Yeah. If he had said, sure. But then I do wonder, maybe he couldn't have given permission. I don't know. But since it's not his house.
Starting point is 00:39:34 Well, either way, if they had probable cause to believe anything. And they. They definitely do. They have missing people. They could say, like, you know, we need to know where they are. So they tell Kathleen and everything's fine. And she's like, no, it's not though.
Starting point is 00:39:46 And Kathleen's like, no, he said they were at the movies before. Like, what the fuck? They're not just going out to the cinema every four hours. Like, that doesn't make sense. Right. So Kathleen calls the house again. And it's like, what the fuck? Richard answers.
Starting point is 00:39:59 Oh, my goodness. Again. And this time, he can't really tell her where they are. He doesn't have an explanation. He just says, no, they can't come to the phone. And she's like, where are they? And he's like, ah, I don't know. They just can't come to the phone.
Starting point is 00:40:13 They're just busy. Uh-huh. Because they're dead. Seriously. So she's like, all right, Richard, something seems wrong. You should call the police. I can't believe she's been talking to him this whole time. Because at this point, she's like, okay, the police aren't helping me.
Starting point is 00:40:28 No one's helping. I've had the dad to talk to this guy. I've called here. So now she's like, Richard, why don't you call the police? Because something seems wrong here. Yeah. And Richard's like, yeah, you know what? You're right.
Starting point is 00:40:38 So she's like, okay, bye. She's like, all right. What the fuck? Richard calls the police and says, hey, I hear some noises in my basement. Can you come check it out? Uh-huh. And so the police come. They check the basement.
Starting point is 00:40:52 Apparently didn't go in the rest of the house. Just check the basement. Don't find anything weird in the basement. They're like, oh, I don't know. Okay. Weird. This is the most bizarre story of all time. I told you.
Starting point is 00:41:02 It's so bizarre. What? So they leave. Friday, September 18th at 3.20 p.m. Virginia State Police come again because Kathleen keeps calling them. Yeah, good. Good on Kathleen. She's like, oh, hey, go to that fucking house again.
Starting point is 00:41:18 Are you insane? Like, there is clearly something going on. Hasn't heard from her daughter in what? Days. Oh, my God. At this point, like, four days. So it's five days now. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:41:26 So it's five days now. And she's like, get the fuck back to that house. Something is wrong. This poor, like, how do you get through your week? So they listened. They went back to the house. They knock on the door. And immediately they said through a.
Starting point is 00:41:38 a locked door, they got a horrific smell. And they said they knew exactly what that smell was, obviously. So they forced themselves in. Oh, finally. The smell of decomposition is probable cause to enter a home. Oh, it is? Yeah. So they were like, we smell dead people.
Starting point is 00:41:53 So let's go in. So they go in, Richard is gone. Of course. He's nowhere to be found. Because he probably couldn't handle it at this point. What they did find was three dead bodies. Three. Three bodies that were horrifically murdered in a downstairs bedroom.
Starting point is 00:42:08 Oh, no. So they leave to get a search warrant because now they were able to go in, but now if they want to touch anything or do anything, they need a warrant. Right. So they go, they immediately get a warrant because they're like, oh, there's three dead bodies in there. And they come back, and this is when they find a fourth body dead upstairs in another bedroom. Oh, no. An officer later said it was, quote, the most gruesome crime scene I have ever attended. Wow.
Starting point is 00:42:33 They identify the bodies as Mark, Deborah, Emma, and Melanie. Oh, no. So Melanie, Emma, and Deborah were killed in their beds as they slept. Melanie had been sleeping on the couch downstairs. They were beaten with what they initially thought was a sledgehammer. Oh, my God. Because of the amount of damage done. Right.
Starting point is 00:42:54 And they did find a sledgehammer in the house, so they were like, I think this could be it. Mark was murdered with the same object as he arrived at the home to check on them. Right. He was snuck up from behind and, like, slammed in the head. This is like a horror movie. Mark's attack was so bad that the hardwood floor under him was almost destroyed. Are you kidding? And was soaked through with blood.
Starting point is 00:43:15 Oh my God. Psycho Sam again is nowhere to be found. So now they're on the hunt for this tool. Right. They use social media to track down friends and such. Because again, this horror core community. They're all connected. They're all connected.
