Billings case: Monday, July 13

NINJAS ON VIDEO
Monday, July 13

The national media onslaught is in full swing. The ECSO parking lot is filled with media vans.

Sheriff Morgan’s day begins with interviews on Good Morning America, CBS Early Show and Today Show. At 5 a.m. Morgan tells GMA that the robbery “was carried out with military precision.”

He says, “It’s multiple suspects, more than we initially thought. The motive is still unclear. This has been very convoluted, complex case.”

ASHLEY ASSUMES LEADERSHIP
Ashley Markham appears on Today Show. Fighting back tears, she tells Ann Curry, “We’re still in shock. We just want everyone to know that they were great people, and this is not something that should have happened to people who were so giving.”

Markham makes it clear that she and Blue will be taking care of the children. She allays any fears about her siblings’ safety and well being.

“The children are doing well. They’re with family, lots of friends. We have lots of support right now. They’re doing as well as can be expected.”

She tells Curry that she doesn’t know why anyone would kill her parents.

“They were wonderful people, they are wonderful people,” Markham says. “They had so much love in their hearts. Their children were special to them. They had more love than anybody could ever imagine giving one person, much less 17.”

Later Markham holds a press conference in the lobby of her attorney Crystal Spencer’s law firm, Lozier, Thames, Frazier & Spencer.

Reading from a three-page statement that Spencer had prepared, Markham tells the reporters:

“We plan to carry on their legacy. We children have experienced a loss that is unimaginable, but as a family, we will pull together. We’ll take each day one at a time. Our most important concern right now is upholding the wishes of my parents. We are fully prepared to do that. The family is capable of following through with those wishes.”

She reiterates that she has no knowledge between Leonard and Patrick Gonzalez and Wayne Coldiron and her parents.

“The people who have been arrested, we have no knowledge of them. That’s all I know.”

Spencer steps in to say they are reluctant to give further details about the children’s whereabouts, mindful that Escambia County Sheriff’s investigators have said more arrests could follow.

“We just want to protect them from everything as much as possible,” Spencer says. “You have to recognize while there have been no specific threats you want to err on the side of caution in particular circumstance. This was an extremely violent act upon this family. We can’t begin to understand motive or theory, so all precautions are being taken.”

INVESTIGATORS STILL DIG

At 10:29 a.m. Watts and Tyree conduct a follow-up interview with Leonard Gonzalez, Sr. Barber and Ward go to the Billings residence locate and seize several computers from the homes. Baggett and Hardy interview Wayne Coldiron.

Colidron says that he was with Leonard Gonzalez at the Palm court trailer when Patrick drove up in a red mini-van with four black males who were in a tan or gold Explorer. They came inside. Coldiron was already dressed in black. Patrick had a duffle bag, a gun and clothes. The black males were dressed in black.

Leonard and Coldiron followed in red Dodge van Patrick, who was driving the red mini-van. They went to the Billings house and parked the red Dodge van on the side of the road in what he believed was an abandoned weigh station. The two got into the mini-van with Patrick and were followed by the black males in the Explorer.

Coldiron remembers crossing the Alabama/Florida border and the mini-van pulling over on the side of the road. They all got back into the Explorer which was driven by Donnie Gary Sumner.

Baggett and Hardy present a photo line-up to Coldiron and he identifies as the Explorer driver as Sumner.

According to Coldiron, he and Patrick are dropped behind the church on Mobile Highway at Nine Mile Road. Leonard then drove the red Dodge van to the front of the house with the other three black males. Sumner stayed in the tan Explorer driving up and down Nine Mile Road waiting for them.

Patrick and Coldiron went through the backyard to the house. Patrick had a 9mm that Coldiron believed came from a “Pam L’s” house, where he had been before and seen the 9mm.

Patrick and he went through the side door. Meanwhile the black males took to the front of the house. Once inside the doorway, Coldiron saw Patrick with the 9mm and also a child inside. He exited, running to the front of the residence where the Dodge van was with Leonard in the driver’s seat. Coldiron told Leonard to get over. Then everyone jumped into the Dodge van and met up with Sumner. They got into the his Explorer

Coldiron and Leonard drove the Dodge van to Palm Court. Hardy showed Coldiron photos of the Explorer at WalMart and the Dodge van. He identified the Explorer as Stallworth’s truck and the red Dodge van that was brought for Junior as the van that was used.

Inv. Hardy prepares warrant affidavits for the arrest of Donnie Stallworth, Jr. and Gary Sumner on the charges of homicide. Sumner was in custody in Okaloosa County. He was picked up and transported to Escambia County Jail.

MORE EVIDENCE TAMPERING

At 10:55 a.m. Investigators James O’Hara and Curtis Cephas go to Auto Works, 3616 Gulf Breeze Parkway. Owner Dan Blocker knew Patrick Gonzalez as “Little Poff” and “Patrick Poff.” He also recognizes the red van (Chevy Venture) that Patrick was driving because Blocker had worked in it before and the owner was a white female by the name of “Pam.”

He knows Pam owned Magnolia Antique Mall on Highway 98. He has seen Patrick and Pam together as recently as a month ago and knows that Patrick is living with his family in one of her houses for free.

Blocker tells O’Hara and Cephas that he met Patrick years ago when he worked at a car dealership and Blocker was at Big Ten Tires. Patrick sold him pain pills.

On July 10, Patrick had come to the shop and asked him to put new tires on the red van. He drove the van with two other suspects. He recognized them from the photos in the PNJ. Cephas shows him a copy of the daily paper and Blocker identifies the two companions as Leonard and Coldiron.

