Latest Headlines

Double Murder Suspects: “We Have Found Them”

July 14, 2009

Sheriff David Morgan says that all suspects in the Billings murder are in custody. He says the case has reached “conclusion”. “We have found them,” said.

Here are highlights from the last press conference today from the Escambia County Sheriff’s Department.

Morgan still calls the case a “humdinger”. “It involves other businesses, other states, other countries.”

“The individuals we are have arrested for this crime are involved in other areas and other crimes.”

Morgan said that the shooters had been identified from among those arrested.

He said there are a couple of persons with a military background.

Charges against Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Sr. are being upgraded to an open count of murder,” State Attorney Bill Eddins said.

Gonzalez, Sr. and Wayne Coldiron did work on the Billings property at least once, Morgan said.

Members of the Billings family joined Morgan for the noon news conference, including daughter Ashley Markam.

“There some loops that need to be closed,” Morgan said. “We have one individual that we are looking at now.”

“There are elements in this case that go outside the state of Florida,” Morgan said.

“I am hopeful that the matter is concluded now,” State Attorney Bill Eddins said.

Morgan said “I will not speculate on how the crime spun out of control”.

Eddins said the primary motive was home invasion and robbery. “They did take items that you would normally expect to be taken in a robbery.” Eddins said a safe was taken, but he would not say what was in the safe. He called the safe “one of the items that were taken in the robbery”.

Morgan would not say if the “medium size” safe that had not been recovered. He would not define the size of “medium size” safe.

Morgan said he was “honored” to watch his employees as they solved the case in five days.

Pictured above: Ashley Markham, daughter of Byrd and Melanie Billings, reacts as Sheriff David Morgan announces that all the suspects in the killings of her parents are in custody. Looking on is Blue Markham, her husband. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

13 Responses to “Double Murder Suspects: “We Have Found Them””

John on July 14th, 2009 9:29 pm

Yo wifeysomeday but unlikely…

Would it make you feel any better if they bring only the white murderers over here? That would be fine.
How did you get race involved with my comment? Taking into consideration that these moronic bloodthirsty beasts are both White and Black? The ringleader of this group is the white guy. Unbelievable how political correctness and race baiting is so common today.
Are you related to Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton?

Oh waitaminute! You just wanted to play the racecard,right? Okay. I’ll bite.
Wifeysomeday on July 14th, 2009 8:05 pm

John, that comment u posted sounded very racial to me thats something that really never goes away w/ people like U!!!!

BUT anyway my condolences go out to ALL the families, I know Donnie came from a better upbringing than this that has taken place…my heart goes out to his parents and the family of the victims….as parents we raise our children to honor, obey, do the right thing, work hard, and respect others but we can’t chose the path they decide to take!!!!
interested reader on July 14th, 2009 7:59 pm

THANKS TO ALL THE SHERIFF’S DEPT. This case has touched people all over the U.S. I hope there is a swift conclusion to it but fear that when the lawyers become involved it will be bogged down. Confessions have a way of being twisted in court so legally it can take awhile to see results. I am so glad we jhave Sheriff Morgan and Bill Eddins working together to solve this case. Mr. Morgan has been very professional in all the interviews and reports. Thank goodness, we now have a sheriff that can actually handle an interview. Our prayers go out to all the family. May God be their strength in this terrible time and in the days to come.
A. on July 14th, 2009 6:57 pm

I am black and must say that I don’t see that as a black or white issue as far as the widespread coverage. It is seemingly more of a class issue than anything. This was a wealthy family who appeared to have a charitable heart because of their role as foster parents to special needs children. Had it been a middle or lower class family, the coverage may not have been as widespread, I don’t know. However, I am glad that there has been some leeway in capturing the individuals that were possibly involved in the murder. It does seem like the plot of a movie, but I believe that sooner or later we will see that there was more to this couple than wealth and charity. Thank God for persistent law enforcement officials. Now we have possible murderers and conspirators off of our streets.
Yvette on July 14th, 2009 6:54 pm

you mean asinine, rather. check your spelling.

they only picked up black ppl cuz they were seen on surveillance with the prime suspect. Surveillance NOT at home of the victims.

to simplify: they saw gonzales on camera with a couple black guys so they picked them up too for questioning.

no one on the home surveillance was positively identified. so how do they know these ppl were involved except for the link to the red van that the white guys had.
btgrl on July 14th, 2009 6:38 pm

yvette,
Are you black? That is ridiculous to say they only pursued the case because the suspects were black. They said from the very begining that the suspects were white. DUH!!! They had them on video so they knew the whole time what color they were. You are the reason racism still exists.
You can't be serious! on July 14th, 2009 6:35 pm

I’m so proud of the work of our law enforcement & the ESCO on this case! I’ve been so impressed as have many members of the press, nationally. It’s not often that such complex cases are cracked in such a short amount of time.

Yvette, what a ridiculous comment! I don’t think anyone living in this county cared about the ethnicity of these murderers. Most only cared that they were caught & taken off the streets before something this horrible could possibly happen again. And by the way, all of the suspects are not white; some are black so your comment is assanine.
Yvette on July 14th, 2009 6:17 pm

they pursued this case with maximum resources cuz they thought the suspects were black. you all were probably shocked when you saw those white faces.
John on July 14th, 2009 3:49 pm

Innocent until proven guilty… Having said that, I volunteer my house and large oak trees for the penalty phase of this case. I have plenty of rope. Just bring the bad guys.
Kevin on July 14th, 2009 3:26 pm

im realyl proud to know that our department was able to solve this case so fast. great going guys. i wish you guys would work more on these types of cases rather than people on suspended license and bull crap charges. lets get all the bad guys off the street and leave all the petit stuff alone. if we concentrate on people like this and drug users and dealers the whole world would be alot better. good going morgan
interval on July 14th, 2009 3:22 pm

Hanging these clowns would be too good for them. I hope all 7 languish in misery for years until finally Florida injects them.
Felicia Jones on July 14th, 2009 2:40 pm

May the Lord be with the family during this hard time. It must be especially hard on them since it is splashed all over every single news channel across the nation. Though they have found the horrible people responsible for this tragedy, it is still only the beginning to a long road of recovery. Way to go Escambia County Sherriffs! Fast work has helped put these low life idiots with NO HEARTS behind bars.
Beegee on July 14th, 2009 1:57 pm

Way to go,Sheriff Morgan and his posse!!!!!!!!!!!!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News