Starting point is 00:43:28 So they end up speaking again with Andre, because Andre actually called them. Oh, called the police and said, hey. a friend of mine spoke with Richard, like yesterday or something like that. I think it was the Thursday, yeah. And he told this guy that he murdered people. Oh, great. So Andre, good on him, called the police and was like, yeah, I think something's weird here. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:43:51 He and his girlfriend, Razakil, also told police that this is where you can find recent pictures of Richard on my space. Awesome. So they led them to the pictures so that they could distribute the pictures. Even though, is that what Richard even looks like? not really good pictures, I guess, but they tried. So apparently, Richard, from what they could tell from time of death and all that, he had sat in the home for days. Well, and he's been answering the phone. Yeah. Then he killed Mark when he showed up and sat with his body as well. And just left it right there. He didn't change clothes. He didn't shower the entire five days. He just sat there in the
Starting point is 00:44:30 thick stench of decomp. The fuck. So badly that he and we will find out later. And we will find out later. Everyone who came across him afterwards was like he smelled so bad that you could smell him coming from like a mile away. Well, and again, you said he didn't change his clothes. He's obviously got some kind of like blood and shit on him. Oh yeah. People said there was like gore and shit on his clothes. What the fuck? He then stole money from Mark's wallet and stole Mark's car, a 2000 Honda and left. He immediately got like run off the road or something. He like ran into a ditch. The police ended up being called. Good.
Starting point is 00:45:02 It was like 4 a.m. when this happened. and the police came, didn't realize they were looking for him yet. Shut the fuck up. Because remember, when they showed up, Richard was gone. Right. So this was the night before that he wrecked the car and the police show up. At this point, they don't know that they're looking for a killer. Right, right.
Starting point is 00:45:20 But they had him right there. So he just gets ticketed for driving without a license. That's it. Why wouldn't they not realize that the car is not registered to him? Whose car is this? He says, oh, it's my girlfriend's dad. Oh. And they're just like, okay.
Starting point is 00:45:34 I like that he's still going with the story that Emma was his girlfriend. My girlfriend's dad. That he maintains that for a long time. Ew, that poor girl. She's probably like beyond the grave like motherfucker. No, I was not. Never. Never was your girlfriend.
Starting point is 00:45:47 So they do set up the car to be towed when it got run off the thing. So they give him the ticket. They're like, we're going to tow the car, so figure it out. Like, where do you want to go? And so he gets a ride with the tow truck driver. Yeah. Who said he reeked so badly. and drives Richard to a convenience store.
Starting point is 00:46:05 Wait, and you said that there was gore on his clothing. How did the police not fucking realize that? Maybe they didn't, they couldn't see it. And he was wearing a sweatshirt, a zip-up sweatshirt over his like really baggy clothing. Sure. Maybe they just didn't see it. Okay. He then took, so he drove him to the convenience store and that's where he took a taxi to the airport to get back home to California.
Starting point is 00:46:25 He was trying to get out of here. You're kidding me? And the taxi ride was like an hour or something long. Oh, that poor taxi driver. The taxi driver, Curtis Gibson, later said he was almost retching because of how bad Richard smelled of death. Oh, gross. He had to roll down the windows the entire time. He said he, quote, smelled like the devil. He also opened up to him slightly. Richard did. Oh, my God. Can you imagine being this poor taxi driver? Right. And he said he was very calm, a very nice kid, like very came off, very sweet.
Starting point is 00:46:55 And he told him he got in a fight with his girlfriend, Emma. Because she caught him going, through her phone and she was pissed. Uh-oh. And he said, well, what I found was I found this guy texting her and telling her he loved her and I got angry. But we just got in a fight and we're going to get over it. Nope. Like, telling him this.
Starting point is 00:47:15 And then he's like, I don't want to deal with it. So I'm going back to California to like cool off. Oh. And he's like, cool. So he, and he described him as quote, he spoke calmly and never raised any of my suspicions. He said he even gushed about Emma saying like how beautiful she was. how their first meeting was everything he wanted it to be. No, it wasn't.
