Safe, Guns Found from Fla. Murder Scene

7 Suspects Charged with Murder, One with Accessory for Attack on Pensacola Couple; DEA Involvement Confirmed

(CBS/AP)  Last Updated at 1:02 p.m. EDT

Investigators found the safe stolen from a Florida couple's home during a deadly break-in last week, officials said.

State Attorney Bill Eddins said Thursday that investigators have also found several guns and believe at least one of them was used to kill Melanie and Byrd Billings.

The couple was known for adopting children with special needs. Surveillance cameras captured footage of masked men - some dressed as ninjas - slipping into front and back doors of their home.

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

Eddins would not say what was in the safe or where it or the guns were found. He said the case is mostly wrapped up. But Sheriff David Morgan said investigators are still looking for people they want to interview.

Morgan also confirmed that the Drug Enforcement Administration is taking part in the investigation into the Billings' deaths - a development which may indicate the federal agency's interest in possible drugs and money laundering, reports CBS News correspondent Terrell Brown

Morgan said he called in the DEA after information surfaced during the investigation that fell into the scope of the agency's authority, but declined to reveal the specific evidence.

A clearer picture of the Billings' finances emerged earlier Thursday revealing the murdered couple may have had money problems.

Meanwhile, authorities continued investigating the precisely executed, deadly break-in at the victims' Florida Panhandle home, with the Drug Enforcement Administration confirming their involvement in the case and police arresting an eighth suspect. Police are also still seeking at least one more accomplice who they believe failed his assignment to disable the house's surveillance system.

Court documents show the Billings, who were known for adopting 13 children with special needs, sued their own adult son for child support in 2008 after they took in his daughter - their granddaughter - in 2006, reports CBS News correspondent Terrell Brown.

They also had asked for a $50,000 life insurance policy for the then-18-year-old girl, with themselves as the beneficiaries.

Morgan told CBS' "The Early Show" that the police have not investigated the Billings' finances as they've searched for their killers.

Other federal agencies are also involved in the case. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is helping trace the weapons used in the attack and the FBI is working to enhance the security video retrieved from the house.

Footage taken by the cameras helped lead investigators to the suspects in last week's shooting deaths. The videos showed masked men - some dressed as ninjas - slipping into front and back doors at the home.

Police on Wednesday arrested an eighth suspect, 47-year-old Pamela Long Wiggins, charging her with accessory after the fact to felony murder, Morgan said. Seven others have also been charged in the killings.

Police do not believe Long, the eighth arrest, was present at the murder scene but do suspect she may have personal ties to the alleged mastermind of the attack - Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Junior, reports Brown.

CBS News obtained a marriage license from December listing Long as the bride, with Gonzalez as a witness.

Morgan said the suspects spent 30 days training for what was a precisely executed break-in, save for the failure to turn off the couple's camera system. Before the crime, the extensive surveillance system was used to monitor the children.

"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?"

Morgan said an accomplice was assigned to turn off the cameras, possibly remotely, but never did - and the men who broke in apparently didn't know that. Morgan said authorities are looking for another person of interest who may have been the one assigned to turn off the system, though he did not identify that person.

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.

They were in the nine-bedroom house for just four minutes and on the property for 10, Morgan said.

Morgan said the suspects took a safe from the house, though he would not say what was in it or what else was taken. Authorities have said the main motive was robbery, though there may have been others.

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

The male suspects range in age from 16 to 56.

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.

[sayfud-deen]

legacyabq,do you need glases and a hearing aid? i think the above statements apply to you as well! the bottom line is still the same. look at what your society is doing and stop worrying and scaring the public with b.s.. this is exactly how these guys could train for at least a month and no one paid them any attention. now once again,you have a whole family wiped out! this is not the first time and it won't be the last! several times this year people have been found to have large caches of weapons in their homes. and they were not muslims! if you do't understand,then you have missed the point entirely. by the way,i don't have time for wiseass remarks! this is serious business!

[sayfud-deen]

i fully expected comment like the one above. if i understand you correctly,you think that a handfull of muslims committing crimes make all muslims look bad? so, do you mean that it is o.k. to molest chidren,rape babies,rape women,murder, rob,and commit the lewd,perverted,obsence acts that go on in this society daily? how does that make the other 99.9% of this society look like? let,s keep it real! when was the last time a muslim beheaded anyone in america?! what happened in a war situation overseas is and entirely different situation,that is not relevent to this subject. another time for that!stop believing everything you read and hear on fox and cnn. most people they tell you are muslim,are either not muslim or we don't recognize them as being muslim! also,remember we are peaceful, not passive. there is a difference! if you hit me ,i will hit you back! fair exchange is never robbery!

