Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iTAOQx619OXpq7P0Jcpzqc9Zg-cwD99BRHQ84
Fla. couple who adopted 12 children found slain

By MELISSA NELSON – 26 minutes ago

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Investigators asked the public to be on the lookout Friday for a red van they believe carried three men involved in the deaths of a Florida Panhandle couple who were shot in their rural home while eight of their children slept.

Surveillance cameras showed the van at the home of Byrd and Melanie Billings in Beulah, a rural area west of Pensacola near the Alabama border, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. The children were unharmed.

The sheriff's office released an enhanced but still grainy photograph of a red, 15-passenger van dating to the late 70s or early 80s.

Morgan said investigators did not know who killed the wealthy couple known for adopting children with developmental disabilities, many born to drug-addicted mothers. But they said they wanted to question the three men suspected of involvement in the crime.

"It would be pure speculation. We see many random acts of violence now. We just don't know," he said.

Investigators are also awaiting autopsy results on the couple to learn more about the killings, he added.

Morgan said eight of the children, ages 8 to 14, were in the home when the couple was killed Thursday evening. A woman who lives in an outlying building and helps care for the children called emergency dispatchers from the home.

Deputies had to wake some of the children after they arrived, authorities said.

Investigators interviewed the children, who are now staying with other family members, Morgan said.

The Billings had 16 children, 12 of them adopted. They married 18 years ago and each had two children from previous marriages. The couple then began adopting children with developmental disabilities and other problems.

The couple owned several local businesses, including a fiance company and a used car dealership.

In a 2005 story in the Pensacola News Journal, the couple said they wanted to share their wealth with children in need, but didn't imagine their family would grow so large.

"It just happened," Melanie Byrd told the newspaper. "I just wanted to give them a better life."

Couple With 16 Children Found Slain
By MELISSA NELSON, AP
posted: 7 HOURS 28 MINUTES

PENSACOLA, Fla. (July 10) - Investigators asked the public to be on the lookout Friday for a red van they believe carried three men involved in the deaths of a Florida Panhandle couple who were shot in their rural home while eight of their children slept.

Surveillance cameras showed the van at the home of Byrd and Melanie Billings in Beulah, a rural area west of Pensacola near the Alabama border, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. The children were unharmed.

The sheriff's office released an enhanced but still grainy photograph of a red, 15-passenger van dating to the late 1970s or early '80s.
Morgan said investigators did not know who killed the wealthy couple known for adopting children with developmental disabilities, many born to drug-addicted mothers. But they said they wanted to question the three men suspected of involvement in the crime.

"It would be pure speculation. We see many random acts of violence now. We just don't know," he said.
Investigators are also awaiting autopsy results on the couple to learn more about the killings, he added.
Morgan said eight of the children, ages 8 to 14, were in the home when the couple was killed Thursday evening. A woman who lives in an outlying building and helps care for the children called emergency dispatchers from the home.
Deputies had to wake some of the children after they arrived, authorities said.
Investigators interviewed the children, who are now staying with other family members, Morgan said.

The Billings had 16 children, 12 of them adopted. They married 18 years ago and each had two children from previous marriages. The couple then began adopting children with developmental disabilities and other problems.

The couple owned several local businesses, including a fiance company and a used car dealership.
In a 2005 story in the Pensacola News Journal, the couple said they wanted to share their wealth with children in need, but didn't imagine their family would grow so large.
"It just happened," Melanie Byrd told the newspaper. "I just wanted to give them a better life."

Sheriff: 'Persons of interest' interviewed
Van thought to be connected to killings found Saturday

TRAVIS GRIGGS • TGRIGGS@PNJ.COM • JULY 11, 2009
[url]http://www.pnj.com/article/20090711/NEWS01/907110322/Sheriff---Persons-of-interest--interviewed&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL/url]


Investigators said three attackers who gunned down a couple inside their Beulah home worked quickly and appeared to be experienced.

Investigators were questioning two “persons of interest” Saturday in connection with the shooting deaths of Byrd, 66, and Melanie Billings, 43, on Thursday night, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said.

Video surveillance footage from inside the Billings home shows three people entering through multiple doors and carrying out their attack with “surprising” quickness, Morgan said during a news conference Saturday afternoon.

“It was a very short time span. In and out,” Morgan said. “It suggests experience to me.”

The two people being questioned match images recorded by surveillance equipment during the shooting, and investigators still are searching for a third person seen on the tapes, Morgan said. He did not show or release the surveillance footage to the media.

Morgan said phone calls from residents led investigators Saturday to a red 15-passenger van that resembles the one security cameras recorded at the couple’s home the night of the shooting.

The van was found about 1:30 p.m. behind a mobile home on the 300 block of Palm Court, near W Street and Beverly Parkway.

“About 10 a.m. this morning, we started receiving calls from citizens. ... We were inundated with calls, and finally one of those calls led to the discovery of a van, the registered owner of the van ... and we are currently working the warrants at this time to take the van into custody.”

Morgan said the van led investigators to the “persons of interest” who were being questioned Saturday night.

“I want to emphasize that these are persons of interest. At this time we have not effected any arrests,” Morgan said.

Morgan said the van’s owner is related to one of the “persons of interest” but is not a suspect and has cooperated with investigators.

Crime scene investigators and detectives still were examining the van on the property on which it was found at 7:15 p.m. Saturday.

 I just read about this on AOL...   I just don't understand this at all. 

My prayers go out to all of their children!!   ::MonkeyAngel::

**Arrest made!!-finally starting to get some of this scum off our the streets!!** ::MonkeyDance::


 http://www.pnj.com/article/20090712/NEWS01/90712004&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL     (http://www.pnj.com/article/20090712/NEWS01/90712004&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL)

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/12/florida.couple.slain/
 Man accused of evidence tampering in couple's slaying
Jul 12, 2009
PENSACOLA, Florida (CNN)  -- A Florida man has been arrested on evidence-tampering charges in connection to the killings of a Gulf Coast couple known for adopting special-needs children, a case that has become increasingly "multifaceted," authorities said Sunday.
(http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/CRIME/07/12/florida.couple.slain/art.pensacola.couple.pnj.jpg)
Byrd and Melanie Billings were found shot to death Thursday night in their home near Pensacola, Florida.
 Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Sr., 56, is accused of trying to modify a van that surveillance cameras captured leaving the slain couple's home, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan told reporters.

He is the first person arrested in connection with the Thursday night shooting deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings, "hopefully with many to follow," Morgan said.

Morgan called the investigation "a humdinger" that has become "a window into something bigger," with multiple motives and players involved. But he would provide no details.

"I know this sounds like we're talking in circles," he said. "But at this point, we cannot release that information, because those circles have not been completed."

Gonzalez is not charged with killing the couple, who had eight children ranging in age from infancy to 11 years when they were killed.

Instead, he is charged with trying to alter the appearance of the red Dodge van that surveillance cameras spotted leaving the Billings home in Beulah, west of Pensacola, on Thursday night.
 Gonzalez "was covering damage and painting the van ... so that it would not be readily recognizable," Morgan said. Investigators had distributed pictures and images of the van, and its discovery Saturday was "the linchpin in this case," Morgan said.

Gonzalez was one of two people picked up for questioning Saturday night. Neither Morgan nor the local prosecutor, State Attorney Bill Eddins, would characterize his cooperation with investigators.

Eight children found in the Billings home were unharmed and were being cared for by relatives at "an undisclosed location," Morgan said Saturday night. They range in age from infancy to 11 years, police said

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/07/12/2009-07-12_leonard_gonzalez_arrested_in_murder_of_.html
Leonard Gonzalez arrested in murder of Florida's Byrd and Melanie Billings

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sunday, July 12th 2009, 8:56 PM
(http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2009/07/13/alg_billings-family.jpg)

This 2005 picture shows Byrd and Melanie Billings with their children, 10 adopted and two biological, at their home in Beulah, Fla.


Authorities in the Florida Panhandle Sunday arrested a man in connection with the slayings of a couple known for their large family of adopted children.

Byrd and Melanie Billings of Beulah, Fla., were killed in their home Thursday as eight of their children slept.

The crime occurred at their rural home west of Pensacola, near the Alabama state line.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan announced at a news conference Sunday that 52-year-old Leonard Gonzalez had been arrested. He said Gonzalez is accused of seeking to paint over a red van that authorities had spotted on a video from the extensive surveillance system at the house.

The couple, who owned several businesses, adopted children with developmental disabilities. Of their 16 children, 12 were adopted.

Officials still don't know why the family was targeted, Morgan said. Police have not said whether anything was stolen from the home, which had nine bedrooms to accommodate the large family.

The couple were well-known locally for having adopted the children. Their businesses included a finance company and a used car dealership.

The house was carefully designed to accommodate the children, according to a story the Pensacola News Journal had written about the family. The couple told the paper they wanted to share their wealth with children in need.

Article above indicates Leonard Gonzales has been arrested in this case, and the article I'm posting now doesn't indicate that happened yet, but I'm posting it because it includes additional information not given in previous post.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iTAOQx619OXpq7P0Jcpzqc9Zg-cwD99DA3880
Jul 12, 2009
Fla. sheriff prepares to charge slaying suspect

41 minutes ago


PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Officials in the Florida Panhandle said late Sunday they were preparing to charge a suspect with open murder in the slaying of a wealthy Florida couple known for adopting children with developmental disabilities.

Escambia County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Ted Roy said his office had a suspect in custody but he could not provide additional details. A news conference was scheduled for later Sunday night.

Earlier Sunday, another man, 56-year-old Leonard P. Gonzalez Sr., was charged with evidence tampering. Police said he tried to paint over and hide damage on a red van that was spotted on surveillance video leaving the home where Byrd and Melanie Billings were shot to death Thursday while eight of their children slept.

Sheriff David Morgan said at a news conference to announce Gonzalez's arrest that he expected more arrests, but did not provide additional details.

"At this time we are looking at multiple persons of interest," he said. "We are very anxious to share this story ... it's going to be a humdinger, I'll tell you that."

Gonzalez, who did not own the van, was still being interviewed Sunday evening and his bond was set at $250,000. A message seeking comment was left at a phone number listed for him in the Pensacola area.

The Billings were killed in their spacious, nine-bedroom home in a rural area west of Pensacola near the Alabama state line. The house had an extensive surveillance system that authorities said captured three apparently experienced criminals swiftly slipping into the house before leaving and driving off in the red van.

Tips from the public led police to the van Saturday.

Officials still haven't said why the family was targeted. Police also have not said whether anything was stolen from the home, which had nine bedrooms to accommodate the large family. The children who were there during the killings, ages 8 to 14, were interviewed by police and are now staying with other family members.

The Billings were a prominent couple who owned several businesses and had 16 children, 12 of them adopted.

They married 18 years ago and each had two children from previous marriages. They eventually started adopting children with developmental disabilities and other problems.

The house was carefully designed to accommodate the children, according to a 2005 story in the Pensacola News Journal. A camera was in every room, and the driveway was long to keep the kids from running into the street. A large swimming pool behind the house was gated.

The couple told the newspaper they wanted to share their wealth with children in need, but didn't imagine their family would grow so large.

"It just happened," she told the newspaper. "I just wanted to give them a better life."

On Sunday, Morgan pledged to find those responsible for the killing.

"This investigation will expand much larger than anyone had anticipated," he said. "I can promise you in coming days we will have many more arrests."

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6526195.html
2 held on murder charges in Fla. couple's slaying
© 2009 The Associated Press
July 12, 2009, 10:22PM
 PENSACOLA, Fla. — Officials in the Florida Panhandle say they're holding two men on open murder charges in the slaying of a wealthy Florida couple known for adopting children with developmental disabilities.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan says day laborer Wayne Coldiron turned himself in around 9 p.m. EDT Sunday. He says Leonard P. Gonzalez Jr. was arrested later in Santa Rosa County.

Morgan says Coldiron was friends with 56-year-old Leonard P. Gonzalez Sr., who was charged earlier in the day with evidence tampering.

Authorities say the older Gonzalez tried to paint over and hide damage on a red van spotted on surveillance video leaving the home where Byrd and Melanie Billings were shot to death Thursday while eight of their children slept.

Morgan says more arrests are expected.

2 charged with murder in Billings deaths
Suspect charged with tampering with evidence
[url] http://www.pnj.com/article/20090712/NEWS01/90712004&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL/url]
REBEKAH ALLEN/RALLEN@PNJ.COM • JULY 12, 2009

 
Two men have been charged with murder in the slayings of a Beulah couple who were the parents of 16 — many who were adopted special needs children.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan announced the arrests of Wayne Coldiron and Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. in a 10 p.m. press conference Sunday.



Earlier, Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Sr., 56, was charged with tampering with evidence, said Morgan at a press conference in conjunction with State Attorney Bill Eddins.

In the earlier press conference, Morgan was reluctant to release emerging details about the investigation, but said the complexity of the case rivals “a movie script.”

“I’m not prepared to tell you a motive at this time,” he said. “But I will tell you this: We are very anxious to share this story with Escambia County and the nation. ... It’s going to be a humdinger.”

Gonzalez Sr. was one of two people being questioned by investigators as “a person of interest” Saturday. Morgan did not want to discuss Gonzalez’s level of cooperation, but Gonzalez spent several hours Sunday talking to investigators.

A red van seen in surveillance tapes and identified by sheriff’s investigators as the getaway vehicle for the Billings’ shooters, was located Saturday at Gonzalez’s mobile home in the 300 block of Palm Court in Pensacola.

Gonzalez Sr. had attempted to paint and cover damages on the vehicle so it would be less recognizable, Morgan said.

Morgan and Eddins said Gonzalez Sr. is not connected to the family, but they would not specify whether Gonzalez Sr. was directly linked to the killings.

“That’s to be determined,” Eddins said. “We prefer not to comment. At this time he has been arrested for tampering with evidence. There is a possibility other charges will be forthcoming.”

Gonzalez Sr. was not the owner of the vehicle, Morgan said. He also said the owner of the van, who knew Gonzalez Sr., is not a person of interest in the investigation. The van was also not stolen, he said.

Tampering with evidence is a third-degree felony, and Gonzalez Sr. faces a maximum of five years in prison. But Eddins said depending on his previous felonies, Gonzalez Sr. could face as many as 10 years. His bond was set at $250,000.
(2 of 2)

Gonzalez Sr. has gotten into trouble over the years for numerous criminal traffic infractions, including driving under the influence and driving without a license. He has also been charged with misdemeanor drug possession and writing worthless checks.

Eddins assured members of the media the progress of the investigation was moving rapidly and arrests would be made in the future, but he did not want to put a time line on when new arrests might be made.

Morgan also did not limit the number of suspects they are pursuing to three people. He would only say investigators are looking for multiple people, but would not release a specific number.

No family members are currently suspects, Morgan said, nor has the investigation revealed anything that would suggest the compromised integrity of the family.

“The people that were murdered they were good people performing very positive roles in the community,” Eddins said. “This is a very horrible tragedy.”

Because of the nature of the case, Morgan said, Escambia residents are not in any additional danger from the shooters.

Both Morgan and Eddins said Escambia residents will be surprised by the details of the investigation when they are ready to release them.

“This is certainly one of the most complex (cases),” Eddins said. “I’ve seen others that rival this in other parts of the circuit, but as far as Escambia County is concerned, I believe this is this most complex I’ve seen in my 4 1/2 years in office.”

Staff Writer Carlton Proctor contributed to this report.

This is getting deep, get your boots on. See this myspace of one of suspects
[url] http://www.myspace.com/maryisabellagonzalez/url]

Also another (third one) has been arrested and being held in Santa Rosa county.

sorry for the error in the myspace link
[url]  http://www.myspace.com/maryisabellagonzalez [url]

I still did not get that link right when I tried to post it, but it is correct if you remove the url symbols.
This is Gonzalez Jr., LP Gonzalez Sr has also been arrested as earlier stated. Photos appear on the county website, but I couldn't figure out how to post it here.

http://www.escambiaso.com/inmateLookup.aspx (http://www.escambiaso.com/inmateLookup.aspx)

More info:
GONZALEZ, LEONARD PATRICK

Arrest Information

 
Arrest Number:   200909672
Inmate Number:   141790
Race:   W
Ht.:   5'06
Cell:   INF*225*01
Arresting Agency:   S
 
DOB:  01/31/1974
Hair:    BLN
Eyes:   BLU
 
Arrest Date:   07/13/2009
Expected Release Date*
Sex:   M
Wt.:   185
 
Charge(s) Information
Charge Number:     1
Case Number:   09-17289
Court:   
Court Date:   
Court Time:   
Statute:   782.04
Description:   MURDER
Bond Type:   C/P
Bond Amount:   $1,000,000

Charge Number:     2
Case Number:   09-17289
Court:   
Court Date:   
Court Time:   
Statute:   812.135
Description:   ROBBERY-RESID HOME INVASION
Bond Type:   COM
Bond Amount:   $0

This is just heart breaking. What a wonderful Mother and Father to these beautiful children. The following is Mrs Melanie Billings myspace. I can't imagine how difficult it would be to care for one special needs child much less 12. Melanie and Byrd were truly a God send for these special children.

http://www.myspace.com/melaniebbb (http://www.myspace.com/melaniebbb)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iTAOQx619OXpq7P0Jcpzqc9Zg-cwD99DK8V01
Motive probed in slaying of Fla. pair with 16 kids
July 13, 2009

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Investigators are looking at business ties among other leads for a motive in the slaying of a wealthy Florida couple who adopted 12 children with developmental disabilities and other problems, authorities said Monday.

But there may be multiple motives and more arrests are possible after three men were jailed Sunday, two of them on murder charges in the shooting deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings at their sprawling home near Pensacola, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said.

"It began as what we thought was a home invasion. At this point because of the complexity and the ties this family had through the business community, we're moving many other directions. Could be money, could be a whole host of things," Morgan said on the NBC "Today" show.

Morgan also cited the family's business ties in an interview on the CBS "Early Show" but declined to be more specific and said investigators are working on "multiple motives."

Three men have been arrested in connection with the slaying and were scheduled to appear in court Monday and Tuesday.

Day laborer Wayne Coldiron, 41, turned himself in to Escambia County authorities and Leonard P. Gonzalez Jr., 35, was arrested in neighboring Santa Rosa County. Both were charged with murder and with home invasion, according to their arrest warrants. The two were set to have a first court appearance Tuesday.

Authorities also jailed Gonzalez's father, Leonard P. Gonzalez Sr., on a charge of evidence tampering. Police said the 56-year-old tried to paint over and hide damage on a red van that was spotted on surveillance video leaving the Billings home after the shootings Thursday. Gonzalez was due in court Monday.

Eight of the couple's children were asleep in the house when the shootings took place.

Ashley Markham, an adult daughter of the Billings, said the adopted children are together with friends and family at an undisclosed location. The Pensacola News Journal reported that Markham told reporters Monday that she planned to carry on with her parents' legacy.

Asked about the three men arrested, Markham said she had no knowledge of any connection between those men, her parents or any of the children in the household.

"The people who have been arrested, we have no knowledge of them," she said. "Thats all I know."

The Billings were well-respected in the area for providing a home for children with autism, Down syndrome and other developmental problems, and "especially Melanie has been referred to as an angel," the sheriff told CBS.

The elder Gonzalez told investigators that he was the getaway driver and waited in the van while the others broke into the Billings' house and burglarized it, according to warrants released late Sunday. He also told police several other men were involved.

The surveillance video shows three armed, masked suspects arrive in the van, enter the house and then return to the vehicle, the warrants said.

The Billings' nine-bedroom home in a rural area west of Pensacola near the Alabama state line ad an extensive surveillance system that authorities said captured the break-in. Tips from the public led police to the van Saturday.

Morgan said the investigation involves a complex web of relationships between suspects, though he declined to elaborate on them. He said it did not appear that the suspects knew the victims. The younger Gonzalez and Coldiron are friends, the warrants said.

The Billings had 16 children, 12 of them adopted. The children who were there during the killings were aged 8 to 14.

The couple married 18 years ago and each had two children from previous marriages. They eventually started adopting children with developmental disabilities and other problems.

The house was carefully designed to accommodate the children, according to a 2005 story in the Pensacola News Journal. A camera was in every room, and the driveway was long to keep the kids from running into the street. A large swimming pool behind the house was gated.

The couple told the newspaper they wanted to share their wealth with children in need, but didn't imagine their family would grow so large.

"It just happened," Melanie told the newspaper. "I just wanted to give them a better life."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/13/florida.couple.slain/
 More arrests planned in slayings of Gulf Coast couple
July 13. 2009
PENSACOLA, Florida (CNN)  -- Additional arrests are expected in the killings of a Gulf Coast couple known for adopting special-needs children, according to Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan.
 Two people were arrested on murder charges over the weekend. A third suspect has been arrested in the investigation as well, charged with evidence tampering, authorities said.

The investigation into Thursday's shooting deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings has become "a window into something bigger," with multiple motives, multiple suspects, and sudden twists and turns, Morgan said at a briefing Sunday night.

"This is like a movie script. The more we've delved into this and worked this case, the different avenues that it would go down -- just when you thought, 'All right, we're in a straight line at this point with this investigation,' it would take a hard right or a hard left, and it was almost as though you had another investigation that you were initiating."

"We are very anxious to share this story with the citizens of Escambia County and with the nation if you will," Morgan said. "It's gonna be a humdinger."

The two suspects facing murder charges are Wayne Coldiron and Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr., Morgan said.

Authorities have not said what their motives may have been, and neither suspect has made a public statement.

At a news conference Monday, one of the Billingses' grown children said the family does not know the suspects.
 "We have no knowledge of them," said Ashley Markham, biological daughter of Melanie Billings.

"We just -- we want justice."

Byrd and Melanie Billings had 17 children total, including many with special needs. Nine children were at home when the couple was shot and killed Thursday night, Markham said.

Authorities said Coldiron, 41, surrendered to investigators Sunday. Gonzalez was arrested in neighboring Santa Rosa County on Sunday evening, authorities said. Gonzalez's age was not immediately released.

Sheriff Morgan was announcing Coldiron's arrest to reporters when detectives informed him that Gonzalez was in custody. Video Watch sheriff learn of second arrest »

Gonzalez's father, Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Sr., 56, has been arrested on evidence-tampering charges. He is accused of trying to disguise a red Dodge van that surveillance cameras captured leaving the slain couple's home.

Investigators had distributed images of the van, and its discovery Saturday was "the linchpin in this case," Morgan said. The elder Gonzalez "was covering damage and painting the van ... so that it would not be readily recognizable."

At her news conference Monday, Markham described her parents as having "only had love in their lives since the day they met 19 years ago. They knew they were soulmates." The two "chose a life that many people did not understand" when they adopted so many children, Markham said.

"They had a calling to adopt and love children that others did not see as normal."

The couple viewed their children as "perfect, angels that God provided them with to love eternally," she said.

In all, the couple had 17 children. Each parent had two biological children, and the rest were adopted, Markham said. The parents had no biological children together. Three of the children have died, including Markham's biological sister, she said.

"We know our parents are watching over use now, reunited with their three angels in heaven," she said. Video Watch Ashley Markham say, "Love was never scarce" in Billings home »

There is no sign that the children who were in the home were threatened directly at any point during Thursday night's shooting, Markham said.

The children "are coping very well" and are being cared for, she said.

"They haven't asked too many questions," she said, noting that several have disabilities. "I don't know if it's a good thing, but they'll be able to get through it -- just not understanding."

The children "will remain together, and will remain with family," Markham said.

"Right now, I have to be strong," she said, adding that her mother's spirit "is here with me -- she'll get me through it. I have to be strong for the children, above and beyond everything else."

While there are special expenses for special-needs children, Markham said, "There's a plan in place, and we will make it work."

Asked about 2005 article suggesting Byrd Billings was wealthy, Markham's attorney Crystal Spencer said he was an entrepreneur, "wealthy in spirit and blessed materially."


While the investigation continues, the family is keeping the children's whereabouts a secret.

The Billingses lived in Beulah, west of Pensacola, near the Alabama state line.

Jul 13, 4:49 PM EDT  ::MonkeyEek::

Up to 8 people involved in Fla. couple's slaying


PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) -- A team of up to eight people masterminded a chilling and deadly break-in at the home of a Florida couple known for adopting children with developmental disabilities, a sheriff in the Florida Panhandle said Monday.

