Cops: Fla. Slay Plot "Basically Flawless"

But 8th Suspect Never Showed To Turn Off Surveillance System, Police Say; Another Person of Interest Found

(CBS/AP)  The accomplice assigned to turn off surveillance cameras before an elaborate, deadly break-in at a sprawling Florida Panhandle home never did, but the seven people accused in the crime 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.

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," Morgan said. "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 do not know why the camera system remained on. He speculated that maybe the person who was supposed to turn it off had an attack of conscience. "Who knows?" he said.

Also Wednesday, Morgan said police in Orange Beach, Ala., had found a real estate agent named Pamela Laverne Long. Authorities had earlier sought public help finding her, saying they were concerned about her safety because she hadn't been heard from in about two days.

Police in Orange Beach, about 30 miles from Pensacola, found her at or near a marina on Wednesday afternoon, Morgan said. He said she was not in custody and was returning to Florida voluntarily. He said investigators believe she has "significant and substantial information" needed to conclude the case.

Morgan said Long is friends with and rents property to 35-year-old Leonard Gonzalez Jr., whom Morgan described as a "pivotal person" in organizing the crime.

Morgan also said authorities are looking for another person of interest who may have been assigned to turn off the surveillance system, possibly remotely, though he did not identify that person.

Morgan told CBS' "The Early Show" earlier Wednesday that investigators had "verified yesterday that this team, this group of people, had been in training at least 30 days, a month, prior to the execution of it at the Billings' compound."

Morgan also said investigators believe they know who shot the couple.

"We have identified, in fact, who participated or I should say was the active shooter in this case. We've been asked not to release that at this time," he told "The Early Show."

The sheriff has become the public face of the high-profile case by peppering his updates with ready-to-publish sound bites.

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.

State Attorney Bill Eddins has said he will ask a grand jury to indict all those arrested on first-degree murder charges in the Billings' shooting deaths. He said robbery was the main motive.

The suspects range in age from 16 to 56. 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. Stallworth had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan five times since 2002, an Air Force spokesman said.

Gonzalez was charged with murder and read a statement in court Tuesday proclaiming his innocence.

His father, Leonard Gonzalez Sr., 56, was charged 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.

Day laborer Wayne Coldiron, 41, was also charged with murder. He sometimes worked for a pressure washing business owned by the elder Gonzalez.

The other suspects arrested were Gary Sumner, 31, a day laborer, 19-year-old Frederick Lee Thornton, and a 16-year-old whom officials are not naming because he is a minor.

[NEWSBIRDatWORDPRESS]

They made 7 fatal mistakes. Read more about that at
http://newsbird.wordpress.com/2009/07/22/parents-murder-in-florida-seven-evil-fools-involved-in-a-carefully-planned-home-invasion/

[igot_leishmaniasis]

fred-mertz; what you posted was a joke, let them come to my house in the middle of the night!!

[babooph]

8 people involved & sharing loot from a home 8 ways-not so flawless in that way -idiocy,now death for almost no reason.

[robinspp]

No one in the world should be allowed to carry gun except the police and the military personals.

[lora1459]

Bull are you blind? If someone enters your house with intention to kill you and your family, they don't need a gun. How are you the tax payer, hard working loving mother father suppose to protect your home and children? Esp. if you cannot get to the phone? It's supposed to be our right to bear arms. As responsible people we have to go through a long sometimes unfair process to be able to own a hand gun. meanwhile we are all vulnerable targets, waiting and hoping that the bad guys aren't out to get us. Because if they are, we're screwed, dead, raped, tortured, robbed, beaten or all the above. What really needs to happen, is every city needs a special police force to go out every night and shake down gangs, drug dealers etc. They have the equipment to be ablr to detect weapons on a person or even inside of a household. Yes, from outside they have cameras that can pick up on weapons. They should be raiding homes and people on the street every single night and throwing them in jail. Why are we paying for SWAT? To come out only when there is a threat made? No the tax payers have to unite and insist that something is done to stop all the selling, stealing, dealing of illegal weapons and drugs. I see drug dealers on the street everyday, wheeling and dealing and nothing is done to stop them. It's so obvious a blind man can see. yet the cops drive by and by and do nothing. They stand out front of the Mini-Marts while the cops go inside and set up the innocent store owners by sending in a 17 year old that looks 30 to buy a pack of cigaretts. The store owner gets fined $500.00. Meanwhile there's guns and drugs being sold outside the store and nothing happens to them. This is insanity to me! By the way the store owners do not want them there outside, they are just powerless to stand up to them out of fear. The Supreme Court of NY just found our curfew in Rochester NY unfair. Therefor, all the little murdering, drug dealing juvaniels are back out on the street to do as they damn well please. Excuse me but why do the minors that do not pay taxes have more rights than the working class? And as a parent at least when there was a curfew I had the law behind me. Now the kids have more power than the adults,and they know it. it's not right. The minors are responsible for most of the crimes here inc. murder. On the average there is 1 murder everyday in my city. Maybe it's mostly, black against black, and that's why the cops don't give a f---. I don't know. All I do know is it's out of hand and we need to send a message that:" We are fed up and were not gonna take it anymore." As tax payers, we want safer neighborhoods and the punks off our streets. If the Supreme Court won't remove the minors then the cops had better step up and make it difficult for them to be on the streets. Charge them with anything J-walking, vagrencey,loittering, whatever

