Fla. couple who adopted 12 children found slain

[cece]

(photo from above article)

[cece]

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/crime/Judge_Video_Of_Murders_Can_Be_Viewed

PENSACOLA, Fla. - All eight defendants in the Billings murders were in court Friday, to hear the ruling on evidence in the case. The Billings' family was trying to stop the release of surveillance video, which showed children's faces and the gruesome murders.

The judge ruled the images will be available for the media and public to view. However, he ruled that no one can make copies of those images to print, broadcast, or publish on the internet.

Melanie Billings' daughter, Ashley Markham, believes some privacy must be maintained.

"I believe it's a fair compromise. I believe it's in the best interests of our privacy, and also the media's interest for public knowledge," said Markham. "I feel like we have been through enough already. and having to relive it every day would be more traumatic to us."

The attorney representing media, including the Associated Press, is pleased with the court order.

"The compromise sort of prevents overuse, visual overuse of the images, but it lets people see it and report on it, in writing at least," said attorney Dennis Larry.

Since the beginning of the case, the only surveillance images released to the public were those of the suspects crossing the Billings' lawn. However, interior surveillance pictures reportedly show how the Billings were killed.

The state attorney's office says the video will first be viewed by each defense attorney by Monday evening. Then the media and members of the general public can view it, beginning Tuesday.

Also, the order also allows for crime scene photos to be viewed within the same guidelines.

(snipped)

[cece]

http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_3462.shtml



(video at link posted above)

ESCAMBIA COUNTY - You'll likely never see what happened inside the Billings' home the night of their murders

Today an Escambia County judge limited access to the video taken by an elaborate security system the family had in their home.

Channel Three's Dan Thomas has the new developments.

"Officer Boles ... Yes ma'am ... Are you ready for the family? Give us just a minute."

The deputies outnumbered the suspects nearly three to one. It was a careful balancing act between defense attorneys, prosecutors, a newspaper lawyer and the Billings family.

"If everybody in here would check their cell phones and PDAs and make sure they don't go off ... phone rings."

It seemed nearly every suspect struggled at times to keep their head held up. The once smiling Pamela Long Wiggins now sat expressionless as it appeared the reality of the situation had finally sunk in.

"Court come to order, all rise."

At issue: Whether the public could see video taken at the home, the very moments Byrd and Melanie Billings were shot to death.

You've probably already seen some of it. The cameras outside captured this red van and that video eventually led to eight arrests.

Cameras were inside as well. According to witness statements, they show Byrd Billings being shot in the legs before being taken into his bedroom where there were no cameras. It's believed that's where they were both shot several more times.

The family said seeing the video on the news and worse yet on the internet, where it would be played over and over forever, would simply be too much.

Ashley Markham/Byrd and Melanie's Daughter: "We feel like we've been through enough right now like we're having to relive it everyday I feel like would be more traumatic to us. And just the visual aspect, having to see it you know, replayed."

But in Florida, the judge must take into account the public's right to know balancing that with the family's privacy and the right of the defense to see the evidence.

He came up with this: The public can view the video in a controled environment at the courthouse. Only the suspect's attorneys can make copies.

Ashley Markham/Byrd and Melanie's Daughter: "I believe that it's a fair compromise. I believe it's in our best interest for our privacy and also the media's interest for public knowledge."

That video will be made public at the courthouse on Tuesday.

In making that ruling, the judge used a precedent set in Gainsville, Fla in the case of Danny Rolling.

He pleaded guilty to killing five University Of Florida Students.

In that case, the court allowed the public to view crime scene photos and videos but not make copies.

[Fanny Mae]

Thank you, CECE for your updates and the welcome. 

I am very interested if Hugh Wiggins is being allowed to go to his ofshore job. And with all the evidence of him being ringmaster in the planning and supplying the guns, and providing a place for the planning meetings and was present when they happened, why has he not been charged? He also knew where the safe was hidden. Seems to me there is at least three other people besides him that needs to have the handcuff treatment, and pronto.

The brief case was found away from the house also, and it was empty.
What was in it? I don't believe the gang would have bothered to take an empty briefcase away from the house. And how would the Beasley attorney know exactly what was in the smaller safe? How would Ashley Markham know for certain? Bud and Melanie Billings were the only ones that would really know, and they are both dead.

I also find it very odd that Gonzales, Sr wanted a private meeting with SA Bill Eddins when he was arrested and got it. Things that make you go hummm..........

