Melanie Billings

Melanie Billings and her husband Byrd Billings were found shot to death in their home on July 9, 2009. The Billings, of Beulah, Florida, were parents to 16 children, many of them were adopted.http://www.wkrg.com/crime/article/double-homicide-near-pensacola/175032/Jul-10-2009_11-27-am/

By July 14, 2009, police had a total of seven suspects in custody, the 'ringleader' Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr., Wayne Coldiron, and Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Sr., Donnie Ray Stallworth, Gary Sumner and Frederick Lee Thorton.http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-07-14-parentslain_N.htm According to local authorities, the crime was planned well in advance. Police also wanted to question an associate of Gonzalez Jr., a woman named Pamela Laverne Long.http://www.pnj.com/article/20090715/NEWS01/90715011/1006

Police responded to a report of shots being fired at the Billings home in Beulah, Florida, on the night of July 9, 2009. One of the Billings was reportedly shot in the head in what is believed to have been a home invasion.http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/07/10/Florida.couple.killed/index.html The nine-bedroom house was said to have been well equipped with an alarm system with cameras and motion sensors in each of the rooms.http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-bk-couple-who-adopted-12-kids-slain-071009,0,6885911.story