The new tires weren’t the right size for the mini-van. Patrick didn’t care and wanted to take the old tires with him, which Blocker thought was unusual. According to Blocker, Patrick was very fidgety and in a hurry and told him not to tell anybody that he was there at the shop.

James Smith, a tire technician, says that while changing the tires several pieces of rubber came off and was left in the shop. O’Hara takes two pieces of the rubber and turns them into evidence.

GONZALEZ FAMILY COMES A CALLING
That afternoon just after lunch, Frank Gonzalez, Sue Ann Matthews, Charles Dix and Regina McCarthy come to the ECSO. Tyree meets them in the lobby and takes them upstairs to see what’s on their minds. Tyree remembers Frank Gonzalez from Saturday, as Leonard’s brother.

Sue Ann Matthews says that she is Frank’s girlfriend and lives with him at 310 Palm Court. She remembers Patrick pulling up to Leonard’s residence with some unusual friends.

“I was taking my puppy out to use the restroom and I happened to look across the street to Leonard Gonzalez, Sr.’s house and I saw him pull up in his car,” Matthew says. “I saw Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. pull up behind Leonard, and at the end of the fence was a tannish looking like an SUV or a Ford Expedition. It was a big, a big vehicle pull behind Patrick.”

It was the driver of the SUV that caught her attention.

“I noticed the driver was, uh, uh, a large black man that looked like a football player. He was over six-foot tall and looked to be about, you know, 250-300 pounds. He was clean-cut and, and I noticed the other doors opened and three, uh, other smaller black men stepped out of the vehicle and they all followed Patrick into Leoneard Gonzlez, Sr’s yard.

“The three that was following him at the end was carrying a bag, a plastic bag. It looked like you get from a grocery store and they were carrying it and they went inside the yard. I can’t really see into the yard, but I was sitting over there just watching. And they were there for approximately over two hours and, and then the four black men got back in the vehicle and they drove off. And Patrick stayed there.”

Matthew thought it was unusual for black guys to be at Leonard’s.

“I have been with Frank for over eight years, on and off, and I’ve known Leonard. Leonard is always making comments, racial comments against blacks and he would normally never let a black person into his yard.”

“I thought it was strange that not only did they, he let them in, he opened the gate for them.” She was stunned that they stayed so long.

Regina McCarthy, Leonard and Frank’s sister, tells Tyree that Patrick has a brother in Atlanta, Georgia, Richard. She believes that they are so close that she feels if Patrick is involved then it is likely Richard is as well.

Charles Dix is McCarthy’s boyfriend. He is there to cover his butt. He wants law enforcement to know that he had made several phone calls to Patrick about the will and property left by his grandmother.

PRESS CONFERENCE
WALMART PHOTOS

At 3 p.m. Sheriff Morgan holds another press conference. The room is packed. CNN telecasts it live as do many of the other networks.

Sheriff Morgan opens the press conference, “Today will a combination of chilling news and shocking news.” David Morgan tells the media that the ECSO is looking for three black males and possibly a white male who were involved in the Billings murder.

The video from a second outdoor surveillance camera from the Billings residence which Morgan says “I believe you will find particularly chilling.” The video shows a metallic Expedition pull up to the edge of the property. Two individuals dressed in what Morgan describes as “Ninja garb” exit the SUV, run one at time across the yard and enter the Billings residence through the unlocked laundry room door. The ECSO suspects that a third person remained in the vehicle.

Morgan says, “The total number that we are looking for that are involved in the deaths of the Billings family is six to eight.” He says that three black males that live in Okaloosa County have been identified as being associated with this case. There is still one white individual that is yet to be identified.

Sheriff Morgan says robbery was a motive for the murders, but leaves open the possibility of other motives. This new evidence means five people entered the Billings home and possible two others remained in the getaway vehicles. The sheriff does believe that they have the mastermind of the crime in custody, but won’t identify that who is. He will not say if the intruders entered in the home with the intent of killing the Billingses.

The sheriff then shows a photo of two black males with Gonzalez taken from the Gulf Breeze WalMart. He says the trio was buying items used in the crime. Sheriff Morgan hands out the WalMart photos.

He says that his investigators are questioning “persons of interest” and hope to have one or two more arrests later today.

The questions from the media get more pointed. Morgan says that at this time the ECSO is not looking into the business dealings of Bud Billings. He won’t talk about whether the Billings kept large amounts of money in their home. He doesn’t release any details of the murder themselves, other than the victims were shot multiple times and that the intruders were only on the property for about 10 minutes. He describes the crime as a “well-planned, methodical operation.”

Morgan doesn’t say if they have any of the weapons or garb used in the crime, but he does say that all nine children were in the home during the murders and that three children saw the intruders. All the children are safe with family.

When asked about the contrast between the generosity of the Billings family and the brutality of the crime, Morgan says he is reminded of the 1959 murders of another family Kansas.

“Because of my age and my Midwest roots, I am recall the Clutter family murders in Kansas, which became world famous by Truman Capote’s book ‘In Cold Blood.’ The community wrangled for years as to why the Clutter family was selected to be victims of those two men. It will be a very long time, I believe, before we piece together the truth as to why this family was selected.”

As the press conference ends, photos of two black males with Gonzalez taken from the Gulf Breeze WalMart are passed out. Morgan says the trio was buying items used in the crime.

Copyright © 2009 Rick Outzen