[Fanny Mae]

http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_3462.shtml





Looks like the drugs may have worn off with this last stint in jail. Reality is a Bi*ch, isn't it Pamela? 

[cece]

Thank you, CECE for your updates and the welcome. 

I am very interested if Hugh Wiggins is being allowed to go to his ofshore job. And with all the evidence of him being ringmaster in the planning and supplying the guns, and providing a place for the planning meetings and was present when they happened, why has he not been charged? He also knew where the safe was hidden. Seems to me there is at least three other people besides him that needs to have the handcuff treatment, and pronto.

The brief case was found away from the house also, and it was empty.
What was in it? I don't believe the gang would have bothered to take an empty briefcase away from the house. And how would the Beasley attorney know exactly what was in the smaller safe? How would Ashley Markham know for certain? Bud and Melanie Billings were the only ones that would really know, and they are both dead.

I also find it very odd that Gonzales, Sr wanted a private meeting with SA Bill Eddins when he was arrested and got it. Things that make you go hummm..........

 
Hi Fanny Mae!

I don't know why Hugh is still out.  I hope they have him close in their sights!  I agree he is just as involved, if not more, than the rest of them.  I'm glad Pam is not looking very happy these days!

There seems to be a lot of questions that we need answers to & more people to be brought in!

A lot of things in this make me go hummmmm!

I haven't gotten a chance to go back to the docs to finish reading them & hope to do that today.

So glad to have you back with us.  You have been missed.  You need to pick out some pretty new clothes to wear. I think CBB was working on something, last time I checked.

I'm off for now, but will check back later.   

[Magnolia]

Gonzales Jr must have known there were no cameras in the Master Bedroom.
How'd he know that?  Did Justin tell him?

[Fanny Mae]

Gonzales Jr must have known there were no cameras in the Master Bedroom.
How'd he know that?  Did Justin tell him?

I had a post to answer you, but got lost in the boot, so I will try it again.

I wasn't really surprised to hear there was not video of the master bedroom, as the surveilance was to watch the kids, and it would afford the adults a little privacy in their own suite. However, I don't think Pat, jr would know that on his own. Someone may have told him, but he was also under the impression that the system had been turned off. It does seem that Justin had some guilty knowledge, as he felt his life was in danger and he hid out at a different friend's house that night.

I wonder where the dogs were. Were they in the travel trailer that Justin lived in outside on the property?

[Magnolia]

Gonzales Jr must have known there were no cameras in the Master Bedroom.
How'd he know that?  Did Justin tell him?

I had a post to answer you, but got lost in the boot, so I will try it again.

I wasn't really surprised to hear there was not video of the master bedroom, as the surveilance was to watch the kids, and it would afford the adults a little privacy in their own suite. However, I don't think Pat, jr would know that on his own. Someone may have told him, but he was also under the impression that the system had been turned off. It does seem that Justin had some guilty knowledge, as he felt his life was in danger and he hid out at a different friend's house that night.

I wonder where the dogs were. Were they in the travel trailer that Justin lived in outside on the property?

I just read in the TIME article that Byrd had recently Kicked two teenage children out of the house because he didn't like who they were dating.  Do we know whose those kids were?

I just don't think Byrd was a very nice guy.

[Fanny Mae]

Gonzales Jr must have known there were no cameras in the Master Bedroom.
How'd he know that?  Did Justin tell him?

I had a post to answer you, but got lost in the boot, so I will try it again.

I wasn't really surprised to hear there was not video of the master bedroom, as the surveilance was to watch the kids, and it would afford the adults a little privacy in their own suite. However, I don't think Pat, jr would know that on his own. Someone may have told him, but he was also under the impression that the system had been turned off. It does seem that Justin had some guilty knowledge, as he felt his life was in danger and he hid out at a different friend's house that night.

I wonder where the dogs were. Were they in the travel trailer that Justin lived in outside on the property?

I just read in the TIME article that Byrd had recently Kicked two teenage children out of the house because he didn't like who they were dating.  Do we know whose those kids were?

I just don't think Byrd was a very nice guy.

Yes, it was Kristen Brianne Billings (and I believe it was who the lawsuit against his grown son for support and life ins policy was for, going by her age. jmo) who had moved out with her boyfriend Joseph Daniel Chauncey, and Justin Loyd Billings, who he had kicked out but allowed to live in a travel trailer on the property per the transcripts in the doc dump.

[Magnolia]

Gonzales Jr must have known there were no cameras in the Master Bedroom.
How'd he know that?  Did Justin tell him?

I had a post to answer you, but got lost in the boot, so I will try it again.