Starting point is 00:47:34 Her smile was unlike anything he had ever seen. He's not in love with this girl. He's fucking obsessed. Obsessed. And he's talking about how, you know, we got you. I'm going to have to sweet talker, but we'll get over it. I feel like, do you think he believed that, though? No, I think that he, I think, I don't know.
Starting point is 00:47:53 I think he has, like, weird, different, like, detached parts of his personality or something. Yeah. But either way, witnesses, like I said, who saw him in passing said his clothing had, like, crap all over it. And, I mean, at this time, it's dried blood, so it's going to look dark. It's going to look like almost brown at this point, like oxidized. And then anything else is just going to be, like, caked on. It's going to look like he's just dirty.
Starting point is 00:48:20 So Saturday, September 19th, 2009 at 1 a.m., police have given the Richmond National Airport Richard's photo. Oh, good. Because they're like, he's going to try to hop. on a plane and go back to California. Absolutely. So he's found a sleep in the baggage claim at the airport. They have surveillance. Photos of this.
Starting point is 00:48:40 We'll post them of this little fucker, like sleeping in the baggage claim. And they just come and get him and he's just like, yeah, like whatever. So again, he was ready to just skip town. So they arrest him. He's charged with the murder of Mark. Because again, they usually only charge, like, they're not going to throw all the charges on him. They want something that they can hold him on.
Starting point is 00:48:59 Right. They know they can hold him for Mark because he stole his car. So they did that just initially to hold him. And they also charged him with the grand theft, like, larceny auto of the car and robbery for taking money from his wallet. Right. So we can definitely keep him. Yeah. So the autopsies were done Monday, September 21st, 2009.
Starting point is 00:49:21 They showed that blunt force trauma to the heads with what they thought was either a sledgehammer, a ball peen hammer, or a wood splitting. mall, which I had to look it up. I was going to say, what is that? It's basically an axe, essentially. Okay. Like a really intense axe. They said they couldn't determine exactly, but something of that. Do they ever find out? Does he say? They do. He says what he used. Thank you. Thank you. None of them could be identified from sight because all of them were literally demolished. Oh my goodness. Like nothing was left. Rage. They think Deborah, Melanie, and Emma were killed on that Wednesday. So pretty quick. That was at the night of the concert? That was a day after the concept.
Starting point is 00:50:01 Okay. So the same night at 1 a.m. that they're arresting Richard from the airport, they get a search warrant and enter Richard's home in California. Okay. So they're taking his computer. They're taking everything. So his family is just waking up at 1 a.m. to police being like, hi, we have a search warrant because your son murdered four people. Oh, my goodness. And they're like, what?
Starting point is 00:50:21 And he's in West Virginia. Excuse me? So they get his computer. They get everything. October 19th, 2009, he was indicted on 6th. six counts of capital murder. He got the two extra counts. Not sure for what exactly, but it was because of how brutal the murders were. They tacked on two extra ones. I didn't know you could do that. And possibly because he might have done something after the
Starting point is 00:50:43 deaths. We don't know exactly. The reason we don't know is because it didn't go to trial. So we don't have court documents to tell us all the details about this. We're just getting leaks from like little things. Yeah. So there was copious amounts of evidence. some witnesses against him. Yeah. I mean, like, it was a slam dunk of a case. He would be fucked. So he got an attorney and the guy was like, yeah, you have to plead out. Like we're not going to trial because you're going to be put to death. And it will just be a waste of time. Yeah, they were like, it's a waste of time and money and they're going to kill you. Like, they'll put you in the electric chair. So no trial, which is how we don't have all the information. I don't know if this is a stupid question.
Starting point is 00:51:21 Even if you plead guilty, like, you're still sentenced. So even if he like didn't go to trial, could he still be sentenced to death? No, because the part of the plea deal is to avoid death. Oh, okay. That's part of the plea. So the plea, he pled guilty to two counts of capital murder and two counts of first-degree murder. Four life sentences is what he got. And he waived his right to an appeal.
Starting point is 00:51:44 Okay, so he's there forever, no matter what. Now, just a few little, like, last things, talking about MySpace. On September 15th, so only three days after the concert, I think. He must have killed them four days after the concert, I think. So he hung out there for a while. So he hung out there for a few days. Because on September 15th at 7.52 a.m., who was it? It was Emma wrote on MySpace.
