The final text message that a 15-year-old girl sent before she was allegedly killed by her mother’s boyfriend was, “I’m scared, babe.”
Twelve minutes earlier, the teen, Riley Crossman, sent her boyfriend another text message: “Andy’s in my room,” reported the Herald Mail.
Andy J. McCauley, 41, who has been charged with Crossman’s murder, was allegedly linked to her murder after drywall mud and screws found in his work truck matched those found near where the teen’s body was discovered, eight days after she was reported missing, according to the paper.
Riley Crossman: Mom’s boyfriend arrested after police find body of 15-year-old teen girl decomposing in mountain area https://t.co/fQ39eyqy9g via @crimeonlinenews #RileyCrossman
— Leigh Egan (@LeighEgan) May 17, 2019
Prosecutors said during a June 19 court hearing against McCauley that it could take months before autopsy results reveal the cause and manner of the teen’s death, according to the report. Crossman’s body was found over an embankment on top of a mountain.
“It’s not going to provide any relief for the family but it’ll provide a better idea of what happened to Riley in the late night hours of May 7th and early hours of May 8th,” Morgan County Prosecuting Attorney Dan James said, according to Herald Mail. “Closure is something the family will never have but they’ll get a better understanding.”
Crossman’s final text messages were presented by the prosecution during a preliminary court hearing in Morgan County, West Virginia.
Cadaver dogs alerted investigators to the scent of a dead body in the bed of McCauley’s truck.
The man accused of murdering Riley Crossman, a teenager in Morgan County who was missing for more than a week before her body was found, will have his case heard by a grand jury.https://t.co/pyjGWt6Rp4
— Eyewitness News (@wchs8fox11) June 14, 2019
On May 7, the day Crossman texted her boyfriend that McCauley was in her room and that she feared him, McCauley allegedly called her three times between 3 a.m and 4 a.m. using *67 each time, which prevents a cell phone number from appearing on other phones.
James said evidence presented in court contradicted what McCouley had told police.
“Andy McCauley was adamant that he had nothing to do with this, you heard his testimony that he drove on Route 9 and Route 9 only, thankfully with the involvement of the sheriff’s department, state police, FBI, we panned out and was able to show that he wasn’t being truthful,” said James.
“We found that one video camera that put us down in Southern Berkeley County. That and finding her body the following day was an act of God, and from there we were able to look into other neighborhoods in close proximity to her body, we see him drive right to where her body was and leave 19 minutes later so I believe it’s a strong case.”
West Virginia State Police Cpl. F.H. Edwards said in a testimony according to the Herald Mail, that the truck McCauley was driving belonged to his co-worker and that he had never borrowed it in the past.
Disappearance
Her mother did not see her daughter in her room when she woke up the next morning at 7:15 a.m. on May 8.
PLEASE RT
My best friend Riley Crossman is missing and none of us can get a hold of her, if you have and info on her whereabouts please message me ASAP. Please help us find her or find a way to get in contact with her. We are all worried about her and make sure she is safe. pic.twitter.com/XHiveijtYA
— chlœ (@chloecampfire) May 9, 2019
But a family friend, Kelly Waugh, told Dateline that it is not “incredibly abnormal,” and it is usually when Riley leaves for school to give her time for socializing.
“Riley walks right across the street to the school. And her school starts at 7:45 a.m. her boyfriend was going on a field trip that day, so it was not abnormal that she went over early to say hi to him before he left for the field trip,” she said.
When Riley didn’t come home after school or contact her mother, Riley’s mother began to worry and reported her missing on May 8 around 6 p.m.
Riley’s body was discovered on May 16 in the 5500 block of Tuscarora Pike in Berkeley County.
Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
