In May 2019, the tragic disappearance and murder of 15-year-old Riley Crossman from Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, shocked her community and drew national attention. Riley was reported missing on May 8, and her body was found a week later along a remote hillside in Berkeley County. The investigation quickly turned toward those close to her, and within days, authorities arrested her mother's boyfriend, Andrew "Andy" McCauley Jr.Go watch my other episodes on Spotify: The Disturbing Case of Stephanie ParzeShe Tried to Warn Them About her Son, Then he was MURDERED. THE CASE OF GUNNAR SCHUMACHER7 Year old’s Strange Death Reveals Mom’s DISGUSTING Secret: Did She Starve her for Attention?!
Chapter 1: What happened to Riley Crossman?
Hello everyone, my name is Rachel and welcome back to my channel. So the case that I have for you guys today is one that is solved, but it does involve the death of a young teenager in a very disturbing way. So if cases involving children make you especially uncomfortable, this is your warning now that this video may not be for you. Today, we are going to be discussing the death of Riley Crossman.
Chapter 2: Who was Riley Crossman?
Riley Crossman was born December 22, 2003, in Martinsbury, West Virginia, to her parents Chantel Oakley and Lance Crossman. She was described as being absolutely beautiful inside and out with a contagious laugh. She was a natural artist, a talented dancer, and a beautiful singer. She absolutely loved little kids, and they loved her just as much.
She was known to be intelligent, caring, and helpful, yet stubborn and about as dramatic as teenage girls come. She spent her time between her parents' houses in Martinsburg and Berkeley Springs, West Virginia, because her parents were divorced. But she spent most of her time in Berkeley Springs living with her mom, and that is where she went to school.
She had also been dating a young man named Hayden Lacey for about eight months before she died, And by all accounts, they were super close and they adored each other. Her dad, Lance, said that Hayden is a pretty good kid and he was a positive influence on her. He says that since being with him, she was pulling up her grades and was doing pretty well for herself.
So Tuesday, May 7th, 2019, Riley had gotten home from school at around 3.30 p.m. And when she got home, her mom Chantel was taking a nap on the couch. Chantel worked two jobs, so she was at work while Riley was at school, but she wasn't feeling too well this day, so she asked to go home early from her first job so that she could go ahead and take a nap at home before starting her next job.
Chantel knew that Riley was a very reliable girl, so she asked her to wake her up when she got home from school, and she knew that she was going to. So when Riley got home from school, she woke her mom up and made sure that she was up in time to get ready for her evening shift at her job. After Chantel left for work, Riley went about her evening as normal.
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Chapter 3: What were the events leading up to Riley's disappearance?
Riley's maternal grandmother was at home with Riley as well as her two younger brothers until around 7pm. As far as Chantel knew, Riley stayed at home and was just chilling in her room that entire evening. So when Chantel got home at around 10pm that evening and walked past Riley's door and saw that it was shut, she pretty much just figured that she was in her room and didn't think anything of it.
Again, Chantel really was not feeling well that day, but she couldn't get time off of work to be homesick, so when she got home, she pretty much just fell asleep immediately. Then, according to Hayden, Riley's boyfriend, the two were on FaceTime until around 10.30 p.m. that night. Then, another one of Riley's friends said that they were texting each other until almost midnight that night.
After that, she wasn't on her phone that night until 5.40 a.m., when she tried calling Hayden, but he was sleeping, so he didn't answer. By 7.15 a.m., Chantel woke up and started getting ready for her day. So she went into Riley's room to go and check in on her, but Riley was not in her room. But still, she didn't really think much of it.
Riley's school was basically right across the street from their home, and she walked to school every day, and school started at 7.45, so... leaving early to get to school early to socialize a bit before heading to class was pretty normal for her.
In addition to this, Hayden was going on a field trip that day so it was pretty normal that Riley would want to show up early to school before he left on the field trip so that they could chat and she could say goodbye. So that day went on pretty much as normal until Chantal had gotten a message from the school saying that Riley hadn't showed up to some of her classes that day.
Of course, that did set off some red flags for Chantel, but just as so many parents would think, she thought that maybe she was just playing hooky from class to act out and be a rebellious teen. I also do want to note that some of her teachers had marked her as being in class because they didn't fully take attendance, so it's not like she was missing the full day.
It was more so marked that she just missed a couple of classes. However, by 3.30pm that day, Riley's grandmother, or Chantel's mother, realized that Riley was not at home when she was supposed to be. So she alerted Chantel, who was at work at the time, and Chantel immediately started trying to get a hold of Riley to figure out where she was and what she was doing.