Starting point is 00:52:15 I made so many friends that night, ha ha. And Sam says hi. And then she wrote, I can't wait till next year. I'll be driving next time. Oh, my goodness. That's really sad. Yeah. And that was just like really like, oh, they just got me.
Starting point is 00:52:29 Like, you're not even going to make it until tonight. Like, I'm pretty sure that was the night. Oh, that gave me chills. So just going into, like, the horrorcore rap thing, I just want to go into it a little bit. Of course, people immediately blamed horror core for this. Yeah, which is not fair. The first thing that happened. This is just some slighted asshole.
Starting point is 00:52:46 Exactly. And his stuff is still up. You can listen to his raps. You can hear his stuff. I don't want to. They're terrible. Yeah. Like, he's not good.
Starting point is 00:52:55 No matter. It's no wonder that you weren't signed, Psycho. So one of the lyrics that I just wanted to put out there that just gives you an insight into maybe his psyche, 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. Oh, wow. And that was written before? Before.
Starting point is 00:53:19 And it's a song called My Dark Side. He also took, there's a YouTube video where he's taking pictures laughing at a Marine. grave and defiling soldiers graves and like laughing about it oh so he was a piece of shit yeah he was not this like passive little guy that's the thing so it's like he was putting this little persona out to who he needed to and then in real like I think that was the real him was the psycho Sam I agree it was this meek passive person that he was portraying as a facade I that's how I feel I think so too you can't defile a fucking grave and call yourself passive grave right like what the fuck thank goodness he has four life sentences.
Starting point is 00:54:01 Because God only knows what he would do. Thankful for him too, because if you ever walked out of their fucker, do you know you had like you would have so many people after you? Seriously. So back to Razakal, the artist that kind of brought them all together. She said about the killings. She said although horror core music is, you know, all about murder, all about that stuff, she said, we, no one in my circle and me are going to write a rap about this because
Starting point is 00:54:26 she's been asked this like a million times. That would be. So fucked up in my opinion. And she said, quote, people can call it hypocritical, but I call it respect. I'm not going to talk about people I loved like that. It would be disrespectful. She also said, we rap about it and it finally happens. It should be like a slap in our face, right?
Starting point is 00:54:43 Well, no, shit happens. I don't love that. Rosickel. I think what, I think it came out. It didn't come out, I think, how she meant. Definitely came out poorly. Like, if you could maybe go, whew? Like, you definitely shouldn't say shit happens.
Starting point is 00:54:58 happens about four people being brutally murdered. What you should say is, was it our fault? No. Is it Richard's fault? Yes. The end. Like, that's it. Like, you don't say shit happens.
Starting point is 00:55:09 No. This isn't shit happens. This is Richard happened. Right. And the only person to blame here is Richard. Right. 100% Richard McCloskey, the third, is to blame. Ugh.
Starting point is 00:55:20 So, either way, Rosicel was really close with Melanie and Emma. She says she knew that Richard and Emma were talking for a long time and we're like flirting and that there was something there. But she said she never once heard Emma refer to him as her boyfriend. Yeah. But she said she did hear Richard refer to Emma as his girlfriend. Which is annoying. Now about Psycho Sam, about Richard.
Starting point is 00:55:46 Yeah. This is interesting because this is what a lot of people said. And I'm almost like, I almost feel like he did let a lot of people like push him around in his life. And this like, it was a buildup. It contributed to a buildup of aggression. because she says, quote, this sounds kind of messed up, but to me it would make more sense if some random person would have broken into that house and did all that before it makes sense that Sam did it. You could push over this kid and walk all over him. Yeah. So it seems to me like he just was that.
Starting point is 00:56:15 Now, Razakal herself is now part of shrunken head entertainment and she's still doing her damn thing. So Sam's own sister said, quote, he was extremely passive. So just hearing that my brother the main suspect just really blows my mind. Yeah. Passive. That's the one thing everybody in his life described him as passive, letting people walk all over him. Weird. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:56:39 So Richard's lawyer did release finally a statement from him because, again, no trial. We don't get anything. It kind of, it's good for the victim's families. Right. Because they don't have to go through the trial. That's great. But they also don't get to hear any kind of information that could maybe help them. Or get any apology?
