Fla. couple who adopted 12 children found slain

[Fanny Mae]

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

"She is charged with handling the estate," Litvak added.

Markham will be responsible for the couple's nine children and her parents home, worth over $800,000.

"Ashley Markham has been appointed by the court to be the personal representative of the estate of Melanie Billings, and also Byrd Billings," according to Litvak.

Since the Billings died intestate (no will), the state will be the executor and Ashley is only the court-appointed personal representative.    Being a court-appointed personal representative does not mean that she is the sole inheritor of the estate.  The court will oversee all aspects of probate.  It is up to the court and Ashley on whether they choose to honor Melanie’s wishes.  I am sure that the Child and Welfare folks will also be involved to make sure that the special needs children are cared for in an appropriate manner.  This can be a long drawn out probate or simple, depending on how well the probate court, Ashley, the other children of Byrd and Melanie, and the child welfare folks can agree on all aspects of the estate.  Many complicated factors, but don’t think Ashley is going to get everything because she isn’t entitled to 100% inheritance under Florida law.  Just another example on why it is important to have a will.  I am sure the probate case will take longer than the criminal trial.

With so many children dependent on their care, I am totally stunned with all of Byrd's other legal finagling he nor Melanie followed thought with a true will to take care of all the children. It was said that Melanie asked for Ashley to take care of the children, but that was not what was in her will that was not witnessed. It may have been conveyed Ashley her mom by word of mouth. 

[cece]

[cece]

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090901/NEWS01/909010329/1006/NEWS01

(snipped):

Byrd Billings did not have a will.

"He came in to me several months ago and said that he needed to get his will in order," Beasley said. "We talked about it when we were talking about other things. For him it was particularly complicated, because of all of the children."

Since there is no valid will for either parent, Florida law dictates that the couple's assets are to be divided equally among their heirs. The couple's estates were placed on file in the Escambia County Probate Office on Friday.

Melanie Billings' assets include $164,000 in cash, which the assailants left behind in a safe. The money will be divided among her 12 children, with the inheritances for the nine underage adopted children placed into trust.

Her other assets include half interest of about $429,000 in the couple's home, tangible personal property of unknown value, and stock in the family's two businesses, Worldco Financial Services Inc. and Purshu Auto Sales Corp. She also wanted her children to receive a share of her jewelry collection when they reach the age of 25.

Markham already has partial ownership of the family businesses, Beasley said, meaning she either will partner with her siblings or could potentially buy out their shares.

Byrd Billings has two children listed as beneficiaries of his estate who are not listed in his wife's estate, meaning his assets will be split 14 ways.

His estate lists only a half-interest in the home and tangible personal property. None of the family businesses was in his name despite his regular involvement.

[cece]

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

Few turn out to view
Billings evidence

Updated: Tuesday, 01 Sep 2009, 6:07 PM CDT
Published : Tuesday, 01 Sep 2009, 6:07 PM CDT

    * Christina Leavenworth
    * Photojournalist: Eric Lowe

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Video and pictures taken from inside the home of Byrd and Melanie Billings during and after their murders have been released for pubic viewing. The state attorney's office said it was surprised that hardly anyone came to see them.

It's hours of video from 16 different cameras, showing Byrd Billings being shot in the leg, and a child watching the suspects enter the home.

Of the hundreds of people who went in and out of the Escambia County Courthouse, only a few came to see what happened inside the Billings home moments before the couple was murdered.

A woman who didn't want to be identified skipped work to see the evidence, just because she was curious. She said she wanted to see it, "Just to be nosy, that's the bottom line."

She said she understood the images would be startling.

"I'm pretty sure its going be in detail, right?"

The only tie she has to the case, is that her mother used to watch one of the children.

The woman, along with three other people, were scheduled to come in during the afternoon session.

"There are very few people from the general public that have made a request to actually view the materials. My belief is basically just a desire to have information," State Attorney Bill Eddins said.

