The Murder of 15-Year-Old Riley Crossman

Riley Crossman was a teenage girl from West Virginia with a special gift for being a talented musician. She was born on December 22, 2003, in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Additionally, she was a freshman at Berkeley Springs High School. Unfortunately, she was murdered in May 2019. Her death gained media attention due to the circumstances of her disappearance and the evidence presented at trial.

Riley Crossman Investigation: Disappearance and Discovery

Riley Crossman was a 15-year-old girl who was murdered by Andy McCauley, a 43-year-old man. The horrible murder occurred in May 2019. In a statement obtained by the WV Metro News, first deputy chief medical examiner with the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Dr. Piotr Kubbiczek, testified that Crossman’s remains were found in a “contractor-grade trash bag.”

He also testified that Crossman was wearing shorts that were unzipped and unbuttoned, and that her underwear had appeared to be torn or ripped. This tragic case all began when the girl’s mother, Shantel Oakley, frantically called the police to report her daughter missing.

Crossman was last seen on May 7, 2019, at her home on Greenway Drive in Berkeley Springs by her grandmother around 7 p.m. Oakley said to state police that she saw her daughter’s bedroom light on with the door closed. McCauley was sleeping downstairs around 10:30 p.m. that same night. On May 8, 2019, she found that her daughter’s room was empty. At first, she initially believed that Crossman walked to school.

However, the school had texted Oakley that Crossman was absent. Immediately, she called the police and filed a missing person’s report. In addition to the chaos, officers had discovered bloodstains on the teen’s sheets and comforters. Following the disturbing discovery, the missing person’s case escalated into a criminal investigation.

Did Andy McCauley Know Riley Crossman?

Sadly, Crossman’s badly decomposed corpse was found in the 5500 block of Tuscarora Pike. Dr. Kubbiczek determined that the teen’s death was due to homicide by unspecified means. Due to the decomposition, the cause of death could not be determined from her autopsy report.

McCauley and the teen’s mother were in a relationship. As far as McCauley’s whereabouts on the day the victim disappeared, he had changed his story on multiple occasions. The killer had first told police that he never left his construction work site on May 8. But after that, McCauley told authorities that he did leave the work site, but just for a short time to get cocaine for himself and a co-worker.

However, allegedly, co-workers at the site told police that McCauley already had cocaine in his possession before leaving the site. He had used a green Dodge truck to go back home for the cocaine, and troopers searched the vehicle of interest during the investigation. The disturbing findings in the truck were fresh drywall mud splatter and a deceased body odor based on indications from cadaver dogs.

According to a criminal complaint, WSHV reported that McCauley also “lied to police about the routes he used heading back to the job site too.” McCauley told troopers he left the site for only about 90 minutes to 2 hours.

McCauley Found Guilty of Riley’s Murder

However, surveillance showed McCauley Jr. left the work site at 9 a.m. and didn’t return until almost 2 p.m. McCauley was arrested after the victim’s body was found in 2019, was charged with murder, and in 2021, was given two life sentences for his heinous act.

Jurors in Morgan County Circuit Court went through more than four hours of deliberation over two days before reaching the verdict in the trial. The jury recommended no mercy for McCauley for what he did to Crossman. As the verdicts were read, finding him guilty of first-degree murder, death of a child by a custodian, child abuse, and concealment of a body, McCauley did not show any emotion.

According to Morgan County Prosecutor Dan James, in an opening statement obtained by CBS News, Crossman sent a text to her boyfriend on the night of May 7, 2019. In the text, she said, “Andy’s in and I’m scared,” according to James. When the text was sent, the boyfriend was asleep. Lance Crossman, the girl’s father, and James recommended that the jury reject the attorney’s recommendation that McCauley go free after 15 years.

Thanks to an impassioned plea from the girl’s mother, Circuit Judge Debra McLaughlin sentenced McCauley to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder. He was also sentenced to consecutive terms of 15 years to life for the death of a child custodian charge and one to five years for the concealment of a body charge