All Blog Posts from Crimesider

PENSACOLA, Fla. - A 10-year-old adopted son with Down syndrome was sleeping with his parents when masked gunmen burst in and shot and killed the Florida couple in their bedroom last month, according to documents released Monday.

The boy was among nine children between the ages of 4 and 11 at the home when Byrd and Melanie Billings were slain July 9. The couple was known for adopting numerous children with special needs.

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PENSACOLA, Fla. - The suspects who robbed and killed a Florida couple in July made off with a safe that contained few valuables, but missed a second safe that held $164,000 in cash, a lawyer for the victims' family acknowledged Tuesday.

"Contrary to rumors of as much as $12 million in the home the night of the murders, the second safe contained $164,000 in cash, some antique jewelry and assorted legal documents," Robert Beasley, the attorney for the slain Panhandle couple, said in a statement.

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Beulah, Fla. - Four weeks after Byrd and Melanie Billings, the beloved Fla. couple who raised 13 children with developmental disabilities, were brutally murdered in their home, we still don't know why.

Were they shot in their beds while their children, some awake, were home as part of a robbery gone bad, as police had originally theorized? Or did the Billings' unusual and still unclear business dealings somehow lead to their demise?

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PENSACOLA, Fla. - For two weeks now, rumors have swirled that the murdered wealthy Fla. family, who had numerous adopted special needs children, were the victims of a contract hit, possibly tied to shady business connections. We felt those rumors were not solid enough to report.

Questions were also asked about how the Billings made their fortune. The answer to that is still not clear.

But Florida police have now unequivicably stated they are not investigating the murder of Byrd and Melinda Billings as a contract hit.

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PENSACOLA, Fla. - A Panhandle couple known for adopting 12 special needs children and killed in a home invasion by masked men dressed as ninjas had helped one of the suspects open a martial arts studio.

The information is the latest twist in the strange murder case of the couple who raised 16 children, many with severe disabilities.

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NEW YORK - In a town known for its long association with Naval Aviation Pensacola has been rocked to its core by a double homicide of a popular and seemingly almost Saintly couple whose stated life mission was to adopt and provide a home for severely disabled children.

The murders of Melanie and Byrd Billings have caused the national media to descend upon Pensacola in a media feeding frenzy. Eight suspects have been arrested in connection with the execution style murder of the Billings.

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PENSACOLA, Fla. - The mystery deepened Wednesday around the circumstances and motives that led to the execution of a wealthy Fla. couple who raised 16 children, many of them adopted with special needs.

Robbery may not have been the only reason for the military style home invasion that led to the deaths of Melanie and Byrd Billings, according to Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan, but he has refused to speculate on other motives.

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PENSACOLA, Fla. - Investigators say the killers of a wealthy Florida couple known for adopting special needs children trained for at least a month before committing the crime.

Seven men are jailed on charges including murder, in the shooting deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings, who had 17 children -- four biological and 13 adopted.

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PENSACOLA, Fla. - Masked suspects, some dressed as ninjas, stole a safe and other items during a deadly break-in at the sprawling Florida home of a couple known for adopting children with special needs, authorities said Tuesday.

Melanie and Byrd Billings were shot to death Thursday in their nine-bedroom home in northern Florida. Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan held a press conference Tuesday to announce that three more people had been arrested, bringing the total to seven.

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PENSACOLA, Fla. - Startling new developments have come out in the case of a murdered Fla. couple who had adopted a dozen children, many with developmental problems.

Police say several of the men who entered the couple's home July 9 were dressed as ninjas. And that while some of the nine children who were home slept through the double murder and possible robbery, others were awake. At least one left the home to get help. It's not clear what the children were forced to witness.

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