Melanie and Byrd Billings were shot to death Thursday while nine of their children were home. One child left to alert a neighbor, who called 911. Several children saw the intruders but were not hurt, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. The others were sleeping.

Morgan said robbery was one of "numerous motives," though he did not elaborate on what the others might have been.

Authorities have already arrested three people and say up to five more may have been involved. Two men described as persons of interest were being interviewed Monday, Morgan said.

The break-in was captured by an extensive surveillance camera system that the Billingses used to keep tabs on their children.

Authorities had already released video of a red van seen dropping off three suspects at the front door of the sprawling nine-bedroom home west of Pensacola.

Morgan on Monday showed more surveillance video that captured men in "ninja garb" entering the back of the home through a utility door that had been left unlocked.

"I think you'll find this particularly chilling and here's why: We have a team that enters at the rear of the home and another that enters at the front of the home," Morgan said. He said the mastermind of the break-in was among the three people in custody, but he would not be more specific.

Day laborer Wayne Coldiron, 41, turned himself in to Escambia County authorities and Leonard P. Gonzalez Jr., 35, was arrested in neighboring Santa Rosa County. Both were charged with murder and home invasion, according to their arrest warrants.

Authorities also jailed Gonzalez's father, Leonard P. Gonzalez Sr., on a charge of evidence tampering. Police said the 56-year-old tried to paint over and hide damage on a red van that was spotted on surveillance video leaving the home after the shootings Thursday. Tips from the public led investigators to the van Saturday.

The elder Gonzalez appeared in an Escambia County courtroom via video conference Monday afternoon.

State Attorney Bill Eddins said Gonzalez had been cooperative with investigators but asked that Judge Tom Johnson not lower his bond. Johnson agreed and raised the bond to $500,000, saying $250,000 was not sufficient. Gonzalez did not speak except to say that he is disabled when asked if he was employed. He will have a court-appointed attorney but Johnson did not say who it will be.

The Billingses had a total of 16 children.

Ashley Markham, an adult daughter, said the adopted children are together with friends and family at an undisclosed location. She said she had no knowledge of any connection between the three men in custody and her parents or any of the children in the household.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FLORIDA_COUPLE_SLAIN?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/13/florida.couple.slain/
Fourth suspect arrested in killing of Gulf Coast couple
July 13, 2009
ENSACOLA, Florida (CNN)  -- A fourth suspect has been arrested in the shooting deaths of a Gulf Coast couple known for adopting special-needs children, authorities said late Monday.
 Gary Lamont Sumner faces a murder charge for his alleged role in the deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings on Thursday, Escambia County, Florida, Sheriff David Morgan said.


(http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/CRIME/07/13/florida.couple.slain/art.surveillance.wear.jpg)

Police believe six to eight people were involved in the homicides, which occurred in the couple's home in Beulah, west of Pensacola, near the Alabama state line.

Wayne Coldiron, 41; Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr., 35, and Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Sr., 56, were arrested over the weekend. Coldiron and the younger Gonzalez face charges of murder, robbery and residential home invasion; the elder Gonzalez faces charges of evidence tampering for allegedly trying to disguise a vehicle spotted at the home.

The crime was "a very well-planned and methodical operation," said Escambia County, Florida, Sheriff David Morgan.

Both of the Billingses were shot multiple times, Morgan said, but he would not release further details on their deaths.

Authorities released two surveillance tapes taken from the front and rear of the Billingses' home. Each shows a vehicle pulling up to the property, and five people dressed in black and wearing masks entering the home through two entrances -- including through a utility door left unlocked, something Morgan said is not uncommon in the community. Authorities believe drivers remained in both of the cars.

Investigators believe one motive in the deaths was robbery, but "we believe there are other motives," Morgan said. He would not say what, if anything, was taken from the home.

Melanie Billings' biological daughter, Ashley Markham, told reporters the couple initially had 17 children -- two biological children each for Byrd and Melanie Billings, with the rest adopted. Three have died over the years, she said. The couple had no biological children together. Video Watch Ashley Markham say, "Love was never scarce" in Billings home »

Morgan, however, said the couple had a total of 16 children, with two that have died and others that have grown older and no longer live in the Billingses' home.

Nine of the couple's children were home at the time of the incident, Morgan said, and police believe three of them saw the intruders. One managed to flee the home and seek help at a neighbor's house, the sheriff said.
 Wayne Coldiron, 41; Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr., 35, and Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Sr., 56, were arrested over the weekend.

Coldiron and the younger Gonzalez face charges of murder, robbery and residential home invasion; the elder Gonzalez faces charges of evidence tampering for allegedly trying to disguise a vehicle spotted at the home.

Coldiron and the younger Gonzalez were being held on $1 million bond, according to records posted on the sheriff's Web site. The senior Gonzalez was being held on $250,000 bond.

One of the three in custody is believed to be the mastermind behind the crime, Morgan said, but would not say which one. Video Watch a report on the arrests in the complex case »

Police also released a surveillance photo taken at a Wal-Mart in nearby Gulf Breeze, Florida, in recent weeks, showing three men. One is the younger Gonzalez, but authorities want to know who the other men are, Morgan said.

The sheriff called the surveillance tapes "chilling." He noted that the vehicles were at the home less than 10 minutes, and the five people were in the house less than four minutes.

"It leads me to believe that this was a very well-planned and methodical operation," Morgan said.

Although the Billingses were well known in the community, the sheriff said authorities are still trying to unravel why they were targeted. He compared their deaths to the slaying of the Clutter family of Kansas, inspiration for Truman Capote's novel "In Cold Blood," noting the Clutter murders were something the community struggled with for years.

"It will be a very long time, I believe, until we piece together the truth of why this family was selected," Morgan said.

Police believe the suspects might have bought the clothes they wore to the home and were reviewing surveillance tapes and photos from several stores, he said.

Morgan said the crime's complexity is frustrating for investigators, comparing it to a complicated mathematics word problem that lacks complete information.

"It seems as though each phase we complete, while we answer a set of questions, it opens up an additional set of questions."

Earlier, he said the complete story, when revealed, is "going to be a humdinger."

Asked whether the suspects entered the home planning to kill the couple, Morgan said authorities do not know.
 Markham said earlier the family does not know any of the three suspects. She said the children "are coping very well" and are being cared for.

"They haven't asked too many questions," she said, noting that several have disabilities. While the investigation continues, the family is keeping the children's whereabouts a secret.

(There are videos in the article if you go to the link)

 ::MonkeyNoNo:: Word here in Pensacola is that this was a "hit".......I'm watching the local news now and will report anything new.

Seven in custody now (one a minor)  ::MonkeyNoNo::. Also, sherriff is hugging Ashley (Melanie's daughter). He promised her he'd get those responsible for the crime.  ::cartwheel:: They are held on "open murder" charges.......No direct ties confirmed, two of the suspects worked for Byrd Billings once or twice. Loops still need to be closed, they are still looking at another suspect. FBI involved because elements of case go outside state of Florida and they can't release that info. Motive is robbery (which I don't get as they were only in the home a very short period of time  ::MonkeyConfused:: ), they took a safe though.

Suspects know each other thru auto detailing company......most suspects are from Okaloosa County (4 suspects from 5th dimensions auto detailing in Okaloosa County),  ::MonkeyShocked:: remind me to be careful who details the car from now on ::MonkeyNoNo:: .

Leonard Gonzales Sr charges will be upgraded to "open murder" charges  ::cartwheel:: So father and son both arrested for open murder.....

Thank you IM for bringing updates to this thread.  This case is just shocking.   ::MonkeyNoNo::

Anytime Muffy~I was shocked to  learn this was in Beulah (one of the guys I work with lives 1 mile from this home), and this couple was well loved for their huge hearts....very sad indeed ::MonkeyWaa::

It's truly frightening to think there could be 6 or 8 people in on something like this.  Each and everyone of them HAD to know there were disabled children there.  Did any of them have a conscience at all?  Bad enough if it had been a robbery.  That would have jeopardized the family.  But a "hit"?!  And killing the heads of a household full of disabled children.   ::MonkeyNoNo::  I wonder just how much money/drugs or whatever was promised to these people to do this?  Or did someone have something on them and that's why they did it?  May for the thrill along with some compensation?  Whatever it is, it makes me just sick.   ::MonkeyWaa:: 

I think finding people with conscience is getting more difficult every day  ::MonkeyDevil::

This is absolutey an horrific case, on the news last night they mentioned that 3 of the kids witnessed the murders and one ran out to a neighbors house to get help (I just thank God the murders stopped with Byrd and Melanie)....Regarding the hit, that's just rumor spreading about somone who owed Byrd money and never intended to pay. I checked the Escambia county court cases and nothing civil except adoptions etc, but it could possibly be in Santa rosa OR another county or it's possible Byrd was getting ready to file a lawsuit and they took care of it before.........all pure speculation on the street here though.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/14/florida.couple.slain/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular
Police: Seven in custody in Florida couple's slaying
July 14, 2009
PENSACOLA, Florida (CNN)  -- Seven people are in custody in connection with the shooting deaths of a Gulf Coast couple known for adopting special-needs children, Escambia County, Florida, Sheriff David Morgan said Tuesday.
 Earlier on Tuesday, Okaloosa County sheriff's spokeswoman Michele Nicholson said the department had arrested two people in Okaloosa County. Both suspects face murder charges and were booked early Tuesday morning, she said.

Nicholson would not confirm their names, but the county's corrections Web site identifies one as Frederick Lee Thorton Jr.

A total of six arrests have been made in last week's deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings.

Three people were in custody in connection with the Billingses' deaths Monday afternoon, and Morgan told reporters a total of six to eight people are thought to be involved in the crime.

Gary Lamont Sumner, 30, was arrested Monday night. Morgan said Sumner was pulled over in an Okaloosa County traffic stop on Sunday and arrested after authorities discovered he matched a description of a person sought in Escambia County. He faces a murder charge, Morgan said.

Wayne Coldiron, 41; Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr., 35; and Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Sr., 56, were arrested over the weekend. Authorities said Coldiron and the younger Gonzalez face charges of murder, robbery and residential home invasion. The elder Gonzalez faces charges of evidence tampering for allegedly trying to disguise a vehicle spotted at the home.

Police have called the slayings "a very well-planned and methodical operation." Video Watch experts describe the "military-style" attack »

Authorities have released two surveillance tapes taken from the front and rear of the Billingses' home. Each shows a vehicle pulling up to the property and five people dressed in black and wearing masks entering the home through two entrances, including a utility door left unlocked, something Morgan said is not uncommon in the community. Authorities believe drivers remained in both of the cars. Video Watch surveillance video of the home invasion »

Investigators believe one motive in the deaths was robbery, but, "we believe there are other motives," Morgan said. He would not say what, if anything, was taken from the home. Video Watch a report on the arrests in the complex case »

Melanie Billings' biological daughter, Ashley Markham, told reporters the couple initially had 17 children. Byrd and Melanie Billings each had two biological children; the rest were adopted. Three have died over the years, she said. The couple had no biological children together. Video Watch Ashley Markham say, "Love was never scarce" in Billings home »

Morgan, however, said the couple had a total of 16 children, with two who have died and others who have grown older and no longer live in the home.

Nine of the couple's children were home during the incident, Morgan said, and police believe three of them saw the intruders. One managed to flee the home and seek help at a neighbor's house, the sheriff said.

Coldiron and the younger Gonzalez were being held on $1 million bond, according to records posted on the sheriff's Web site. The senior Gonzalez was being held on $250,000 bond. One of those three is believed to be the mastermind behind the crime, Morgan said, but would not say which one.

Although the Billingses were well known in the community, the sheriff said authorities are still trying to unravel why they were targeted. Both of the Billingses were shot multiple times, he said, but he would not release further details on their deaths.

Markham said earlier the family does not know any of the first three suspects. She said the children "are coping very well" and are being cared for.
advertisement

"They haven't asked too many questions," she said, noting that several have disabilities. While the investigation continues, the family is keeping the children's whereabouts a secret.

The Billingses lived in Beulah, west of Pensacola, near the Alabama state line.

Island, or any other monkey that might know, what time of day was this when the murders happened? Why I am asking is it appeared to be daylight in the videos I have seen. It must have been early in the morning, and all the more confusing, because of that time of day, it may have been more likely that someone would have been awake and seen them. I thought I heard that they were murdered in their bedroom, which made me think they were still asleep. I wondered about the alarm system, and did they really have a dog, as there was a "Bad Dog" sign on a fence.

Possibly not asleep, though. Maybe they were taken to the room where the safe was, and it was probably in a closet of the bedroom. Also, for the number of people involved, it may have been for the size and weight of the safe.

It is all a very strange case. I am very familiar with the area. I used to live on the Alabama coast, and we were almost sister cities. The whole thing makes me very sad. We were looking today at a picture that was taken from the Dairy Queen parking lot overlooking the I-10 bridge that was destroyed by hurricaine Ivan later.

I saw the press conference today with the Escambia County Sheriff and thought it was very well done. At least this happened in Florida, where we will be getting more information further down the road due to the Sunshine Laws.

God Bless these people.  ::MonkeyAngel::

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FLORIDA_COUPLE_SLAIN?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US
Jul 14, 10:04 PM EDT

7 charged with killing Fla. couple, stealing safe

By MELISSA NELSON and BILL KACZOR
Associated Press Writer
 PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) -- An ex-convict who taught self-defense to children. A day laborer who served prison time for killing a man in a fight. An Air Force staff sergeant attached to an elite special operations unit.

Somehow, authorities say, they ended up part of a loosely connected group of seven men charged in the shooting deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings, a wealthy Florida Panhandle couple known for adopting children with special needs.

The suspects, some dressed as ninjas, stole a safe and other items during the break-in Thursday at the sprawling Billings home west of Pensacola. Nine of the couple's 13 adopted children were home at the time. Three saw the intruders but were not hurt. Authorities would not say what was in the safe or what else was taken.

Some of the masked men entered through the front door, while others slipped in through an unlocked utility door in the back. They were in and out in under 10 minutes. The crime was captured by an extensive video surveillance system the Billings used to keep tabs on their many children.

"It was a very well-planned and well-executed operation," said Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan.

The last three of the seven suspects were arrested Tuesday, though Morgan said there still might be more arrests. State Attorney Bill Eddins said robbery was the main motive for the crime.

Adult daughter Ashley Markham - one of four Billings children from previous marriages - sobbed Tuesday as she hugged Morgan, who said he kept a promise made to her the night of the slayings.

"It is my honor today to tell you, Ashley, your family we have found them and they are in custody," Morgan said.

The suspects ranged in age from 16 to 56, and several were day laborers who knew each other through a pressure washing business and an auto detailer they worked for. One, Donnie Ray Stallworth, was with the Air Force Special Operations Command with an aircraft maintenance squadron at Hurlburt Field near Fort Walton Beach. It wasn't clear how he knew the others.

"We're dealing with a group of folks with rare exception - of course, there's a couple of people who are not - that again are basically day laborer sorts, folks that get odd jobs, part-time jobs and they drift," Morgan said. "With the exception of Mr. Stallworth you don't have any career-minded people in this group."

Morgan called 35-year-old suspect Leonard Gonzalez Jr. a "pivotal person" in organizing the crime, but stopped short of identifying him as the mastermind. He was charged Sunday with murder.

In court Tuesday, he read a statement proclaiming his innocence.

"The sheriff intentionally thrust me into the public's eye without any charges being filed and also intentionally placed me in a suicide ward to make me look even guiltier," Gonzalez said.

News clippings provided a very different picture of Gonzalez, a former National Guard member and martial arts expert who taught self-defense classes for women and children. In 2007, he and his wife founded a martial-arts course that taught children to defend themselves against sexual predators.

Gwinn Corley, a spokesman for a community group that gave Gonzalez and his wife an award for their program, said they brought their six young children to self-defense presentations.

"We were impressed with them," Corley said. "He was talking about children and their respect for their elders. They both seemed to have a passion to teaching the arts to abused women and kids, they had a vision for how to give free self defense."

But records show Gonzalez, who was arrested Sunday in the Billings case, served time in Florida State Prison on burglary and forgery charges in the mid-1990s.

His father, Leonard Gonzalez Sr., was also arrested. The 56-year-old was charged Sunday night with evidence tampering after authorities said he tried to cover up some damage on a red van seen on surveillance video pulling away from the house. Officials said the damage was unrelated to the crime. Tips from the public led police to the van Saturday.

The elder Gonzalez owned a pressure washing business and may have visited the Billings property once before. Another man arrested and charged with murder Sunday, day laborer Wayne Coldiron, 41, sometimes worked for him and also may have visited the property, Morgan said.

Coldiron, who appeared in court Tuesday and said he had lost his job as a plumber, served two years in a Tennessee prison in the early 1990s after killing a man during a fight. He also served nearly two years in prison in Florida on an aggravated assault charge.

The other four suspects were arrested Monday and Tuesday.

Authorities in neighboring Okaloosa County arrested 31-year-old Gary Sumner, another day laborer who was in a county jail on an unrelated traffic charge. On Tuesday, three more men were arrested: Stallworth, 19-year-old Frederick Lee Thornton, and a 16-year-old whom officials are not naming because he is a minor.

Eddins, the prosecutor, said he would seek first-degree murder indictments from a grand jury against all the suspects, including Gonzalez Sr. He would not say whether he will seek the death penalty.

Escambia County Judge Tom Johnson refused to set bail for the younger Gonzalez and Coldiron at the request of State Attorney Bill Eddins. Johnson set their arraignments for Aug. 6. Bond for the elder Gonzalez had already been set at $500,000. The suspects arrested Monday and Tuesday are due in court this week except for Stallworth, who must be extradited from Alabama, where he was arrested.

The Billings family attended the hearing Tuesday but made no statements. Some were in tears afterward.

Friends, meanwhile, struggled to understand how the couple could have been killed in such a horrific way.

"Melanie and Byrd both would give you the shirt off their back and maybe they were too trusting," said Patsy Brown, who had known Melanie Billings for 22 years.

---

I totally agree that something doesn't add up in this case; 30 days of these monsters "practicing", 7 arrested, one more they are waiting to arrest.....I'm starting to wonder if the rumors we are hearing are true.

Fanny, IIRC these murders happened sometime after 7pm last Thursday night which was perfect timing as last week was "Blue Angel's Week", with over 100m more people on the beach and so most of Escambia County and even Santa Rosa County cops were on the beach. Apparantly the murders are even on the video tapes the LE retrieved from the Billing's home.......SICK!!!!!!!!!!

Where did you live Orange Beach, Perdido Key, Gulf Shores????

Ivan did bring mass destruction here, although I wasn't living on the beach at the time but there are a ton of empty lots scattered along the beach still today.

Island, how close is this home to Gulf Shores?  I read it was close to the FL/AL line. 

I am on my way to Gulf Shores in 3 weeks.  Always go to see the Blue Angels practice.  I love them.  Last year it was rained out.  So we will try again this year.

It's about 40 miles from Gulf Shores, and it's about 40 miles from where I live also. Beulah is about 5 miles from the Alabama line.

Yes, last yr the show was on Sunday and even afterwards there was a huge lighning storm, but this yr I took my staycation because they practice all week over the beach and some of the practices are better than the show!!!!!!!  I woke up Wednesday morning and thought I was in the middle of a hurricane, then remembered the Blues were up, they practiced Thursday and Friday but at more civilizied hours, then on Saturday during the show my daughter and I were on surf boards out past the first sand bar when the sneak pass came...I thought she was going to break her neck trying to get off her board because she was petrified he was going to hit her, and it physically moved my board from the low (25 ft) flyover directly above us. It was incredible as always though.

 ::MonkeyEek::

Heads up~News Conference at 12:00 CST to announce YET ANOTHER arrest, heard it was prominent member of community (wonder if the "hit" rumors are true)???????

I just heard this on the news  ::MonkeyEek::  Also the investigation is going overseas  ::MonkeyEek::

Yes.......it just gets crazier every day, but now they say this prominent person has disappeared and they are putting out an APB for him, also saying as they have from the beginning that when it all unravels it will be a jaw-dropper. I'm so freaking curious WHO this prominet member is??????

I heard that also, wow  ::MonkeyEek::

This case is really shocking. Those poor children!  ::MonkeyNoNo::

I know CBB~Beulah doesn't even show up on maps it's so small  ::MonkeyNoNo:: and three of the kids witnessed thr murders and sheriff says the entire crime is on video ::MonkeyEek::

I'm frankly shocked they solved it so quickly with all the LE on the beach due to the Air shows etc......Thank God!

Link from N. Escambia News.... http://www.northescambia.com/

CNN saying that DEA is called in.

CNN will cover the update ... now.

Looking for Pamela Laverne Long as a person of interest.  Well known in Gulf Breeze area.

Numerous search warrants.

Someone who is a person of interest was to disable security but did not do this.

.......from CNN

 ::MonkeyConfused:: Pamela Laverne Long is the new POI........have to check around as I have no clue who she is. Also MORE POI'S (2 more that are significant). Dang she has alot of alias. They sheriff thinks that someone was supposed to turn off surveillance and didn't ::MonkeyNoNo:: Since she was a realtor-hmmmmmm just curious as to her part. Ok, so she is more know in Gulf Breeze proper (which I drive through twice a day to and from work)  ::MonkeyTongue::

I am checking the Escambia county public records and her condo is in Lis Pendens (pre-foreclosure) as of April 24, 2009 on the beach.......just 3 blocks from my house is her condo  ::MonkeyShocked:: Of course it could just be a rental, let me check into some more info.........

IM and Mere thanks for the updates!  IM ::MonkeyEek:: yikes.....you might actually see this woman often and not even know it!!

  ::MonkeyEek::

IM & Mere - thanks so much for the updates.  This just gets crazier & crazier.  I hope they find this Pamela person pronto.

The people that did this are nothing but animals.  Sickening.  I just thank God none of the kids were harmed.

Thank you everyone for the updates & info.  I just saw the news conference & it just gets stranger. 

Please keep us posted.  This is one strange and scary case.  They could have just taken the safe.  Why did they have to murder this couple!

Did I hear them say she owned several properties, or were they referring to someone else?

It looked like they had a current picture of her on a flyer.  I hope they post it online.

That's the question that leads me to believe it was more than just robbery.

http://www.northescambia.com/

Now updates and gives picture of Pamela Laverne Long

BREAKING NEWS: Sheriff Names Person Of Interest In Murder Case
July 15, 2009
BREAKING NEWS Escambia Sheriff David Morgan held a noon press conference on the Billings double murder to name an additional person of interest in the case.

Authorities have named another person of interest in the murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan says that person of interest is Pamela Laverne Long, also known as Pamela Wiggins. Morgan said she rented property to one of the persons charged with murder in the case.

“Our intent is not to harass Ms. Long. We need to speak to Ms. Long,” Morgan said. She will well known in the Gulf Breeze area, Morgan said, but he would not provide her last known address.

“”She has not provided us any information. That is why we want to speak with her,” the sheriff said.

Morgan also said it was someone’s job to disable the security system at the Billings’ compound, but that did not happen

“Why was this system left on in an otherwise perfectly executed murder?” he said. “”There may have been someone in this case who’s very duty was to disable the security system.”

“Obviously there is an eighth or ninth person,” he said. Morgan said the seven people charged in the case believed they were not under surveillance as they committed the crimes.

Video of the now infamous red van and other security system footage from the Billings home was the big break that allowed the sheriff’s department to quickly make arrests in the case.

Morgan ended the press conference with a question from a reported who wanted comment on suspect Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr.’s request to be released without bond. Gonzalez made the request Tuesday afternoon, saying that there was a lack of evidence again him.

“And people in hell want ice water,” Morgan said.

(http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww328/seasidecece/longfront2.jpg)

I know......although she has now gone bye-bye. I did pull up her marriage license and then a record on her former hubby (as her mortgage says she is single), but I didn't see any divorce info on the civil end, I did run her ex/not ex hubby thru the records and looks like he was involved in a DUI, hit and run where someone dies and IF i'm reading the record properly it shows on 6/18/2009 Motion to correct illegal sentence for county jail credit, time served, hmmmmmm wonder who he met in the county jail??????

Thank you for the article mere.

