PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say they've located a woman wanted for questioning in the slaying of a Florida Panhandle couple during a break-in.
Seven people are in custody in the deaths of Melanie and Byrd Billings, known for adopting children with special needs.
Police said earlier Wednesday that they were looking for a real estate agent named Pamela Laverne Long. They were concerned about her safety because she hadn't been heard from in about two days.
Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan says police in Orange Beach, Ala., found her in or near a marina about 30 miles from Pensacola on Wednesday afternoon.
Morgan says Long is coming back to Florida voluntarily and is not in custody. He says she is friends with and rented property to Leonard Gonzalez, Jr., one of the suspects charged with murder in the case.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) — The accomplice assigned to turn off surveillance cameras before an elaborate, deadly break-in at a sprawling Florida Panhandle home never showed up, but the seven people accused in the crime apparently did not know that, authorities said Wednesday.
Melanie and Byrd Billings, known for adopting a large brood of children with special needs, were shot to death about 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 and stealing a safe, among other items.
The men were in the nine-bedroom house for just four minutes and on the property for 10, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. Video captured during that time led investigators to a red van used as a getaway car and eventually to the suspects.
Morgan said investigators have been pondering "the huge gap" in what was otherwise a precise, methodical crime for which the suspects had trained 30 days. They were a loosely connected group of mostly day laborers who knew each other through a power washing business and an auto detailing operation.
"The execution was basically flawless," Morgan said at a press conference. "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?"
Investigators have not said what was in the safe or what else was taken from the house. Morgan said they also don't know the identity of the mysterious person assigned to turn off the camera system or why that person didn't show up. He speculated that maybe it was an attack of conscience. "Who knows?" he said.
Also Wednesday, Morgan asked for the public's help in finding a real estate agent named Pamela Laverne Long. Police do not believe she was at the house the night the Billingses were killed but they do believe she rented property to one of the suspects, 35-year-old Leonard Gonzalez Jr., whom Morgan described as a "pivotal person" in the operation.
Morgan also said they are looking for a second person of interest, though he didn't identify that person. He said investigators believe Long has "significant and substantial information" needed to conclude the case.
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.
State Attorney Bill Eddins has said he will ask a grand jury to indict all those arrested on first-degree murder charges in the Billings' shooting deaths. He said robbery was the main motive.
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.
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.
Day laborer Wayne Coldiron, 41, was also charged with murder. He sometimes worked for a pressure washing business owned by the elder Gonzalez.
The other suspects arrested were Gary Sumner, 31, a day laborer, 19-year-old Frederick Lee Thornton, and a 16-year-old whom officials are not naming because he is a minor.
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