In brief: Suspect arrested in slaying of four

Farmville, Va. – A California man who rapped about murder in songs posted on his MySpace page was arrested Saturday by investigators who suspect him of killing four people in a central Virginia college town.

Richard Alden Samuel McCroskey III, 20, of Castro Valley, Calif., was taken into custody at Richmond International Airport, where authorities believe he tried to catch a flight back to California.

McCroskey is being held in Farmville, where he faces charges of first-degree murder, grand larceny of an automobile and robbery.

Officers found the bodies Friday afternoon in the home of Debra S. Kelley, an associate professor of sociology and criminal justice studies at Longwood University.

Authorities are awaiting identification of the dead from the state medical examiner’s office.

Police say boy, 4, had dad’s cocaine

Newark, N.J. – New Jersey police said a 4-year-old boy shared cocaine with his friends at day care because his father told him it was candy.

Newark police said 25-year-old Shaheed Wright, of East Orange, put several baggies of cocaine inside his son’s jacket after police nearly caught him with it. The boy shared the drugs with three other 4-year-olds at his day care center Friday.

A teacher spotted a girl with a baggie in her mouth and called authorities after seeing the white powdery substance. The children were taken to a hospital, but none were injured. Wright was charged with four counts of child endangerment and drug offenses.

Deeds closing in on Virginia rival

Washington – Dramatic shifts among independent women and voters in Northern Virginia over the past month have propelled Democrat R. Creigh Deeds to within four points of Republican Robert F. McDonnell in the race for Virginia governor, according to a new Washington Post poll.

The change among likely voters – down from a 15-point margin in mid-August – coincides with the publication and ensuing controversy surrounding McDonnell’s graduate school thesis, in which he writes of his opposition to working women, feminists and homosexuals.

In the new poll, McDonnell edges Deeds by 51 to 47 percent among voters who say they are certain to vote in November.