by RJ Parker
Hundreds of applicants contacted Richard, who used the name Jack, for the job. However, ‘Jack’ had a certain criteria: he needed someone single or divorced, someone who would not be missed, not very large, and someone who had some valuables and would relocate without hesitation. The first man to match this criteria was David Pauley, a fifty-one-year-old divorced man who lived with his older brother and his wife in Norfolk, Virginia. David had been married to his high school sweetheart, and had adopted her son, Wade, but they divorced in 2009. After 2003, David quit his job at Randolph-Bundy and had bounced from one job to another, never finding anything stable. When he saw the ad in October 2011, David was extremely excited.
The job was in Ohio, where his best friend, Chris Maul, had moved some years ago. David and Chris talked everyday using their Nextel walkie-talkies. David and ‘Jack’ exchanged a few emails, and David was informed that he made it to the narrow list of three final candidates. He was so excited when he received a call from Jack saying that he had been accepted for the job. David called first his friend, Chris, and then his twin sister, Deb, who lived in Maine. They were both happy for him. Nobody knew the horrible fate that was waiting for David. October 22 was the last time David had contacted Chris and Deb before meeting his soon to be employer. The two became worried when they received no news from David for several days, so they decided to call ‘Jack,’ who told them that everything was fine and that David had left with a list of chores. When still David didn’t call, Chris called ‘Jack’ again, and was told that David had left the farm in pursuit of another job with some guy in Pennsylvania. Chris and Deb found this odd—they didn’t think he would leave without telling them about it. What they didn’t know is that ‘Jack’ had already murdered David and sold all his possessions, news that would hit David’s family hard later on.
After killing David, Richard was already luring another victim. On October 9, forty-eight-year-old Scott Davis answered the ad placed by Richard as ‘Jack.’ One month later, after being accepted for the job, Scott was sitting in the backseat of the white Buick LeSabre driven by Brogan and his uncle ‘Jack,’ on the way to the farm. Scott had left his girlfriend in South Carolina after telling her about his new job. He had packed up his belongings and hitched his Harley-Davidson to the back of his truck in a trailer. As they drove through the road that would lead them to the farm, Scott saw the signal on his phone get weaker until it disappeared. Then Jack asked his nephew to pull over where they haunted their last deer, claiming there was some equipment they had left behind. Earlier, Jack had explained to Scott that the road needed some fixing before they could bring up his trailer up to the farm. As they walked up the road, Scott followed. Jack claimed that he had lost his way and asked Scott to turn around and head back. As Scott turned, he heard a click followed by the word, “fuck.” He turned to face Jack and saw him pointing a gun at him. Jack fired but hit Scott in the right elbow. Scott turned and tried to escape. He ran deeper into the woods as the shots followed, but missed. Scott was losing blood. After waiting hours until it was clear, he walked back up to the road searching for help. He was able to reach the house of Jeff Schockling and asked him to call 911. The Sheriff, Stephen Hannum, arrived to the house about fifteen minutes later. His first impression was that Scott was involved in a drug deal gone wrong. Scott told the Sheriff that his truck and trailer were parked at the Food Center Emporium parking lot where ‘Jack’ had suggested that he park them until the road was clear. When he found them, the Sheriff began to realize that Scott was actually a victim.
In the meantime, Deb, David’s twin sister, was trying to find an explanation for the disappearance of her brother. She called a number of motels or rental places that David might have stayed in, but nothing was helpful. On November 11, Deb remembered that David had mentioned that farm was located in a town named Cambridge. She looked up the name online and found an article in the local paper, The Daily Jeffersonian, dated November 8. It was about a man who was lured with a job promise then he was shot. Deb paid attention to one specific detail: the farm was supposedly comprised of 688 acres. Deb called the Sheriff immediately. The Sheriff initially had difficulty believing Scott’s story, but when he received a call from Deb, he put more effort into unveiling the truth behind this mystery. An FBI cyber-crimes specialist was called in for help in tracing the Craigslist ad. In addition, a crew with dogs was sent to search the woods where Scott was shot. It only took them a few hours to find David’s body. They knew they were dealing with a serial killer, especially after they found an empty grave, which was meant for Scott.
