Suspects arrested in murder of Florida couple who adopted a dozen-plus kids, most of them disabled

The Billings family (Pensacola News Journal) Leonard Gonzalez Jr. and Wayne Thomas Coldiron have been charged with the murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings. (Pensacola News Journal)

Four days ago a couple with more than a dozen children, most of them adopted and disabled, was shot to death in their Florida house.

Yesterday arrests were made, with more to come, meaning we now have enough information to present this week's first candidates to the Sick Fuck of the Week award.

A surveillance video the couple used to keep track of the kids, shows a red van pull up, three men get out and head to the house at the time Melanie, 43, and Byrd Billings, 66, were murdered in their bedroom on July 9.

Discovery of the red van across town led to the arrest of 56-year-old Leonard Gonzalez (left), who reportedly was the getaway driver. He's been charged with tampering with evidence because he was in the process of painting or disguising the van. Shouldn't he be charged with accessory to murder? Bail was set at $250,000.

Sunday night, police arrested 41-year-old Wayne Coldiron and 35-year-old Leonard Gonzalez Jr., son of the van owner, (below) and charged them with murder, robbery and home invasion, holding them on $1 million bail each.

At the time, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan described the murder as something out of a movie.

"This is like a movie script," he said. "The more we've delved into this and worked this case, the different avenues that it would go down. Just when you thought, 'All right, we're in a straight line at this point with this investigation,' it would take a hard right or a hard left, and it was almost as though you had another investigation that you were initiating."

At a press conference today, Morgan said investigators believe six to eight individuals were involved in the murder, including three black males, one of which is is flight and yet to be identified.

Regarding the motive, Morgan would only confirm one--robbery.

"We have a motive, but we believe that there are other motives, numerous motives...but at this time we cannot release that information," he told reporters.

Morgan said the mastermind of the operation is already in custody, but would not disclose his name.

What other motives could there be? What could the adoptive parents of a dozen handicapped children have done to provoke these sick fucks? One of the couple's biological children, Ashley Markham, said today the family doesn't know the suspects.

Could the wholesome-looking, generous couple had been involved in something sinister? It seems far-fetched, but you never know...

This case is already starting to look like a Law & Order...not that there's anything wrong with that. As you can see, I'm tuning in.

The Billings originally had 17 children, but three died over the years, Markham said. Each parent had two biological children, and the rest were adopted; the couple had no biological children together. Nine of the children were at home when the couple was shot and killed Thursday night.

The family lived in Beulah, west of Pensacola, near the Alabama state line.

UPDATE: A day after this post, on July 14, sheriff Morgan announced seven people had been arrested in connection to the murders.

Morgan declined to give specifics about the suspects, saying only that some may have been laborers at the couple's home but noting there's "no direct tie" between the suspects and the couple. He also declined to answers many questions, repeatedly saying, "I won't speak to that issue," because of the ongoing investigation and because other states are involved.

The prosecutor said the primary motive in this case was "home invasion and robbery," but he declined to disclose the other motive or motives earlier referred to by Morgan or provide specifics about the items stolen, though he confirmed a medium-sized safe was among them.

"A lot of the questions, you, the media, is asking we just cannot answer," he said.

Leonard Gonzalez, Jr., was identified as the organizer of the crime.

Sources: Pensacola News Journal, CNN, ABC News, AP
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