Starting point is 00:56:57 Anything. So he did get a statement from him about what happened. Basically, what he said was that he was in a full rage after that concert. Uh-huh. He admitted he saw texts between Emma and another guy. She was flirting with other guy. She had rejected him. Because she was fucking angry.
Starting point is 00:57:17 So he said September 14th or 15th, he was drinking, smoking weed, and taking pills. Ah. And he said, by himself at night. It's also like, can you not do that in my house? Exactly. Like you're a fucking house guest. And he said he killed Melanie first because she was asleep on the couch. So she just collateral.
Starting point is 00:57:35 They're all collateral damage. Emma was the one he wanted. He can't just kill Emma though. No. And then Deborah Kelly was killed upstairs and then Emma was killed in the bedroom downstairs. They were all dead before 3 a.m. that night. That's creepy. He then attacked and killed Mark September 17th when he showed up.
Starting point is 00:57:52 The bodies were in the rooms dead during those welfare. checks. He had dragged Melanie and Mark into Emma's room. He said he thought about killing himself, but no, he didn't. Because he fucking hung out in the... No, you didn't. No, you didn't. Like, fuck right off with that. I thought about kill. No, you didn't.
Starting point is 00:58:09 I hate when they throw that in there. And even if you did, like, shut the fuck up. You took a tool and demolished four people's heads into their ground and then left them and sat in their house for days. And you couldn't kill yourself? Right. I don't believe that. I don't even. You didn't
Starting point is 00:58:25 want to. Right. And you're fine with it. Like, he's an actual piece of shit. I agree. So, yeah. So he's like, I thought about killing myself, but he didn't. He then confirmed that what he used was a wood splitting mall to kill all of them. Oh, so the worst of the worst that you could possibly imagine. And his whole thing for this was he said it's a very heavy item, which it is. It's the heaviest out of all of them. I think it's like eight pounds or something. Oh, wow. And he said he thought it would knock them out quickly and they wouldn't suffer. What do you mean they wouldn't suffer. They were like, they were sledge up beyond recognition. They were bludgeon to death while sleeping. And you thought that was going to be quick? Like, no, you had no, no intentions of making this
Starting point is 00:59:04 quick. Just like his regular life, he doesn't know what persona to go with. Am I the evil, you know, horror core guy who just lived out my fantasy of killing people? Or am I like, whoops, I'm so self-conscious and meek and passive and everybody rejected me and I was sad, so I got mad, so I just wanted to kill them, but I wanted to do it really humanely. What? With a, what is it called a wood splitting axe? And then during a hearing that he was at, he was smiling at reporters. They took him out of the prison van.
Starting point is 00:59:33 He was smirking. Go fuck yourself. And his lawyer was trying to be like, it was a nervous smirk. Fuck right off. No. There is a very big difference between a nervous smirk and a smirk. Exactly. You can usually tell the difference.
Starting point is 00:59:46 I don't believe for one second that a guy who can brutally bludgeon two adults and two like girls that he was friendsless. Is nervous ever. And I don't believe that at all. If we really want to go with that theory, if you're somebody that nervous smiles, you know that you nervous smile. Exactly. So keep your fucking head down as you get out of that.
Starting point is 01:00:08 Exactly. That's the thing. Because I'm in, I'm terrible. I'm terrible with that stuff. Like at a funeral, I will literally have to sit there and like stop myself from laughing. I'm terrible. And it's awkward. My brain goes to a weird place. You're like the Joaquin Phoenix joker.
Starting point is 01:00:22 But I know that. And I know it's offensive to those around me and people don't understand it. So you keep your head down. So I keep my shit together. And then I just like let it loose in the car. Like I just scream or something. I don't know. So another little quick aside, three of his letters that he had written in 2011 from prison,
Starting point is 01:00:41 he did it for a murderbelia crime collector called serial killer ink. And they brought $15 in. for him. Like, so they were priced at $15. What? And then a site called Dark Vomit put them up on their site for twice that price. $30. Yeah. So an autographed photo of him went for $25. Who the, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know. I understand like, to a point wanting to buy like one of those John Wayne Gacy paintings, I guess. I can, in a weird part of my mind, I understand that one. Not this little fucker. This is like, I don't get that. Really? Yeah. This one I don't get.