After Scott had gotten away, Richard did not stop his killings. By November 13, he had already found his next victim. Richard and Brogan met up with Timothy Kern, a forty-seven-year-old divorced man. Timothy had two children who were the center of his life. Not one day would go by without him contacting his teenage boys, Zachary and Nicholas. When he met Richard, Timothy had just lost his street cleaning job. He was very excited to accept the job from Richard, but sad he would be two hours away from his children.
When he met up with Richard and Brogan, he didn’t bring with him anything of value; instead he had given everything valuable to his sons. Brogan later recounted that he had felt pity for the man who clearly loved his sons so much and that he was helping Richard kill Timothy for no reason. Timothy described himself as single (he and his wife had divorced in 1997) and ready to relocate anytime, but he didn’t mention his sons. Instead of getting a job, Timothy was taken to an abandoned area behind an empty mall. His grave was already dug up. Richard shot Timothy five times before he died. His sons were devastated when they learned the news that their father had been murdered.
Less than one week after they found David’s body, investigators were able to identify the killer as a local man, Richard Beasley. They were also able to trace the IP address from which the ad was sent from to the house of Joe Bais, whom Richard rented a room from under the name of Ralph Greiger, his first victim. Joe helped the investigators trace a phone call he made to Richard who left to rent a room at another house in Akron. They were also able to track down the teenager who was helping Richard with the killings. They arrested Brogan after searching his house and interviewing his school’s principal. After that, Richard was also arrested.
During the trial in 2013, Richard’s mother was called to the stand. She said that Richard had been physically abused by his stepfather and sexually abused by some of the neighborhood’s youngsters. A psychologist testified that Richard suffered from depression and low self-esteem, possibly because of the abuse he suffered from as a child. Since Brogan was sixteen at the time of crimes, there was no possibility for a death penalty sentence; instead he was sentenced to life imprisonment. During Richard’s trial, the defense tried to bring up Brogan’s case and the life in prison sentence so that the jury would consider that in their conviction, but the prosecutors highlighted the fact that the death penalty for Brogan was out of question. In the end, the jury convicted Richard and suggested the death penalty. The judge could have sentenced him to life imprisonment, but instead he handed him a death sentence. Richard passed on the opportunity to speak with the judge before receiving his sentence, which was read in the presence of the victim’s families.
After hearing the sentence, Richard requested to speak with the judge but was told that his chance had passed. He insisted that he didn’t kill anyone and that the ruling will be overturned. Richard believes his conviction will be overturned and he will be found innocent at a retrial.
There has been a speculation that there was a sexual relationship between Richard and Brogan, which may indicate why Brogan was so loyal to Richard until the end. Brogan has denied all of these claims and stated that he had looked up to Richard like a father but at the same time he was afraid that Richard would hurt his family if he had told anyone about the murders.
Chapter 30: Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III
In 2009, Richard “Sammy” McCroskey had rather interesting ca
reer aspirations. Twenty-year-old McCroskey went by the stage names ‘Lil Demon Dog’ and ‘Syko Sam,’ and dreamed of making headlines as a big time ‘horrorcore’ rapper. Horrorcore is a type of ‘gangsta rap’ that uses particularly violent and gory lyrics and supernatural themes. McCroskey lived in California and, according to reports, was kind of a loner. With his red hair and slightly overweight frame, he had always been picked on in school. As a result, he spent much of his teenage years in isolation on his computer. It is there where he discovered his love for horrorcore lyrics and started his own amateur career as a rapper. His MySpace profile was peppered with videos and lyrics of his own, often detailing how much he enjoyed killing. In one of his songs, he raps, “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 kind of feeling, watching their last breath. Stabbing and stabbing till there’s nothing left.”