It was really weird that not only was she not home at her normal time, but Riley hadn't texted her mom all day. Riley was always asking her mom if she could hang out with someone after school, whether it was Hayden or friends or go to an after school event or something. She was pretty much always texting her mom at some point throughout the day.
But this day, there was nothing, so Chantel tried texting her. However, these text messages would not deliver, so she tried calling her, but her call went straight to voicemail. She then tried sending another text, but again, this text also would not deliver. So it was either that her phone was dead or it had been turned off for whatever reason.
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Chapter 4: How did the search for Riley unfold?
Chapter 5: What clues were found in Riley's bedroom?
Additionally, police found two sheet metal screws that were found on the roadway near where Riley's body was found. Police examined these screws and they found out that they were very specific screws, that they were like unique screws. They weren't just your everyday run of the mill screws. And they came back as being the same screws that were found within this work truck.
as well as screws that were found in Andy's work belt. So Andy told police that he had traveled east on Route 9 to get back to his job site after leaving, but police found surveillance video that showed he was actually traveling back towards Riley's house at 9 to 10 a.m.
Then he was on Apple Harvest Drive at around noon near a Hernandez store, which is about six miles away from where Riley's body would be found. Then, by 1230 p.m., he was seen traveling west on Tuscarora Pike, then east again at 1246, only two miles away from where Riley's body would be found. Then, he was seen five minutes after this going to a nearby gas station.
He can be seen on surveillance video from this gas station throwing something away from his toolbox, which was in the bed of his truck. He was then seen running into the store, putting money on the counter, and then running back out to get gas and then leaves the gas station eight minutes later. Then he doesn't return back to work until 2 or 2.30 PM. So clearly he was not where he said he was.
He was going back to her house and then was seen near where her body would later be found the day after she went missing. Then some people who Andy worked with came forward to speak with police. They all said that it was very unusual for him to be driving this truck around. As I said earlier, it belonged to a coworker and that coworker was the one who mainly used this truck.
The coworker would usually pick Andy up for work every day in that truck, but for whatever reason, Andy was the one who was driving around that truck that night and then the next day. Then, Chantel confirmed that Andy usually got around on his bicycle or she drove him in her car. Plus, again, he didn't even have a license, so he wasn't allowed to be driving anyways.
So, it was, in fact, very unusual for him to be making all of these trips and driving around in this car. Then, another co-worker came out to say that Andy had asked for three construction-grade trash bags before leaving for work on the day that Relly's body was allegedly dumped.
Then another former coworker and past employer of Andy's told police about something really weird that happened to him on May 8th. So Andy and this man named Don had not gotten along in the past relating to disagreements with work-related things. However, on May 8th, between the hours of 2 a.m. and 4 a.m., Andy called this guy over and over and over again incessantly.
Then he texted him multiple times over and over again saying that he needed somewhere to stay And according to Don, he was very clearly panicked. Don obviously didn't want him staying at his house, so I don't think that he ever let him. But this coworker figured that this might have something to do with Riley being missing.
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Chapter 6: What was the outcome of Riley's case?
Police knew that this was not why he was trying to get into contact with Don because there was no state troopers out at the time. So that was an obvious red flag to say that he was lying. Obviously, this most likely was the time after he may have murdered Riley or maybe it was right before that.
Either way, police know that this had something to do with Riley and that it did not necessarily have anything to do with the drugs. So with all of this very damning evidence, right away, police decided that it was enough to arrest and charge Andy McCauley with first degree murder, concealment of a body. and death by child abuse. The trial for Riley's murder started on September 27th, 2021.
A lot of the evidence that was brought up in trial were things that we discussed earlier, such as his truck being seen, the drywall mud found on Riley's body that matched the one that was in the truck, the screw found near her body that was also found in the truck and his work belt, testimony from the coworkers about the timeline and the surveillance video.
but there was more information that came out by testimony shared at the trial. So first Chantal testified about the night of, and then the day after that it's believed that Riley was killed. Chantal said that when she arrived home from work that day at 10 PM on May 7th, She said that she saw Andy sleeping on the couch or what she said now she knows was fake sleeping.
She said that when she got home he woke up, but she noticed that he was bright-eyed and not groggy-eyed as you would be if you first woke up. She suspects that he was using drugs, specifically cocaine, at this time. Then we know about his strange behavior when she initially told him that Riley was missing, that he went off, went on his bike and kind of disappeared.