I wasn't really surprised to hear there was not video of the master bedroom, as the surveilance was to watch the kids, and it would afford the adults a little privacy in their own suite. However, I don't think Pat, jr would know that on his own. Someone may have told him, but he was also under the impression that the system had been turned off. It does seem that Justin had some guilty knowledge, as he felt his life was in danger and he hid out at a different friend's house that night.

I wonder where the dogs were. Were they in the travel trailer that Justin lived in outside on the property?

I just read in the TIME article that Byrd had recently Kicked two teenage children out of the house because he didn't like who they were dating.  Do we know whose those kids were?

I just don't think Byrd was a very nice guy.

Yes, it was Kristen Brianne Billings (and I believe it was who the lawsuit against his grown son for support and life ins policy was for, going by her age. jmo) who had moved out with her boyfriend Joseph Daniel Chauncey, and Justin Loyd Billings, who he had kicked out but allowed to live in a travel trailer on the property per the transcripts in the doc dump.

Thank you Fanny.

[cece]

Thank you Magnolia & Fanny Mae.   


http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/county-19940-billings-okaloosa.html

Records: Ties between Okaloosa suspects in Billings murders go back years



The ties between the four Okaloosa County men implicated in the murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings in Escambia County on July 9 can be traced back much earlier, according to records released by the state attorney’s office.

The records contain discovery exhibits and investigative requests and reports linking the men through evidence and witness statements.

Witnesses have told lawmen that two of the suspects, Gary Sumner and Donnie Ray Stallworth, might have been involved in a string of robberies in 2005 and may have taken part in an unsolved homicide Sept. 12, 2005.

The state attorney’s records say some crimes in Okaloosa bear a striking resemblance to the Billings’ murders, which occurred in their home in Beulah while several of their children were present.

A rash of home-invasion robberies, including some that weren’t reported, plagued Okaloosa in 2005, according to the reports. Suspects targeted narcotics violators who were believed to have large amounts of cash. Witnesses described those committing the crimes as black men wearing dark clothing and ski masks, and said they were armed with shotguns, handguns and rifles, according to an investigative request from the state attorney’s office to the Air Force.

During one robbery, Mexican national Luis Magana-Gonzalez was shot to death inside his home at the Bella Vista Apartments on Monahan Drive in Fort Walton Beach. With his final words, Magana-Gonzalez identified his assailants as two black men. Evidence collected at the scene included a Tau-rus 9mm handgun, black ski masks and gloves. DNA and partial finger prints were recovered, but Magana-Gonzalez’s murder remains unsolved.

Investigators traced the gun that was dropped at the scene from an Air Force officer who sold it before he deployed to another airman who investigators believe may have been in the same squadron with Stallworth and whom Stallworth and Sumner knew through Walter Johnson, the target of a drug-trafficking investigation.

Magana-Gonzalez was dealing narcotics when he was killed, and he and Johnson used the same cocaine supplier, the investigative request states.

The request also notes that it is still unclear whether the Billingses’ murders and Magana-Gonzalez’ death are linked. The request to the Air Force is for military records of those involved to confirm whether the men in witness statements were stationed together at Hurlburt Field and whether there are other links that can be drawn.

Johnson was sentenced to 30 years in prison for cocaine trafficking in 2006 and closed his business, Creative Audio Solutions. That’s when Sumner started his own company, 5th Dimension, a custom automobile paint shop on Duvall Street in Fort Walton Beach.

Witnesses placed the other two Okaloosa suspects — Fredrick Thornton Jr. and Rakeem Florence — at 5th Dimension beginning in 2007. Thornton lived across the street from the business.

Witnesses also used nick-names to identify most of the suspects. Sumner went by “G” or “The Mayor,” Stallworth was called “D-Stalls” and Florence was “Little Dude.”

Lawmen also have connected the Okaloosa suspects to the person referred to as the “mastermind” behind the Billings’ murders, Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr.

Charles Jacopetti, who owns the 5th Dimension property, told lawmen that Gonzalez and a woman approached him in late June about joining the lease with Sumner. Gonzalez said he had interest in customizing motorcycles.

Although Gonzalez later said he was not interested in the property, Sumner did pay overdue rent once with a check from Providence Properties LLC that was signed by “Pamela Long,” the lone woman implicated in the Billingses’ murders.

Sumner said Gonzalez contacted in late June about a $30,000 paint job for an older Bentley automobile. At the time of his arrest, Sumner only admitted knowing Gonzalez by his first name and said he thought he was a martial arts instructor.

