Florida Spouses Bud, Melinda Billings Executed By Patrick Gonzalez

On July 9, 2009, a frantic 911 name went out in Beulah, Florida. The caller reported {that a} married couple had been shot of their house and that their youngsters have been nonetheless in the home.

“Death is a smell you’ll never forget,” Sr. Deputy Robert Guy, of Escambia County Sheriff’s Office, told “Floribama Murders,” airing Saturdays at 9/8c on Oxygen. “As soon as we walked in that door, we knew.”

The our bodies of entrepreneur Byrd “Bud” Billings, 66, and his wife, Melinda, 43, have been present in the master suite of the sprawling property. They’d each been shot a number of instances.

As deputies searched the home, the couple’s 9 adopted particular wants youngsters have been discovered cowering in terror and hiding in closets. They have been “scared to death,” investigators mentioned. Meanwhile, the couple’s oldest youngsters, Ashley and Justin, who have been from earlier marriages, rushed to the house.

Investigators discovered that Bud Billings was a profitable businessman who ran a finance firm. He was identified to maintain money stashed away in a house secure situated upstairs. Was the cash the motive for the double murder?

Another secure, a small one in the master suite for private keepsakes and paperwork, was lacking. The people behind the crime took the mistaken one, in keeping with investigators.

Detectives questioned the Billings youngsters, and Justin offered a attainable lead. He mentioned that Cab Tice, who’d had enterprise dealings with Bud, had “double-crossed” his father.

When detectives interviewed Tice, he claimed that he was removed from the one one that had points with Bud Billings. 

“In business, Bud Billings wouldn’t give you a dime unless you gave him 29 cents back,” Tice advised authorities in a recorded interview.

Tice was cleared when authorities reviewed surveillance footage from the Billings house.

The tapes confirmed a big purple passenger van had pulled into the driveway on the time of the slayings.

“Five people jumped out,” Det. Buddy Nesmith of Escambia County’s Sheriff’s Office advised producers.

They carried rifles and wore masks, wearing black garments and black boots.

Authorities mentioned the crime was carried out with “military precision,” abcnews.go.com reported.

The video additionally confirmed Bud Billings being shot as one in every of his youngsters watched. 

Locating the purple van was prime precedence, so regulation enforcement reached out to the general public by way of the media, in keeping with Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan. 

On July 11, a caller reported {that a} van matching the outline of the one sheriffs have been after was behind a shed at a residence in West Pensacola. It was the house of Leonard Gonzalez, whose spouse spoke with investigators. As they requested her some questions inside the home, they noticed a shoe field for black fight boots. Mrs. Gonzalez allowed detectives to take the shoe field and to tow the van.

Investigators tracked down Leonard Gonzalez and introduced him in for questioning. He initially mentioned the van belonged to his son, Patrick, and hadn’t been working for some time. But ultimately, he agreed to inform police the whole lot he knew in regards to the crime together with who was within the van, offered prosecutors took a attainable dying penalty off the desk, in keeping with “Floribama Murders.”

Leonard Gonzalez advised sheriffs that he was with six different males within the van, together with Patrick. The plan, he claimed, was by no means about homicide. It was about getting money and jewels from the secure. But the Billings ended up being shot and killed.

Patrick Gonzalez was then questioned and denied the whole lot. He claimed his father had “brain damage” and that the van barely moved in a recorded interview with authorities.

When police searched the van, they discovered nothing that tied it to the murders. Patrick Gonzalez was allowed to depart. 

RELATED: Man’s Secret Identity Exposed After He Viciously Attacked Alabama Mom

Detectives centered on the crime scene movies and noticed the black boots worn by the house invaders. They reviewed surveillance tapes at a Walmart close to Patrick’s house in Santa Rosa County, the place they discovered footage of him buying the black boots and black clothes. 

He was with three different males recognized as Wayne Coldiron, Donnie Stallworth and Gary Sumner, names that Leonard Gonzalez had revealed to authorities.

Investigators rounded up the suspected members of the lethal theft crew, though Patrick Gonzalez turned himself in. He was involved about being arrested in entrance of his youngsters, in keeping with investigators. 

Authorities had 5 of the seven suspects in custody and as detectives ready to query them, the remaining two suspects surfaced: Rakeem Florence and Frederick Thornton.

Florence advised officers that Leonard Gonzalez had promised him “$2,000 or $3,000 … to carry this deed out,” investigators mentioned. Thornton advised detectives basically the identical story.

Detectives discovered that when the van left the Billings property they drove to Santa Rosa County, the place they dropped it off at an vintage mall. It was owned by Pamela Long Wiggins, who was in the actual property enterprise. 

Florida investigators tracked Wiggins right down to Orange Beach, Alabama. She and her husband had introduced their yacht there for repairs, however police suspected she could have been making an attempt to flee to Mexico.

Wiggins confronted powerful monetary straits and had a rental property she leased to Patrick Gonzalez. Patrick collected overdue payments for her.

Investigators theorized that the Billings case was “a money score” for Wiggins however became a “theft that went horrifically unhealthy,” mentioned Morgan. 

While Wiggins initially claimed she had nothing to do with the murders, she ultimately admitted she offered the weapons and hid the secure. In alternate for a plea deal, she revealed the whereabouts of the objects.

Wiggins was charged with being accent after the very fact. The remaining suspects have been charged with armed house invasion, theft and homicide. 

All of them besides Patrick Gonzalez agreed to plea offers, leading to life sentences for Stallworth and Coldiron and prolonged jail phrases for the others, in keeping with “Floribama Murders.”

Accused triggerman Patrick Gonzalez, in the meantime, took his probabilities in court docket.

“I think what he did is absolutely demonic — to kill people in front of their kids,” mentioned Guy.

Patrick Gonzalez was convicted on two counts of first-degree homicide and armed house invasion theft. He was sentenced to death and is at the moment on dying row.

To be taught extra in regards to the case, watch “Floribama Murders,” airing Saturdays at 9/8c on Oxygen. You can stream episodes here.