Nobody knew where he was until she got home and just saw that he was sleeping on the couch. Then prosecution discussed cell phone data that was found on both Riley and Andy's phone that day. Now, the text messages found that Riley sent out are very uneasy and scary to hear. Now it was a bit confusing.
I don't know if these messages were found necessarily on Riley's phone because I believe that they were deleted from her phone after this all happened. So I believe that Andy took her phone and deleted these messages because he probably saw them. So I think these messages were found on Hayden's phone or specifically on his iWatch. At 11.01 p.m.
on May 7th, Riley texted her boyfriend telling him that her mom's boyfriend just came into her room. She wrote, quote, Then 12 minutes later, she sent a second and final text message saying, However, at the time, Hayden did not get these messages because unfortunately he was sleeping.
Then as we know, the night that she was murdered or like the night before the morning that she was murdered, Riley and Hayden were on FaceTime. Hayden testified that at trial, the night that they were FaceTiming, Hayden had heard Andy go into her room multiple times. But these times he heard Andy coming into her room asking her if she wanted to do things like dishes for chore money.
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Chapter 7: Who did the police investigate in connection to Riley's case?
You know, the cell phone companies don't lie. The prosecution believes that this night he was making all of these calls to try and check on her.
what she was doing and make sure that she wasn't on facetime with her boyfriend at that time then the prosecution went on to explain the timeline on why they believe andy went to work and then left work after they think that the night before she was suffocated with a pillow hence the blood and saliva being on the different areas of the pillow as well as her bed then they believe that he left her there and then when he went to work
He probably wanted to have an alibi, not thinking about the fact that his coworkers might tell on him that he left or thinking about the surveillance video that was going to pick him up. They think that when he went back to the home, he got her body and then disposed of her where she was later found. So that's basically the evidence that the prosecution brought forward.
Yes, there is some forensic evidence, but this is largely a circumstantial case. And there's no real set motive or history of behaviors, at least that I know of, for why he may have wanted to kill Riley. Chantel wasn't really able to point to specific examples of saying, here, this one time Andy did something really weird to her, And this happened and this is why I know he did it.
And that was basically the defense's argument. They don't have a motive, so why would he have wanted to do this? They denied any sort of sexual motive, but the prosecution pointed to just how her body was found. Her shorts were unbuttoned and her underwear was torn and tattered. Her shirt was found with it pulled above her head and she was not wearing a bra at the time.
And again, it was clear just by the way that her clothes were found on her that somebody had redressed her. So I believe that that is the official motive that they argued. Chantal, as well as Andy's own mother, say that they believe that he went into her room that night with the intent to sexually assault her. I think he went in there multiple times while they were on FaceTime to check.
and see what she was doing and make sure that he could get away with it. Both Chantal and his mother said that he had a tendency to become sexually aggressive when he's on drugs. And he admitted himself that he did do drugs frequently with his drug of choice being cocaine.
Prosecution and others believe that the reason that nobody heard anything going on that night, one, was because they were sleeping, but also because he used a pillow to suffocate her and prevent her from making any noise. And I would have to agree. I would have to say that I do believe that he probably went in there with the intent to sexually assault her and that's when he murdered her.
So after only one week of trial, jury went into deliberation. Like I said, the trial was made up of mostly circumstantial evidence, so they deliberated for quite a while. However, at the end of it, Andy McCauley was found guilty on charges of first-degree murder, death by child abuse, as well as concealment of a human body. When the charges were being read, Andy showed absolutely no emotion.
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Chapter 8: What were the inconsistencies in Andy McCauley's story?
I'm sure she carries a lot of guilt. I'm sure she regrets letting this man who was on drugs into her home. But at the end of the day, the only person who's at fault is Andy McCauley. I don't want anybody sending hate towards Chantel or anybody else involved in this case. I'm also heartbroken for her dad, Lance. He couldn't have done really anything to prevent this.
He lived a half hour away and he just wasn't close enough to know that anything could have been happening. And again, I'm sure he feels immense guilt for this happening in the first place, but of course it's not his fault either. Please don't reach out to any of Riley's family members. They're already suffering enough.
They're already living through what happened and they don't need a bunch of people on the internet coming towards them and saying that they're at fault, saying that they should have done more to prevent this, saying that they let someone doing drugs into their house. I don't want to hear any of that. Please don't reach out to the family.
I specifically did this case to spread awareness on Riley's death because it just didn't get a lot of exposure. And that's it. That's the reason. Again, please don't reach out to her family unless it's to say kind words. They're already going through enough and they don't need any more stress in their lives.