One of those people he met online was Emma Niederbrok, a sixteen-year-old from Farmville, Virginia, who went by the online persona ‘Ragdoll.’ Emma’s parents were going through a divorce when she met ‘Syko Sam’ in an online community dedicated to horrorcore music. Despite living on opposite sides of the country and never having met in person, Emma and McCroskey hit it off and quickly became an item. The two spent hours each day communicating online and talking on the phone, commiserating about the agonies of teenage life and their love for violent, gory music.
After dating online for nearly a year, on Sunday, September 6, 2009, McCroskey flew from California to Virginia to finally meet Emma in person. The two had been looking forward to the trip for weeks. They planned to drive to Michigan to attend the ‘Strictly for the Wicked’ concert, a music festival featuring horrorcore bands with macabre names like Dismembered Fetus and Phrozen Body Boy. The couple, along with Emma’s friend, Melanie Wells, and Emma’s parents, Debra Kelley (a university professor who taught sociology and criminal justice) and Mark Niederbrok (a pastor at the local Presbyterian church), who had been separated for almost nine months at this point, all drove to the concert together. While Emma’s parents did not approve of the type of music she was listening to, they mostly considered it to be a phase their teenager was going through and volunteered to take the group to the concert largely to keep an eye on them.
At some point during the concert, it is believed that McCroskey and Emma got into an argument of sorts, purportedly over text messages she may have sent to another friend. It is believed McCroskey stewed in his anger about this argument during the long drive back to Virginia. Once they arrived back at Debra Kelley’s home, Mark Niederbrok returned to his home as well. Emma, Melanie, and McCroskey all stayed the night with Debra being the only parent in the house. That night, McCroskey drank alcohol, smoked marijuana, and took painkillers, all the while becoming more and more upset with how things had turned out with Emma. Police believe after spending a year talking to her online, he had imagined things going much differently for them when they finally met.
The timeline after returning home from the concert is a little unclear. What is known is that the girls last logged into their respective MySpace accounts on Monday, September 14. The next day, McCroskey called his family back in California and left them a message ending with, “I love you guys,” something extremely out of character. In fact, this comment led his sister to suspect something was terribly wrong.
Two days later, Melanie’s mother contacted the police after not being able to reach her daughter for several days. The police made a courtesy call to Debra Kelley’s residence to check on Melanie’s welfare, where McCroskey answered the door. He calmly told police that Melanie and Emma were at the movies. Thinking everything seemed normal, the police took his word for it. This same day, Emma’s father, Mark, stopped in at his estranged wife’s house before leaving for a meeting in Richmond. He was never seen alive again.
McCroskey later stole Mark’s car, and left the residence. Around 4:00 a.m. on Friday, September 18, he wrecked the car. Police arrived at the scene and ticketed him for driving without a license. Since the car wasn’t reported stolen, they simply gave the twenty-year-old a ticket and left the scene. A tow-truck driver was called for the vehicle and the driver later reported that he drove McCroskey to a convenience store about four miles away. He claimed that the stench coming off McCroskey’s clothes during the ride was so pungent and disgusting, he had almost gagged.
Approximately twelve hours later, after Melanie’s mother called police again and begged them to conduct another welfare check on the home, police could tell something was wrong when they approached the house. This time, they could smell the decomposing bodies as they walked up the driveway. Inside the home, they found the bodies of Emma, Melanie, Debra, and Mark. They had been bludgeoned beyond recognition with a ball-peen hammer and a wood-splitting maul. It is believed that McCroskey murdered Emma, Melanie, and Debra sometime on Monday and remained in the residence with the bodies until Mark showed up on Thursday, when he killed him as well and fled the scene in the victim’s vehicle.