[legacyabq]

Why have all the articles over the last few REPEATEDLY qouted sherrif morgan as saying he knew nothing about any DEA investigation, and now today it qoutes him as saying HE INVITED them??

LIAR!

[sayfud-deen]

what pisses me off, is how these guys can pratice manuvers and go undetected for so long! yet,muslims in america can't have innocent fun with paint balls,talk about jihad,wear certain clothing without raising eyebrows,and so forth. it seems,and it always has been, that the police would better utilize the publics resources watching people like this,along with the baby rapers,rapist,murderers and thieves, child molesters,and pereverts that commit these crimes on a daily basis and are not Muslim! rather than, along with the media try to vilify muslims every chance they get! everytime i read about these senseless killings along with all of the other crimes i think,if it was Muslims doing this in this country,we would be deemed public enemies and placed in interment camps or worse! i do resent this blantant disregard for what i see as a double standard!

[gunownerdan]

It's very easy to fear and distrust all Muslims when we see small groups of violent and extremist Muslims beheading "infidels" and calling for "death to America" all the time. I understand most Muslims are normal people like everyone else who just wants to live a good life but I know first hand that it only takes a small group of bad people to make everyone look bad!

[legacyabq]

exactly dan, and sayfud, WHERE is the media "demonizing" muslims?>?
WHERE?

The only people who do that are radio entertainers.

Thats not journalism, thats entertainment (somehow).

Dont be so paranoid.

[tincup356]

Remember folks this story is out of Flori-DUH.

[thomderr1]

Where are you from? The State of Mensa??
Why else would the DEA get involved? Perhaps the theft of drugs that their many children may have needed? Those drugs could be sold for thousands of dollars!
Anti-seizure medications, pain meds, etc.
Perhaps the criminals knew when the drugs would arrive.
Let the professionals decide.

Leave the State of Florida Law Enforcement alone.

[gunownerdan]

They had a safe and even security cameras. Certainly they took steps to improve their security. Unfortunately it was not enough.
I just wish they had the ability to stop their killers.

[docpeter1953]

From the above article, "Police are also still seeking at least one more accomplice who they believe failed his assignment to disable the house's surveillance system."
____________________

Even with unemployment high and people losing their jobs; you just can't get good dependable help these days can you.

[geminispyder-2009]

The mugshots of the arrested don't exactly scream 'MIT Graduates'.

[inmom63]

Maybe it does show a lack of intelligence, however there is much more to this story than has been told. And I'd say the couple's finances may have much more to do with it than it just being a robbery.

[vittoria1]

I still don't quite understand how the Billingses could have sued their son for child support for their granddaughter, given that the article claims she was 18 -- a legal adult.

[carolo43]

There's just something not right with this whole case. Why would it take 8 people with practicing for a month to break into the home and shoot a man and his wife? Why so many needed and why so much practice? It just sounds to me as if this was a practice run for bigger and worse crimes..........as if it could get much worse. It just sounds as the Billings were to be the first of a whole line of awful crimes. That 16 year old is a killer just as much as if he was 30. He needs to be tried as an adult.

[stickdog3]

I agree with you on your conclusion. But, what else haven't they talked about. These people were in 'n out in 10 minutes. Thats very fast, it don't take a rocket scientist to understand that, they had to know exactly where that safe was. They had to know how large it was, whether it was bolted to the floor or sunk in the floor. In order to know these things one of them or more had to have been in that house recently. I hate to say it, but they should be looking at the adult children, and the house staff members if they had any. I've seen so many of these type case on CBS 48 Hours Mysterys, and it always turn out to be a grown child of the deceased or a close relative or friend. Always. Why so many people involved in this, because the haul was gonna be huge, and they could afford to split it 8 ways and still come out with a large share. Again, how did they know precisely where the safe was, and other things they took and be out that house in 10 minutes time. Sorry, this is an inside job.

[legacyabq]

You got that right stickdog. No doubt about it!

10 minutes??

[stryker54]

you shouldn't jump to conclusions dmc1184, shows lack of intelligence

[legacyabq]

What?!? Jumping to conclusions is a SIGN of intelligence, its called inductive reasoning. Sure,, it can be flawed, but when based on patterns and consistent events, its just plain good old fashioned THINKING...