Billings case: Friday, July 10 – part 2

FAMILY TIES
Friday, July 10

While Sheriff Morgan is holding his press conference, Investigator Lee Tyree is speaking with Kristyn Billings in one of the interview rooms.

Kristyn, who graduated from Pine Forest High School in May, lives and works with Joe Chauncey. She gives Tyree an accounting of her and her boyfriend’s activities and whereabouts the night before. The couple had recently moved out of their apartment and had moved into a house.

After work Kristyn and Joe stopped at Cox Communication to set up cable service for their new home. She shows Tyree a receipt for $101.30 stamped 5:44 p.m. They then parked in the driveway of Tom Long, their roommate Matt’s father, to use his wireless internet connection. Joe used the connection to check on a job.

After feeding the dogs and chickens of their bosses, who were out of town, the couple came home, changed and went to eat out at Olive Garden when the murders occurred. Thursday is their regular date night.

Neither had brought their phone with them. When they got home, they had 20 messages on their phones. Her friend, Alicia Voice, called, “You need to get over to your house.”

Kristyn asked, “What’s happening?”

“I can’t tell you, you need to come.”

They left immediately.

Investigators Tama Barber and James O’Hara check Kristyn and Joe’s alibis. They speak with Tim Long to verify the whereabouts of Chauncey and Kristyn Billings on the night the incident occurred.

Long tells O’Hara that his son Matt told him that Joey had cover over to use the internet. He didn’t see Joey, but saw his vehicle parked out in the driveway between 6-6:30 p.m.

The investigators drive to Olive Garden to verify the couple had dinner there the night before. The manager and waiter Dave Hong remember the couple arrived at about 8:40 p.m. and left about 9:48 p.m. Hong comments on how nice they were.

“BEFORE I DIE…”

Investigators Terry Hardy and Chris Baggett interview Ashley and James Markham, the couple started dating in 1997 and have been married for two years.

Ashley tells them that Bud Billings is known to carry large sums of cash, sometimes in a briefcase and sometimes he kept large amounts of cash in a safe.

She says that Henry Tice used to have a dealership that Billings and Markhams owned, but the relationship had ended about 18 months prior. According to Ashley, her dad was in the process of suing Tice over a number of vehicles that Tice had purchased from Billings and taken to Mexico and sold without paying Billings for the cars.

She says that her dad had filed a criminal complaint against Tice and was all the time saying, “Before I die, I’m going to see him go to jail.”

James “Blue” Markham says his father-in-law was “slowly trying to retire” from the auto business. He financed other car dealers in the area. He also financed car sales for people who couldn’t get to regular financial institutions for car loans.

The investigators show Markham a black briefcase that he identifies as the one that Billings carried with him. Normally Billings kept money in that case, but there was none in it.

Markham says he taken over the car lot – Markham Auto Sales – from Tim Higley. A red van was in the lot inventory when Markham took control. Billings had an agreement with Cab Tice to sell it by running it through his dealership, Hispanic-American Auto Sales, with a few other vehicles at Gulf States Auto Auction.

“He did and we sold it and, to my knowledge it was to a group of Mexicans that he knew or done business with before or something.”

Markham tells them about the business dispute between Tice and Billings.

“Mr. Billings floor planned him. In other words, he owned all of his cars or most of his cars, and as they sold them, he would pay off what he owes to Bud and then receive a portion of the, if was financed, he would receive like 60 percent of the deal and if it was cash, he would get, you know, it all.”

He says that Billings financed about 95 percent of Tice’s sales. The dealer got 80 percent of the contract, and Worldco Financial Services, the finance company owned by Billings, got the remaining 20 percent.

Everything was fine Tice in the beginning, but things went sour towards the end of 2007 and got worse in 2008.

“(Tice) seemed like the greatest guy ever and it kind of just slowly fell apart and checks got bad and it just went downhill from there.”

Markham says that Tice owed Billings more than $100K and that his father-in-law had filed a report with the ECSO.

As the investigators question more, Markham says that Tice had been over the Billings residence.

“Ashley, Bud and Melanie-they were all pretty good friends for a while until it fell apart.”