He said he met Gonzalez at the Walmart in Gulf Breeze on July 9 — the day of the murders — because he was excited about the money the job would bring.

Witnesses interviewed during the investigation said they didn’t believe Sumner’s story about the Bentley because he would have spoken openly about a job that big. Sumner’s business partner said he didn’t know enough about the paint and body portion of the business to have struck a deal by himself. Sumner’s business partner also said 5th Dimension was in financial trouble.

On July 11 — two days after the slayings — one of the witnesses interviewed said that Sumner told him about an incident July 10 when he was returning to Fort Walton Beach from Panama City with his girlfriend. Sumner said he was surrounded by several vehicles with their headlights off and he was forced to pull over. Sumner told the witness a group of men swarmed his vehicle, took $40,000 in cash from him and left. The witness told investigators that he thought the story was odd and believed that Sumner was trying to establish an alibi.

One witness, who admitted to once being involved with the Southside Chicago street gang the Insane Popes, said Gonzalez had approached him about participating in a home-invasion robbery that would involve an elderly drug dealer who was a multi-millionaire. Gonzalez described a big vault-style safe and said there might be some children present. Gonzalez told the witness the drug dealer was involved with the Mexican Mafia. The witness said he declined Gonzalez’s offer and couldn’t be certain the man mentioned was Byrd Billings.

The same witness who told investigators of the home-invasion scheme said he was at 5th Dimension about two weeks before the murders, but was asked to wait outside. The witness said Gonzalez, Sumner, Florence and several other black men were there. The witness told investigators Sumner also used the paint shop as a front to traffic in steroids.

Sumner, Stallworth, Thornton and Florence are being held without bond in the Escambia County Jail with Gonzalez, his father Leonard Gonzalez Sr. and Pamela Long.

[cece]

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090823/NEWS01/908230335/1006

Billings slayings: Anatomy of a conspiracy

[cece]

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090823/NEWS01/908230324/1006

Billings suspects: Criminal masterminds?
Evidence in Billings slayings paints suspects as band of fools

[Fanny Mae]

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090823/NEWS01/908230335/1006

Billings slayings: Anatomy of a conspiracy

Seems like Hugh Wiggins, Cab Tice, and whoever was supposed to turn off the surveilance system is missing.

Thank You CECE.

[Fanny Mae]

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090823/NEWS01/908230324/1006

Billings suspects: Criminal masterminds?
Evidence in Billings slayings paints suspects as band of fools

I wanted to post this whole article about the  masterminds from the pnj link, but I am woefully inenept at doing it. Maybe someday you could give me a tutorial of how to do it. I found it extremely interesting.

Thanks again CECE. 

[Fanny Mae]

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090823/NEWS01/908230335/1006

Billings slayings: Anatomy of a conspiracy

Seems like Hugh Wiggins, Cab Tice, and whoever was supposed to turn off the surveilance system is missing.

Thank You CECE.

I meant to say GLARINGLY MISSING.

[Sister]

Cece, thanks for the update.  This is all so sad.

[trimmonthelake]

http://www.wesh.com/news/20528692/detail.html
Documents Released In Slain Couple Case
Papers Reveal Details On Links Between Slaying Suspects

POSTED: 8:26 am EDT August 24, 2009
UPDATED: 8:56 am EDT August 24, 2009
PENSACOLA, Fla. -- Documents released by prosecutors revealed some of the links between the seven suspects accused of killing Byrd and Melanie Billings in their Florida Panhandle home in July.

The six men and a 16-year-old charged as an adult appeared in the documents to be a hastily assembled group mostly lured by the promise of money. One was unable to pay the rent on his auto shop.

Authorities have identified the "mastermind" as Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. Gonzalez and the six other suspects have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder charges.
Gonzalez recruited his father as the getaway driver. His stepmother told investigators that Gonzalez persuaded his 56-year-old father to participate by telling him that the Billings children were being sexually abused.

[cece]

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090823/NEWS01/908230324/1006

Billings suspects: Criminal masterminds?
Evidence in Billings slayings paints suspects as band of fools

I wanted to post this whole article about the  masterminds from the pnj link, but I am woefully inenept at doing it. Maybe someday you could give me a tutorial of how to do it. I found it extremely interesting.

Thanks again CECE. 

You're welcome Fanny Mae.   

PNJ is a hard site to cut & paste from.  I try to cut out the ads, etc. and since the article is 6 pages long, I just posted the link & headline.  But I agree, it was a good article.