Fourth Arrest in Billings Slaying

Police Say as Many as Eight People - With Various Motives - May Have Been Involved

(CBS/AP)  Byrd and Melanie Billings had a growing brood of adopted children with autism, Down syndrome and other disabilities, and took care to make their nine-bedroom house a safe place for them, wiring it with surveillance cameras in every room.

It was those cameras that captured images of the masked men who shot the wealthy couple to death in a break-in executed with chilling precision.

Authorities made three arrests over the weekend, plus another arrest announced Monday evening, but the mystery around town only deepened, when Sheriff David Morgan said that as many as eight people in all may have been involved and that the crime appeared to have "numerous motives," though robbery was the only one he would mention.

"Mr. Billings was well-to-do. He was an entrepreneur and he opened his home to the community. You are asking me to speculate on a motive. That could have been one reason," Morgan said, likening the killings to the 1959 slayings of a Kansas farm family that were chronicled by Truman Capote in the book "In Cold Blood."

The video from last Thursday showed three armed, masked men arriving in a red van, entering through the front of the house and then returning to the vehicle. Others dressed in what the sheriff called "ninja garb" went in through an unlocked utility door in the back. They were in and out in under 10 minutes.

The sheriff would not say what, if anything, was stolen.

Some of the nine children in the house at the time were sleeping, but several others saw the break-in, authorities said. One left the house and went to get a neighbor, who called 911.

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

Morgan said, however, that there was no indication anyone had unlocked the door for the intruders, explaining, "I believe it was a matter of course in this community that they felt comfortable enough to leave the door unlocked." He also said he knew of no connection between the men under arrest and the Billings family.

The Billingses owned several local businesses, including a finance company and a used-car dealership. They lived in Beulah, a rural area west of Pensacola, near the Alabama state line, in a house set deep in the woods. They had 16 children in all - 12 of them adopted.

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," said Melanie Billings, who was 43 when she died. "I just wanted to give them a better life."

The surveillance system was installed to help the couple keep track of their children as they wandered through the large house and yard, said Susan Berry, principal of Escambia Westgate School in Pensacola, which some of the children attended.

Tips from the public led police to the van on Saturday. Day laborer Wayne Coldiron, 41, turned himself in on Sunday, and Leonard P. Gonzalez Jr., 35, was arrested the same day in a neighboring county. They were charged with murder and home invasion. Gary Lamont Sumner Jr., 30, was arrested Monday in Okaloosa County on a murder charge and will eventually be returned to Escambia County. Morgan said he hopes to make another arrest on Tuesday.

Authorities also jailed Gonzalez's father on a charge of evidence tampering. Police say the 56-year-old confessed to driving a getaway van and trying to repaint it later, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann.

The elder Gonzalez told investigators that he was the getaway driver and waited in the van while the others broke into the house and burglarized it, according to court papers. Authorities said he also told them several other men were involved.

Byrd Billings, 68, was a man with big twinkly-eyed smile, Berry said. At one school function, his big hand enveloped hers, leaving a neatly folded check for the school in her palm. She wouldn't say how much the check was for, but she couldn't believe how big it was.

"They weren't only generous with their children," Berry said. "They were generous with everyone that touched their children's lives."

When Melanie Billings picked up her children from school, she would stretch out her arms, and "the kids would run to her, the ones that could," Berry said. "They would go as fast they could with their arms in the air for Mom to take them."

For one daughter's prom, the couple created a Cinderella scene. The girl's dress was white, her date wore a white tuxedo with a pink tie, and the couple emerged from a white limousine.

"The beam on Byrd and Mel's faces, and on the parents of the young man, is something I'll never forget," Berry said. "It was picture-perfect."

Ashley Markham, an adult daughter of the victims, said she plans to carry on with her parents' legacy.

"My mother always told me some people grow up wanting to be doctors or lawyers or teachers. She wanted to be a mommy," Markham said in a statement. "Her lifelong dream was loving her babies and being a voice for them."

A funeral service has been planned for Friday morning at the Liberty Church, with visitation planned for the night before.

[vietnam2]

Where is the outcry against this couple for having 16 kids. You people were so upset about octomon having 14 kids saying how she is living off tax payers money. Well who do you think is going to take care of these 16 kids? Sure it's tragic that they were killed but, it tells me they figured it out that they can make alot of money off the government for each kid. It's more to this story that we told know. There goes my taxes on those kids.

[legacyabq]

why? why did they do it?

What possible reason did they have to kill them if all they wanted was money?

They walked past children to do this! How do people end up so evil?

[faylabouiver]

Right on John_Merritt, Iam with you all the way on these, and I also am a Christian and have guns in my house for protection and always will, plus a very nasty K-9 dog.These people need no trial just put them down the same way they put those 2 people down. No mercy here ever!!!!!!!!!!!!

[gunownerdan]

Seems like all the victims had for home security was some video cameras.
I wish they at least had a shotgun handy too.

[John_Merritt]

With 14 kids, i am sure they were somewhat reluctant? It sounds as though they might have been Christian as well, which precludes many from bearing arms. I, for one, am Christian and am locked and loaded at all times.

You can never be too safe in this country anymore. And with these guys who were 'killing machines' and not opportunists; they do not deserve any mercy; if they are convicted. Trial, conviction and execution. It is time for this country and courts to make a statement, FOREVER.

You kill cold blooded, and you die the same way. No mercy.

[rhs648]

John_Merritt - Stated very well.

[mwhc1]

death... 50 cents 22cal in the head. case over. $$$$ saved. this is at least what they did a hundred years ago when u did something like this. must have been a better time to live :) and they sold hot dogs at the hangings!!! TWO PLEASE!

[LinuxRules]

We do not scum like this on Earth, that is why we need and have the death penally for, and I hope Florida will use it on everyone involved.

[toldyouso29]

Coldiron? Gonzalez Jr. and Gonzalez Sr--among others? Don't forget to tell us if those killers were illegal? And the Grandpa was the get away driver while the rest were there to rob? How many more "prizes" like that have come across the borders to prey on Americans and "rob" us?

PC correct or not, we should be told if the illegals are adding exponentially and violently to our crime problems. Americans don't need this burden--no matter whose relatives they are.

[AOCGUY]

Why do you assume anyone with a non-anglo name must be an illegal? Pensacola was the first European (Spain) settlement in the new world and has a rich hispanic history. Try focusing on the loss of two good people.

[ahrats]

These gentelmen are all cold blooded killers and the resaon we need to keep old sparky operating. They shot unarmed people for no good reason. I'm sure the couple would have let these stupid people have what ever they wanted in the house ans long as no one was hurt. Any other family members of the killers should be deported, we do not need their kind in ther U.S..

[gramto8]

I'm sure this will bring coals of fire on my head, but where does it say that any of the ones involved are illegals? Why can't you get off your soapbox just once? There are people who are in America legally, indeed there are American CITIZENS, who kill people. Not everyone who kills someone is an illegal. DUNCE!

[ibsteve2u]

Besides, it will be a lot easier to cook 'em if they are NOT illegals, right?