Blue tells Hardy and Tyree that Tice now works Bobby English, but he doesn’t know where the car lot is–either Fort Walton Beach or Santa Rosa County. He adds that Higley had told him last night that there was where Tice was working. Higley gave him Tice and English’s phone numbers.

CNN ARRIVES

The CNN Truck sets up in the ECSO parking lot. At 5 p.m. Sheriff Morgan tapes an interview with David Mattingly, a CNN national correspondent based in the network’s Atlanta headquarters

During the 8 p.m. broadcast, CNN Prime Time with Campbell Brown, Mattingly reports on the murder investigation after stories on Joe Jackson alleging his son Michael was a murder victim and President Obama’s trip to Ghana.

Brown calls the double homicide as a horrifying story still developing right now in Florida. She identifies Byrd and Melanie Billings as, well known in the community for opening their home to children with special needs and as parents to 16 children, 12 of them adopted. Those parents, Byrd and Melanie Billings, were shot dead in their own home.

Mattingly tell viewers that he “just spoke to the sheriff just a couple of seconds ago” and the sheriff tells him the ECSO is picking up two persons of interest in this crime.

“Not telling us anything more about these two individuals, other than that they are two persons of interest.”

The reporter gives the details about the van.

“This was a huge red van they were driving in. It was a Dodge. It was built in the late ’70s, early ’80s. This van is huge. It being red, it’s going to stand out like a sore thumb anywhere on the road. So they’re suspecting that they will be able to spot this van and it’s going to be very hard to hide.”

CNN plays the taped interview with Sheriff Morgan, who is standing in front of the ECSO Administrative Building. The focus is on the home invasion

Morgan: “There was a forced entry at both the front and back doors.”

Mattingly: “They came in at the same time, possibly?”

Morgan: “Yes, sir, multiple entries.”

Mattingly: “Is this typical with a home invasion for a robbery situation?”

Morgan: “It can be, again, depending upon the number of suspects involved in this. And then this time, again, we had multiple suspects that we’re looking at. So yes, sir, it’s very typical in those cases.”

Mattingly: “But you’re not prepared to call this a robbery yet?”

Morgan: “We’re not prepared to, at this time, classify it as anything other than a home invasion.”

PAYING FOR PROTECTION

That afternoon, Investigator Hardy gets a message to contact Debbie Sucher who tells Hardy over the phone that Justin Billings once dated her daughter, Patricia Bosko. Justin had called Patricia to tell her that his parents had been murdered and that it was a “hit.” When Sucher called Justin to find why her daughter was so scared, Justin told her that she needed to watch her daughter close to protect her from harm.

So while CNN is broadcasting its first interview with Sheriff Morgan, Hardy and Watts interview Sucher. Investigators Guy and Baggett interview Bosko in the next room at Sucher’s residence.

Sucher, age 43, tells Hardy and Watts that Justin had stopped that morning by the Walgreen’s where she works before he went to see his sister at Waffle House.

“I gave him a hug and told him I was sorry and, you know, that if he needed anything to let me know.

“As he walks me into my job, he saw the picture in the newspaper of his mom and dad. We were just talking and he was telling me some the things that happened and that he had watched the surveillance tapes. And he pretty much saw his dad get shot and his mom get shot on the surveillance tape.”

Billings left Sucher standing outside Walgreen’s as he headed to meet with Kristyn.

Later that day, the daughter Patricia comes to Sucher’s job looking for boxes “because we’re moving out of the trailer.” Sucher calls Justin to find out what was going on. That’s when he mentioned the hit and his concerns about her daughter’s safety. Billings tells Sucher that he paid somebody $3,000 to protect Patricia. She has no idea where Billings would get $3,000.

She tells the investigators that she has known Billings about nine months, but that her daughter had known him over a year when she met him while visiting Kristyn at the Billings home.

Justin actually lived with Sucher and Bosko from November 2008 to May 2009 after his parents had thrown him out of the house because they weren’t happy about him dating Tricia.

When the couple broke up in May, Justin moved back home, where he lived in a travel trailer on the Billings property.

When Hardy asks Sucher why she thought Justin believed the murders were a hit, she said, “I found later that before he went into the military schooling, that he had been in a gang.” She doesn’t know what gang.

“He had told me that he had problems and he was in trouble before and he was in a gang and that’s why he got sent to military school.”