A judge ordered that none of the videos or pictures could be reproduced. The media saw the video on Thursday, and were allowed to describe what they saw. The state attorney's office says that's why a lot of people backed away from seeing the evidence.

"The media viewed and reported to general public, most of those people have canceled and have indicated their satisfied and no longer want to see it," Eddins added.

(continued)

[Fanny Mae]

I really hate to see so little movement in this case, as it is obvious more work really needs to be done. It seems to have slipped off the charts in the media. I hope Sheriff Morgan has not been shut down and the rest of the "gang" will soon be brought into the net too.

I have debated whether I would have gone to look at the murder pictures available to the public. I do believe I would if I still lived in Alabama. It is only about an hour's drive there. We have made the trip many times for various reasons.

Thank you CECE for posting all the media updates.   

[cece]

I really hate to see so little movement in this case, as it is obvious more work really needs to be done. It seems to have slipped off the charts in the media. I hope Sheriff Morgan has not been shut down and the rest of the "gang" will soon be brought into the net too.

I have debated whether I would have gone to look at the murder pictures available to the public. I do believe I would if I still lived in Alabama. It is only about an hour's drive there. We have made the trip many times for various reasons.

Thank you CECE for posting all the media updates.   

 

[cece]

http://www.jaxobserver.com/2009/09/03/brunswick-police-being-careful-about-information-they-release/


Brunswick Police Cautious About Sharing Info

Gannett News Service - Sep 3rd, 2009

After the murder of a Pensacola couple known for adopting disabled children, the local sheriff divulged details of the slaying in dozens of interviews and daily news conferences.

Five days after a mass murder in a Brunswick, Ga., mobile-home park, information is dribbling out from a police chief who declines to discuss the case.

Brunswick Police Chief Matt Doering hasn’t held a news conference since Monday, when he conceded that the public may be frustrated with the lack of information about the deaths of eight people. “I understand your frustration, believe me,” Doering said then. “We have to be very careful not to release those details that could jeopardize our investigation.”

Law enforcement experts say police balance what the public needs to know against the dangers of tipping off a suspect and damaging the investigation and prosecution.

“Need to know is the standard - if there’s information that will allow the public to take steps to protect themselves in an unsolved homicide with a suspect on the loose,” says James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston.

Police withhold information strategically to weed out false confessions or determine whether a suspect knows something about a crime that isn’t public, Fox says. Police avoid releasing vague information, such as an incomplete suspect description, because it generates dead-end tips, he says.

Incorrect information made public early in an investigation can throw a case off course, Fox says. When Washington, D.C.-area police were chasing a sniper in 2002, they said they were looking for a white van, he notes. Later, the police learned the suspects drove a blue sedan.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan, whose department has arrested eight people in connection with the murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings in Pensacola, says police weigh potential harm to a case against public confidence when making disclosures.

“You have to reach out to the community to reassure them that your law enforcement agency is there, that you’ve taken charge of the scene and you’re going to bring it to a successful resolution,” Morgan says.

Releasing a photo of a suspect paid off in the Billings case, Morgan says. Within an hour, a tipster called police with the suspect’s location. Still, he says, he withheld information to use when questioning suspects.

Revealing too much “lays a path of clues for the suspect about how the investigation is proceeding,” says Jon Shane, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York and a retired Newark, N.J., police captain. “The suspect can read the clues and change his strategy.”

[cece]

Good morning Monkeys.  I keep checking for updates, but things are really quiet now.

[cece]

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090910/NOTEBOOK/909100308/1006/NEWS01

New gang and gun prosecutor, Billings video and youth victims

Thyrie Bland • tbland@pnj.com • September 10, 2009

(snipped)   


Billings video available for viewing

Video footage of the July 9 invasion of the Beulah home of Byrd and Melanie Billings is still available for the public to view at the State Attorney's Office.

The footage shows several attackers, some armed with rifles and shotguns, entering the house and confronting the couple and one of their nine adopted children in their living room. The footage shows Byrd Billings being shot in the leg; it does not record the slayings of the couple in their bedroom.

