Has the top-level perpetrator been arrested?

Has the top-level perpetrator been arrested?

  • Yes

    Votes: 7 10.0%
  • No

    Votes: 46 65.7%
  • Not Sure

    Votes: 17 24.3%

  • Total voters
    70
  • Poll closed .

Chemaster

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I wish that there was a way of adding a multi-question poll but will include it here for additional discussion.

If you answered no, will the top-level person or individuals responsible be held accountable for this crime?

There are multiple reasons I ask these questions:
  • The key person may have enough clout to silence the high-end investigation. The clout may exist through (government or police) connections, power or money.
  • The plan may have been too well thought-out and blankets the key person or individuals responsible. There may be multiple layers of individuals responsible for this crime thus shielding the top layer.
  • The sudden silence in this case from LE is deafening.

To Mods: I'm sorry in advance if this question is too similar to Vote: PWL and LPG Jr: Who Is The Organizer and Who Got "Recruited"? I was hoping to start a poll targeting directly the concern that the responsible parties have not been arrested yet and if there is a possibility that they never will be.

However, if you believe that these questions are too close to the other post, please delete this one thus proving that the clout of the person responsible is much deeper then originally expected with having forum mod connections. :)
 
What if the top person is a government CI? Remember Whitey Bulger is Mass?
Ran the Irish Mob there while an FBI informant.

I don't think LPG is the one.
 
Money speaks loudly - I think the sudden silence has to do with the fact that someone higher up insured the silence.
 
Silence may be necessary to get some folks to drop their guard.
 
Silence may be necessary to get some folks to drop their guard.

Good point and I would agree.

My opinion on justice and money changed years ago. I was involved in a lawsuit and once informed my attorney "it is not about money, it about the principle". He immediately approached me and assumed his power-stance, looked at me dead-square in the eyes and firmly explained.

Attorney, "I want to make this 100% perfectly clear .... THIS IS ALL ABOUT MONEY AND NOTHING ELSE ......... THEY DON'T GIVE A &^%* ABOUT YOUR PRINCIPLES and money is the only way to get their attention!"

To this day I conduct myself on principles involving integrity and honesty. However, I have a deep respect on what he told me that day because money and power guides many powerful people, politics and society.
 
Morgan deferred to Eddins on several questions during press conferences and then stated he wasn't gone say anymore at the request of the SA (sorry, don't have link handy).

Has anyone seen a case like this where the SA is SO involved in info that's released?
 
Morgan deferred to Eddins on several questions during press conferences and then stated he wasn't gone say anymore at the request of the SA (sorry, don't have link handy).

Has anyone seen a case like this where the SA is SO involved in info that's released?

Normally, I think this relationship would be good ...

I am mainly concerned with the TOTAL reversal of pressers, pulling back of information provided, pulling back of statements already made, charges filed, low bail and some of the paths that the investigation has taken.

There seems to be far more to this story and I'm not sure if we will ever know the truth and all of the parties involved.
 
Great forum thread. Hope it stays open. It's a relief to me that others are on the same page. The silence has been deafening. I can understand that they'd be quiet for now about other speculations, but the crime just can't make sense without the rest of the information LE must have. IMO, I do think there's some very powerful people involved, and a protection going on suppressing the information we all sense is there to explain this strange crime. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.
 
All I can say is thank goodness this crime took place in the Sunshine State, so we will get to see all the discovery eventually.

Maybe the FBI is keeping the lid on this as they investigate. :confused:
 
Morgan deferred to Eddins on several questions during press conferences and then stated he wasn't gone say anymore at the request of the SA (sorry, don't have link handy).

Has anyone seen a case like this where the SA is SO involved in info that's released?

I think the sheriff and SA are doing the right thing by working closely together. I also think they were overwhelmed by the media attention given this case. Aside from getting the word out about the red van, I really see no useful purpose in everybody in the country being on a need to know basis regarding the facts of this case. Since they have arrested everyone that was in the house, how does reporting all the details to the public help their case? Maybe the SA and sheriff have decided that it is not worth the risk to make mistakes in the press that may jeopardize their case.

So far, I have the lone vote for...Yes, they already have the top-level perpetrator. Another reason there really isn't much left to tell.
 
[*]The key person may have enough clout to silence the high-end investigation. The clout may exist through (government or police) connections, power or money.
I have felt this way from the start! The LE media briefings always made me feel uncomfortable. Why wouldnt' the police even consider that the safe was stolen to mislead a murder investigation? Why did it seem the police were protecting the reputations of the victims? Why did the Billings family hire a lawyer to protect the reputations of the Billings family? Did the mere presence of a laywer protecting the family reputations prevent LE from looking into the family because LE feared a lawsuit?

The recent news report about Operation Cold Dish proves to me that Gonzalez Jr is capable of being hired for anything. Although he claimed that he came forward because 'he didn't want to do anything illegal,' I suspect he flipped because the relationship soured or he thought he could get gratitude money from the husband. I don't think the details of Operation Cold Dish reveals a high moral code.

Here's the article I'm referencing: http://www.pnj.com/article/20090729/NEWS01/907290333
 
I am mainly concerned with the TOTAL reversal of pressers, pulling back of information provided, pulling back of statements already made....
I've wondered if pressure from the Billings family attorney caused LE to retract statements.

Can fear of litigation direct the course of a murder investigation?
 
Related article found in quick search.
"The NAFTA freeway makes it so easy and inexpensive for them to just steal the car and drive it down from Houston to Guatemala," said Lt. Victor Rodriguez of
Houston's auto theft division. "They can do it for $100 in gas, and there are very few checks."