Starting point is 01:01:22 Like, ew. I don't get it. And I don't, I have a weird relationship with that like murderbelia shit anyways. Like I, I personally am so not for it. Yeah. It's one of those things that's just like, I just don't know. There's little things that I guess I can find excusable in not really recess of your mind. You can kind of put yourself in someone else's head.
Starting point is 01:01:44 Usually you're the one that can kind of explain it to me, but it doesn't sit right with me. Yeah. In this particularly doesn't, these kind of things, it's like, no. No. No. And if that's your thing, like, okay, live your life. But like, fuck, don't buy his shit. No.
Starting point is 01:01:57 Like, don't do it. And there's a law that he can't profit off of it. But still, fuck. Well, that's the thing. Where does that money go? Whoever does profit off it can, like, give it, they could try to give it back to him to use for, like, commissary money to, like, buy cigarettes or something. That's stupid.
Starting point is 01:02:14 But just a last, to leave you on, like, a, that's kind of a sad, but I'll So like the victims note. Yeah, I like to do that. Deborah was remembered as a kind and caring professor who would push her students to greatness, had devoted her life to understanding criminals and their victims. Weird. People said it's very ironic that she ended up in this situation. As a kid, people who knew her said she would pretend to be a professor to her dolls.
Starting point is 01:02:39 So she wanted to be one for her whole life. She would also have her students over for cookouts to her home. That's precious. And started the criminal justice fraternity at her college that she. taught at. So good for her. About Emma, people said her smile came from her mother, beautiful, genuine, and radiant. And as for Mark, Mark was known as like this amazing guy. He was known as an amazing father. People loved him at the church. He was just a kind person. Yeah. They said Deborah and Mark were a wonderful couple, even though they were going through this issue right now,
Starting point is 01:03:13 they were working together on it. And they were like, it was kind of like impressive to see them. just like very understanding people. They did and they seemed like they were just trying to learn how to deal with this thing that neither one of them I'm sure had any idea how to deal with. And then Melanie was also known as like a super sweet, super caring girl, made tons of friends, super close to her parents, obviously. Like her mom was like going to the ends of the earth for her. So it's so tragic. Yeah, I've never heard of that case before. It's a case of this kid getting his ego bruised when he had built up a fantasy world that no one else knew about. It's like another in-cell.
Starting point is 01:03:53 It's truly, like, it's like he just, he blamed her for his own delusions of this relationship without even, he didn't even talk to her about it. These are the kind of cases that infuriate me on like a different level. So many levels. Because these men think that they're owed something. Oh yeah, this guy definitely thought he was owed. He was owed something. Yeah. And a lot of people from his home town said that he was bragging, too, about like he was going to go out there and he was going to finally be able to, like, sleep with his 16-year-old girlfriend.
Starting point is 01:04:28 Which is also like, ew. So this is all ego. It's all ego. It's all bruised ego. It's a kid who has this tough guy persona who thinks that he deserves what he wants. And I don't like that whole passive thing because if you're sitting around town like talking about. You're going to sleep with your 16-year-old girlfriend. You're not passive.
Starting point is 01:04:47 No, you're not. You're going to get charged for statutory rape. You and four, you know, six counts of capital murder. That too. So there's that. Wow. So, yeah, that's the Farmville murders. Nuts.
Starting point is 01:04:57 It blew my mind that I had never heard of it. Wow. Me either. Yeah. I look deep into the recesses of the internet for this. We love that. Well, if you would like to see some of the pictures that Elena mentioned, we will be posting. You can do so on Instagram.
Starting point is 01:05:11 At Morbid Podcast, where I will not be. Yeah, seriously. Hit us up on Twitter where we definitely will be at a morbid podcast. And you can send us at Gmail at morbidpodcast.com. We hope that you keep listening. And we hope you. I don't know why I joined into that one. Keep it weird.
Starting point is 01:05:32 Bye. That's so weird that you like forget how you do an outro. Yeah, that's weird. It was. It really was. It felt really wrong. Bye. Bye.

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