Seven men are charged with first-degree murder, and an eighth suspect, a woman, is charged as an accessory.

Local and national reporters have viewed the video.

About 20 other people have called the State Attorney's Office about seeing the video but only about 10 showed up to see it, Assistant State Attorney Greg Marcille said. The footage will be available indefinitely, he said.

[islandmonkey]

I really hate to see so little movement in this case, as it is obvious more work really needs to be done. It seems to have slipped off the charts in the media. I hope Sheriff Morgan has not been shut down and the rest of the "gang" will soon be brought into the net too.

I have debated whether I would have gone to look at the murder pictures available to the public. I do believe I would if I still lived in Alabama. It is only about an hour's drive there. We have made the trip many times for various reasons.

Thank you CECE for posting all the media updates.   

Well Ms Fanny, if you ever get done this way let me know and I will go see them with you......as of now, I don't think I could do it alone from what I've heard around here.

Thanks Cece for all the updates, wish we had more info though!

[cece]

It's so quiet I can hear the crickets.

   

[cece]

Doing a drive by to wish everyone a happy weekend!

   

[kc1234]

According to Rick's Blog, Ashley will appear on Oprah on Sep 24, 2009.

Source: http://ricksblog.biz/?p=7410

[cece]

According to Rick's Blog, Ashley will appear on Oprah on Sep 24, 2009.

Source: http://ricksblog.biz/?p=7410

TY kc.   

Some interesting comments at the link.

[Fanny Mae]

Thank you all for the links. 

It is upsetting and predictable that this case has come to a screeching halt. It was just the way I thought it might, what with the people involved in the background of this case. I have hoped against hope that Sheriff Morgan would be able to bust it wide open. He needs a lot of help from Sheriffs' of other jurisdictions and from the Feds also. I hope he is getting that help, and there is more in the background that is not meeting our eyes and ears.

I hope the powers-that-be are not allowed to loll away their time as usual on their yatchs and on the golf courses, and long walks with their bare feet in the sand. I hope the back room, cigar smoke filled rooms are much more tense as they carry on their business as usual. If nothing else, I hope they are all  looking over their shoulders a little bit more, and not feeling so smug. I hope they are feeling the pinch, even if at the same time they feel too big, too protected, and too important to ever be drug into the plot they put in motion. And I pray for Sheriff Morgan every day and the other people who want to do the right thing.   

I think Ashley Markham would be better served to stay off the Oprah Show and tend to the family she has left. Now is not the time to go on a national show for a "poor me session." There is much left to disclose, and a poor time for her little cameo. JMO

[kc1234]

Hugh Wiggins mentioned as a professional gun runner for the Mexican Mafia in Mississippi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Page three of the article identifies – Hugh Wiggins as a professional gun runner.

“They also found, court records show, two-way radios Hugh Wiggins threw out the window of a van he was in while traveling through Jackson County.

Florida court records later released in the case show a man, interviewed as a witness in the case, identified Hugh Wiggins as someone who referred to himself as a professional gun-runner — exactly the type of professional with whom authorities say Mexican Mafia members and their associates would be interested in doing business.”


Sources:
http://ricksblog.biz/?p=7415
http://www.sunherald.com/412/story/1614508.html

[cece]

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

Billings family needs financial support

Updated: Tuesday, 22 Sep 2009, 6:25 PM CDT
Published : Tuesday, 22 Sep 2009, 6:25 PM CDT

    * Christina Leavenworth
    * Photojournalist: Hal Scheurich

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Thursday, the daughter of Byrd and Melanie Billings flies to Chicago to tell Oprah her family's story. Ashley Markham will show Oprah a day in the life of the Billings children.

Crews were also allowed into the Billings' sprawling compound. The family said one of the reasons they're going on the show, is to let people know they're going to need help providing for the children.

There's the large house, with more than $160,000 in cash contained in a safe inside the home. Behind closed doors, Ashley and Blue Markham are trying to figure out how they'll be able to provide for all the children.