The medical examiner believes he killed Melanie first, while she slept on a couch in the downstairs den. He then moved upstairs, where he murdered Emma’s mother in her bedroom as she slept. Finally, he walked back downstairs, where he killed Emma in a similar manner. According to the medical examiner, none of the first three victims woke up during the attacks. They did not have any sort of defensive wounds. When Mark arrived at the house a few days later, McCroskey attacked him in the living room with the same weapons. He then moved Mark and Melanie’s bodies into Emma’s room and attempted to clean up the downstairs.
Court documents state that at some point, McCroskey recorded himself on a digital camera, confessing to his crimes and contemplating suicide.
One of McCroskey’s friends contacted the police on Friday after getting an alarming message from him claiming he had “killed everyone.” After police discovered the bodies, they began searching for McCroskey, realizing they had just been in contact with him twelve hours earlier and had let an alleged murderer go. They learned he had called a cab from the convenience store where the tow-truck driver had dropped him off and finally located McCroskey at the Richmond International Airport. According to police, he didn’t seem too surprised when they apprehended him and brought him down to the station.
He was initially charged with first-degree murder, robbery, and grand larceny. His charges were later increased to a total of six counts of capital murder. He was put on suicide watch while he awaited his trial. When police asked him why he had murdered them, he told them, “Jesus told me to do it.”
In September of 2010, McCroskey pleaded guilty to his crimes. Some of Debra’s students started an online petition asking prosecutors to take the death penalty off the table. They claimed Debra was vehemently against capital punishment and sentencing McCroskey to death would only serve to dishonor her beliefs. He was ultimately sentenced to life in prison and waived his right to file an appeal.
In memory of Debra Kelley and the three other victims, students at Longwood University planted holly trees on campus. Residents of the small town of Farmville, Virginia expressed shock and sorrow over the senseless killings. Many of the students came together after the murders to talk about the dangers of meeting friends online. Some of Debra Kelley’s students even deactivated their MySpace profiles soon after the murders.
Chapter 31: William Francis Melchert-Dinkel
With all the services the internet has made available, predators don’t even need to meet their victims face to face anymore in order to cause them harm. Yet, somehow people feel safer sharing intimate details of their lives with a stranger, not knowing if the person they are talking to has a hidden dark agenda. Unfortunately, many have been the victims of the sick fantasies and addictions of others.
William Francis Melchert-Dinkel was born on July 20, 1962 in Faribault, Minnesota. As an adult, he married and had two teenage daughters. Others described him as a loving, caring churchgoer. However, e
ven his own wife knew nothing about his second darker self and suicide fetish.
William started his career as a licensed practical nurse. However, his records were tarnished with disciplinary actions. In 1994, while working in a medical facility, he was giving medications to patients without noting them in the patients’ charts; he also did not report medical errors; and did not document one patient’s condition or update the physician about the case, an action which resulted in the death of that patient. William was officially reprimanded. In 1996, he worked in a hospital where he was also given a warning because of his lack of nursing care and his unsafe decisions. Two years later, in 1998, the Minnesota Board of Nursing placed restrictions on his license because there was evidence of him mistreating patients for four years. These restrictions remained active until 2003. At one point in his career, William worked in a retirement home but was fired because he allegedly abused two of the residents.
The nursing board determined that William was not practicing safe medicine, nor was he able to follow simple instructions or retain information. In the report made, there was a mention of problems he had at home, and also a mention of his diagnosis of Adjustment Reaction with Anxiety and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.
William began visiting suicide chat rooms as a part of his double life to prey on vulnerable people and encourage them to commit suicide in front of him on the webcam. He pretended to be a young female nurse in her twenties who compassionately chatted with depressed people. Later, William admitted that he had tried to convince at least twenty people (although the number could be much higher) to kill themselves, entered into a suicide pact with ten of them, of which he believed five actually committed suicide. He did all of this for (in his own words) “the thrill of the chase.” This went on for several years. Included in the group of five people who were thought to have committed suicide after William’s encouragement are Mark Drybrough of the United Kingdom and Nadia Kajouji of Canada.