Family of slain couple sets up trust for children

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/15/florida.couple.slain/index.html

LOL....thank you for the picture cece..... :2waver:

Yes~I see several other properties in Escambia County that Pamela Long owns, not sure if this is the only Pamela Long (without other initials), but if she had properties in Gulf Breeze, I'll need to check Santa Rosa County as that is where Gulf Breeze is located. I'm really only concerned though with the one that is on the Beach......YIKES!

IM...did you see that she is also known as Pamela Wiggins?  For being "well known in the community", there is nothing I see under Pamela L Long.  I am checking to see which company she is employed with and if she buys real estate for herself or if she sells also.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan says that person of interest is Pamela Laverne Long, also known as Pamela Wiggins. Morgan said she rented property to one of the persons charged with murder in the case.

(From the above article).

A Closer Look: Billings Family Photos
July 15, 2009

Melanie and Byrd Billings opened their home and their lives to developmentally disabled children, having adopted eight children in addition to their four.

“Geezz, I have a lot of kids,” says Melanie’s MySpace page.

“Just hanging out with the kiddos today…getting ready to play musical rooms,” her status said on July 7, two days before she was murdered with nine children in the home. Her blogs paint a picture of love and devotion, a sense of normal everyday duties.

“With 11 kids at home, what do you think I would be doing? Laundry!” she wrote. “Need to clean out bedrooms and paint and move kids around.”

The page pays tribute to Bailey Jacob,  one of the adopted children that died of natural causes at age three. “He touched so many people in his short life. I miss him every second of every day. My life will never be the same for having had such a blessing bestowed upon me. I miss my Baileyboo.”

Photos show family life. Trips to the zoo. Horseback riding. Watching TV. Playing in the pool. Normal things that were very extraordinary in the Billings family.

In the “Who I’d like to meet” section of her MySpace profile, Melanie Billings wrote “God…I have so many unanswered questions for him…”.

For a collection of photos from the Billings family, click here. 

Photos courtesy MySpace.

Pictured above: Melanie Billings and one of her adopted children. Pictured below: Byrd Billings with Nicholas. Photos from Melanie Billings’ MySpace, click to enlarge.

http://www.northescambia.com/?p=9487

(http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww328/seasidecece/billings-family-10.jpg)

(http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww328/seasidecece/billings-family-11.jpg)

link to some family photos:

http://www.northescambia.com/?page_id=22&g2_itemId=36192

http://www.northescambia.com/?p=9508

Same article as above - but now comments are interesting.  No way to know for sure but they are talking about her family in NY, her Birthdate and a liquor license she applied for.  There is nothing to verify the statements yet.

Ok~just pulled her Santa Rosa County Records (they have to be ordered to get full info unlike Escambia County) ::MonkeyTongue::......

Order
 From
 To
 Date
 Document Type
 County
 Instrument Number
 Book/Page
 Pages
 

 CENTURION PROPERTIES
 LONG PAMELA
 12/01/1998
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 980046219
 1726/887
 1
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 28/B
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 WIGGINS HUGH G
 04/16/2009
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200912142
 2893/1525
 2
 
    Description: 26-2S-28W
 

 LINK PAMELA LAVERNE
 LINK RONALD WILLIAM;
LONG PAMELA LAVERNE
 12/01/2003
 Court Paper
 SANTA ROSA
 200369906
 2233/276
 3
 
    Description: DOM Case# 03-1133-DR-01-DM-B
 

 LONG PAMELA
 PUBLIC
 11/24/1997
 NOTICE OF COMMENCEMENT
 SANTA ROSA
 970041498
 1650/539
 1
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 117/A
 

 CLERK OF CIRCUIT COURT;
HARVELL WENDY;
STORMYS FILL DIRT AND HAULING
 LONG PAMELA L
 04/11/2000
 TRANSFER
 SANTA ROSA
 200012963
 1819/177
 1
 
    Description: OR 1769 PG 1968 CERTIF OF LIEN
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 CLIFFT JASON;
WYSE ALLISON CLIFFT
 08/28/2003
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200349832
 2193/615
 1
 
    Description: POLYNESIAN ISLANDS 13/2
 

 LONG PAMELA L
  06/01/1999
 NOTICE OF COMMENCEMENT
 SANTA ROSA
 990022324
 1759/1555
 3
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 14,PT 15/E
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 BONNER MARCUS R
 01/03/2000
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 200000018
 1801/1351
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 38/A RDWY MNTM
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 NALUAI ANITA W;
NALUAI EUGENE ARNOLD
 07/22/1998
 MORTGAGE
 SANTA ROSA
 980028156
 1703/390
 3
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SH E 115,116/A
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 KEEGAN HOMEBUILDERS INC
 11/27/2001
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 200148711
 1959/523
 1
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST PT 116/A
 

 LONG PAMELA
 MCEACHERN ALBERT A;
MCEACHERN CAROLE
 10/27/1997
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 970037954
 1644/51
 1
 
    Description: 27-2S-28W
 

 LONG PAMELA
 NOVAK CONSTRUCTION INC
 11/12/1997
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 970039928
 1647/1174
 2
 
    Description: 27-2S-28W
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 SOUTHTRUST BANK NA
 04/06/1999
 MORTGAGE
 SANTA ROSA
 990013783
 1749/904
 6
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 14,15/E
 

 ADAMS HOMES OF NORTHWEST FLORIDA INC
 LONG PAMELA
 02/07/2007
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200706177
 2698/52
 2
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PH 3 28/J
 

 LONG PAMELA
 BEACH COMMUNITY BANK
 12/19/2008
 Assignment
 SANTA ROSA
 200847340
 2871/682
 3
 
    Description: PINELLAS LOT 59
 

 OLIVE JAYNE OGLE REV TRUST;
BEST HELEN J TRUSTEE;
BEST DOUGLAS E TRUSTEE;
OGLE OLIVE JAYNE TRUSTEE
 LONG PAMELA
 10/20/1998
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 980040756
 1719/411
 4
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 2/C
 

 BRANCH BANKING AND TRUST COMPANY
 LONG PAMELA L;
UNKNOWN PARTIES
 12/22/2008
 Lis Pendens
 SANTA ROSA
 200847621
 2871/1516
 2
 
    Description: BLUE HERON COVE PH 4 LOT 57 Case# 081993CA01
 

 LINK RONALD W;
LONG PAMELA L;
LINK PAMELA L
 COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS INC
 11/04/2002
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 0252134
 2069/620
 4
 
    Description: OAK POINTE 4/B
 

 MAGNOLIA MANAGEMENT COMPANY INC;
PROVIDENCE PROPERTIES LLC
 LONG PAMELA
 02/04/2009
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200903317
 2878/1601
 1
 
    Description: PINEGLADE LOT 59
 

 LONG PAMELA L;
QUALITY CONSTRUCTION
 WEGLINSKI ADAM;
WEGLINSKI EVA
 08/04/2000
 JUDGEMENT
 SANTA ROSA
 200029820
 1842/299
 2
 
    Description: TOM KING EST 12/A 99-1315 $2,530.00+
 

 LONG PAMELA
 SOUTHTRUST BANK NA
 05/25/1999
 FINANCING STATEMENT/UCC
 SANTA ROSA
 990021547
 1758/1282
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 14,PT 15/E
 

 LONG PAMELA
 PUBLIC
 03/17/1998
 AFFIDAVIT
 SANTA ROSA
 980009692
 1675/244
 1
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHRS EAST 117/A
 

 QUALITY CONSTRUCTION;
LONG PAMELA L
 WEGLINSKI EWA;
WEGLINSKI ADAM M
 06/30/1998
 LIEN
 SANTA ROSA
 980024853
 1698/1307
 2
 
    Description: TOM KING EST 12/A
 

 STORMYS FILL DIRT AND HAULING;
HARVELL JAMES HENRY SR
 LONG PAMELA L
 11/21/2000
 COURT PAPER
 SANTA ROSA
 200044982
 1863/1035
 5
 
    Description: 99-2609-CA-01 NOTICE OF APPEAL
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 AMSOUTH BANK
 12/01/1998
 MORTGAGE
 SANTA ROSA
 980046060
 1726/391
 5
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 117/A
 

 LONG PAMELA
 BONNER MARCUS R
 11/01/1999
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 990044085
 1790/672
 1
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 28/B
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 LAWYERS TITLE INSURANCE CORP;
PUBLIC
 05/15/1997
 AFFIDAVIT
 SANTA ROSA
 970017024
 1609/1310
 1
 
    Description: OR 2006 PG 546 ??
 

 STORMYS FILL DIRT AND HAULING;
HARVELL JAMES HENRY SR
 LONG PAMELA L
 12/22/1999
 LIS PENDENS
 SANTA ROSA
 990050185
 1799/197
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 14,15/E 99-2609-C
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 AMSOUTH BANK
 11/13/2001
 MORTGAGE
 SANTA ROSA
 200146852
 1955/1848
 7
 
    Description: 26-2S-28W
 

 AMSOUTH BANK
 LONG PAMELA L
 10/27/2003
 Satisfaction
 SANTA ROSA
 200362953
 2219/1077
 1
 
    Description:
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 SUN SIGN OF PENSACOLA INC
 02/16/2000
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 200005507
 1808/1815
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 29/B RD/MNTN
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS INC;
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION
 12/06/2001
 MORTGAGE
 SANTA ROSA
 200150504
 1963/703
 15
 
    Description: OAKE POINTE 4/B
 

 ADAMS HOMES OF NORTHWEST FLORIDA INC
 LONG PAMELA
 02/07/2007
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200706188
 2698/132
 2
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PH 3 14/J
 

 LONG PAMELA
 STATE DEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PRTCT
 05/26/2000
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 200019286
 1827/1366
 5
 
    Description: BEAVER POND EST COM NW COR
 

 LONG PAMELA
 SUNTRUST MORTGAGE INC;
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
 02/07/2007
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200706202
 2698/213
 27
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PH 3 37/J
 

 LONG PAMELA
 SUNTRUST MORTGAGE INC;
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
 02/07/2007
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200706189
 2698/134
 27
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PH 3 14/J
 

 STORMYS FILL DIRT AND HAULING;
HARVELL JAMES HENRY SR
 LONG PAMELA L
 08/30/2004
 Satisfaction
 SANTA ROSA
 200451791
 2346/1811
 1
 
    Description:
 

 AMSOUTH BANK
 LONG PAMELA L
 02/22/2000
 SATISFACTION
 SANTA ROSA
 200006085
 1809/1326
 1
 
    Description: 1679/851
 

 MASS SCOTT C
 LONG PAMELA L
 07/12/2004
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200440293
 2324/1438
 4
 
    Description: PINE GLADE LT 24
 

 PIPPIN FRANCIS E;
PIPPIN CAROLE E;
PIPPIN CAROLE L
 LONG PAMELA L
 11/30/1998
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 980046021
 1726/276
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 29/B
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC;
COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS INC
 02/07/2007
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200706175
 2698/22
 22
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PH 3 1/K
 

 SUNTRUST MORTGAGE INC
 LONG PAMELA;
UNKNOWN PARTIES;
VICTORIAN VILLAGE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION INC
 06/16/2009
 Lis Pendens
 SANTA ROSA
 200920265
 2908/703
 2
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PH 3 14/J Case# 2009-0991-CA01-MTG-A
 

 CLERK OF CIRCUIT COURT;
WEGLINSKI ADAM M;
WEGLINSKI EWA
 QUALITY CONSTRUCTION;
LONG PAMELA L
 09/09/1998
 TRANSFER
 SANTA ROSA
 980035735
 1712/1566
 1
 
    Description: OR 1698/1307
 

 QUALITY CONSTRUCTION;
LONG PAMELA L
 WEGLINSKI ADAM;
WEGLINSKI EVA
 06/30/1999
 LIS PENDENS
 SANTA ROSA
 990026942
 1766/650
 3
 
    Description: TOM KING EST 12/A 99-1315
 

 NALUAI ANITA W;
NALUAI EUGENE ARNOLD
 LONG PAMELA L
 07/22/1998
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 980028155
 1703/388
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SH E 115,116/A
 

 LONG PAMELA
 BEACH COMMUNITY BANK
 02/04/2009
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200903318
 2878/1602
 7
 
    Description: PINEGLADE LOT 59
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC;
COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS INC
 02/02/2007
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200705400
 2696/1244
 23
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PHASE 3 2/I
 

 ADAMS ROGER
 LONG PAMELA L
 04/06/1999
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 990013782
 1749/901
 3
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 14,15/E
 

 MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INCORPORATED;
COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS INC;
LONG PAMELA L
 BCAP LLC TRUST 2007 AA2;
DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY TRUSTEE
 04/27/2009
 Assignment
 SANTA ROSA
 200913567
 2895/1972
 1
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PH 3 2/I
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 COX FRANCES D
 08/07/2003
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200344538
 2182/285
 2
 
    Description: OAKE POINTE 4/B
 

 MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
 LONG PAMELA L
 08/26/2003
 Satisfaction
 SANTA ROSA
 200349184
 2191/1713
 1
 
    Description:
 

 RECONCILED MINISTRIES INC
 LONG PAMELA L
 05/15/1997
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 970017025
 1609/1311
 2
 
    Description: POLYNESIAN ISL 13/2 & RD MNT
 

 BRANCH BANKING AND TRUST COMPANY;
LONG PAMELA L;
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEM INC
 BRANCH BANKING AND TRUST COMPANY
 12/23/2008
 Assignment
 SANTA ROSA
 200847712
 2871/1792
 2
 
    Description: BLUE HERON COVE PH 4 LT 57 COM NW
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 BRANCH BANKING AND TRUST COMPANY;
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
 07/29/2005
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200548904
 2481/2031
 21
 
    Description: BLUE HERON COVE PH 4 LOT 57 COM NW
 

 LONG PAMELA;
LINK PAMELA A
 COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS INC;
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
 12/16/2005
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200582399
 2543/945
 5
 
    Description: SOUNDVIEW WOODS THIRD ADD LOT 4 BLOCK B
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS INC;
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
 01/31/2007
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200705070
 2695/1771
 22
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PHASE 3 LOT 1 BLOCK K
 

 STORMYS FILL DIRT AND HAULING;
HARVELL WENDY
 LONG PAMELA L
 07/19/1999
 LIEN
 SANTA ROSA
 990029594
 1769/1968
 1
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 14,15/E
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 SOUTHTRUST BANK NA
 08/12/1999
 MORTGAGE
 SANTA ROSA
 990033218
 1775/335
 6
 
    Description: BAY RIDGE PARK 28/6
 

 ADAMS HOMES OF NORHTWEST FLORIDA INC
 LONG PAMELA L
 01/31/2007
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200705069
 2695/1769
 2
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PHASE 3 LOT 1 BLOCK K
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 AMSOUTH BANK
 04/02/1998
 MORTGAGE
 SANTA ROSA
 980012088
 1679/851
 7
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHRS EAST 117/A
 

 WITTHAUS LENA M
 LONG PAMELA L
 11/26/1997
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 970041892
 1651/107
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SH EAST 117/A & RD
 

 MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC;
SUNTRUST MORTGAGE INC;
LONG PAMELA
  06/25/2007
 Affidavit
 SANTA ROSA
 200729464
 2743/1629
 1
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PHASE 3 LOT 37 BLOCK J
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 SOUTHTRUST BANK NA
 04/03/2000
 MODIFICATION
 SANTA ROSA
 200011575
 1817/283
 2
 
    Description: OR 1749/904 ET AL
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 PROVIDENCE PROPERTIES LLC
 08/30/2004
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200451802
 2346/1830
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 14&15/E
 

 SIMMONS FRED H JR
 LONG PAMELA L
 03/07/2005
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200514218
 2415/665
 4
 
    Description: BLUE HERON COVE PH 4 PT LOT 57 COM NW
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 AMSOUTH BANK
 05/30/2000
 MORTGAGE
 SANTA ROSA
 200019611
 1828/115
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 117/A 1726/391
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 NICHOLS JEFFERY E
 04/10/2002
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 0216682
 2002/530
 2
 
    Description: BAY RIDGE PARK 28/E & RD MNTN
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS INC
 12/06/2001
 MORTGAGE
 SANTA ROSA
 200150505
 1963/718
 8
 
    Description: OAKE POINTE 4/B
 

 CAUDELL ANN;
CAUDELL JAMES A
 LONG PAMELA
 10/14/1997
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 970036281
 1641/538
 4
 
    Description: 27-2S-28W
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 PROVIDENCE PROPERTIES LLC
 07/12/2004
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200440294
 2324/1442
 1
 
    Description: PINE GLADE LT 24
 

 COUNTRYWIDE HOME LOANS INC;
COUNTRYWIDE FUNDING CORP
 LONG PAMELA L
 12/05/2002
 Satisfaction
 SANTA ROSA
 200257494
 2080/695
 1
 
    Description:
 

 PROVIDENCE PROPERTIES LLC
 LONG PAMELA L
 01/19/2007
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200702852
 2691/1345
 1
 
    Description: PINE GLADE LOT 24
 

 BCAP LLC TRUST 2007 AA2;
DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY TRUSTEE
 LONG PAMELA L;
UNKNOWN PARTIES;
VICTORIAN VILLAGE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION INC
 06/22/2009
 Lis Pendens
 SANTA ROSA
 200920994
 2909/1392
 1
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PH 3 2/1 Case# 09-1022-CA01-MTG-A
 

 ADAMS HOMES OF NORTHWEST FLORIDA INC
 LONG PAMELA L
 02/02/2007
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200705399
 2696/1242
 2
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PHASE 3 2/I
 

 SOUTHEAST ALLIANCE;
SECRETARY HOUSING & URBAN DEVELOP
 LONG PAMELA L
 08/12/1999
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 990033217
 1775/333
 2
 
    Description: BAY RIDGE PARK 28/6
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 SUN SIGN OF PENSACOLA INC
 04/24/2000
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 200014406
 1821/227
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 2/C & RD MNTN
 

 LONG PAMELA L;
LINK PAMELA
 AMSOUTH BANK
 03/14/2005
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200515991
 2418/890
 8
 
    Description: SOUNDVIEW WOODS 3RD ADD 4/B
 

 ACOSTA EDGAR J
 LONG PAMELA L
 02/17/1998
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 980005479
 1667/109
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SH EAST 31/B & RDMN
 

 LONG PAMELA
 SOUTHTRUST BANK NA
 04/06/1999
 FINANCING STATEMENT/UCC
 SANTA ROSA
 990013784
 1749/910
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 14,15/E
 

 SOUTHTRUST BANK
 LONG PAMELA L
 06/24/2002
 Satisfaction
 SANTA ROSA
 0229157
 2024/1669
 1
 
    Description: OR 1775 PG 335
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 SOUTHTRUST BANK NA
 12/22/1999
 MORTGAGE
 SANTA ROSA
 990050361
 1799/715
 2
 
    Description: ADDITIONAL ADVANCE OR 1749 PG 904
 

 LONG PAMELA
 BEACH COMMUNITY BANK
 12/19/2008
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200847339
 2871/675
 7
 
    Description: PINELLAS LOT 59
 

 FEDERAL NATIONAL MORTGAGE ASC
 LONG PAMELA L
 12/06/2001
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 200150503
 1963/701
 2
 
    Description: OAKE POINTE 48/B
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 BONNER MARCUS R
 07/26/1999
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 990030620
 1771/694
 1
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 31/B
 

 AMSOUTH BANK
 LONG PAMELA L
 10/04/2004
 Satisfaction
 SANTA ROSA
 200457316
 2357/1123
 1
 
    Description:
 

 PROVIDENCE PROPERTIES LLC
 LONG PAMELA
 12/19/2008
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200847338
 2871/674
 1
 
    Description: PINELLAS LOT 59
 

 LINK RONNIE
 LONG PAMELA
 01/24/2002
 COURT PAPER
 SANTA ROSA
 200203572
 1978/496
 1
 
    Description: 57-2001-CA-000660 DISMISSAL
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 HARVELL JAMES HENRY SR;
STORMYS ETC
 03/21/2002
 Couprt Paper
 SANTA ROSA
 0213001
 1994/1882
 2
 
    Description: 99-2609-VS-01 MANDATE
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 COUNTRYWIDE BANK NA;
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
 02/01/2007
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200705291
 2696/770
 19
 
    Description: PINE GLADE LOT 24
 

 BAILEY DAVID C
 LONG PAMELA L
 12/02/1998
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 980046320
 1726/1187
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 38/A
 

 LONG PAMELA
 BEACH COMMUNITY BANK
 02/04/2009
 Assignment
 SANTA ROSA
 200903319
 2878/1609
 3
 
    Description: PINEGLADE LOT 59
 

 LONG PAMELA
 SUNTRUST MORTGAGE INC;
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
 02/07/2007
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200706178
 2698/54
 27
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PH 3 28/J
 

 AMSOUTH BANK
 LINK PAMELA;
LONG PAMELA L
 02/09/2006
 Satisfaction
 SANTA ROSA
 200607500
 2563/464
 1
 
    Description:
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 AMSOUTH BANK
 08/31/2001
 MORTGAGE
 SANTA ROSA
 200135784
 1935/823
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 117/A 1726/391 18
 

 ADAMS HOMES OF NORTHWEST FLORIDA INC
 LONG PAMELA
 02/07/2007
 Deed
 SANTA ROSA
 200706201
 2698/211
 2
 
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PH 3 37/J
 

 LONG PAMELA
 PUBLIC
 03/17/1998
 TERMINATION
 SANTA ROSA
 980009691
 1675/243
 1
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHRS EAST 117/A
 

 NALUAI EUGENE ARNOLD;
NALUAI ANITA W
 LONG PAMELA L
 07/31/2000
 SATISFACTION
 SANTA ROSA
 200028781
 1840/1686
 1
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 115/A OR 1703/3
 

 BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON;
BANK OF NEW YORK;
CWHEQ REVOLVING HOME EQUITY LOAN TRUST SERIES 2006 A;
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK N A TRUSTEE
 LINK PAMELA A;
LINK PAMELA L;
LONG PAMELA;
MALDEN PAMELA LONG;
UNKNOWN PARTIES
 06/05/2009
 Lis Pendens
 SANTA ROSA
 200918885
 2906/24
 1
 
    Description: SOUNDVIEW WOODS 3RD ADD 4/B Case# 09-0940-CA01-MTG-B
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 BONNER MARCUS R
 07/31/2000
 DEED
 SANTA ROSA
 200028782
 1840/1687
 2
 
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 115/A & RD MNTN
 

 LONG PAMELA L
 BRANCH BANKING AND TRUST COMPANY;
MORTGAGE ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION SYSTEMS INC
 03/07/2005
 Mortgage
 SANTA ROSA
 200514219
 2415/669
 21
 
    Description: BLUE HERON COVE PH 4 PT LOT 57 COM NW
 
 

[END OF RECORDS]
 
http://www.mysantarosacounty.com/

Great job IM!!!   ::MonkeyDance:: ::cartwheel::

Yes, I saw she had MANY alias (I just found four more pre-foreclosures in Santa Rosa County), and this article with all her names  ::MonkeyConfused:: from the Pensacola News Journal.....





Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said Pamela Laverne Long is being sought as a "person of interest" in connection to the death of Melanie and Byrd Billings.



Morgan said investigators would like to question Long because she rented property to Patrick Gonzalez Jr.
Long, 47, has several aliases, Morgan said. They are:
-- Pamela Wiggins
-- Pamela Malden
-- Pamela Long Link
-- Pamela Laverne Long Coco
He said investigators have not heard from Long, who has several aliases, in the last 48 hours.
He issued an appeal for Long to contact his office.
In another major development, Morgan said there is another suspect being sought in connection to the invasion of the Billings’ house on Thursday that left the couple dead.
Morgan said a burning question is “Why wasn’t the surveillance system at the house disabled?”
Cameras at the house recorded several suspects and a getaway van.
Morgan suggested an “eighth or ninth” suspect may have been tasked with disabling the surveillance equipment but failed to do so.
Seven people have been charged in connection to the deaths. One reporter asked Morgan to comment on Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr.'s request Tuesday to be released with no bond based on what he cited as a lack of evidence.
"And people in hell want ice water," Morgan said, before abruptly ending the press conference.
Finally, Morgan refused to comment on a CNN report that Drug Enforcement Administration is assisting in the probe.