"Ashley has, of course, has been thrust into her parent's financial circumstances. The situation with the estate has changed a little bit. These people were perceived as being very wealthy, now they are realizing they didn't have a will, didn't have life insurance," family attorney Robert Beasley said.

The family's life insurance policy expired before the murders. The cash in the safe will be going toward estate taxes.

Beasley told FOX10 Melanie Billings wanted everything to go to the nine adopted children, with Markham having guardianship. However, Melanie's will was invalid.

Markham will have to split up the businesses, any assets, and the home in 14 different ways.

"There are 14 children, some of them are of majority age, nine of minor age in which Ashley is guardian for. Financially, she has to take care of nine. The estate share, which was not a huge estate, includes the home and all, is divided 14 ways," Beasley added.

Markham will have control over a majority of the estate because nine of her siblings are in her custody. But she'll have to buy her four other brothers and sisters out of the rest of it.

As for the future of the children, a trust has been set up for them. Markham hopes that by appearing on Oprah, people who hear their story, will want to help.

The trust is called the "Billings Special Needs Trust." Donations should be made out to "Billings Special Needs Trust" and sent to Litvak, Beasley, Wilson Attorneys at Law. Their address is 226 East Government Street, PO Box 13503, Pensacola, Fla. 32591.

[cece]

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/florida/Billings_Daughter_To_Talk_To_Oprah

Billings' daughter to talk to Oprah

Updated: Tuesday, 22 Sep 2009, 6:46 PM CDT
Published : Tuesday, 22 Sep 2009, 6:26 PM CDT

    * Christina Leavenworth
    * Photojournalist: Hal Scheurich

PENSACOLA, Fla. - All it took was a moment for Ashley Markham's life to change forever. Nine of her brothers and sisters with special needs were home, when her parents were murdered.

"She wasn't a mother before this, and now she's a mother of nine," family attorney Robert Beasley said.

Markham, her husband Blue, and their attorney Robert Beasley are flying out to Chicago Thursday night, to tell Oprah their story. The show will focus on how someone's life can change in a moment. That's one of the reasons they agreed to the interview.

"They came right out and said this isn't about murders. We aren't going to try and solve murders, not about who did what, the reasons. This is about mission of your parents what they were doing. It's about you're mission of stepping up, about that story," Beasley said.

The furthest any media outlets have been able to go is by the gates outside the home. Oprah's crew got to go inside, to see what a normal day is like for the family.

"We couldn't do big cameras, big lights. They scaled it way down, there was an agreement what rooms they could set up in, what rooms they could be in," added Beasley.

Beasley says there were strict boundaries about what could be shown. He said Oprah's crew was able to capture the family's daily life, without harming the children.

"These children more than others need routine, stability. They reacted great, they treated the film crew as a guest, played with them, interacted with them," he said.

On Thursday, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan will also do an interview with Oprah from his office. The show will air next week.

[Fanny Mae]

Thanks to all who are leaving links here. I don't have anything new to add, but I come here everyday just hoping there will be a break in this story. I do not believe for a moment this is finished.   

[cece]

http://www.northescambia.com/?p=11135

Photos: Oprah Winfrey Show To Feature Billings Murder With Markham, Morgan

September 25, 2009



Pictured above: Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan waits to film a segment on the Oprah Winfrey show via an Internet teleconference from his office Thursday afternoon.  Pictured below: Morgan conducts his interview with Oprah. Submitted photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.




An upcoming episode of the Oprah Winfrey show was taped Thursday afternoon with Ashley Markham, daughter of murder victimes Byrd and Melanie Billings, and Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan.

Markham, her husband James, and Roberty Beasley, their attorney, were in Chicago for the taping. The sheriff taped his portion of the program via the Skype Internet video chat program from his office in Pensacola.

The show is expected to air sometime next week; and exact date has not been announced. The show will reportedly focus around the Billings family and their children.