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| Ashley Markham, lower right, offers support to her Aunt Julie Tittle, thrid left, as, from left to light, lawyer Chrystal Collins-Spencer, uncle Ed Brock, Rick Tittle, and Blue Markham attend during a news conference in Pensacola, Fla. on Wednesday, July 15, 2009. |
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) -- The accomplice assigned to turn off surveillance cameras before an elaborate, deadly break-in at a sprawling Florida Panhandle home never did, but the seven people accused in the crime apparently did not know that, authorities said Wednesday.
Melanie and Byrd Billings, known for adopting children with special needs, were shot to death a week ago. An extensive surveillance system captured footage of masked men - some dressed as ninjas - slipping into front and back doors at the home.
The video 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, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said.
But investigators have been pondering what he called a "huge gap" in what was otherwise a precisely executed break-in for which the suspects had spent 30 days training.
"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 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.
David Melenkevitz, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration, said Wednesday his agency is assisting with the investigation but would not comment on the case. He said Escambia County officials have also sought help from other federal agencies including the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Also Wednesday, Morgan said police located a real estate agent named Pamela Laverne Long whom they had earlier sought help finding.
Police in Orange Beach, Ala., about 30 miles from Pensacola, found her at or near a marina on Wednesday afternoon. Morgan said she was not in custody and was returning to Florida voluntarily.
Morgan said Long is friends with and rents a home in suburban Gulf Breeze to 35-year-old Leonard Gonzalez Jr., whom Morgan described as a "pivotal person" in organizing the break-in at the Billings home.
"We know that she was associated with Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. up until the day of the murder," Morgan said "We would like to get information from her about his activities, whereabouts, movements, those sorts of things."
Morgan also said authorities are looking for another person who may have been assigned to turn off the surveillance system, possibly remotely, though he did not identify that person.
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.
The suspects range in age from 16 to 56. One, Donnie Ray Stallworth, was with the Air Force Special Operations Command with an aircraft maintenance squadron at Hurlburt Field near Fort Walton Beach. It wasn't clear how he knew the others. Stallworth had been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan five times since 2002, an Air Force spokesman said.
State Attorney Bill Eddins has said he will ask a grand jury to indict all of those arrested on first-degree murder charges.
Eddins said it may take several weeks to get Stallworth back from Alabama because he has refused extradition.
Gonzalez was charged with murder and read a statement in court Tuesday proclaiming his innocence.
His father, Leonard Gonzalez Sr., 56, was charged with evidence tampering after authorities said he tried to cover up some damage on a red van seen on surveillance video pulling away from the house. Officials said the damage was unrelated to the crime.
The elder Gonzalez was back in court Wednesday via video on additional charges including two counts of murder.
Escambia County Judge Thomas Johnson revoked the $500,000 bail he had previously set and ordered Gonzalez held without bond until the case goes before the grand jury.
Johnson also denied bail Wednesday for Gary Lamont Sumner, 31, a paint and body shop worker, and Frederick Lee Thorton Jr., 19, who is unemployed. Both are from nearby Okaloosa County.
A 16-year-old from Okaloosa, whom officials are not naming because he is a minor, has been charged in juvenile court and is being held in detention.
Pensacola day laborer Wayne Coldiron, 41, was also charged with murder. He sometimes worked for a pressure washing business owned by the elder Gonzalez.