The Florida murder mystery gripping the nation took another unexpected twist Wednesday when authorities identified a local real estate agent, Pamela Laverne Long, as one of possibly two persons of interest in the case.

Ashley Markham talks about the investigation and the hope for her siblings.Long, reportedly the landlord of Leonard Gonzalez Jr. who police called a "pivotal" player in the double murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings, is sought by police for questioning but was not believed to be on site when the murders occured, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Police have arrested and charged seven suspects for their role in what Morgan called a "perfectly executed" murder, but suspect at least one more accomplice failed to disable the Billing's survellience.

"Obviously there was supposed to be an eight or ninth person" that was supposed to take care of the survelliance, Morgan said.

Earlier Wednesday, the Billing's oldest daughter said she is shocked at the brutal killings that left her and 16 other siblings parentless.


"I just can't believe that there's people in the world that are capable of this type of hate," Ashley Markham, 26, told ABC's "Good Morning America" today. "This is just unimaginable."


Markham's parents, Byrd and Melanie Billings, were shot to death July 9 in what police have called a highly organized, military style operation in which robbery was the primary motive. A safe was among the items taken from the home.


Two of the seven suspects, 35-year-old Leonard Gonzalez Jr., and 28-year-old Donnie Ray Stallworth, had military training, police say. Stallworth worked in the Air Force's elite Special Operations Command with an aircraft maintenance squadron and Gonzalez was a former soldier in the National Guard,The Associated Press reported.


http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=8086274&page=1

By BILL KACZOR – 33 minutes ago

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — The person assigned to turn off surveillance cameras before an elaborate, deadly break-in at a sprawling Florida Panhandle home never showed up, but the seven suspects in custody apparently did not know that, authorities said Wednesday.

Melanie and Byrd Billings, known for adopting a large brood of children with special needs were shot to death about a week ago. An extensive surveillance system captured footage of masked men — some dressed as ninjas — slipping into front and back doors at the home and stealing a safe, among other items.

The men were in the nine-bedroom house for just four minutes and on the property for 10, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. Video captured during that time led investigators to a red van used as a getaway car and eventually to the suspects, police said.

Morgan said investigators have been pondering "the huge gap" in what was otherwise a precise, methodical crime for which the suspects had trained 30 days. They were a loosely connected group of mostly day laborers who knew each other through a power washing business and an auto detailing operation.

"The execution was basically flawless," he said at a press conference. "The one gaping hole that would not have made this a perfect operation, if you will, was the fact that the surveillance system was not disabled. I guess the question was why was it not?"

Investigators have not said what was in the safe or what else was taken from the house. Morgan said they also don't know the identity of the mysterious person assigned to turn off the camera system or why that person didn't show up. He speculated that maybe it was an attack of conscience. "Who knows?" he said.

Also Wednesday, Morgan asked for the public's help in finding a real estate agent named Pamela Laverne Long. Police do not believe she was at the house the night the Billingses were killed but they do believe she rented property to one of the suspects, 35-year-old Leonard Gonzalez Jr., whom Morgan described as a "pivotal person" in the operation.

Morgan also said they are looking for a second person of interest, though he didn't identify them. He said investigators believe Long has "significant and substantial information" needed to conclude the case.

Associated Press writers Melissa Nelson in Pensacola and Tamara Lush in Miami and the AP News Research Center in New York contributed to this report.


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iTAOQx619OXpq7P0Jcpzqc9Zg-cwD99F1E7G0

Thanks...........I'm posting the pre-foreclosure records and FTLOG on eof the people I work with bought a lot from her and can't even remember  ::MonkeyConfused::


The number of Pages are estimated for documents where the Pages value is marked with *.
OrderFromToDateDocument TypeCountyInstrument NumberBook/PagePages
BANK OF NEW YORK MELLON;
BANK OF NEW YORK;
CWHEQ REVOLVING HOME EQUITY LOAN TRUST SERIES 2006 A;
JPMORGAN CHASE BANK N A TRUSTEELINK PAMELA A;
LINK PAMELA L;
LONG PAMELA;
MALDEN PAMELA LONG;
UNKNOWN PARTIES06/05/2009Lis PendensSANTA ROSA2009188852906/241
    Description: SOUNDVIEW WOODS 3RD ADD 4/B Case# 09-0940-CA01-MTG-B
SUNTRUST MORTGAGE INCLONG PAMELA;
UNKNOWN PARTIES;
VICTORIAN VILLAGE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION INC06/16/2009Lis PendensSANTA ROSA2009202652908/7032
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PH 3 14/J Case# 2009-0991-CA01-MTG-A
BCAP LLC TRUST 2007 AA2;
DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY TRUSTEELONG PAMELA L;
UNKNOWN PARTIES;
VICTORIAN VILLAGE HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION INC06/22/2009Lis PendensSANTA ROSA2009209942909/13921
    Description: VICTORIAN VILLAGE PH 3 2/1 Case# 09-1022-CA01-MTG-A
BRANCH BANKING AND TRUST COMPANYLONG PAMELA L;
UNKNOWN PARTIES12/22/2008Lis PendensSANTA ROSA2008476212871/15162
    Description: BLUE HERON COVE PH 4 LOT 57 Case# 081993CA01
QUALITY CONSTRUCTION;
LONG PAMELA LWEGLINSKI ADAM;
WEGLINSKI EVA06/30/1999LIS PENDENSSANTA ROSA9900269421766/6503
    Description: TOM KING EST 12/A 99-1315
STORMYS FILL DIRT AND HAULING;
HARVELL JAMES HENRY SRLONG PAMELA L12/22/1999LIS PENDENSSANTA ROSA9900501851799/1972
    Description: SANTA ROSA SHORES EAST 14,15/E 99-2609-C

Brewton Man, An Air Force Staff Sergeant, Among Those Arrested For Beulah Murders
July 15, 2009
People that knew Donnie Stallworth Jr. of Brewton were in disbelief Tuesday when they learned that the Air Force staff sergeant had been accused in the murder of Melanie and Byrd Billings of Brewton.

“I could not believe what I was hearing or seeing. Remembering back, going to T.R. Miller High School with Donnie, he was not the type of person you thought would have done such a horrific thing to someone,” one person wrote on NorthEscambia.com “This is not the Donnie I knew 10 years ago. I wonder where he went wrong.”

Stallworth, who still has family in the Brewton area, is a 1999 graduate of T.R. Miller High School in Brewton.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said Tuesday that Stallworth was involved in last Thursday’s double murder in Beulah. NorthEscambia.com has learned that there was a warrant issued for his arrest in Escambia County by Tuesday afternoon.

About 9:00 Tuesday night, Stallworth turned himself in at the Escambia County (Ala.) Detention Center in Brewton. Stallworth has been stationed at Hurlburt Field since 2000.

Stallworth, who is an aircraft maintainer stationed at Hurlburt Field, was escorted in a Brewton courtroom Tuesday afternoon by officers that included Sheriff Grover Smith.

Stallworth did not waive extradition back to Florida, meaning he refused to be willingly returned to Florida. He will remain in the Escambia County Detention Center in Brewton on $1 million bond for up to 30 days while legal proceedings continue.

“I went to school with Donnie. He is the last person you would ever think of doing or being involved with people like that. I am sorry for the family that lost their mother and father but the Donnie I knew was no animal, devil or creep,” another poster wrote on NorthEscambia.com.

“Oh my goodness! I know Donnie. I went to high school with him! You would never, ever, ever believe he would be capable of something like this. He was always calm-natured and fun to be around,” another high school friend said.

Stallworth reportedly worked at an auto detailing shop in Fort Walton Beach with three other suspects in the murders –  Frederick Lee Thorton Jr., 19,  and  Rakeem Florence, 16.

http://www.northescambia.com/?p=9492

(mods, they printed the 16 year olds name, but if it is inappropriate, please edit for me).

Wow, thanks for all the articles and info on this woman. My question, if she is a real estate agent, is it not odd, with foreclosures on properties?

I'm not sure if she is a realtor OR investor, but yes she has 5 IIRC very recent "pre-foreclosures" and now they have announced yet ANOTHER press conference at 4pm CST.

Thanks for clearing that up, and even if she is an investor, she can't be a very good one.  I think the rumors you have heard where you live seems right, that this may be a hit. I'll watch the next presser, maybe they have had communication with this woman.

They JUST FOUND HER!!!!! Heard that the circumstances surrounding where she was are unusual..........I must be crazy as I know I posted this somewhere else.

I agree NRCG~too elaborate for simple robbery/home invasion. The more detailed this bizarre crime gets, the more the "hit" rumors are starting to resonate.

 ::MonkeyTongue:: ::MonkeyTongue:: my bad-press conference starting at 3 pm CST. Pamela Long has been arrested, and will post any other info I get from presser. ::MonkeyShocked::

Located in Orange Beach, AL (not far ditz  ::MonkeyDevil:: )........Reports ARE WRONG that she is in custody, she isn't in custody. Identified in a marina from the BOLO......

The presser is on HLN right now. 

LIVE COVERAGE: Long Found, Not In Custody
July 15, 2009
BREAKING NEWS–LIVE COVERAGE–


Pamela Laverne Long, a person of interest in Billings murders has been found.

Sheriff David Morgan said she was located in Orange Beach, Alabama. Morgan said she is not in custody, but is driving back to Pensacola from Orange Beach, Alabama.

“We know that she was associated with Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. up until the day of the murders,” Morgan said. “She is a person of interest because of her association with him.”

A second person of interest is being sought because of their involvement with the security system at the Billings home.

LIVE details soon…

http://www.northescambia.com/?p=9508

Still looking for another POI regarding the surveillance system. Word locally was that she was with Leonard Gonzales, JR until Thursday     ::MonkeyEek::


O/T ~ I LOVE this sheriff ::MonkeyTongue::

Curious as to whether DEA is or isn't involved and why her lawyer is bringing her back, why not just come back from across the beach on her own.

http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream2

Sorry, disregard this link.  Presser now over.

updated article:

http://www.northescambia.com/?p=9508

BREAKING NEWS –UPDATED 3:15 p.m. –


Pamela Laverne Long, a person of interest in Billings murders has been found.

Sheriff David Morgan said she was located in Orange Beach, Alabama, at a marina. Morgan said she is not in custody, but is driving back to Pensacola from Orange Beach, Alabama.

“We know that she was associated with Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. up until the day of the murders,” Morgan said. “She is a person of interest because of her association with him.”

Mogan described Long as both a landlord and friend to Gonzalez Jr. She is considered both a suspect and a witness.

A second person of interest is being sought because of their involvement with the security system at the Billings home. The person was exterior to the home and not in the house.

There were two possibilities in shutting down the security system at the Billings home — either access from within the home or remotely via the Internet.

Thanks for the update.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/15/florida.couple.slain/
Police find woman wanted for questioning in Fla. killings case
PENSACOLA, Florida (CNN)  -- Authorities have located a woman they want to question in connection with the slaying of a couple who adopted special-needs children, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said Wednesday.
(http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/CRIME/07/15/florida.couple.slain/art.long.cnn.jpg)
Pamela Long, also known as Pamela Wiggins and by other names, is a "person of interest" in the Florida case.
 Pamela Laverne Long has been found in Orange Beach, Alabama, Morgan said.

She is returning to Escambia County, Florida, he said.

Long is a real estate agent and had rented property to one of the suspects already arrested in the case, Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr., according to Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan, who described Long as a "person of interest."

"We believe Miss Long has significant and substantial information we need to conclude this case," Morgan said.

Morgan said Long used numerous aliases -- Pamela Long Wiggins, Pamela Elle Malden, Pamela Long Link and Pamela Laverne Long Coco -- but cautioned that the aliases may simply be the result of numerous marriages. Long is not believed to be a danger to the community, he said.

The sheriff said a second "person of interest" was also being sought for questioning, but he did not elaborate.

Byrd and Melanie Billings were shot and killed July 9 in their Beulah, Florida, home near the Alabama state line. Law enforcement officials said a safe and other items were missing from the house and have cited robbery as a motive. Video Watch surveillance video of the home invasion »

Seven males-- one of them a 16-year-old -- are already in custody and will face murder charges in the killings. Morgan said the seven suspects are the ones who actually entered the Billingses' home. Video Watch officials express relief at arrests »

Police said Tuesday they know the name and location of one more suspect involved in the crime. Morgan would not say Wednesday if Long was that person.

The sheriff's news conference came shortly after the Drug Enforcement Administration confirmed it is assisting in the probe of the murders. Video Watch sheriff describe crimes »

"Escambia County sheriff's department did call for our assistance this week," David Melenkevitz, spokesman for the DEA in Miami, Florida, said.

Morgan wouldn't confirm the DEA's involvement during the briefing to reporters.
 The Billingses at one time had 13 adopted children, many with special needs. Three of those children had died over the years. The couple also each had two biological children of their own, but no biological children together.

Nine of the couple's children were home at the time of the incident, Morgan said Tuesday, and police believe three of them saw the intruders. One managed to flee the home and seek help at a neighbor's house, the sheriff said.

Authorities have said the break-in was well-rehearsed and that at least two of the suspects had military training. Morgan said the men were on the Billingses' property for 10 minutes and were in and out of the house in four. Video Watch experts describe the "military-style" attack »

But the sheriff said Wednesday there was a "gaping hole" in what was otherwise a well-executed crime: "Why was the security system not disabled?"


"The execution was basically flawless," and authorities believe the suspects "entered the compound with the belief that they were not under surveillance," Morgan said.

"We're now looking at anyone who may have had an involvement with the security system," he said. "We believe that there is an additional person, and that was their task and they failed."

Investigators work at a marina in Orange Beach, Ala., where Pamela Long was found. Sheriff David Morgan said Long is returning of her own volition. (Brian Kelly / bkelly@pnj.com)

 
Purchase this Photo

Investigators lead Pamela Long, left, from a dock at The Wharf in Orange Beach, Ala. She is a person of interest in the Billings murder case and is returning to Escambia County. (Brian Kelly / bkelly@pnj.com)

 
Pamela Long is being sought for questioning by Escambia County deputies.

Gonzalez Jr. talks talk, won't walk



 

Thanks, Pamela looks bigger then the picture that LE showed, must have been her drivers license.

 ::MonkeyRoll:: I wasn't even going to touch that one~but, I'd have NEVER recognized her, would you have??????  ::MonkeyTongue::

::MonkeyLaugh:: ::MonkeyLaugh::

If all they had was her driver's license picture, I'm amazed she was ever found! That's some disguise she's wearing.....

A little O/T

IM, sorry to be so long answering you. I did not live in any of those places, but in Mobile. I grew up there and spent many summers and happy times in Orange Beach, Gulf Shores and at Pirates Cove on Perdido Bay. The last time I stayed there was at the Phoenix Condos, but growing up there were cottages all along the beach before Fredrick got them. After that the real estate moguls came in and bought them up and built all the high rises.

Pensacola beach was also a stomping grounds for me most of my life. The Perdido bridge on the west end of Perdido Key was nicknamed by my family the "Wow Bridge" because the view was so breathtaking, the water so beautiful and the sand so powder white.

Florabama was "the place" to go and spent many a happy time there with the sand floors. We met Jimmy Buffet at Pirates Cove, south of Elberta. He was as friendly and nice guy as he appeared on stage.

We always went over to see the Blue Angels, and practice day was just as fun as the real performance. It is hard to explain to someone who hasn't seen those low passes over the water and the boats and people. I miss the area very much.

It is so horrible to think that this kind of crime has happened in a little place like Beulah. It was always so peaceful to drive thru, but I really didn't know anyone that lived there.  ::MonkeyNoNo::

I am seeing no names that I or my family recognize so far. I hope I don't end up knowing those creeps. They are not on my radar from my LE years either. I am holding my breath for the next shoe to drop.
It sound to me like it is not over.   ::MonkeyAngel::

Murder of Couple With 16 Kids
Pamela Long Wiggins Is Eighth Person Charged in Deaths During Florida Home Invasion
By LEE FERRAN, STEVE OSUNSAMI, EMILY FRIEDMAN and BILL McGUIRE
July 15, 2009 
72 comments Font Size   PrintRSSE-mailShare this story with friendsFacebookRedditTwitterStumbleUponMore
A woman sought as a "person of interest" in the killing of Florida super parents Byrd and Melanie Billings was charged late Wednesday with being an accessory after the fact for felony murder.

Ashley Markham talks about the investigation and the hope for her siblings.Pamela Long Wiggins, 47, had returned to Florida Wednesday with a police escort for questioning, just hours after police held up her photo in a nationally televised news conference. She is the eighth person to be charged in connection with the case that has rocked the Florida panhandle.

Wiggins is a real estate agent with ties to two of the men already in custody. Police don't believe she was at the house at the time of the shooting.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said in a news conference that Wiggins has a lawyer and spoke with his investigators. More details of her alleged involvement in the case will be provided at a news conference set for 10 a.m. ET Thursday.

Wiggins was spotted by Alabama police in a marina in the town of Orange Beach and apparently did not know police were searching for her.

Wiggins is a "family friend" and landlord to Leonard Gonzalez Jr., who police called a "pivotal" player in the July 9 double murder, Morgan said.

"We know she was associated with [Gonzalez Jr.] up until the day of the murders," Morgan said.

Morgan says that Wiggins has several aliases, including Pamela Wiggins, Pamela Malden, Pamela Long and Pamela Laverne Long Coco, according to NorthEscambia.com.

Eight suspects are now in custody and there are other person of interest, in what Morgan called a "perfect executed" murder. However, police said they believe they have all those who entered the house in custody.

One other unidentified person of interest, police believe, was someone who was tasked with disabling the Billings' elaborate surveillance system, but failed to do so.

"Obviously there was supposed to be an eight or ninth person" that was supposed to take care of the survellance, Morgan said. "To the best of my knowledge [that person of interest] was not in the home" during the murders.

According to public records consistent with information provided by Morgan, Wiggins is a 47-year-old Georgia woman who was charged with felony grand theft in 1988. That charge was dropped to a misdemeanor to which she pleaded guilty.

The deaths of the Billings couple shocked the country because they had dedicated their lives to caring for disabled children. They had four children of their own, but adopted 12 others, including children with Down syndrome and cerebral palsy.

Earlier Wednesday, the Billings' oldest daughter said she is shocked at the brutal killings that left her and 16 other siblings parentless.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=8086274&page=1

More at link and lots of comments.

Good Morning Monkeys!   ::MonkeyDance::

I just heard on the morning news that there will be a presser at 10:00am today. They've charged Long with accessory after the fact, and said they were able to obtain evidence from her that should help in obtaining convictions in this case.

I hope so! This is one of the most bizarre cases I've ever seen!

I also saw this on the news this morning  ::MonkeyEek::

I agree Fanny~there is NO way to describe to sound and feel from when the Blues buzz you, and usually every Sunday they buzz the beach when returning from an air show-I never get tired of it.

This case is getting stranger by the hour.....news today states she has a Rolls Royce, a 45 ft, yacht (also heard this was Gonzales, Jr's yacht though), and 5 properties in pre-foreclosure. HELLO what is wrong with this picture. They are having another presser in about 4 minutes so I will report anything I find out.

 ::MonkeyTongue:: Just a quick note~I just heard that there was some evidence found at the wharf marina at Orange Beach, AL.........still waiting on presser.

I could have sworn they found the safe at the marina, but haven't heard anymore on it.

That's what we have heard, and also what it looked like in the local video.....but, this crazy biatch is reportedly already out on bond!!!!!!!!!!!

I will say one thing LE has done a fantastic job with everything so far. But I'm sure they must be shocked where all this is leading  ::MonkeyEek::

At this am's presser - safe recovered, and probably murder weapon(s) ...

I think so too, and I remember way back the sheriff stating that "it's like a humdinger (southern word) movie script", also just heard from locals that the safe was found in Pamela Long Wiggins back yard in Gulf Breeze, so have heard marina and back yard so far...........

I only saw part of the presser. From the looks of it, I think the safe was found on the Yatch she was on, and maybe the gun/guns. We were wondering this morning if it was on the boat, heavy as it was, how did they get in on board without tipping it over. Were they planning on taking it out in the gulf and dumping it?? That would have been a feat in itself. Or were they going to go to some other port or even to the islands? Lots of questions going around in my mind.

And how in the world is she out on bond already? That smirk she had on her face yesterday reminded me of Casey. She acted like she was going to a party, rather than being arrested.   ::MonkeyNoNo::

I thought it came from the yacht too, which is large enough if you saw how big the safe was (I have one that size for old videos, photos and legal papers), and a 45 ft yacht would be plenty big enough to carry it off to some Island......I just can't figure out why she didn't go further away than OB, Al?????? Nor why she is out on 10m bond ......I agree she looked like a smart azz after they arrested her. Now, who wants to bid for the yacht that the Marshall's will soon be auctioning off  ::MonkeyDevil::

 ::MonkeyCool::

Finally her arrest records........look at the confidential info portion, crap I hope Florida's liberal sunshine laws untangle that  ::MonkeyTongue::

Rcd  Party Type  Name  Race  Gender  D.O.B. / D.O.D. 
1  Defendant  LONGWIGGINS, PAMELA     XRef-ID: 41108135  W  F  10/22/1961 
Address: 1206 SOUNDVIEW TRL GULF BREEZE FL  32561  (Home Address on 07/16/2009)
 
PARTY CHARGE SUMMARY 
Rcd  Chg/
Cnt  Phase  Charge Description  Charge Disposition  Disposition Date 
1  1  Initial  PUBLIC ORDER CRIMES-ACCESSORY AFT THE FACT 3RD DEG   
DISPOSITIONS 
Rcd  Status  Status Date  Disposition Code  Disp Date  Judge 
1  OPEN  07/16/2009  Undisposed   B / BELL , FRANK L 
DOCKETS 
Rcd  Date  Description  Document Tag # 
1   07/16/2009    NEW CASE AFFIDAVIT PROCESSED   
2   07/16/2009    ARREST DATE: 7/15/2009   
3   07/16/2009    DOCUMENT FILED WITH CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION   
4   07/16/2009    ARREST REPORT FILED   
EVENTS 

Source: Pensacola News Journal:

Wiggins drove van, hid safe
Kris Wernowsky • kwernowsky@pnj.com • July 16, 2009
·         
·         
·         
Before the planned invasion of the Billingses’ compound, a red minivan was left at a predetermined location near the Beulah crime scene to aid in the planned escape, investigators said. That minivan belonged to Pamela Wiggins, according to a police report.


Defendants cooperating with investigators said that the guns used during the robbery and killings were transferred into Wiggins’ minivan which was later observed at a her antique business in the 4300 of Gulf Breeze Parkway, according to an arrest report.
Wiggins was a passenger while the Billingses’ safe and the guns were in the van “and had knowledge these weapons were used by the suspects during the commission of the home invasion (and) double homicide.”
A neighbor reported that a second red vehicle sped away from Gonzalez Sr.’s Palm Court home in Escambia County with several people inside.
Hugh Wiggins, her husband, told investigators during an interview that the safe was stolen during the robbery at the Billingses’ home and was hidden in the back yard of one of his wife’s homes, the report said.
Property records show that Wiggins owns at least six pieces of property in Santa Rosa County. The arrest report doesn’t indicate where the safe was found.




ADD to this, if you do a google map search of 1206 soundview, gulf breeze, fl and do the street view, she has this red mini-van parked in her yard!

Wow, and the house where the red van is parked, is one great looking house.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090716/ap_on_re_us/us_florida_couple_slain
Loose ends still need tying in Fla. couple deaths
July 16, 2009
  By BILL KACZOR, Associated Press Writer Bill Kaczor, Associated Press Writer   – 42 mins ago

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Investigators have found a safe stolen during a precisely executed, deadly home break-in at the home of a wealthy Florida Panhandle couple, authorities said Thursday.

Melanie and Byrd Billings, who were known for adopting 13 children with special needs, were fatally shot last week. Surveillance cameras captured footage of masked men — some dressed as ninjas — slipping into front and back doors of their home near Pensacola.

Eight people have been charged — seven with murder and one with being an accessory after the fact

State Attorney Bill Eddins wouldn't say where the safe was found, what was in it or what else might have been taken from the home.

He also said investigators have found several guns, including at least one they believe was used to kill the Billingses.

Eddins said the case was mostly wrapped up.

"In our opinion this was a home invasion robbery where the people stole a safe," he said. "It was as simple as that as to the motive."

But Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said at a news conference with Eddins that other motives may emerge and there are still people investigators want to talk to.

"We have some people of interest that we're continuing to look at and I can tell you that those are now numerous people," Morgan said.

One of those people may have been someone who failed to carry out an assignment to disable surveillance cameras at the sprawling nine-bedroom home.

Morgan said a major hole in the investigation is why the cameras weren't turned off, marring an otherwise perfect crime. The surveillance videos led investigators to a red van used as a used as a getaway car and eventually to the suspects, a loosely connected group of mostly day laborers who knew each other through a power washing business and an auto detailing operation.

"It is a combination of friendships, casual business relationships that brought this group together," Morgan said.

Deputies on Wednesday arrested the eighth suspect, 47-year-old Pamela Long Wiggins, charging her with accessory after the fact to murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

The other seven — six men an a 16-year-old boy — each face two counts of murder.

Wiggins was freed on a $10,000 bond, the teen is being held in detention and the six men are jailed without bond.

Morgan has said Wiggins is a friend and landlord to 35-year-old Leonard Gonzalez Jr., described as a "pivotal person" in organizing the break-in. Gonzalez, who is charged with murder, proclaimed his innocence in court Tuesday.

Morgan said Thursday that Wiggins led them to evidence, though he would not be more specific.

Morgan also confirmed that the Drug Enforcement Administration is assisting with the investigation of the suspects, but he said the agency is not investigating the Billings family.

He said Escambia County officials have also sought help from other federal agencies including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Nine of the couple's 13 adopted children were home during the break-in. Three saw the intruders but were not hurt. The couple also had four children from previous marriages.

And in a high dollar area, Gulf Breeze proper, right across the street from the sound which is directly before the beach over the bridge.......I'll have to check to see if this was one of her homes in pre-foreclosure.

The more that comes out, the madder and madder I get.  Disgusting.  I hope they throw the book at this Pamela person.  I hope they didn't make some kind of deal for the information.  What a sack of crap.  She knew.  Uggghh. 

I'm leaning that way too~I wonder if they are doing with they did Gonzales Sr, first they only charged him with tampering with evidence - now he has two cahrges of open murder on the books, I pray to God they are following her and keeping close tabs.

 From the news articles posted here, it looks like DEA, ATF, FBI and etc. are all on board in the investigation.  Between them, I hope for a thorough investigation.  I hope each and every possible lead is followed.  I hope each person that has ANY kind of involvement in this is followed up on and brought in and charged if charges can be made.  I hope they nail the people responsible for this to the wall.  I'm mighty interested to find out what was worth so much to the people who committed this crime?  They must have been extremely confident they would be able to pull off this off.   It looks like so far, there are at LEAST 8 people that had knowledge this crime was in the plans.  There were guns involved and used to shoot the Billings. To me, if you bring in guns, you intend to shoot.  If you intend to shoot, you intend to kill.  Trigger man or not, they all have blood on their hands.  And there is a house full of disabled children without parents.   ::MonkeyNoNo::  I keep wonder if maybe a couple of these guys were just losers in life.  Maybe they felt superior or maybe they enjoyed the thrill of the practicing, since it appears there was at least a month's planning.  Was it desperation?  I don't know.  It's hard for me to think like someone that would do these things.  All jmho.

 ::MonkeyEek:: ::MonkeyEek:: Breaking info: Pam Wiggins Red minivan (in the photo of home I linked) was the other get-a-way vehicle, it carried the safe and the guns to the backyard of a home she owned.......that's FAR worse than accessory after the fact, sounds more like conspiracy to me ::MonkeyNoNo::


That house posted IS in preforeclosure  ::MonkeyTongue:: Just thought I'd check that specific property out.

Looks like we were right according to what was just released........Love your new avi also Muffy, everyone looks so cute in their summer duds!!!!!!!

This is the strangest case. You very seldom see so many people involved in a home invasion. Wonder what was all in that safe?

I can't even imagine....it didn't look that big and unless they had a chitload of bearer bonds, I can't imagine what could be split 9 ways so far....I've never seen anything involving this many people ever.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090716/NEWS01/90716008

Wiggins rode in van, hid Billings' safe
Kris Wernowsky • kwernowsky@pnj.com • July 16, 2009

Print this page E-mail this article Share Del.icio.us
 Facebook
 Digg
 Reddit
 Newsvine
 Buzz up!Twitter
  Before the planned invasion of the Billingses’ compound, a red minivan was left near the Beulah crime scene to aid in the planned escape, investigators said.



That minivan belonged to Pamela Wiggins, according to a police report.


Defendants cooperating with investigators said that the guns used during the robbery and killings were transferred into Wiggins’ minivan which was later observed at a her antique business in the 4300 of Gulf Breeze Parkway, according to an arrest report.


Wiggins was a passenger while the Billingses’ safe and the guns were in the van “and had knowledge these weapons were used by the suspects during the commission of the home invasion (and) double homicide.”


A neighbor reported that a second red vehicle sped away from Gonzalez Sr.’s Palm Court home in Escambia County with several people inside.


Hugh Wiggins, her husband, told investigators during an interview that the safe was stolen during the robbery at the Billingses’ home and was hidden in the back yard of one of his wife’s homes, the report said.


Property records show that Wiggins owns at least six pieces of property in Santa Rosa County. The arrest report doesn’t indicate where the safe was found.

Bumping my own quote, because I modified my post.  I am in agreement with what was said, and wanted to add the above. 

I wonder about Hugh Wiggins.  Did he know or suspect ANYTHING at all about this before it happened?  And what about after? 

I have heard around here Gonzales, jr (the pivotal role played by this jerkwad), has a major attitide problems and thinks he is superior to others with hisx martial arts ). His neigbhors complained about how he would whip out a gun in the yard and threaten anyone over anything.

I agree they ALL (even the 16 yr old) have blood on their hands and now the Markhams are left too pick up the pieces from a already fragile family that is now broken.

Ditto on everything you posted!

I'm curious too~he is on one of the sites talking about how much "unaccounted for money" and how capable she is of being involved in this type of crime, I'll see if I can find it for you before I go home.

There had to be - or at least the perps thought there was - something in that safe they could either cash in or cash itself, or jewelry?  Surely they would realize they couldn't just pawn stuff that was the Billings personal property.  Unless of course they were going to get away on a boat, out of the country and hock the contents.

They KNEW where the safe was.  They KNEW the layout of the house.  HOW?  They were only on the property 10 minutes.  That included breaking in, shooting the Billings, getting the safe, stealing other things, loading the safe in the van and leaving.  That's not much time.

As much as it seems the suspects are talking, I would imagine LE probably has a pretty good idea by now.

I also agree with you Muffy - they ALL have blood on their hands. 

Like I said, unless they had bearer bonds in that safe splitting jewelry, etc among nine people makes NO sense to me. On top of that they were only in the house 4 minutes total, and the murder is on the surveillance-makes me wonder wtf these monsters were doing for the previous 30 days........and why they even did this while it was light outside..........IMO, nothing adds up and the sheriff just stated last hour he expects motive to play out the further we get into this.

 ::MonkeyTongue:: Seven weapons recovered so far, at least one is a 9mm.....

Thank you so much everyone for all the updates.  I had a major computer melt down yesterday right after I made my last post here & am now on a temporary computer till mine is fixed.  I missed the pressors & everything else.  Sorry to be off topic, but I just wanted to let you know how much I appreciate all your good work.
 ::MonkeyAngel::

I'm so glad they found Pamela & LE is doing a great job!  I just can't believe she already bonded out.  I would think she would be a flight risk.  And her husband.  Big questions there.  Did they live together, separated, divorced?

Anyway, thank you again for the great work.

This one she is seperated from and he stated he had been trying to obtain a divorce for yrs.....let me find his info for you.


http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_2769.shtml


CYL~outta here until tomorrow! Have a great night.......

Ya'll have done a great job gathering information.  Thank you.

I read that Pamela just married again in December of last year, according to court records.
Yet the estranged husband says he has been trying to divorce her for years. ::MonkeyConfused::

I think she and Gonzales, Jr. are the masterminds of the whole thing.  I can't figure why they
made her bond so low.

There is more to this story than we know at this time. IMO

Thank you for the link IM.  I was also able to see some of the videos and get more background information.  I hadn't seen some of the information in the videos in the general news.  All quite interesting.  I wonder if there will be more charges forthcoming for Pamela Wiggins?  And I hope LE finds out why the security cameras weren't turned off.

I agree with you Magnolia.  There is more to this story. 

TY IM.  Sorry I missed you.  That was a very interesting video at the link you posted.  You are so helpful.   ::MonkeyAngel::

It wasn't the carrying it on the 45 footer, it was getting the weight of that thing loaded on the boat without tipping it, especially if you were doing it by hand. I guess a small crane or or chain fall/hoist could do it and would probably be one in the vicinity of the marina.

However, it is neither here nor there because the safe was found in the back of her mini van along with gun(s) behind a house.

I agree MuffyBee.  I hope there are heavier charges coming down the pike for Ms. Pamela.  It sure sounds like she was one of the heavier "players".

Sorry about your computer Cece. Hope you get your regular back soon.  ::MonkeyAngel::

I just can't figure why the low bond for Pamela Wiggins, or whoever she is. It seems like with access to a boat and money she would be a flight risk. Maybe they are hoping she will lead them to some others that are involved. So far, it seems the Escambia County Sheriff's Office and the other federal agencies are handling this pretty well. I pray they are.  ::MonkeyAngel::

It was also interesting in that video that they mention a "possible" connection to  Mexican drug runners & a gang MS13.  (At least that's what I thougth they were saying).

I wonder how many times that b*tch has been married. I think that explains all the alias'.

TY Fanny Mae.  I am having trouble navigating this one & don't have my regular bookmarks, but I'm just glad to be able to catch up a little on what has been going on here.

Seems a lot is breaking fast & I'm so glad they were able to get the leads early on.  What a horrible crime.  It breaks my heart for their family.   ::MonkeyAngel::

Good night Fanny Mae.  I'm going to try to read up on the Haleigh thread before I have to log off.  Hope you have a great evening.   ::MonkeyAngel::

(Sorry I'm off topic)

Good Nite Cece. I'm going back on the other threads myself.  ::MonkeyAngel::

Here is a link to Gonzales Jr that might give some insight about how crazy he is. An interview with his former in-laws. http://tiny.cc/GvjZc

This is from CBS:

  Documents obtained exclusively by CBS News shed light on the mindset and criminal past of the lead suspect in the grisly murder of a Florida couple who provided a home to 16 children.

Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. , 35, has been accused of being the "organizer" in the murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings in Beulah, Florida on July 9. So far, eight persons have been arrested in those murders, including Gonzalez, who is being held without bond.

Pamela Long Wiggins, the only woman charged in the case, was arrested earlier this week in Alabama. Wiggins may have personal ties to Gonzalez, the alleged mastermind of the robbery-murder attack.

CBS News has exclusively obtained the confidential deposition of Gonzalez Jr. in an unrelated case in Pensacola, Florida.

Gonzalez Jr. was subpoenaed by the State Attorney’s office and granted blanket immunity for his involvement in that case.

During the October 30, 2008 deposition, Gonzalez, Jr. describes how his criminal past started when he was only 17 years old and violated his probation. He credits his criminal history for preparing him for the job he held at the time, which he described as "criminal counter-measures."

"Had I not committed those crimes and suffered and paid the consequences, I wouldn’t be able to do the job that I do now," Gonzalez, Jr. told James Jenkins, the criminal defense attorney who was taking his deposition.

Gonzalez, Jr. received $150,000 for providing "intelligence" services from January through April of 2008, according to Jenkins.

During the deposition Gonzalez characterized himself this way:

-- I had a colorful background and if you want to call it a misspent youth. I worked as a body guard for several people in the area and I did do some criminal countermeasures work.

-- I understand the criminal thought processes. I can help people to decide what’s the best measure they should take to protect themselves and their families and businesses.

-- I was interested in starting a company, UDT Institute. It stands for Ultimate Defensive Tactics Institute, which would provide criminal countermeasures training to wealthy individuals.

In the deposition, he also described himself as an advocate for victimized children. And interestingly said at one point, "I couldn’t commit a crime."

Gonzalez and six of the alleged accomplices are charged with murder and scheduled for a grand jury hearing where the case will be presented by Florida state Attorney Bill Eddins.

Thanks to all for all the updates!

Blanket immunity?  He must be singing like a bird.

If this was robbery, why not just tie everybody up and take the safe?  Were they afaid of being recognized by voice or something of that nature? 

Agree, there is more to learn about motive in this but seems LE is doing a good job and with all the agencies involved, they are likely to get to the bottom of this.  Just wish none of them got any immunity from anything.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/17/florida.couple.funeral/
Slain Florida couple's funeral set for Friday
July 17, 2009
PENSACOLA, Florida (CNN)  -- A funeral will be held Friday for a Florida couple killed in what police say was a carefully planned home-invasion robbery.
 Eight people have been arrested in last week's shootings of Byrd and Melanie Billings in their sprawling home near Pensacola, Florida, which they shared with their many children. The couple was known for adopting children with special needs.

Friday's service scheduled for noon at Pensacola's Liberty Church was expected to include readings by the couple's daughters, followed by a burial at the Pensacola Memorial Gardens.

The couple at one time had 13 adopted children, but three of the adopted children have died over the years. Byrd and Melanie Billings also each had two biological children of their own, but no biological children together.

Nine of the children were at home at the time of the home-invasion, and authorities think three children saw the intruders. One managed to flee and seek help at a neighbor's house.

Seven men -- one of them a 16-year-old -- are charged with murder in the killings. An eighth person, Pamela Long Wiggins, faces charges of accessory after the fact of felony murder.
 Authorities said Thursday they located "valuable evidence," including a stolen safe and several guns. Authorities believe at least one of those guns was used to kill the Billingses, said state attorney Bill Eddins. Video Watch authorities detail findings »

Police said they planned to interview two more people in the couple's slaying.
advertisement

Friends and relatives attended a visitation Thursday, which featured pictures of the family on posters and video monitors in the church lobby. A constant stream of cars arrived and departed during the three-hour service. The Billingses' caskets were closed.

They were "the sweetest people you would want to meet in your life," their dog groomer, who declined to give her name, said as she left the church.

Anna~The blanket immunity was for another incident, not the double homicide.........in fact I think he will get the DP for this one as he has an extensive record, and so do many including Pam Long Wiggins who is a suspect in an arson in Albany, NY that burned down one of her properties that was in foreclosure.

BBM

 ::MonkeyEek::

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090717/NEWS01/907170323


Article and photo about which property the safe was found:

Billings safe found in suspect's backyard
Kris Wernowsky • kwernowsky@pnj.com • July 17, 2009


  Pamela Wiggins had the safe.



Her red minivan carried the evidence away after the slaying of Byrd and Melanie Billings inside the couple's sprawling rural Beulah home, according to arrest reports.

A view of her backyard in Gulf Breeze on Thursday revealed where authorities dug through piles of brick and earth earlier this week for what law enforcement officials called a "medium-sized" safe — the object of desire in the July 9 home invasion that has attracted national attention.

With the recovery of that pivotal piece of evidence and several guns, including a murder weapon, the major investigative phase of the case is at an end, State Attorney Bill Eddins said at a Thursday morning news conference.

"There are obviously some loose ends to tie up," he said.

Wiggins' husband, Hugh, told investigators that the safe was stolen during the robbery at the Billingses' home and that it was hidden in the backyard of one of his wife's homes, the report said.

Wiggins owns at least six houses in the Gulf Breeze area. Her address listed in phone directories and also in the Sheriff's Office's arrest report places her primary residence in the 1200 block of Ramblewood Drive. That is where investigators found the buried safe.

Out on bond
Wiggins posted $10,000 bond and was at that Gulf Breeze residence by Thursday afternoon.

Wiggins' bond was lower than the seven other defendants' because her alleged crime is less severe and because she cooperated with investigators, Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said. Prosecutors have not ruled out filing additional charges against her.

Wiggins did not answer the door at her Gulf Breeze home when visited by reporters. Two Escambia County deputies who arrived in an unmarked car were seen entering her home shortly after 3 p.m. A sheriff's spokeswoman could not confirm why the deputies paid her the afternoon visit.

The Billingses were known throughout the Pensacola area for adopting special-needs children, nine of whom were in the couple's Beulah home when the killings occurred.

(2 of 2)


The weeklong investigation has netted eight arrests, including Wiggins, 47, and her friend, Leonard Gonzalez Jr., 35, the man investigators called the "organizer" of the precise military-style raid on the couple's home.



The seven men accused in the raid are in Escambia County Jail with no bond on two open counts of murder each. The cases will head to a grand jury in the coming weeks.

Eddins also confirmed Thursday afternoon that the recovered safe was "medium-sized, but small enough for one person to carry." Eddins declined to reveal its contents.

Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said he could not comment about reports that there was more than one safe in the home.

While Eddins refused to say what kinds of weapons were recovered, police reports show that at least three guns were carried into the home. Several spent 9 mm casings were recovered.

Wiggins' minivan
Investigators still are searching for two "persons of interest" with possible connections to the case, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. One of those people is someone investigators believe was tasked with disabling the couple's extensive room-to-room surveillance system from a remote location, but didn't, Morgan said.

Wiggins — a Gulf Breeze property manager — is charged as an accessory after the fact. The charge carries a possible 30-year state prison sentence upon conviction. She was taken in for questioning Wednesday afternoon after she was found at an Orange Beach, Ala., marina on her yacht named "Classy Lady." She was arrested as the evening waned.

Her role in the elaborate home invasion was unclear until new details emerged Thursday through arrest reports.

Before the planned invasion of the Billings compound, a red minivan was left near the Beulah crime scene to aid in the planned escape, investigators said.

That minivan belonged to Wiggins, according to a police report.

Defendants cooperating with investigators said the guns used during the robbery and killings were transferred to Wiggins' minivan, which was later seen at a her antique shop in the 4300 block of Gulf Breeze Parkway, according to an arrest report.

Wiggins was a passenger in the minivan while the guns and the Billingses' safe were inside the vehicle. She "had knowledge these weapons were used by the suspects during the commission of the home invasion (and) double homicide," the arrest report said.

A neighbor reported that a red vehicle sped away from co-defendant Leonard Gonzalez Sr.'s Palm Court home in Escambia County with several people inside. Another larger 15-passenger van seen in surveillance footage from the Billingses' home was found behind Gonzalez Sr.'s trailer.

Both vans were recovered.

Marina Management President Leo Cyr said Wiggins kept her yacht docked at Palafox Pier in downtown Pensacola until about January of this year. The lease on the slip was in Pamela Wiggins' name, he said. He never met the Wigginses personally.

"They kept it here for a while and then she got into us for about $3,000," he said. "We came here one day and the boat was gone."




Next Page1 | 2Previous Page
In Your Voice| Read reactions to this story
 Newest first Oldest first
ralphie-redryder wrote:

How dare the authorities set her bond at an exhorbitant $10,000? I think $9.75 would have been much more appropriate and sensible.
1. She is neither "classy" nor a "lady".
2. If she bolts, whoever set her bail should be held ACCOUNTABLE!
3. Apparently these miscreants have created a new term---SMUG SHOTS. Hopefully those looks will be wiped off by either Old Sparky or some amorous cellmates.
7/17/2009 9:06:06 AM How dare the authorities set her bond at an exhorbitant $10,000?  I think $9.75 would have been much more appropriate and sensible.  <br />1. She is neither "classy" nor a "lady".<br />2. If she bolts, whoever set her bail should be held ACCOUNTABLE!<br />3. Apparently these miscreants have created a new term---SMUG SHOTS.  Hopefully those looks will be wiped off by either Old Sparky or some amorous cellmates. ralphie-redryder
Recommend  New post  Reply to this Post  Report Abuse 


bigtime4all2 wrote:

How can she be married to Hugh if she is still married to this Malden dude? I believe her bail was too low - she obviously had a lot to do with the whole thing - send up down with the rest of them...
7/17/2009 8:54:10 AM How can she be married to Hugh if she is still married to this Malden dude?  I believe her bail was too low - she obviously had a lot to do with the whole thing - send up down with the rest of them... bigtime4all2
Recommend  New post  Reply to this Post  Report Abuse 


terrwe wrote:

still the sherriffs department has done a great job in finding these scumbags.I rest a little easier knowing that they have been working so hard.Thanks to all the people who have worked to bring these people to justice.
7/17/2009 8:51:04 AM still the sherriffs department has done a great job in finding these scumbags.I rest a little easier knowing that they have been working so hard.Thanks to all the people who have worked to bring these people to justice. terrwe
Recommend(1)  New post  Reply to this Post  Report Abuse 


terrwe wrote:

There has to be more to this story.I am sure that the sherriffs dept. is watching this,for loss of better words,lady.We can only hope this is a tactic for getting more information from her.I hope that she will be dealt with to the full extent of the law.Still the
7/17/2009 8:47:28 AM There has to be more to this story.I am sure that the sherriffs dept. is watching this,for loss of better words,lady.We can only hope this is a tactic for getting more information from her.I hope that she will be dealt with to the full extent of the law.Still the terrwe
Recommend(1)  New post  Reply to this Post  Report Abuse 


1 2 3 4 5 >> LastFull page view See more comments per page and quote other replies


The back yard of Pamela Wiggins home at 1247 Ramblewood Drive in Gulf Breeze. Wiggins is a suspect in connection to the robbery and murder of Melanie and Byrd Billings. The Billingses' safe was found by ESO investigators in a hole in the center of a large pile of bricks in the back yard of Wiggins' home. (Katie King / kking@pnj.com)

The DEA rumors addressed
Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said he didn't contact the federal Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate Byrd and Melanie Billings.

Speaking at a Thursday morning news conference, Morgan addressed a prevalent rumor that the DEA was asked to investigate the couple who were found shot to death July 9 inside their home in Beulah.

Morgan said that the DEA was brought in to examine potential drug-related crimes involving the suspects in the homicides.

"The Billings family, to the best of my knowledge, is not the focus of any investigation by the DEA," he said. "I am not sure where that started. But please, today, let's put that to rest."

David Melenkevitz, spokesman for the DEA in Miami confirmed his agency's involvement but declined to discuss the case.

Edited to remove ads, etc. (No text of story or commentary removed) MB
 

That's right Muffy~I found it here

http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=10740008&nav=menu37_3

Pamela Wiggins had long Albany history

Posted: July 16, 2009 02:06 PM PDT

Updated: July 16, 2009 02:39 PM PDT

Video Gallery <1>

Woman swept up in Fla. murders was Albanian
3:46
 
 
 
 Related Links
 
 Albany native charged in Florida killings
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 More News Headlines
 
Classmate talks about Pamela Long Wiggins
 
Healthcare town hall
 
Men charged with Sumter beating and kidnapping in jail
 
Sumter suspect arrested in Hoosier State
 
Darton is teaching a drivers ed class
 
Pamela Wiggins had long Albany history
 
 
 
 
 
By Jennifer Emert - bio | email

ALBANY, GA (WALB) -  Investigators have recovered the murder weapon used to kill a prominent Florida couple, and tonight, we know the 8th suspect in those murders is a woman who was born and raised in Albany.

47-year old Pamela Long Coco Wiggins is charged as an accessory after the fact to the murders of Melanie and Byrd Billings.

They were shot to death in their home outside Pensacola last Thursday while nine of their 17 children were in the house.

Eight suspects are now charged in connection the deadly military-style home invasion. Prosecutors say robbery was the primary motive.

Pamela Wiggins grew up in Albany, owned several rental properties and got a divorce here in 1992.

Pamela Long Coco Wiggins was born here in Albany 1961 and graduated from Albany High School in 1979. After several marriages, she has a string of last names on her records including Wiggins and Maldin.

She still has family here. In fact, we tracked down her mother in Northwest Albany but she didn't want to talk about her daughter's arrest.

Pamela Long Coco and her then-husband Tom owned a house on West First Avenue from 1986 to 1995. Neighbors say the couple was always busy with renovations.

 "They were over there working hard most for the time you could tell they were busy doing stuff most of the time, but they seemed like nice people," a neighbor told us.

One of the most interesting things we found was this property on Park Lane now owned by Phoebe. The large home that used to be on this lot burned, and firefighters say it was suspicious.