[picklepants7]

that has to be one of the stupidist i've ever heard. why don't you learn why the second amendment was drawn up.

[jab232]

What a tragedy! Thank God these people were so incompetent.

[formrusmcsgt]

I have to laugh at the "basically flawless" description considering the twits didn't even realize the surveillance system was not taken down which gave the cops the vehicle which gave them the suspects.

Flawless my ass.

They're more like the 8 stooges.

[rhs648]

Weren't the police referring to the plot as being nearly flawless? If the fellow who was suppose to the turn off surveillance cameras showed up, this crime have been pulled off flawlessly. As it turned out, he didn't do his share therefore ruining the plan. Apparently, these guys were planning and rehearsing their roles for a month before the crime and then the guy doesn't show up.

[tmittelstaed]

I don't - they almost got away with it. If the vehicle had been parked just a few more feet away it might not have been picked up on camera.

[tomrobla]

Cops "Slay" plot .. don't you Cops "Say" plot. Did these idiots actually plan to kill the couple?

[fred-mertz]

read it again! It says, 'Cops: Fla. Slay Plot "Basically Flawless"'.

The colon is important. "Cops:" means "the cops say:". The COPS said that the plot to slay these people was "basically flawless". Headline writers have to economize on words. The headline is actually OK.

[deadbolt107]

The eighth person is still a suspect, Berkeley_Skirt_Lifter. In order to fully renunciate the crime, you need to do everything in your power to prevent it from happening. Calling the police before it happens would be the easiest example. If you just don't do it, but you were part of the conspiracy, you are still part of the crime.

[tmittelstaed]

What is probably going on right now is the 8th suspect's lawyer is in negotiations with the sheriff. The deal will be something like, if you come forward and testify against all these other goons who were actually there, we will make it very light on you, maybe 6 years in jail or so. If you make us cut a deal with one of the goons to find out your name then we will throw the book at you. Either way we are going to know who you are so you may as well come forward.

If the police can get the 8th person who wasn't there to agree to testify against the rest of the gang in exchange for leiency, then they have a bang shot, and it is then just a simple matter to ask each gang member in isolation who pulled the trigger, and if they get 3-4 gang members to finger one or two people, then those robbers will get the electric chair and all of the rest of them will get life.

This is about as foolproof a case as you can get - they have enough evidence, they have an unimpeachable set of victims, you couldn't have picked a worse target to kill than if you had shot the pope. No wonder the sheriff is enjoying himself - almost certainly this gang has been responsible for a number of other thefts and robberies and he now has all of them in one trap and can throw the key away once they are behind bars.

It is a tremendous relief as well to have these guys caught. Criminals that show that level of planning and organization are far and away more dangerous than the ordinary garden variety criminals.

[stillwaters6]

for the love of God...keep the investigation focued on capturing the correct killers NOT JUST SUSPECTS as opposed to how well the sheriff can talk to the camera.

Justice must be served with all the i's dotted and the t's crossed!

[gunownerdan]

Keep those doors and windows locked and if you are able, keep a loaded gun handy at all times and learn how to use it properly and safely!
Killers will always prefer defenseless victims.
Self Defense...
A-HUMAN-RIGHT.com

[fred-mertz]

The NRA always prefers its sheep armed and stupid.

You may have the "right" to defend yourself, but a gun is almost NEVER the correct tool to use. If someone wants to kill you with a gun, they arrive armed and loaded and aimed and they pull the trigger before you can even get your gun out. And if, by some **** luck, the imbecile who attacked can't aim, your gun is still not much use. Almost NOBODY has the proper training to be able to "defend themselves" with a gun after they have been fired upon. It takes intense training, about every other month for your entire life. Without that training, after someone shoots at you, "fight or flight" takes over and your vision narrows, your small muscle coordination goes all to hell, and your gun is worthless. Plus, the moment your attacker sees your gun, his motivation to kill you increases about a thousand-fold!

