Couple who adopted 12 children shot to death #1

Status
Not open for further replies.

daisy7

Retired WS Staff
Joined
Aug 3, 2008
Messages
12,538
Reaction score
51
Couple who adopted 12 children shot to death
Home invasion suspected, deputies say

A Beulah couple who adopted 12 children and owned several local businesses were found shot to death in an apparent home invasion Thursday evening.

The bodies of Byrd and Melanie Billings were found in the bedroom of their home in the 9700 block of Mobile Highway about 7:30 p.m.

"There were children in the home," Escambia County Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Ted Roy said. "They are all accounted for and safe."

Roy said deputies found several children at the home ranging in age from an infant to 11 years old.

"The deputies had to wake some of the children," Roy said.

The Billingses were featured in a Christmas Day story in the Pensacola News Journal in 2005. At the time, the couple were the proud parents of 16 children. Twelve were adopted — among them, children of drug users, children who were sexually abused and children with developmental disabilities. Six of the 12 had Down syndrome. Two had died.

(snipped)
http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090710/NEWS01/907100327

How sad and these poor children!!
 
Oh, how very sad after all the great work this couple has done for children. May they RIP. I hope the POI will be given a rather stiff sentence for these two deaths.

We need more people like them in our world.

Goz
 
I saw this. I looked and the wife had a myspace she was last on 7/7 and noted that she was waiting for someone named Justin to get home to help with the kids. She was so proud of those children on her page. Very sad :(
 
Is this the same couple who was featured on TLC? I remember watching a special about a couple who had adopted numerous down syndrome children. God Bless this family. My heart aches for those poor children.
 
From daisy's link, pg 2:
Deputies are searching for three men in a red van in connection with the homicide, Roy said.
p-e4m3Yko6bFYVc.gif
Investigators are examining surveillance tapes from the home. Roy said the vehicle the suspects were in may have been captured on tape.

Looks like there is some hope they will catch these guys soon.
 
Is this the same couple who was featured on TLC? I remembered watching a special about a couple who had adopted numerous down syndrome children. God Bless this family. My heart aches for those poor children.

No it is not the same couple. They also were the first ones that I thought of when I read this. The article has a picture of the murdered couple attached.
 
This is particularly horrible. What will happen to all of their children now? Why them? It was supposedly a home invasion. The family was wealthy. But damn it, they were one of the few families around who adopt and apparently doted on scores of special needs kids. Of all people, they should have been spared.
 
This is so sad. I just heard this on FoxNews and my heart breaks for the family, especially these poor children.
 
FoxNews is saying the couple had 16 children. Does anyone know which is correct (12 or 16)?
 
FoxNews is saying the couple had 16 children. Does anyone know which is correct (12 or 16)?

They have 16 children, 12 of whom were adopted. 8 of the children were in the home when the shooting occurred.

Investigators say eight of the children, ages 8-14, were home when the couple was shot. One of the kids heard the gunshots and called a family friend. Sheriff's Office spokesman Sgt. Ted Roy says one of them parents was shot in the head. Autopsies have not been completed.
The Billings have 16 children; 12 of them adopted, some of whom have special needs.

http://www.wkrg.com/crime/article/double-homicide-near-pensacola/175032/Jul-10-2009_2-53-pm/
 
Scarey! This is just down the road from my mother! I believe 2 of the adopted children have passed away. So sad.:banghead:
 
So sad! I hope some wonderful family will step up for these kids. This is the last thing that should have happened to them.
 
Has anyone heard any updates on this case?

I would think since they have a picture of the red van it wouldn't take long to identify who these horrid people are.

imo
 
A motive for the shooting deaths of a Beulah couple remained unclear Friday, a day after they were gunned down during a home invasion.

"Home invasions can lead to murder. It can be anything from drugs to robbery. We would be speculating at this point," Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said.

The bodies of Byrd, 66, and Melanie Billings, 43, were found Thursday night after a neighbor called 911. Eight of the couple's children living in the house were unharmed.

"Both victims suffered multiple gunshot wounds," Morgan said at a news conference held to release details about the killings.

Morgan said that about 7 p.m. Thursday night, three people arrived at the couple's Mobile Highway home in a late 1970s or early 1980s red van.

They forced their way into the house through separate doors and shot the couple, who reportedly were in their bedroom. Deputies were called to the scene about 45 minutes later, Morgan said.

The Billings' home had an extensive video surveillance system, which had cameras recording almost every room, as well as parts of the driveway and yard.

Video released Friday shows the van and the suspects, all dressed in black, approaching the victims' house. The Sheriff's Office released still footage of the van, but not of the suspects.

(snipped)

http://www.pnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090711/NEWS01/907110322

And, Channel 3 has surveillance video of the perps. arriving and leaving on their home page

http://weartv.com/
 
I wonder if this wasn't a murder for hire. I can't figure out why they shot them. I haven't heard of anything being taken. It appears they knew which room to go to. There were children awake in the house...no mention of the children seeing anyone, only of some of them hearing gunshots.JMO
 
All dressed in black, very premeditated. Hope they get them soon, I'm sure they will with cams in every room.
 
The people that came into the home must not have known about the sophisticated camera and surveillance system so that tends to make me think it wasn't a hit. Surely if it had been...... the conspirator would have told the hit men all about the cameras and where they were located.

imo
 
I wonder if this wasn't a murder for hire. I can't figure out why they shot them. I haven't heard of anything being taken. It appears they knew which room to go to. There were children awake in the house...no mention of the children seeing anyone, only of some of them hearing gunshots.JMO

ITA, this just doesn't seem like the typical home invasion.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
99
Guests online
1,442
Total visitors
1,541

Forum statistics

Threads
589,163
Messages
17,915,056
Members
227,745
Latest member
branditau.wareham72@gmail
Back
Top