"The fire was an intentionally set fire. We found pour patterns throughout the structure so we know it was intentionally set," said Albany Fire Chief James Carswell.

 Carswell said he remembered the case and called Pamela a strong suspect at the time. But she was never charged with a crime in that fire. "At some point when we were doing the interview she got a lawyer, we got no more progress on the investigation from her."

The case remains open, though. We also learned that Pamela Long filed for bankruptcy in 1993 on a property she owned on North Slappey.

We also learned today that she divorced Tom Coco here in Dougherty County in 1992, and records indicate she sold her remaining property in Albany back in 2001.

Wiggins posted a $10,000 bond Thursday.




ON TOP OF THAT~according to the local news, she remarried last yr to Wiggins and wasn't even divorced from Malden, and I found her marriage license to Link IIRC in 2002 or 2003 in Escambia county (I guess she gets around) literally!!!

I just have to trust that the sheriff let her out to follow her and find the other persons of interest, nothing else makes sense to me. Today I am going to drive by her house that is on the sound and see if there is any activity there.

 ::MonkeyTongue::

Woman charged in Billings killings had Georgia ties
By RHONDA COOK


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

ShareThis
Print
E-mail
Reprints
A Florida real estate agent was released on $10,000 bond Thursday, the day after she was charged as an accessory after the fact to the Florida Gulf Coast murders of Melanie and Byrd Billings.

 AP This photo provided Wednesday July 15, 2009 by the Okaloosa County Sheriff's office shows real estate agent Pamela Laverne Long. Police do not believe she was at the house the night the Billingses were killed but they do believe she rented property to one of the suspects, 35-year-old Leonard Gonzalez Jr., whom Morgan described as a "pivotal person" in the operation.

Related
Fla. couple to be laid to rest as probe continues
Photos: 'Ninjas' kill Florida couple
Related Metro stories »
SUV from Dome killing sought
Chamber unveils business recruiting strategy
Burglars hit Buckhead T.J. Maxx
Teeth trip becomes fiery escape
The Billings were parents of 17 children, most of them adopted and with special needs.

Pamela Long Wiggins, 47, was the eighth person arrested in connection with the deadly home invasion last week at the Billings’ nine-bedroom house in the Beulah community near Pensacola on the Florida panhandle. The other seven have already been charged with murder and Pensacola police are looking for one more person.

Wiggins is the only suspect not charged with murder. She is accused of knowing about the fatal shootings after the fact.

Wiggins history is somewhat confusing but she has Georgia ties.

Public records indicate Wiggins lived in Albany from the mid 1980s until around 2002. Her widowed mother still has a house in the southwest Georgia city; Doris Long did not return messages left on an home answering machine or voice mail.

During those years Wiggins was in Albany, she married Charles Thomas Coco, who died in 2007.

She married a second time on May 5, 2007, according Jimmy Malden Jr. Malden said he left Wiggins five months later but they still are not divorced.

“I’m still fighting. It’s still pending. I’m still trying to get the title to my Harley [Davidson motorcycle],” Malden said.

He said he has been trying to divorce her for 1 1/2 years.

Yet, prosecutors said Wiggins was her “married name,” and CNN reported that records show she married Hugh Gregory Wiggins last year, and one of the accused killers may have been a witness to the ceremony, “Leonard P. Gonzalez.”

Neighbors told the Pensacola Daily Journal Wiggins had two children — a teenage son and younger daughter.

Records show she owns eight residential properties in Santa Rosa County, Fla., and her Magnolia Antique Mall is the registered owner of The Classy Lady, the 47-foot yacht moored at an Orange Beach marina where police found her on Tuesday.

Wiggins’ previous husband, Malden, said his former wife seemed to have a lot of cash that couldn’t be easily explained and she boasted about her wealth and “her position in society,” he said.

Police said one of her links to the July 9 crime was her tenant, Leonard Gonzalez Jr., a suspect police said had a critical role in planning the crime.

Gonzalez’s father, Leonard P. Gonzalez Sr. also is charged. The senior Gonzalez owned a power-washing company that Billings once hired.

Police and prosecutors said images captured on the Billings’ home’s security cameras led investigators to the suspects. The videos showed masked men dressed as ninjas coming through the front and back doors. They trained for 30 days, authorities said.

“The execution was basically flawless,” Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan told reporters. “The one gaping hole that would not have made this a perfect operation, if you will, was the fact that the surveillence system was not disabled. I guess the question was why was it not?”

The suspects, ranging in age from 16 to 56, were in the house only four minutes.

Nine of the couple’s 13 adopted children were home during the break-in and three of them saw the intruders. The couple also had four children from previous marriages.

The videos led investigators to a red van used as a getaway car and eventually to the suspects, a loosely connected group of mostly day laborers who knew each other through the Gonzalez washing business and an auto detailing operation.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.



http://www.ajc.com/news/woman-charged-in-billings-93336.html

Thanks for all the articles  ::MonkeyCool::

Thanks Muffy~I'm still half asleep this am.........

Im - this why I think they set her bail so low....LE wanted her out in hopes she leads them to further evidence in this case.  If/when she does this and they have all they need from her being out, hopefully they will be re-arresting her and charging her with murder.

Friends, loved ones
remember Fla. pair
Crucial evidence found in Billings
case
Updated: Friday, 17 Jul 2009, 7:19 AM EDT
Published : Friday, 17 Jul 2009, 7:15 AM EDT

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WALA) - Visitation was held Thursday for a Gulf Coast couple murdered one week earlier. Byrd and Melanie Billings were found shot to death in their Florida home last Thursday.

"It's just terrible. It's just terrible. It's just hard to put into words really," said family friend Becky Biggs.

"What do you say? It's just unreal that somebody could do something like that to people like Melanie and Byrd," said Biggs.

One after the other, friends, neighbors, even strangers arrived for a visitation at Liberty Church in Pensacola to show support and outrage.

One family friend, Wanda Moredo, had a clipping of the suspect's pictures from the paper. "You see these people? They are trash," said Moredo.  "If I had a trash can I would throw them right in front of them. I wanted to burn it. I want them all to pay, every one of them."

Moredo was visibly upset at Thursday's visitation, but says she'll never forget Byrd's kind heart.

"Me and Bud were just good friends, and when I moved to Pensacola, I'll just never forget his big smile," she said. "He just smiled all the time. That's what I'm going to remember about Bud, his smile."

Becky Biggs worked with many of the Billings' special needs children. She says Melanie couldn't have been nicer.

"She was a very nice person, very friendly. She never had a bad word to say," said Biggs. "We pretty much saw her on a regular basis, just a very nice person."

The couple will be laid to rest Friday, but residents know the family is still in need.

"We wish them the best," said one supporter. "Our hearts are with them right now and we know it's a tough time and we're here for them."

The funeral service will start at 11 a.m. Friday at Liberty Church in Pensacola. Burial will follow at Pensacola Memorial Gardens.

Crucial evidence found in Billings case

Hundreds of friends and family members gathered at Liberty Church Thursday, for a visitation for Byrd and Melanie Billings. While they prepared to say goodbye to them, developments continued to break in the investigation.

Just hours after the eighth arrest in the case, deputies seized critical evidence.

State Attorney Bill Eddins said, "We have located the safe, and the safe is being processed at this time. We have located several guns in various locations, one of which we believe is the murder weapon."

They found all this after they arrested Pamela Long Wiggins for accessory after the fact. A police report states that Wiggins' husband told deputies the safe was buried behind one of her properties. Investigators say Wiggins owned a red mini-van that was used to move the safe and the weapons and investigators also say Wiggins was in that van with the evidence.

Investigators believe she may be the last missing piece in the crime.

Sheriff David Morgan said, "The investigation has been consistent, even with the last individual placed under arrest. It is a combination of friendships, casual business relationships that brought this group together."

Investigators won't comment on what was inside the safe or anything else that was taken, but it does give them a more defined motive.

Eddins said, "This was a home invasion robbery. I personally find it that simple."

Sheriff Morgan said, "We do believe as it progresses, the investigation continues, additional motives will be found."

http://www.woodtv.com/dpp/news/national/south/nat_wala_pensacola_friends_loved_ones_remember_florida_couple_20090717714_2650096

I feel pretty sure about this one from what I'm hearing, then I want them all charged as the others are now for 2 counts capital murder.......I check the arrest records everyday to see what's up, but her's has confidential info that has been redacted and that leads me to believe their is more to this story.

Sad coincidence is there IS a realtor in Gulf Breeze named Pam Long.....she's been inundated with calls because in the beginning many didin't know if this Pam Long, Link, Maldin, Coco, Wiggins etc was a realtor or just an investor....can you imagine being the OTHER blonde Pam Long, that has to suck big time!

 ::MonkeyEek::

Arrest warrants except for Long-Wiggins.......

Watching local press conference  re: Billings murders, only RX for the kids and personal effects found in safe  ::MonkeyNoNo:: ::MonkeyNoNo::


Pieces of Ch!T!!!!!!!!!! The Redneck Riviera 8 are going to hell in a handbasket.

BBM
Someone (?) must have seen the safe at some time.  And maybe that someone started trying to think of all that MIGHT be in the safe.  And talked about it to someone esle, and maybe the story got added on, and added on until maybe before long, it was decided there IS something of great value in the safe.  UNLESS whatever this group of murdering thieves were looking for wasn't in the safe.  Is there something they were after that might be stored elsewhere?  Were there rumors perhaps gold or platinum had been purchased and stored there?  Drugs?   Certain paperwork that would have value?   :smt102  It sounds like a lot of people and planning went into this for a safe that yielded zip.  Was anything removed from the safe?  I find it strange it was decided to just grab the safe.  No one forced one of the Billings to open the safe?  Just went in and killed the Billings, grabbed the safe and ran?  Something is strange.  This is't the whole story, imo.  Unless besides the security cameras not being turned off, someone didn't do their homework about the contents of the safe.  Were these thieving murderers that stupid?  A month of planning/practice and someone didn't turn off the security cameras and the safe they stole didn't have value to thieves?   :scratch:  They were very dumb or we are missing something, imo.  Or just maybe the safe was taken so it would appear to be a robbery, when in fact it was a hit.

  ::MonkeyEek:: That is all that is in the safe? I thought for sure there would have been jewels and money  ::MonkeyShocked::

In a word, YES~they were stupid....they even committed these murders while it was light outside. We are hearing about a hit around here, so the stealing of a safe for no reason could make sense, but IF it's a hit, why involve so many people........I think they are definitely holding back some info and other leads are being developed, because otherwise this is just ludicrous to think nine people would split the contents of a safe. I can't wait to find out the entire story, and last night I did hear something I DID NOT know on the local news, when Byrd first moved here he opened a strip club.............(insert shocked face here).

Now there was some jewelry that from what they said was in their for sentimental reason, nothing really expensive......let me see if it has hit Pensacola News Journal yet and post if it has:


Safe contained meds, jewelry
July 17, 2009

Print this page E-mail this article Share Del.icio.us
 Facebook
 Digg
 Reddit
 Newsvine
 Buzz up!Twitter
  The safe stolen from the Billingses' home contained children's medication, family documents and jewelry "of sentimental value."


 
The family's attorney, Crystal Spencer, made the announcement before the couple's funeral this morning.


She said she made the statement to put an end to the swirl of speculation and rumor about the safe's contents.


Spencer did not take questions following the brief announcement.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090717/NEWS01/90717010

 ::MonkeyEek:: Latest article from PNJ:

Police find gang link in Fla. killings 
Updated 7/17/2009 11:43 AM ET  E-mail | Save | Print 

   
  Enlarge By Mari Darr Welch, AP
 
Escambia Sheriff David Morgan stands with State Attorney Bill Eddins and Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille during a press conference in Pensacola, Fla,. on Thursday. Eddins said investigators also found several guns. 
 

 

By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
The suspects in the shooting deaths of a Florida couple who adopted disabled children have ties to illegal drug activity and a gang, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said in an interview.
Information about drugs and weapons found by police was passed to federal law enforcement authorities, including the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration, Morgan said. Some of the information was related to other ongoing federal investigations, he said.

MORE: Person of interest in Fla. couple's slaying found
Police have charged seven men with murder and one woman with aiding the men after the slayings.

They have recovered a stolen safe and several guns, including one that police say was used to kill Melanie Billings, 43, and her husband, Byrd Billings, 66.

Prosecutor William Eddins said the case is a simple home invasion robbery that went bad. He said the case is ready to go before the grand jury, and he could seek the death penalty.

Morgan said police are continuing to investigate leads.

"We've been asked by the state attorney to stay with the one basic motive," Morgan said. "The other motives in this case will be developed in the next few weeks or months."

Police have interviewed three people, one of whom they believe was supposed to have disabled the Billingses' surveillance system, Morgan said. "All three of these people could conceivably be that suspect," Morgan said.

The system was not disabled, and it recorded masked men arriving and leaving.

Police arrested Pamela Long Wiggins, 47, on Wednesday. They said she transported the stolen safe and some of the guns. She was released on $10,000 bond. Morgan said Wiggins had provided useful evidence.

All of the men, who Morgan said trained for 30 days to prepare for the robbery, are charged with two counts of murder and remain in jail.

Florida law says that if two or more people set out to commit a crime, each person is equally guilty for every act committed.

"It's a huge help for prosecutors in prosecuting groups like this," says Howard Scheinberg, a Florida prosecutor for 21 years.

The state law has one exception: if a defendant can prove that a partner in the crime committed an unforeseeable act independently.

Morgan compared the crime to the Tate-LaBianca murders in Los Angeles in 1969, committed by a cult led by Charles Manson, because it is unusual to have such a large group of people commit a crime together.

Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi sees few similarities. Manson, he said, wanted to start a race war and was not motivated by money. In addition, Manson's followers stabbed most of their victims and avoided homes with children.


http://content.usatoday.com/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=pensacolanewsjournal&sParam=35657990.story

Thanks Island, a strip club.....    There is much more to this story, nothing makes sense, but I'm sure it all will unravel soon.

Manson prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi sees few similarities. Manson, he said, wanted to start a race war and was not motivated by money. In addition, Manson's followers stabbed most of their victims and avoided homes with children.                       This is way different then the Manson clan, I have done a lot of reading on Manson, and there is really no comparsion.  The gang affiliation is interesting, if true about the strip club, could there be some connection there?

 ::MonkeyConfused:: I think so too, this sheriff keeps hinting about other motives than just robbery and home invasion, but the SA asked him to stcik with this one in one of the articles I read........

Oh, I know for a fact the strip club info IS true, he started it in 1990 and I'm trying to find out when he sold it.......that would help a great deal.

Yes, curious when he sold that, if it was fairly recent, perhaps something that happened there could have been a motive also.

I've been searching the records and see nothing recent......I may need to search this a "different" way than normal, let me work on that.......

Island have you heard any comments about human trafficking, I'm not going to bring anything here, some very strange videos, and evidently some on another forum has told authorities about this  ::MonkeyShocked:: I have no idea, just wondered if you heard anything, since you live in the area? One video scared the heck out of me, am not watching anymore.

 ::MonkeyConfused:: Man I am slow today, he sold the strip club in the mid 90's per this interview:

http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_2788.shtml

ESCAMBIA COUNTY - We're learning more about Byrd Billings' professional past.

In a Channel Three News exclusive...

From adult entertainment to the used car business, some who worked with "Bud" Billings say he always operated with integrity.

"Bud and Melanie were both probably two of the most generous and loving and giving people I've ever met."

Arety Kapetanis says she owes her start in the adult entertainment business to Byrd "Bud" Billings.

He opened the Backseat Lounge in Pensacola in 1990 and hired the then single mother of two, to work the door and later bartend.

Kapetanis later opened her own club, Arety's Angels in 1997.

Arety Kapetanis/Arety's Angels: "It was my first experience in the business, which is why I run my business the way I do, because I learned from Bud. He ran it with integrity. He didn't get involved in all the things that people think that people in this kind of business get involved in and he was always very, very, extremely professional."

She says Billings not only gave her a job, he helped her get a car...And he and Melanie often fed the homeless who wandered past the club.

"Bud and Melanie both were very, very empathetic, caring people who really just wanted to be treated the way they treat other people and they treat other people with such great respect."

Kapetanis worked for Billings until he sold the Backseat Lounge in the mid-90's and got into used cars full time...Opening several businesses with unique names.

"I asked him, 'how do you come up with these names for your businesses?' He would take the initial of all of the children that he and Melanie had, either together or adopted and make the initial into a name and that's how he could come up with the names for his car businesses because he made it very family."

Kapetanis says Billings went out of his way to keep a good reputation in all his business dealings.

"Whatever comes up with this investigation, I think it's important that people know that Bud and Melanie were probably two of the most generous, loving, considerate people with a lot of integrity."Business Partner Remembers Byrd Billings

Pamela's Antique business is a big red flag to me.  Antique stores are frequently used for money
laundering in the drug trade.  This woman is bad to the bone.

::MonkeyEek:: ::MonkeyEek:: WTF??? No, not yet anyway.......can you email me the link, I'd love to see it.

I SOOOOOOo agree Magnolia........can't wait to check out her house today  ::MonkeyTongue::

It is on the In Session and WS boards, you don't have to be a member to read. I'm telling you, some of the things being talked about is rather stunning. I don't want to go into it, because I don't know what is true or not.  And I had no idea that antique stores, could be used for money laundering in the drug trade. I'm learning quite a bit today  ::MonkeyEek::  ::MonkeyEek::

I agree Magnolia - I get a hinky feeling about her. Something more than accessory after the fact.  Her smug look - I get the feeling she's someone who (Like Casey A.) thinks she's smarter than anyone else.  I seriously hope they up the charges on her.

Inside Edition just did a feature about this case and only talked about Pamela.

The Albany suspicious house fire, the bankruptcys, the marriage late last year and
the guy who still says he is married to her.  It showed her boat and car and the Magnolia
Antique Store, an up close of her. 
The years have not been kind to her.  She has hardened and has had a
bewb job, from the looks of the before and after pictures.
Maybe she just porked up. ::MonkeyConfused::

(http://blstb.msn.com/i/F7/AD3319BAE355124396C07B9B266C30.jpg)
The murder victims: Byrd and Melanie Billings were well known in the small town of Beulah, west of Pensacola, Fla. They were wealthy -- he owned several successful businesses. She was 43, he was 68. Search for the latest on the case.

The children: The Billingses adopted several special-needs children. In total, they had 17 kids, 13 adopted and four from previous marriages. Watch one of their older children, Ashley Markham, talk about her parents.

The house: The Billingses' sprawling nine-bedroom home was specially equipped so the couple could keep track of their many children. That system captured chilling images of the killers entering their home on July 9. Search for more on the videos.

The break-in and murders: Police say the killers drove a red van. (Who is accused of being behind the wheel?)

Video captured three suspects entering through the front door and two through the back. The killers were out of the house in less than 10 minutes. Nine kids were at home at the time, but unhurt.

Some of the suspects wore martial arts garb. What kind?

The motives: Likely robbery, say police. The killers took a safe, among other items, from the home. There may be other motives, though police won't comment further. (Search has more facts and motives behind home invasions.)

The arrests: Eight people have been arrested in connection with the murders. One had gotten publicity for these special skills, which he taught to kids. Another is in the military. Several others worked as day laborers, and one of them is only 16. A woman is the eighth person to be charged. There could be more.

The cop: The man who has been front and center in the investigation is getting some attention for his demeanor and sound bites. Bing finds Sheriff David Morgan in front of the cameras.

In cold blood: The murder of the Billingses has been likened to a famous incident in Holcomb, Kan., in 1959. In that case, members of a rural family were murdered by strangers.

The book about those killings, "In Cold Blood," was a best-seller in the mid-'60s. Its author was equally famous and rather quirky.
http://specials.msn.com/A-List/Ninja-killers.aspx?cp-searchtext=Billings%20and%20Florida%20and%20murder

VIDEO AT THIS SITE OF THE MURDERS
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/07/16/2009-07-16_pamela_long_wiggins_is_eighth_arrest_in_billings_murder_invaders_unaware_securit.html

Pamela Long Wiggins eighth arrest in Billings' murder; invaders unaware security cameras on: cops

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/07/16/2009-07-16_pamela_long_wiggins_is_eighth_arrest_in_billings_murder_invaders_unaware_securit.html#ixzz0LXYFfOPp

(http://bumpshack.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/pamela-long-wiggins-photos-194x300.jpg)

According to court documents, Wiggins owned a red minivan that was used in the escape after the home invasion/robbery last Thursday
http://www.wkrg.com/crime/article/pamela-long-wiggins-role-in-the-crime/188759/Jul-16-2009_7-27-pm/

Thanks for those links. Here is another interesting article.        http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/article1019059.ece

I'm LMAO at WSer's so far, they found 1206 Via DeLuna and yes that house is for sale and probably foreclosure, my daughter goes to school with the boy who lives there and he works on the beach, the property in foreclosure is on Via DeLuna (along with hundereds of homes), but it is in a condo complex and not a single family home..........how they could think that the 1600 Via DeLuna property and the 1206 Via DeLuna property are one in the same is beyond me.....but, I'm still catching up over there (while I'm laughing at them)!!!!!

Good afternoon everyone & TY for the updates.   ::MonkeyAngel::

Murder Suspect Arrest Reports Provide Details; Read The Original Reports
July 17, 2009
The original arrest reports of the suspects in the Billings double murder case provide a little more insight in the events that unfolded in their Beulah home on July 9.

NorthEscambia.com has obtained copies of the arrest reports for the suspects arrested in both Escambia and Okaloosa counties. We have requested a copy of the arrest report for Donnie Stallworth, the man who turned himself in and was arrested in Escambia County, Alabama. Authorities in Brewton have not responded to our request.

Click each name below to see the complete arrest reports in pdf format. The reports contain identifying information on each suspect, places of employment and a narrative that describes that person’s alleged involvement in the crime.

Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr
Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Sr
Wayne Thomas Coldiron

Gary Lamont Sumner, Jr

Frederick Lee Thornton, Jr
Rakeem Chavez Florence
Pamela Long-Wiggins

Edit to add link per cece: http://www.northescambia.com/?p=9545

Kermit- I posted the link yesterday fromn google maps, if you type in 1206 soundview trail, then got to street view, on the North Side (not directly on the water) you will see her home come up as 1230 Soundview Trail, Gulf Breeze, Fl........look at the car in the driveway, red minivan........

Hundreds of people attended the funeral service for Byrd and Melanie Billings, the Beulah couple gunned down July 9 in their home.

(http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww328/seasidecece/bilde.jpg)

Edit to add link per cece:  " photo & blurb was from pnj.com."

Kimmy53, I'm with you about the smirky perp walk. She walked out of there like she was at a movie debut or something. Walking on a $10,000 bond had got my hinky meter over heating. Safe buried in her back yard, she knew it was there and where the guns were. Her car was used to transport safe from the crime scene. And what about her supposed husband that she is married to, but not really legal. He seemed to know a lot about what was going on. Very confusing case, and seems to be getting worse.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090717/NEWS01/90717015

Three men charged in connection with the murder and robbery of Byrd and Melanie Billings are scheduled to appear in court this afternoon.

Patrick Gonzalez Jr. of Gulf Breeze, Gary Lamont Sumner of Okaloosa County and Wayne Thomas Coldiron of Pensacola are scheduled for a 1:30 p.m. court appearance. Gonzalez has been identified by investigators as the organizer of the crime.


Prosecutors want to clarify the charges against the trio.


Each is being held without bond.


They are among six men, a 16-year-old boy and a Gulf Breeze woman charged in connection with the July 9 slayings in Beulah.

IM, that's why I don't know what is true or not, InSessions also  ::MonkeyConfused:: Rumors I'm sure are running rampant.

 ::MonkeyDevil:: I noticed.......but the 1206 Via DeLuna address is cracking me up~if there IS anything buried there, I'll be rich tonight ::MonkeyRoll::

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DP&Dato=20090716&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=907160806&Ref=PH

photo gallery of Pam's backyard at 1247 Ramblewood where the safe was found.

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DP&Dato=20090715&Kategori=NEWS03&Lopenr=907150805&Ref=PH

Photo gallery including pics of her boat, some of her properties & the antique mall.

(http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/ww328/seasidecece/1-5.jpg)

Thanks for the links to the pictures.