It is suspected that many of the vehicles end up in Mexico. Others make it farther south.

Gaining access to Guatemala's database took time, communication and lots of tedious work, Salazar said. It could be even more challenging in countries where
paper files and typewriters are still used, he said.

"No country really checks its registrations against another country's stolen vehicles," said Rodriguez, who estimates vehicle theft generates $8 billion a year. He's in
Washington, D.C., working for a year with the FBI to promote and expand his department's efforts to other countries.

Central American countries and Mexico "are beginning to see the totality of the problem," said Ralph Lumpkin, border operations director of the National Insurance
Crime Bureau.

http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/us-relations/stolen.htm
 
I've wondered if pressure from the Billings family attorney caused LE to retract statements.

Can fear of litigation direct the course of a murder investigation?

I don't believe it directs the course of the investigation, particularly when government agencies are involved as well. But it DOES have an impact on how the investigation is presented to the community. There are certainly issues of libel and slander to be considered when addressing the public, but not in the course of events within the investigation itself. Personally, I think the decision to go "quiet" was a good one. It can give contributing parties to the attack a sense of confidence and it drops their guard, in some cases. It also keeps key points of evidence under the control of the Prosecutors, which is essential to a successful prosecution of ALL the perps, known and unknown to the general public. IMO.
 
Money speaks loudly - I think the sudden silence has to do with the fact that someone higher up insured the silence.

I couldn't not AGREE with you more! :behindbar
 
[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=86926"]Important - people who are NOT involved but are getting dragged in - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community[/ame]
 
I think the sheriff and SA are doing the right thing by working closely together. I also think they were overwhelmed by the media attention given this case. Aside from getting the word out about the red van, I really see no useful purpose in everybody in the country being on a need to know basis regarding the facts of this case. Since they have arrested everyone that was in the house, how does reporting all the details to the public help their case? Maybe the SA and sheriff have decided that it is not worth the risk to make mistakes in the press that may jeopardize their case.

So far, I have the lone vote for...Yes, they already have the top-level perpetrator. Another reason there really isn't much left to tell.

ITA with you, and I'll go even further.

IMO Morgan shot his mouth off waaaaaaaaaaaay early in this case before knowing all the facts, before speaking to all the suspects, and before having all the suspects in custody. He was talking about Hollywood scripts, humdingers etc, and it made it sound like some intricate web of criminals involved..something out of the best Clancy film. All of that dramatic talk from Morgan sent MANY people in the media, on the web (including locals) to start spinning a variety of theories and Hollywood-like scenarios.

I think he was irresponsible for making such statements at the beginning before the case had been thoroughly investigated. Those kind of mistakes made in the media can hurt the case come trial. And what if after all is said and done it was just some robbery that ended in murder? Good luck in getting people to believe it once their imaginations have been piqued. Good luck in trying to pull back all the rumors, and stop all the grassy knoll stuff.

It's a good thing, as you noted, the pressers and info have been pulled back, because it serves no purpose at this point and can hurt their case in court.

I recall a post from LaceSprocket that perfectly applies to what I am also trying to convey:

[ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3965670&postcount=1383"]Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community - View Single Post - Couple who adopted 12 children shot to death #2[/ame]

I agree with you that THAT IS a humdinger. But I think Morgan inadvertently implied something that set a level of expectation with the public. On exactly what this "humdinger" would be. But he was speaking from his knowledge of the suspects - at that time, we didn't know anything about the suspects, but we were bombarded with info about the Billings. Naturally, many people non-locals assumed it would be some great, big, dramatic twisted plot. When that's not really the case at all.

Also, when he said that, the public was still under the assumption that this was a random act of violence. So the "humdinger" part comes in where you stated above: "Seems to me like a case involving 8-10 perps from various and seemingly unrelated walks of life, possibly tied in with drugs and gangs but also tied to a "prominent" (PLW) citizen, with the perps practicing the crime for a month, 3 cars involved, etc, is pretty much a humdinger."

It was just much larger than anyone was originally lead to believe. "Larger" in the scope of HOW MANY were involved. Not necessarily "why." KWIM?
 
As a Pensacola native for over 60 years, my guess is that it is all over. Until the full details of all the business are revealed there will always be questions. IMO I do not think that most people really understand how a strip club or Pay here car lot operates.
 
As a Pensacola native for over 60 years, my guess is that it is all over. Until the full details of all the business are revealed there will always be questions. IMO I do not think that most people really understand how a strip club or Pay here car lot operates.
I think they're done investigating too. The prime focus is tying up loose ends for the robbery motive.

I'm glad LE peaked people's curiosity. Until then, the media was portraying the Billings as flawless people.

Meanwhile, most consider those types of businesses to be on the fringes of society.

Nobody will ever convince me that the motive was robbery. It doesn't add up. Never did.
 
Nobody is flawless. I don't think anyone here thought that, however having flaws is not a reason to be murdered. If you live to reach adulthood you probably have done something shady once or twice in your past. However, what REAL evidence is there that anything in the Billing's past caused their murder? You think owning a strip club 20 some years ago is relevant, and is a fringe business?


Wild speculation is the only thing Morgan piqued at the beginning of this case imo.

Considering the past and personality of JR, this was some grandiose plot to feed his ego with robbery as the main goal. Frankly, the silliness of plotting for a month, getting many others involved, and the ninja outfits, screams amateur and moronic to me. I can't see anyone "top-level" paying these fools to do this, or anyone with a high level of criminal experience doing a murder for hire in such a large (stupid) dramatic way.

I think they have the main people in custody now.
 

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