Media links **NO DISCUSSION**

[daisy7]

Murder suspect's family speaks out

Updated: Tuesday, 04 Aug 2009, 5:44 PM CDT
Published : Tuesday, 04 Aug 2009, 5:44 PM CDT

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Nineteen-year-old Frederick Thornton remains at the Escambia County Jail. He’s the next-to-youngest suspect involved in the murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings. According to family members, Thornton was a model student, who was looking forward to enrolling in a community college.

His sister, Julisa Thornton, says he was hoping to to become a plumber.

"He went to Choctawhatchee High School, and then he went to Vo Tech. He wanted to get a good job" said Thornton.

Early in the investigation, Frederick Thornton told investigators Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr. was the trigger man in the murders of the Billings.

(snipped)

http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/crime/Murder_Suspects_Family_Speaks_Out

 

[lightlady]

http://www.newsweek.com/id/210663

Hope I did this right...

 

[passionflower]

http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_3132.shtml

 

[Gene]

Very interesting article in Newsweek! I learned alot from particularly on the last page:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/210663/page/1

 

[daisy7]

Five of the eight people charged in connection to the shooting deaths of Byrd and Melanie Billings are scheduled to be arraigned this morning.

Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr., Wayne Coldiron, Gary Sumner, Frederick Thornton and Leonard Gonzalez Sr. have arraignments before Judge Linda Nobles.

(snipped)

http://pnj.com/article/20090806/NEWS01/90806004

 

[daisy7]

Billingses' suspects in court this morning

Two of the eight suspects in the Byrd and Melanie Billings slayings appeared in court this morning.

Leonard Gonzalez Sr., 56, who is charged with two counts of second-degree murder, home invasion and tampering with evidence, entered a not guilty plea.

His charges could change within the next week. State Attorney Bill Eddins said the case will be presented to a grand jury. The grand jury will decide whether any of the suspects in the double homicide face a capital charge of first-degree murder, which is punishable by a mandatory life prison term or the death penalty.


(snipped)

http://pnj.com/article/20090806/NEWS01/90806004

 

[daisy7]

ESCAMBIA COUNTY - Four people suspected of being involved in the murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings will have to wait to hear what charges they face.

State Attorney Bill Eddins asked Judge Linda Nobles to hold off on arraigning the suspects until after a grand jury meets over the next few days.

(snipped)

http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_3162.shtml

 

[mikeysmommom]

http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_3175.shtml

 

[4Kat]

http://www.pnj.com/article/20090806...n-to-Billings-case&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Wow! Tice! Really?

 

[cleo612]

Man accused of writing bad checks to Florida slaying victim



From Susan Candiotti

(CNN) -- Police in Escambia County, Florida, questioned a man in connection with the July slayings of a couple known for adopting special-needs children, a spokeswoman said Thursday night.
Henry "Cab" Tice, a used car dealer, has been arrested on suspicion of grand theft, police say.

Henry "Cab" Tice, a used car dealer, was arrested on suspicion of grand theft, said Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan. Police said they believe Tice wrote a series of bad checks to one of the victims, Byrd Billings, Morgan said.



More at link:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/08/06/billings.slain.couple/index.html

 

[passionflower]

http://ricksblog.biz/

great new articles on case

 

[daisy7]

Grand jury to decide charges next week
A grand jury will convene Tuesday to decide on charges for the suspects in the slayings of Byrd and Melanie Billings, State Attorney Bill Eddins announced Thursday.

Six men and a 16-year-old boy are accused of the home invasion on July 9 that ended in the Billingses' deaths from multiple gunshots and the stealing of a safe.

The eighth suspect, Pamela Long Wiggins, is accused of helping the attackers afterward by hiding the weapons and the safe.

The grand jury, made up of 15 to 21 members, will meet behind closed doors, hear evidence from the State Attorney's Office, then decide on the charges.

(snipped)

http://pnj.com/article/20090807/NEWS01/908070341

 

[RiverPirate]

Rumor on top of innuendo
Tice tells 'Dateline' he wasn't involved

Kris Wernowsky • kwernowsky@pnj.com • August 8, 2009

The Escambia County Sheriff's Office on Friday continued to refer to a business associate of Byrd and Melanie Billings as a "person of interest" in their murders. But after hours of questioning on three occasions, he has not been charged in the case.
Advertisement

Henry Cabell "Cab" Tice, 61, was charged Thursday night with grand theft for allegedly writing more than $17,000 in bad checks last year to Worldco Financial Services, a company owned by the Billings family.

He was released from Escambia County Jail on Friday morning after posting $5,000 bond.

Tice could not be located by News Journal reporters on Friday. He most recently has lived at a used-car dealership in Pace, but the owner said he asked him to leave when his name surfaced in the Billings case.

NBC15online.com reported that Tice said in an interview with "Dateline" that he was not involved.

"That anybody would say that I had anything to do with the murder of Bud or Melanie is a liar," Tice said. "The world lost somebody wonderful in Melanie and Bud Billings did not deserve to be killed in his household."



PNJ Link

 

[passionflower]

http://ricksblog.biz/?p=7128&cpage=1#comment-257367

Tice is out

 

[daisy7]

Cab Tice the latest person of interest in the Billings murder investigation...Is out on bond tonight.

As we first told you last night at ten, he was arrested on an unrelated charge of grand theft, for writing just over 17-thousand dollars worth of bad checks.

But Escambia Deputies aren't the only ones investigating Cab Tice.

(snipped)

http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_3206.shtml

 

[passionflower]

HLN TV breaking story and adding all day long....tiny segments watch!

 

[swika]

hln tv breaking story and adding all day long....tiny segments watch!

please keep us informed using a thread where you can post info. I don't get hln.

 

[RiverPirate]

Tice and the Mexican mafia

From Rick Outzen


http://ricksblog.biz/

Sheriff David Morgan’s comment about Henry “Cab” Tice and the used car dealer’s admission that he was involved with the Mexican mafia has almost been overlooked by most of the media. I interviewed Sheriff Morgan yesterday about Tice’s organized crime connections.

Morgan said that Tice not only had borrowed money from the Mexican mafia, but he also was laundering money for them. When I asked Morgan if any of those arrested for the murders of Melanie and Bud Billings had mentioned the Mexican mafia, he said, “Every one of them.”

Read my article on The Daily Beast.

Ricks' Article @ The Daily Beast


According to Morgan, the suspects were afraid to provide further details about the Mexican Mafia. As one witness told investigators, “Those guys will kill you.”

 

[RiverPirate]

Monday, Aug. 10: The Pensacola murders
Posted: Thursday, August 06, 2009 4:01 PM by Elizabeth Chuck

It was the kind of headline some people needed to hear twice to make sure they'd heard it right: A mother and father - parents to 17 children, including 13 who were adopted - murdered in their home. Nine of those children - all with special needs - were in the house at the time. Within days police arrested a group of suspects, and established a possible motive. But there could be much more to this case then meets the eye.



NBC's Keith Morrison brings you the latest on this heart-breaking mystery at 10 p.m. ET, 9 p.m. CT on Dateline Monday.

MSNBC INSIDE DATELINE

 

[passionflower]

http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20090415_when_mexican_drug_trade_hits_border

this is very interesting explains the mexican mafia in USA