You're welcome no rose & I hope you are having a great day.   ::MonkeyAngel::

http://www.northescambia.com/?p=9551

The Role Of Pamela Long Wiggins In Billings Murder Case
July 17, 2009
An Escambia County Sheriff’s Department arrest report obtained by NorthEscambia.com says that Pamela Long Wiggins, 47, was an accomplice in the home invasion and murders that occurred on July 9. As suspects were interviewed by investigators, information was received concerning a red minivan that was left at a predetermined location near the crime scene to facilitate the escape of those involved in the crime. That van was later determined to be registered to Wiggins.

Other suspects in the crime told deputies that firearms  — both handguns and long guns — used in the murders and the safe taken from the home were later transferred into Wiggins’ minivan. The van was later observed by witnesses at Magnolia Antique Mall in Gulf Breeze, a business owned by Wiggins. It was reported that Wiggins was the passenger in the red minivan which still contained the victims’ safe and the firearms used in the crimes.

On Monday, the ECSO executed a search warrant at Wiggins’ residence at 1247 Ramblewoods Drive in Gulf Breeze. Authorities were unable to locate the Billings’ safe or the firearms. On Wednesday, her estranged husband, Hugh Wiggins, told investigators that the safe was hidden in the backyard of a home owned by Wiggins. The arrest report does not specify if the home was the one on Ramblewoods Drive or if it was one of five other pieces of property she owns in Santa Rosa County.

State Attorney Bill Eddins confirmed Thursday that the safe and firearms had been recovered. He declined to say what, if anything, was inside the safe.

Wiggins was charged with accessory after the fact to felony murder. She was released on $10,000 bond from the Escambia County Jail.

I should clarify by saying I don't live at this address, but I do live close enough to spit on this house, and if there was ANY activity in the backyard everyone within a stone's throw would know about it and I'd be digging up their yard tonight....

One thing that I don't understand, LE is saying what was in the safe, but what if there was some real good stuff inside there, and one of the people involved in all this took it out and hid it? Medicine in a safe? I don't know just seems weird to me.

http://www.kgan.com/template/inews_wire/wires.national/2abd141d-www.kgan.com.shtml


Funeral held for murdered parents of special-needs kids
July 17, 2009 15:02 EDT


PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) -- Loved ones are remembering a Florida couple gunned down during a robbery at their home.

A funeral was held today in Pensacola for Byrd and Melanie Billings.

Melanie Billings' brother praised the kindness and selflessness of the couple who adopted 13 children with special needs. Ed Brock says their lives "centered around children, their family and each other."

Brock says the couple "embraced the complexity of raising children with special needs" and "gave these children a joyous childhood and a much needed voice."

They also had four children from previous marriages.

Nine of the children were at home last week when intruders shot the couple to death and made off with a safe. A family spokeswoman says the safe contained jewelry, family documents and children's prescription medication.

Six men and a teenager are charged with murder, and a woman is charged with being an accessory after the fact.

 Thanks from me too, Cece and Island.    ::MonkeyAngel::

Did I read or hear somewhere that there may have been more than one safe at the house?

You're welcome Fanny Mae & hope your day is going well.   ::MonkeyAngel::

That is a great point......I can only speculate that maybe the safe was a combination safe like mine and no other way to get in except blow torch thru it or blast it open, and if they did that there would have been evidence. I don't think anyone of the above players would know the combination, but I could be totally off. Also, when my daughter took adderal I kept it in the safe as I have non-stop teenagers at my house and worry about them getting into RX, but I'm probably unusual in that extreme and I only keep legal document, video's and photos of my children in my safe (that way if the house burns, I don't lose anything).

I don't recall that their was another safe, but there could have been, that was a huge house, and I'm sure they must have had expensive jewelry and other items that needed to be in a safe.

Anytime~I'm sure you're as intrigued as I am since this is close to your old "stomping grounds".

Thanks no rose.  Maybe it was just speculation about a second safe that I read about. 

Sheriff just announced 4pm CST news conference.. ::MonkeyTongue::

Thanks IM.   ::MonkeyAngel::

I was wondering before if they were holding off saying more until after the funeral today.   ::MonkeyEek:: 

I still have family and friends down in that area too.   ::MonkeyAngel::

Thanks maybe LE was holding back info until after the funeral.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090717/NEWS01/90717018

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan has called a news conference this afternoon.

Investigators plan to discuss evidence in the case against eight suspects linked to the fatal shooting and robbery of Byrd and Melanie Billings.


Earlier today, the Billings' family attorney, Crystal Spencer, said the safe taken from the Billings' family home contained prescription medication for some of the children, documents and jewelry that had "sentimental value."


The Billingses were shot July 9 in the home in Beulah in rural western Escambia County.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090717/NEWS01/90717025

During a mostly procedural court appearance Friday afternoon, Leonard Gonzalez Jr. complained that investigators in the Escambia County Jail have violated his civil rights.

Gonzalez Jr., 35, said that he has paperwork which shows that he has invoked his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent. He also complained that he doesn’t have an attorney.


Gonzalez Jr. — who taught self-defense to children — has been called the organizer of the July 9 robbery and killings of Byrd and Melanie Billings.


“For some reason they keep questioning me repeatedly and I keep showing everybody at the Sheriff’s Office that I have this document that was filed with the courts showing that I am not to be questioned without my attorney present,” he said. “And again, they are still violating my civil rights, your honor. So what do I do?”
Escambia County Judge Thomas Johnson told him to keep mum.


“They can ask you as much as they want to, but as long as you keep invoking your Fifth Amendment rights, they can’t get any information from you,” Johnson said.


Johnson also explained the Office of Regional Conflict Council should have an attorney appointed to represent him within 24-hours of Friday’s hearing.


Gonzalez Jr.’s co-defendants Wayne Coldiron, 41, and Gary Lamont Sumner, 30, also appeared at the hearing.


Each is charged with two open counts of murder and a count of home invasion.

::MonkeyDevil:: Oh plzzzzzzz give me a break~I'd LOVE to give that thug something to complain about right now! Jerkoff!!!!!

This is absolutely the strangest thing I have ever seen.  It does not hold water to me.  NO ONE breaks into a home, plans it out so far in advance, is in and out of that home so fast, unless they knew what they were going after and whatever that was had to have been VERY, VERY, VERY valuable.  If not then these are the craziest most ignorant people I have ever seen.  Something very big was involved in this and whatever it was had to have been worth a bundle of money.  That many people would have wanted their fair cut of the booty.  JMO

Presser on now:

Contents of safe, passports, Birth certificates, adoption papers, heirloom jewelry and rx for kids......LE knew the contents of the safe ahead of time. Safe WAS buried in the backyard ....

Never released that they knew the contents of safe for investigative purposes. Talking about Sunshine laws etc.,  ::MonkeyTongue:: and releasing information.

Not releasing any info on whether they Billing's had another safe or not....

Sheriff likens it the investigation to a "chess match " at this point. ..........ok, that was quick ::MonkeyCool::

I found the statement about not saying whether there was another safe was most interesting.  I wonder if there was another safe that the Redneck Riviera Dumazzes didn't know about and didn't get.

I am also wondering about the person that was suppose to "remotely" disable the alarm and video system. Hmmmmm?

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FLORIDA_COUPLE_SLAIN?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US
Jul 17, 4:52 PM EDT

As slain couple is buried, fuller portrait emerges

By BILL KACZOR and MELISSA NELSON
Associated Press Writers
(http://hosted.ap.org/photos/D/dd624430-6c16-4636-8edb-da0aa11a3338-small.jpg)
 PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) -- He was a 66-year-old entrepreneur who dabbled in used cars, boats and the adult industry before finally hitting it big. She was a 43-year-old country music lover who fed the homeless and was devoted to her MySpace page.

Together, they adopted 13 children with autism, Down Syndrome and other developmental disabilities and lived in a sprawling home west of Pensacola. And together they were slain there in a well-choreographed invasion captured on surveillance video.

A fuller profile of Byrd and Melanie Billings began to emerge Friday as hundreds of friends and family attended their funeral and recalled them as loving and tireless advocates for disabled children, and for their own four kids.

But interviews and court records also portray Byrd Billings as a former strip club owner-turned used car dealer who was once sentenced to probation for an adoption scam. He frequently crossed paths with "shady characters," according to an ex-wife, but police have offered no evidence linking his past to the murders of Billings and his wife.

This enigmatic portrait is right in line with the case that has captured attention across the country. A week after the fatal burglary in which eight people were arrested - including a 16-year-old and a well-known businesswoman - there remain almost as many questions as answers.

Why would well-practiced thieves target a home with a security camera in every room? Who was Byrd Billings? And what does Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan mean when he says investigators expect motives to emerge beyond simple robbery?

One key question was addressed Friday when, in a bizarre turn, the family attorney disclosed the contents of a safe the intruders made off with - details investigators had refused to release for days. Crystal Spencer, the attorney and spokeswoman, said it contained "important family documents," childrens' prescriptions and jewelry with "sentimental value," but did not offer any additional details.

"Hopefully this will put to rest the intense speculation and rumors that are swirling around the Billings family," she said.

That's hardly likely, as much of the couple's background remains shrouded in mystery - including how they made their fortune - and Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan's assertion that the killers' motives involved more than simple robbery remain unexplained.

Here's what is clear so far: Known around Pensacola as "Bud," Byrd Billings spent his early years in Mississippi and Tennessee. He owned a car dealership in Mississippi in the 1980s, and incorporated a boat company in 1976. The corporation was dissolved in the 1980s.

In divorce records from the dissolution of his second marriage, in 1993, Billings reported having a net worth of just $1,400, including total cash assets of $100 and a net monthly income of $1,190. Four months after the divorce, Melanie became his third wife.

At the time of their death, they were living in a $700,000 home - opulent by Pensacola standards - and associates say they employed several people to care for the children. But how they got there from such a humble beginning to their marriage is unclear.

Byrd's background also includes a strange criminal case. In 1990, he and his second wife, Cindy Reeve, pleaded nolo contendere - which means they did not admit guilt but agreed to a punishment - to charges they doctored birth records and tried to obtain a newborn for $2,100. They both received two years probation which was later amended to a year.

When reached by The Associated Press, Reeve said she wanted to be left alone and the adoption "got blowed out of proportion."

However, she said Byrd "always dealt with shady characters."

At the time of their divorce, the documents show, Billings worked as a consultant for Back Seat Inc., a holding company for a topless bar, which opened in 1990 and no longer exists. Arety Kapatanis, owner of the Pensacola strip club Arety's Angels, said Billings turned her life around after hiring her there as a waitress.

"Bud Billings was a man of integrity. He was generous," Kapatanis said. "He ran his business in the most professional manner. It could have been a shoe store or a bakery. I mean, this type of business tends to get a really bad rap. People expect shady dealings and they expect all kind of things like that. There was never any of that with Bud."

Billings later opened a used car lot, which according to state business records was registered to Melanie and her daughter, Ashley Markham. The business runs on a worn-out slab, surrounded by pawn shops and bail bond companies. Next-door is the Billings' Worldco Financial Services.

Ted Roy, the sheriff's office spokesman, says investigators do not believe Byrd Billings' current or former business dealings were related to the murders.

Melanie, in her second marriage, seemed to thrive helping disabled children.

"Their lives centered around children, their family and each other," said her brother, Ed Brock. "They loved deeply and unconditionally. They embraced the complexity of raising children with special needs and they were their advocates. They gave these children a joyous childhood and a much needed voice."

On her MySpace page, Melanie Billings said she was a "total Internet and ebay JUNKIE" and that her favorite song was "I Cross My Heart," by country music star George Strait. She loved the TV shows CSI, Law & Order and The Sopranos.

She wrote of her love of her family: "My heros (sic) are my children ... They overcome incredible odds each and every second of each and everyday ... And of course ... my hubby ... he is my knight in shining armor."

The MySpace page also showed photos of some of the couple's 17 children (13 adopted together and four biological children from previous marriages); three of the children had died over the years.

A 2005 story in the Pensacola News Journal about the couple said that Melanie, in particular, was inspired to care for disabled children after her daughter Nikki was born in the mid-1980s with cerebral palsy and autism. The paper said that a few days after Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, a toddler named Bailey snuck into the Billings' bathtub and was scalded by a malfunctioning water heater. He died in a Texas hospital when an air bubble accidentally entered a tube that went into his artery and stopped his heart, the paper said.

Melanie Billings wrote on her MySpace about Bailey, calling him and "angel," and told the Pensacola paper why she enjoyed caring for disabled children.

"They're as close to perfect as perfect can get," she said. "There's such a goodness about them, something so genuine, you know, no ulterior motive. They're very innocent."

Billings' friend Patsy Brown said that Melanie "was very organized with the children to the point of ironing nine sets of clothes every night before she put them into bed and they got onto the bus in the morning."

On Friday, the day of the funeral, a light rain greeted mourners. Two matching gray hearses and four white limousines waited in front of west Pensacola's Liberty Church and about 400 cars filled the parking lot. Mourners drove in past dozens of media, kept in a dirt parking away from the church and instructed by church officials to remain off church property.

A funeral program featured numerous pictures of the couple and their 17 children.

"We'll be watching all of you from the heavens up above," the program read. "So take good care of each other and carry on our love."

---

Associated Press Writers Tamara Lush and Travis Reed in Miami, Holbrook Mohr in Jackson, Miss., and the AP News Research Center in New York contributed to this report.

(This version CORRECTS age of victim Byrd Billings.))

Another thing that was interesting was the safe had an electronic keypad, and they weren't sure if the killers got into it. My thought is they could have tortured the numbers out of the Billings before they were killed.  JMO

TY IM.  So a second safe is still in question.  Also, did anyone hear what he was talking about an object in the home had been moved?  Was he referring to something that had been removed from the safe before this happened?  Sorry, I missed that part of it.

It was kind of vague Cece, but it sounded like someone ask him if anything else was removed from the house and he refused to answer.

Also, I just read that Melanie's daughter's name was Ashley MARKHAM. Wasn't that the last name of Pamela's husband that said he had been trying to get a divorce from her for years??? Connection?  ::MonkeyConfused::

Thanks FM.

About the name,  ::MonkeyHaHa:: Ms. Pam has been married so many times & has so many aliases, I can't keep them straight!  ::MonkeyHaHa::

[/b]


Exactly what I've been thinking.  I can't imagine that many people involved without a huge payout.

They keep showing Pamela Long Markham Coco Wiggins or whoever she really is coming out in handcuffs when she was arrested. I noticed that she's got the "slut strut" down about as well as Skanky except there is more "ocean in the motion".  Skanky is moving up fast on her in that regard.  ::MonkeyRoll::

 ::MonkeyDevil:: ::MonkeyDevil:: ::MonkeyDevil::

 ::MonkeyLaugh:: ::MonkeyDevil::

HOW did this woman have a yacht?  And it was at the Orange Beach Marina which is an expensive place for boats.  I did hear about the speculation of there being a 2nd safe.  Notice they did not say whether the safe recovered was opened or not.  How stupid for this woman to leave it in her back yard.  Stupid.  I have they fry, all of them.

I don't know how she accumulated all that stuff. I have a feeling it wasn't by doing anything legal. I just know I just feel like knocking the snot out of her everytime I see her smirking and strutting. I wish her azz was locked up in jail with the rest of them.  ::MonkeyTongue::

LMAO ~ you most definitely have lived here when you use the term "redneck riviera", so damn true!!!!!

I feel SURE there was some one that was supposed to disable the alarm based on local news (not pressers), just local interviews with the sheriff.

 ::MonkeyDevil:: Actually his name was Madin from what I recall ::MonkeyTongue::

Did I just hear JVM say they are looking at/for 3 mor suspects?  Or do I need to get my hearing checked?   ::MonkeyLaugh::

I  hope she will clarify that.

That what the radio guy there said. If you need your hearing checked, I do too.   ::MonkeyRoll::

You're right. I was wrong. It was Malden. False alarm.... ::MonkeyRoll::

That's also what the local news is reporting......I'm praying Pam (AKA??????) Wiggins is brought back on a different charge as it make no sense to let her off unless they are following her, and them 2 more people, sheriff sounded adamant about that on local news.

Three or more suspects, okay, there is much more going on here.  ::MonkeyEek::

Me too, it just seems so out of the ordinary to let her out on such a low bond. From what I have heard so far about her involvement, she is just as guilty as the rest.

The MS13 connection is what is baffling me. I am confused about that part.  ::MonkeyConfused::

ITA~also agree about MS-13, this is not a typical MS-13 type (they usually use knives and machetes and slaughter everybody ...even children)

I read somewhere that according to Florida law, if a person is involved in the planning of
a crime, that person is as guilty as the people who executed the crime, even if they were
not at the scene at the time the crime was committed. (Wow, that sounds more complicated
than I meant for it to.)

Have we heard who was driving her van when it was parked at the crime scene?  I did read that
the driver remained in each van.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090717/NEWS01/907170323/1124



 ::MonkeyTongue::

Billings safe found in suspect's backyard
Kris Wernowsky • kwernowsky@pnj.com • July 17, 2009

Print this page E-mail this article Share Del.icio.us
 Facebook
 Digg
 Reddit
 Newsvine
 Buzz up!Twitter
  Pamela Wiggins had the safe.



Her red minivan carried the evidence away after the slaying of Byrd and Melanie Billings inside the couple's sprawling rural Beulah home, according to arrest reports.

A view of her backyard in Gulf Breeze on Thursday revealed where authorities dug through piles of brick and earth earlier this week for what law enforcement officials called a "medium-sized" safe — the object of desire in the July 9 home invasion that has attracted national attention.

With the recovery of that pivotal piece of evidence and several guns, including a murder weapon, the major investigative phase of the case is at an end, State Attorney Bill Eddins said at a Thursday morning news conference.

"There are obviously some loose ends to tie up," he said.

Wiggins' husband, Hugh, told investigators that the safe was stolen during the robbery at the Billingses' home and that it was hidden in the backyard of one of his wife's homes, the report said.

Wiggins owns at least six houses in the Gulf Breeze area. Her address listed in phone directories and also in the Sheriff's Office's arrest report places her primary residence in the 1200 block of Ramblewood Drive. That is where investigators found the buried safe.

Out on bond
Wiggins posted $10,000 bond and was at that Gulf Breeze residence by Thursday afternoon.

Wiggins' bond was lower than the seven other defendants' because her alleged crime is less severe and because she cooperated with investigators, Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said. Prosecutors have not ruled out filing additional charges against her.

Wiggins did not answer the door at her Gulf Breeze home when visited by reporters. Two Escambia County deputies who arrived in an unmarked car were seen entering her home shortly after 3 p.m. A sheriff's spokeswoman could not confirm why the deputies paid her the afternoon visit.

The Billingses were known throughout the Pensacola area for adopting special-needs children, nine of whom were in the couple's Beulah home when the killings occurred.

(2 of 2)


The weeklong investigation has netted eight arrests, including Wiggins, 47, and her friend, Leonard Gonzalez Jr., 35, the man investigators called the "organizer" of the precise military-style raid on the couple's home.



The seven men accused in the raid are in Escambia County Jail with no bond on two open counts of murder each. The cases will head to a grand jury in the coming weeks.

Eddins also confirmed Thursday afternoon that the recovered safe was "medium-sized, but small enough for one person to carry." Eddins declined to reveal its contents.

Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said he could not comment about reports that there was more than one safe in the home.

While Eddins refused to say what kinds of weapons were recovered, police reports show that at least three guns were carried into the home. Several spent 9 mm casings were recovered.

Wiggins' minivan
Investigators still are searching for two "persons of interest" with possible connections to the case, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. One of those people is someone investigators believe was tasked with disabling the couple's extensive room-to-room surveillance system from a remote location, but didn't, Morgan said.

Wiggins — a Gulf Breeze property manager — is charged as an accessory after the fact. The charge carries a possible 30-year state prison sentence upon conviction. She was taken in for questioning Wednesday afternoon after she was found at an Orange Beach, Ala., marina on her yacht named "Classy Lady." She was arrested as the evening waned.

Her role in the elaborate home invasion was unclear until new details emerged Thursday through arrest reports.

Before the planned invasion of the Billings compound, a red minivan was left near the Beulah crime scene to aid in the planned escape, investigators said.

That minivan belonged to Wiggins, according to a police report.

Defendants cooperating with investigators said the guns used during the robbery and killings were transferred to Wiggins' minivan, which was later seen at a her antique shop in the 4300 block of Gulf Breeze Parkway, according to an arrest report.

Wiggins was a passenger in the minivan while the guns and the Billingses' safe were inside the vehicle. She "had knowledge these weapons were used by the suspects during the commission of the home invasion (and) double homicide," the arrest report said.

A neighbor reported that a red vehicle sped away from co-defendant Leonard Gonzalez Sr.'s Palm Court home in Escambia County with several people inside. Another larger 15-passenger van seen in surveillance footage from the Billingses' home was found behind Gonzalez Sr.'s trailer.

Both vans were recovered.

Marina Management President Leo Cyr said Wiggins kept her yacht docked at Palafox Pier in downtown Pensacola until about January of this year. The lease on the slip was in Pamela Wiggins' name, he said. He never met the Wigginses personally.

"They kept it here for a while and then she got into us for about $3,000," he said. "We came here one day and the boat was gone."

I thought Gonzalez Sr co-operated with the police too. The SA wanted to have a lower bond on him too, but was over ruled by the judge. Seems to me that Pamela had just as much to do with the whole thing as he did, maybe more. Doesn't make sense that any of them would be out on bond, and not charged with murder too for the planning and helping.

Looks like Pamela has been conning her way through life for a long time....JMO

You are correct, the judge even doubled it originally he was charged with tampering with evidence only, the SA stated to the judge that he was cooperating and requested 250m and the judge raised it to 500m, now here she is with a 10m bond???

I agree with you throw the book at all of them (just wondering if there is a reason the SA hasn't done this yet).......also rode by her house today on Soundview-not a soul there and NO cars, so she must be staying somewhere else.

What about the house that is close to you. Is it a rental property?

This is more like a revenge killing.  I would be willing to bet that Byrd and Pamela have crossed
paths before.  He had a bunch of sleezy businesses. 

I just can't figure why they needed so many people involved.

The 1206 Via DeLuna property that WSer's kept referercing isn't but it's for sale and has NO connection, but the 1600 Via De Luna property is about .5 miles away, I'll go drive by and see if it has a sign out.......most likely if it is it would be a weekly rental as most of the beach properties are weekly and just a tiny fraction are annual lease.....BRB!!!

I can just smell the salt air.

Yes, I still smell it every time I open the doors here and still love it!

Fanny~I did not see a sign for that specific condo, it could be thru a management agy though. I did google a Regency Villa for sale, hers is #406 IIRC and this is #602.

http://homes.point2.com/US/Florida/Escambia-County/Pensacola-Beach/Regency-Villas/3101033-Real-Estate.aspx

I can too, Magnolia. And the sound of the surf on the powder white sand. And the sticky feeling on my skin from the salt spray. I love the Gulf, as we said as kids, "We're goin' to the Guff!"  ::MonkeyAngel::

I see why you were laughing today at ws. It'd be a little hard to bury something there!  ::MonkeyRoll::

I thought the news release said today she went back to the house where the safe was found.

More than that.....I can see that other property out my bedroom window and the beach is SUPER quite in the private areas and everybody knows everything and sees everything  ::MonkeyDevil:: , but the safe was found in Gulf Breeze, this is 1206 Via DeLuna


http://homes.point2.com/US/Florida/Escambia-County/Pensacola-Beach/East-Pensacola-Beach/3373271-Real-Estate.aspx

CRAP~wrong photo..........didn't want mother in law suite, but front of house photo

Is that one of her property's that is in foreclosure?

I meant the condo one.

I guess I am pretty stupid about real estate, but how do you buy multiple properties over a period of years with foreclosures on almost every one?

The condo photo is, the other photo is just another home for sale  1206 Via De Luna.....I have NO clue why the WSer's think it's connected (maybe because she also has 1206 Soundview Trail and it is in preforeclosure along with 4 other properties - and 4 of them went into preforeclosure just last month)

The foreclosures are recent.........beyond that I'd love to know the answer myself.