Guns are not the answer to violence. They will never be. GunOwnerDan is wrong. But he DOES serve the interests of the NRA, the Gun Sellers, and THEY are the real problem! GunOwnerDan is just their tool.

The best defense against gun violence is to not make enemies. If you have no enemies, no one will ever try to kill you.

The second best defense is not to be there when they come to kill you. If you're not there, you don't need to "defend yourself".

The third best defense is to have good, strong doors and locks and an alarm system, or maybe a dog. But this really won't stop someone from killing you, it will just make it a little harder.

Besides, where do those criminals all get their guns? It's from the SAME gun sellers and gun manufacturers that sell to you. They don't care who lives or dies, so long as everyone in constantly afraid and buys lots of guns. GunOwnerDan is a BIG help to the gun sellers, but he is NO HELP to the rest of us who would like to stay alive.

More guns = more death. There is no denying it.

[fred-mertz]

The NRA always prefers its sheep armed and stupid.

You may have the "right" to defend yourself, but a gun is almost NEVER the correct tool to use. If someone wants to kill you with a gun, they arrive armed and loaded and aimed and they pull the trigger before you can even get your gun out. And if, by some **** luck, the imbecile who attacked can't aim, your gun is still not much use. Almost NOBODY has the proper training to be able to "defend themselves" with a gun after they have been fired upon. It takes intense training, about every other month for your entire life. Without that training, after someone shoots at you, "fight or flight" takes over and your vision narrows, your small muscle coordination goes all to hell, and your gun is worthless. Plus, the moment your attacker sees your gun, his motivation to kill you increases about a thousand-fold!

Guns are not the answer to violence. They will never be. GunOwnerDan is wrong. But he DOES serve the interests of the NRA, the Gun Sellers, and THEY are the real problem! GunOwnerDan is just their tool.

The best defense against gun violence is to not make enemies. If you have no enemies, no one will ever try to kill you.

The second best defense is not to be there when they come to kill you. If you're not there, you don't need to "defend yourself".

The third best defense is to have good, strong doors and locks and an alarm system, or maybe a dog. But this really won't stop someone from killing you, it will just make it a little harder.

Besides, where do those criminals all get their guns? It's from the SAME gun sellers and gun manufacturers that sell to you. They don't care who lives or dies, so long as everyone in constantly afraid and buys lots of guns. GunOwnerDan is a BIG help to the gun sellers, but he is NO HELP to the rest of us who would like to stay alive.

More guns = more death. There is no denying it.

[fred-mertz]

"keep a loaded gun handy at all times and learn how to use it properly and safely!" - gunownerdan

Oh, yeah Dan, that's just brilliant! -- NOT!

This couple had SIXTEEN mentally and physically disabled children! If they had guns in the house, the kids would have killed them, or themselves, or a visitor!!

You are an absolute moron, dan!

[fred-mertz]

"Those who keep guns in their house for defense need to have a solid mind..and not go off half cocked... " -- Somebody who thought he was funny

But that is what happens EVERY DAY! Every single day, SOME GUN OWNERS KILL 80 PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY! Obviously, they are "half cocked", as you call it. Otherwise, why are they killing? If a gun is for "self defense", why do 30,000 gun deaths happen in this country every year, but only about 20 or 300 of them are legaly "self defense"? All of the rest are suicides, murders, and accidents! Guns are a TERRIBLY BAD CHOICE for self defense. And they are a ludicrously INSANE CHOICE for "protecting yourself from a repressive government" because, in recent history, the US government CAN NOT be defeated by force from a bunch of idiots with guns.

So, you think I'm in a "paranoic frenzy"? You are completely WRONG. I'm not the least bit paranoid. If I was, I'd get a gun like all you imbeciles and live in constant fear that everyone was "out to get me". You are just PROJECTING your own paranoia.

Re: the "frenzy". That is also far from the truth. GunOwnerDan, as always, posted a whole bunch of idiotic trash in yet another attempt to get everyone to go out and buy a gun. But his reasons to buy a gun are stupid, illogical, and just-plain wrong! And the idiot was so effing stupid that he thinks this story about the family being murdered is a good example of how everyone should keep loaded guns in their homes, ready to kill anything they are afraid of at an instant's notice. THAT is an absolutely idiotic thing for a family with 16 emotionally, mentally, and physically handicapped children!! If you think a loaded gun is ever "safe" in a home full of kids, you are an effing imbecile!

Guns are NOT the solution. Guns are the problem.

Guns don't kill people; People WITH GUNS kill people... and monkeys will too, if you give them a gun!