Sucher tells the investigators that Bosko was pregnant and they thought that Justin was the father. She doesn’t think Billings knew about it until her daughter told him today.

Bosko graduated from Pine Forest High School with Kristyn Billings. She tells Guy and Baggett that she has moved out of her mom’s trailer and was staying in the apartment of her boyfriend, Kyle Boatman.

Last when a friend, Matt Boyce, told her about the shootings, Bosko called Justin to see how he and the kids were. He told her that he wasn’t doing that good and was at the police station. Ashley had the children.

When Justin called later and said that he thought it was a hit, she didn’t know why he would say that.

“He says some crazy stuff sometimes.”

After he told her mom that he paid somebody to keep him safe, she texted him if he’d pay to keep me safe. Billings texted back, “Yes.”

She didn’t know who he paid to keep her safe. Bosko said that Billings was very calm when she told him about the pregnancy.

“He just said okay, let me know if it’s mine.” She said that they have been trying to fix things between them and had sex.

JUSTIN HAS NEW TALE

The interviews with Lee, Sucher and Bosko get Justin Billing a second interview with Watts and Guy.

The investigators are firmer and more aggressive in their questioning this time. They make Billings walk through his day on July 9. They ask him about what he saw on the surveillance system when he helped the investigators replay the video.

This time he tells them that he called Cambre Lee to cancel their date. At first he tells them that he only talked to her once, but when pressured Billings admits that she called him and they did talk a second time. He couldn’t remember what he told her.

Billings tells them he had to take care of the family’s dogs today and that he was staying at Chauncey’s house.

He first denies that he had spoken with Bosko. “I haven’t talked to her since me and her broke up.”

He claims that “the only calls I’ve been answering are family and all that.”

The investigators keep pressing. Finally Billings admits that he went to see Bosko’s mother at Walgreen, but he says that he went there after having breakfast at Waffle House. Other than that, his story on that conversation matches what Sucher told the investigators.

Guy reminds Billings that they are there to solve this thing. And it’s important that he answer the question honestly.

Guy: “And you understand most of the time when he or I ask you a question, we probably know the answer.”

Billings: “Yes sir.”

Guy: “So then why would we ask if you talked to her?”

Billings: “Just seeing if I have or haven’t.”

Guy: “Don’t you think we know the answer?”

Billings: “You probably do.”

Guy: “So what do you think that we know?”

Billings: “That I didn’t.”

Guy: “Did you text her?

Billings: “I texted her, I didn’t talk to her.”

Guy presses Billings more. Justin shares that Bosko had said that she was pregnant. He wasn’t concerned because she had thought she was pregnant twice before.

Why did Justin think he was a target?

“When I talked to my sister today, I realized that the only reason why I thought I was a target is because I knew there’s a guy named ‘Cab’ that double-crossed my dad with care business or something. I know him and my dad got into a big argument and I was there when it happened.”

According to Billings, the argument happened about a year ago. He heard his dad say to Tice, “If you needed the money, you could’ve asked. You didn’t have to steal it from me.” Cab just stormed off. Billings describes Tice as someone who used to sell cars down to Mexico with his dad.

When asked why he told Sucher and Bosko that he paid to keep Bosko safe, Billings says, “I wanted her to feel closure. The reason why I think someone’s got hit after me is, I’m scared of him. I really couldn’t tell you why.”

Before the interview end, Billings adds another twist to his story.

“Once I was dismissed from my parents’ house, I made calls to friends. I’ve got friends that know people that know people. I asked them does anyone know of anything going on with robberies, murders, hits, anything in Pensacola, Florida.

“All I got is that it’s three men from Colorado.” Billings claim that a friend, Walter Brown,” who was a classmate at St. John Military School in Salina, Kansas, from which Billings graduated in 2007.

SEEKING MORE VIDEO

Later Friday night, Investigator Barber goes to the State Line Pride gas station on Highway 90, just across the Alabama/Florida state line, the Beulah Texaco on Highway 90 and the Tom Thumb Store on Highway 90 to request copies of their video surveillance for the evening hours of July 10.

All stores advise her that someone had already requested the videos, but there was no one available to make copies.

Copyright © 2009 Rick Outzen