Ok, I'll need to check my own notes, but this is 1600 Via DeLuna #406


http://www.vragent.com/rental/62866/images#info

It is just such a beautiful place to think someone may have hatched up a plot to do this terrible thing. I know most of them don't live down on the island, but it is creepy to think that Pamela would have anything to do with it. It is infuriating that she has such a big boat, and even stiffed the Palafox Marina. I don't know why I am so focused on her. It just seems so wrong that she is out.

I wonder if they were drug running with that boat and that is the MS-13 connection. Or the finance company that Mr Billings ran, had anything to do with her real estate loans. It is so unusual.   ::MonkeyNoNo::

I know I feel so peaceful on the Island, but last night my son was like..maybe we should lock our doors from now on, it freaks him out a bit seeing it happened in Beulah.

I can't believe she stiffed the marina,(well, I take that back).when we had our boat at the TN river at the marina they wouldn't let you have access to it if you owed any money, of course ours was in dry storage and I'm assuming there is no way to easily store a 45ft yacht.

I can't wait for the story to finally play out completely because right now it just makes NO sense.

Night Fanny~I'm outta here too and I'll take a whiff of the redneck riviera just for you and see everyone tomorrow & enjoy the air show!

I found this on an AOL blog.  I thought it summed it all up pretty well.



03:05 PMJul 17 2009

Yeah, right. You've got a whole group of people, including active military, who trained for a month to conduct a ten minute ninja raid, and all they were after was some attention deficit pills? If you believe that, you must surely also believe in the Easter Bunny.

Exactly, there is way more to this story, and eventually it will all leak out.

Good Saturday morning to everyone.  Hope you are enjoying your weekend.  Thanks IM for the pics.  It sure helps me to have an image in my mind. 


http://www.pnj.com/article/20090718/NEWS01/907180323&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

A bittersweet introduction
Siblings separated by questionable adoption meet for first time at funeral

It was the worst possible time for a reunion.

At Pensacola Memorial Gardens on Friday, Regina Spence, 21, stood solemnly in a long black dress.

She didn't know Byrd and Melanie Billings, murdered in a home invasion July 9.

Nor did she know the Billingses' adopted son, Justin. But she knew that he was her 20-year-old brother.

Twenty years ago, Spence's mother, Vickie Lynn Taylor, then 27, made a desperate move to give Justin a better life.

Already the mother of four, she devised a scheme to sidestep the adoption process and give her newborn son to Byrd Billings, then 47, and his girlfriend, Cindy Reeve, who was 27.

The scheme failed, ending in criminal charges and probationary sentences against Billings, Reeve and Taylor.

Within a couple of years, however, Billings and his wife, Melanie, were able to arrange to adopt Justin legally. He was one of 13 children adopted over the years, some of them developmentally disabled.

For years, Spence, who later was adopted herself, has known about Justin. She asked about him. She wanted to call him so many times.

But how do you start that conversation?

"I've been pondering it for years how to do this, but I chickened out every time I tried to do it," she said.

Now, Spence was standing at his parents' funeral.

Her eyes scanned through the faces of scores of mourners. Her breath stopped when she laid eyes on the young man sitting in the front row. Her legs started to shake nervously.

She'd just seen her brother for the very first time.

The timing, she knew, was bad.

"Things like this don't happen in sad places,'' she said. "Things like this happen in happy places. Coffee shops.''

But she could wait no longer.

She was trembling as the services ended. She started walking toward her brother. She stopped just within arm's reach. Their eyes met, and she said something too quietly to be heard.

For the first time in their lives, the brother and sister hugged.

Justin's birth
Billings and Reeve wanted to have a baby in 1989 but were having trouble conceiving, according to Escambia County sheriff's reports from the time.

(2 of 2)


Taylor approached them with an offer of a child, and the trio worked out a deal.



Justin was born on June 4, 1989, at Taylor's home. Several hours after the birth, she checked into Sacred Heart Hospital under Reeve's name and identified Billings as the father.

About a week and a half later, Taylor told sheriff's deputies she forged Reeve's signature on the birth certificate.

She said she conspired with Reeve and Billings so they could have a baby, the sheriff's records say. They agreed to loan her $2,100 as part of the deal, according to the records.

The three were charged with violating adoption laws and supplying fraudulent information for a birth certificate.

Billings and Reeve married before their case went to court. All three pleaded no contest and were sentenced to probation.

Meanwhile, Billings and his wife were divorced in 1993, and he was remarried to Melanie Brock a few months later.

Reeve, who is remarried, now lives in Texas. She could not be reached.

Going fishing
Even after the criminal case, Byrd Billings never gave up on Justin, who was in foster care.

Billings navigated the state adoption system so he could adopt Justin legally. The year the adoption was finazlied could not be immediately determined.

Spence and her other three other siblings were adopted by another local couple — "two of the best parents you could ever think about," she said.

Her parents told her about Justin, and she still has the newspaper stories from the time. She didn't think Justin knew about her.

After the burial Friday, Spence scribbled her name and phone number on the back of a white cardboard fan and handed it to her brother.

She lives in Walnut Hill in North Escambia County. Justin lives in Pensacola.

He told her that he wants to know her, and they'd get together in a couple of weeks when life is more settled for his grieving family.

Justin has not spoken publicly since his parents' death.

"I feel like something missing just clicked back into place,'' Spence said after meeting him.

"He wants to go fishing," she said. "I'm so going fishing."

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=DP&Dato=20090717&Kategori=NEWS03&Lopenr=907170804&Ref=PH


Link to photo gallery of Billings Burial.

Thank-you

http://www.northescambia.com/?p=9577

Three Of Seven Murder Suspects Back In Court
July 18, 2009
Three of the seven suspects in the Byrd and Melanie Billings murder case were back in court on Friday.

Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr, Wayne Coldiron and Gary Sumner faced a judge to be officially charged with two open counts of murder each.

There were apparently some mistakes on the original arrest warrants for each man, and they were in court Friday to face the official corrected charges. The suspects appeared via video feed from the Escambia County Jail.

They are due back in court in early August.

Also on Friday, Robert and Marlene Ingram filed an eviction notice to have Coldiron officially removed from his residence at 210 Yoakum Court in Pensacola.

http://www.northescambia.com/?p=9576

July 18, 2009
Byrd Billings was involved in an adoption fraud case involving a fake birth certificate and $2,100 back in 1989.

Court records in Escambia County show that Byrd Billings was involved in an adoption and birth certificate fraud case back in 1989 along with Cindy Reeve Billings, Byrd Billing’s second wife.

That’s when, according to court records, a 20-year old woman, Vickie Lynn Taylor checked in to Sacred Heart Hospital under the name Cindy Reeve. She had delivered a baby at home on June 4. While in Sacred Heart, she listed the father as Byrd Billings on the birth certificate.

After the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department got wind of the incident about ten days later, they interviewed Taylor who told them she agreed to the crime for a $2,100 loan from Billings. She said that the Billingses wanted to claim the baby as their own.  That baby was named Justin.

The trio did not admit guilt, but pleaded nolo contendere. That plea means they agreed to be punished without actually admitting guilt.  They were sentenced to two years probation.

When Billings divorced Reeve in 1993, his net worth was just $1,400. He had total case assets of just $100 and a monthly income of $1,190. Four months after that divorce,  he was married to Melanie Billings.

(Click here to see the divorce final judgement pdf)

In 1995, Cindy Reeve Billings was ordered to pay $300 per month child support to Byrd Billings. (Click here to read the support document pdf))

At the time of his divorce from Cindy Reeve Billings, Byrd Billings was a consultant working for a company called Back Seat, Inc. — the holding company that owned the topless bar Back Seat Lounge.

At the time of the murders, Melanie Billings and her daughter Ashley Markham owned a used car lot and he owned a company called Worldco Financial Services.

The Escambia County Sheriff’s Department has said several times that Billing’s current and former businesses are not part of their investigation.

My pleasure no rose.   ::MonkeyAngel::

Oh my, Cece. Thank you. How touching.  ::MonkeyAngel::

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/local_news/epaper/2009/07/17/a1a_couple_0718.html

BEULAH — Jack isn't taking any chances. And he's not alone.

Residents of this remote enclave less than 2 miles from the Florida-Alabama border are sleeping with their guns or, for the few who aren't already packing, buying them.

As slain couple is buried, fuller portrait emerges
 
Standing outside the Texaco station less than a mile from the compound where Byrd and Melanie Billings and their adopted children lived before the couple's brutal slayings, a man who would identify himself only by his first name described the community's mood.

"People around here are panicking," Jack said. "If they hadn't been sitting on their rifles and stuff, they are now. I guarantee."

Karla Arnold is. The gas station clerk, who also owns a housekeeping business and cleaned for the Billingses several times, said she's now carrying her gun regularly.

One of the men charged in the murders also was a customer at the store, Arnold said.

"I would never have dreamed it," she said. "Now, I look twice when I come in the store in the morning."

At his parents' funeral Friday, Justin Billings expressed the disbelief felt throughout the Pensacola area.

"My parents, they were God's gift to the world," he said in his eulogy. "Mom, Dad, you will truly be missed, by family, friends, everyone. You left a lasting impression on everybody."

Ninja-style gunmen invaded the couple's home and shot them execution-style with several children in the house. The family maintains that the killers' motive was money.

Beulah is "the place that we least expect those kinds of things to happen," said Escambia County Commissioner Wilson Roberts, whose district includes Beulah.

Like many others, Roberts likened the crime to the murders recounted in In Cold Blood, the Truman Capote book about two drifters who killed a Midwest farm family.

"In that community, that rural area, to have this done, planned and perpetrated like it was, it certainly reminds me of that. It's just horrific," Roberts said.

Modern subdivisions pepper the stretch of rural road where the Billingses lived. But many homesteads, including theirs, are set far back from public view and surrounded by scrub pines or farmland.

Despite the world's attention on the family and the almost-surreal circumstances of the slayings, travelers on Mobile Highway could easily drive past their home, unaware of the tragedy that took place on July 9. The wooden gates opening onto a long driveway leading to the 6-year-old home had only a few mementos from mourners Friday: several balloons, a hand-written note or two, a dog tag that read "Fear Not."

The suspects are now locked up, but that hasn't eased the minds of many of Beulah's residents, especially the old-timers.

Tommy Peek's mother, who lives across the road from the Billingses, "is scared to death," he says.

Ashley Markham, the eldest daughter at age 26, suddenly became the matriarch of a family of 14.

Standing by her mother's coffin at the wake Thursday, Markham rested her head beside the pink rose spray, sobbing and giving her mom a final embrace. At the funeral, Markham promised to keep her pledge to her mother that she would keep the family together if anything happened.

"I will never be able to take their place, but I will devote my life to all of you just as they would have," Markham said to her siblings, her voice breaking. "I promise to all of you that I will live every day of my life making sure you know how wonderful our mom and dad were and how much they loved you all."

The Billingses were well-known in the community but not a vital part of it, said Steve McNair, chief of the volunteer fire department.

His crew had been to the Billings household on several occasions for emergencies, including seizures. One child with Down syndrome died after suffering severe burns when he wandered into a hot bathtub, McNair said. No one was charged in the child's death.

Many Pensacolans, obsessed with news coverage of the murders, aren't so sure about the family's theory that the motive was money.

They are speculating that drugs may have been involved. Or perhaps it had something to do with the auto loans that the Billingses financed for people who couldn't otherwise get credit.

Whatever the reason, the result is shocking.

"In my 45 years here," Roberts said, "it's the most tragic event."

Melanie just lost her daughter (biological) that had cerebral palsy and autism August 1st of last year. Bailey was the little one that was scalded/burned in a household accident with scalding water in 2004. He was treated in Texas at the Shriners Burn hospital but during his treatment somehow an air bubble entered one of his lines and stopped his little heart. He would have survived the burns of about 30 % (2nd and 3rd) had this air embolism not occurred. This was the reason for the surveillance cameras throughout the house because they wanted to avoid another child getting hurt. This family had certainly seen a lifetime of tragedy already before their own lives were so viciously taken from them. May punishment be swift to those responsible. My prayers for strength to this precious family in the coming days.

It sounds like you might know them personally, Cartfly. 

My heart aches for the family and those who love them.

Good morning monkeys.  Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.

(Sorry if this is a repeat.  I may have missed it)

http://www.citrusdaily.com/state-news/woman-accused-florida-murders-not-realtor-association-says/2009/07/18/8528.html


Woman accused in Panhandle murders not a Realtor, association says
Submitted by Robby Douglas on Sat, 07/18/2009 - 1:48pm.
 
The National Association of Realtors says the woman arrested in connection with the murders of a Beulah, Fla., couple last week is not a Realtor.

The association released the statement below in which it said Pamela Long Wiggins, charged in connection with the murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings near Pensacola, is not a Realtor.

"The National Association of Realtors can confirm that she is not a Realtor, which is a protected trademark of the National Association of Realtors®, and is not synonymous with 'real estate agent,'" the NAR said.

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090719/NEWS01/907190335/Ashley-s-story--Grief--rumors--family&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL             Interesting article.

Yep, its time to start the old "blame the victims game". We are are corious why the Billings were murdered. And a lot of it doesn't make a lot of sense. No matter what business dealings Mr Billings might have had, or so-called "sleezy" businesses, the fact of the matter is whatever he may or may not have done, he and his wife did not deserve to be killed in front of 9 of their children by 8 or more criminal types invading their home and talking whatever they wanted, or thought they deserved.

I do not know these people, on either side of this crime. But it is clear that it was another bunch of people who think they are entitled to whatever they wanted to have, whatever means they had to take to get it.

I have been looking for a video of last night's Geraldo show. The sheriff of Escambia County, David Morgan was on his show, and was very well spoken. He said little more than what we already knew. Geraldo drilled him over and over and mocked his reasoning for having federal agents brought in. The DEA puzzles me too.

 Sheriff Morgan went on to thank Geraldo first before he started any statements, saying he appreciated the national attention and that he and his wife were both retired from the Air Force. Geraldo said he knows the panhandle of Florida very well.(?) (I don't think I remember Geraldo ever having a background on the panhandle, except for his pompous last-minutes of showing up during a hurricane so he could stand out in the worst of it and look brave.) BTW, it was Geraldo's brother Craig, who was live in P'cola sitting with the sheriff.I guess Geraldo is afraid to go back to Florida, after the fiasco in Putnam County.

However, after the sheriff was off and it went to the so-called experts.
Across the banner on the screen, it said something to the effect that "the inexperieced sheriff had to call in for federal help." Geraldo is an idiot!! I am still looking for the video.

I do not know how long Sheriff Morgan has been sheriff of Escambia County. I am sure Island Monkey would know. However I have looked up his background. What Geraldo has up on the banner on his show was insulting. I guess there will now be another country in Florida that Geraldo will not be welcomed in.

Read Sheriff Morgan's background for yourself and see what you think.

http://www.escambiaso.com/aboutSheriff.aspx

I couldn't find the Geraldo video of his show.

This is a link to a fox radio show last Friday with Geraldo about the murders:

http://www.foxnews.com/search-results/m/25341528/ocean-s-13.htm#q=Billings+murders

 ::MonkeyTongue:: ::MonkeyTongue::

http://ricksblog.biz/


EXCLUSIVE: BILLINGS MURDERS MAY BE CONTRACT HIT
July 19 20092 Commented
Categorized Under: Escambia County, May 11 2009

EXCLUSIVE: BILLINGS MURDERS MAY BE CONTRACT HIT

Sources close to suspects and persons of interests in the Billings murders allege that Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. was paid to kill Byrd and Melanie Billings. They claim that the investigators have been told this and that the contract price was between $20,000-$50,000 and whatever Gonzalez and his accomplices could remove from the Billings residence.

Because of concerns over possible reprisals, my sources have asked to stay anonymous.

These sources also allege that Gonzalez and his team had been planning the hit for several months and much of the planning was done in the home of Pamela Wiggins, who has been charged with accessory after the fact. Wiggins has been released after posting a $10,000 bond.

According to my sources, there was an earlier attempt to invade the Billings home that was done after dark–which may have only been a “dry run.” However Gonzalez and his accomplices were frightened off by the outdoor lighting that was attached to motion sensors. The outdoor lights turned on when the vehicle went on the property and the would-be home invaders drove off. Allegedly Pamela Wiggins was parked on the street down from the Billings residence to watch this attempt.

The failed after-dark attempt explains why Gonzalez and crew invaded the Billings residence at 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 9 before sunset.

The motive for the hit on Byrd and Melanie Billings appears to be connected to Byrd Billings’ financing of used car lots in the area, according to my sources.

I have been unable to reach the State Attorney to discuss this report. I did speak with Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and they will not confirm or deny this information.

November 2008............

I was thankful Whorealdo didn't show up, but would have preferred NO on from his show was here. Our sheriff was gracious in his comments about our servicemen (which includes my stepson), and I think he has done an incredible job and believe he is still playing a chess game, and has people or agencies all over Pamela Long Wiggins...

ETA~He was elected Nov 08, and became sheriff in Jan 09.....

Still no luck with the Geraldo video.  But I did find this from Inside Edition. 

http://www.youtube.com/v/PMuo8xiGpI0&hl=en&fs=1

Thank you for the link no rose. 

Thank you IM.  This sounds like more of a motive to me.  Not that I can imagine why a hit would be ordered for these people, but just that robbery doesn't make sense & for this many people to carry it out.  And I tend to believe Pam was more involved than just "after the fact".

(I'm having internet connection problems due to a storm, so don't know if this will post).

Thank You Cece. Maybe there will be a YouTube tomorrow of his show.  ::MonkeyAngel::

After that blog article, if true, means all the more that Pamela is deeply involved, maybe even the one who set it up. She may have the reasons for it. I have been reading up on Sheriff Morgan. I am even more impressed since I posted earlier. I wonder where she is at this time and who is watching her.

I agree Fanny Mae.  I would guess they are monitoring her closely.  At least I hope so.

I'm off to read the article NoRose posted.  Enjoy your evening Fanny Mae.   ::MonkeyAngel::

That Blog article cleared up something for me. I knew that the killings had occurred at 7:00, but I didn't understand whether it was am or pm. It was even more brazen to be in the evening before the children would be in bed in my mind, as if it could be any worse.  ::MonkeyNoNo::

Good night Cece.  ::MonkeyAngel::

I imagine Island is out on the beach watching the sunset. It is beautiful there, and the beaches are usually full of late evening strollers..... ::MonkeyAngel::

LOL~How did you guess???? Yes, I was out as the Blues just buzzed us about 7pm, and the sunsets and the water this weekend were amazing, the gulf was like a pool.

FM~I am so impressed with our sheriff and him handling so far, I honestly believe PW is in this up to her eyeballs and "heard" around town that she was in on the dry run.....again all speculation even the "hit", but I've been hearing locally that it was a hit from early on.

I drove by the Soundview house and the condo.......nada.  ::MonkeyDevil:: I find myself looking for her at CVS, the grocery store or just any randon areas I go to daily, I just want to stay clear of that crazy woman.

Have any of you monkeys read Leonard P Gonzales myspace page about his daughter Bella.........OMG, he is nuts and if I was his ex-I'd have been much further away than Sarasota. I think he and PW are both the masterminds behind this.

Good Morning.  ::MonkeyAngel::

I did read Patrick Gonzalez's My Space. No wonder the family in Sarasota were terrified of him. He certainly seemed like a timebomb waiting to go off. It looks like he went off on the wrong family. I wonder if this was a hit, he felt he would finance his fight for his child...

Replying to my own post, but I am also wondering if he planned for this group to do the same to his ex & his ex-inlaws to retrieve his child...Ugh! I don't like where my thoughts are taking me this morning.   ::MonkeyNoNo::

Isn't his MS terrifying  ::MonkeyEek:: ::MonkeyEek:: I swear if I was his ex, I'd have been out of the country hiding, all that talk about rewards for her and Bella being abducted and kidnapped when the Judge took away his rights ::MonkeyConfused::

 ::MonkeyTongue::


http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/20/florida.slain.couple/index.html

snipped:


Morgan told CNN that he wants to talk to three more persons of interest and plans to make at least one more arrest before he winds down the investigation in a few days.He did not provide further details.

Morgan said that he expects to interview the wife of suspect Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. on Monday. The woman, who had been out of contact, asked police for a meeting, he said.

Yes. It could have turned out like the case in Southern Tennessee and Huntsville, Alabama this weekend.   ::MonkeyNoNo::

 ::MonkeyEek::

Speaking of terrified, don't you know this woman is? If he was as violent as his MS showed him to be I'm sure her life with him was not pretty.   ::MonkeyNoNo::

Needing 3 more suspects say to me that they are looking for the other driver, the security system no-show, and the person who set this all up. And for God's sake, put Pamela back in jail!!!  ::MonkeyCool::

ISLAND, I forgot to say, I love your avi.  ::MonkeyDance::

I loved the little feetprints,too.  ::MonkeyAngel::

Thanks Fanny~I had Eli's feet up there because last Friday was his original due date............  ::MonkeyAngel::



Just found this in the PNJ:

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090720/NEWS01/90720010

News alert: Billings backed Gonzalez business
Kris Wernowsky • kwernowsky@pnj.com • July 20, 2009

  Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. said in an interview with investigators that he knew Byrd Billings because he received money to help him open a martial arts studio, according to documents released to the public today.



Investigators also were searching for a black briefcase that belonged to Byrd or Melanie Billings, along with the safe taken from their home. The safe was recovered last week at the home of Pamela Wiggins.


An affidavit for a search warrant on the red Dodge cargo van used in the deadly July 9 raid on the Billingses’ sprawling Beulah home revealed that investigators also were looking for zip ties, a 9 mm pistol and two “long guns,” one of them a shotgun.


The affidavit also reveals that the couple were found dead in their bedroom and that three armed men entered the home wearing masks.


A man named Jon Hartsfield saw in the Pensacola News Journal a picture of the large red van used in the robbery and homicides. The picture was taken from the security system at the Billingses’ home. Hartsfield called investigators and explained that he owned the van for several years before he sold it to Leonard Gonzalez Jr.’s birth mother, Terri Poff.


Hartsfield said that when he sold van, Poff told him that “she was buying the van for her son, Leonard Gonzalez, who had recently had his vehicle repossessed.”


Gonzalez Jr. used to go by the name Patrick Poff.


The van was found July 11 tucked behind a garage on the 300 Palm Court property of Gonzalez Jr.’s father, Leonard Gonzalez Sr.


Crime-scene investigators processed the van the same day, removing several carpet samples. The red van had several, distinctive markers, including four primer spots on the rear quarter panel.


Gonzalez Sr., in addition to two open counts of murder, is charged with tampering with evidence. It is said that he tried to paint over some of the distinctive markings that made the van more recognizable, according to arrest reports.


Disinfectant wipes, a container of garbage bags and soap pads were in the car, according to a property receipt.


Paint samples also were taken from the van for testing.

Yes I saw that on the news  ::MonkeyConfused:: IIRC, the killer was on the porch of one of the homes.......

 ::MonkeyTongue::

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090720/NEWS01/90720013

News alert: Coldiron got cold feet
Kris Wernowsky • kwernowsky@pnj.com • July 20, 2009

Print this page E-mail this article Share Del.icio.us
 Facebook
 Digg
 Reddit
 Newsvine
 Buzz up!Twitter
  Wayne Coldiron got cold feet.



In a statement made to investigators days after his arrest, double homicide suspect Coldiron, one of seven accused in the July 9 killings of Byrd and Melanie Billings said he had to be convinced to participate.


“You’re in too deep and you’ve got to go with us,” Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. told Coldiron.


According to Coldiron’s statement, Gonzalez Jr. came to his father Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Sr.’s Palm Court trailer in a maroon minivan. He came inside holding a duffle bag. Four black men entered the trailer a short time later.


They left the trailer. Their destination: The Billingses’ home in Beulah.


Coldiron told investigators that he was a passenger in the large red cargo van driven to the scene by Gonzalez Sr. A blue sport utility vehicle was also captured on surveillance footage from the Billingses’ home.


Gonzalez Sr. parked the van in the Billingses’ yard and waited in the car until the home invasion ended, according to the arrest report.


Coldiron already spent time in prison on a criminal negligent homicide conviction in Tennessee.

Thank-you so much for all the updates.  ::MonkeyCool::

anytime NRCG~Just thread hopping today and watching the PNJ for any updates........

Thanks Island. I am thread hopping myself today. But I come back regularly here for updates....