01x04 - Targeted in Beulah

[bunniefuu]

Death is a smell you'll
never forget in your life.

And as soon as we walked in
that door, we knew.

We knew this was g*nsh*t.

We knew this was violent.

He was a real hard
business person.

If you had to make a payment,
you better make your payment.

Everyone wanted to be the one
to help solve the case.

There's a chasm's difference
between a person of interest

and a suspect.

♪

♪

♪

Beulah, Florida is one of
our largest districts,

but it is very remote.

It is a rural community.

Beulah more, like,
is remote,

on the outskirts
of Escambia County.

It actually borders
the Alabama line.

It's had this rebirth
over the last couple of years,

but in 2009,
it was mainly farming.

There are pockets
of poverty there

through all of
Escambia County.

We, for some reason,

have some crazy stuff
that happens in this area.

I've worked
some unbelievable stuff.

I was with the sheriff's office
for 20 years,

and the stuff that I've seen
and dealt with

some people don't deal with
their whole career.

I don't know how to explain it,
or tell you why.

♪

My sergeant called me,
and said,

"Hey, I need you to go out
to Beulah, a home out there.

There's a woman
and her husband

that they found in a house,
passed away."

We're thinking "m*rder-suicide,
husband and wife."

I got briefed
on this case.

It was around 6:30 p.m...

It's a pretty
prominent family –

a very, very successful
local businessman,

Bud Billings,
and his wife, Melanie.

They're well known for having
special needs children.

And he said, "We're searching
the house now for the children.

We think there's eight or nine
children still in the house."

Patrol gets there.
The door's been kicked open.

♪

We found out the call came in
from a neighbor.

One of the children
in the house

and heard the g*nshots,
and she ran next door.

It's reported that they had been
shot to death,

so you think that you're
probably going to encounter

an armed suspect,
if you run into anyone.

Anytime there's
a homicide scene,

and a potential of a sh**ter
still being in the residence,

you're gonna have
multiple units respond.

We probably had six or seven
units on scene very quickly,

to search and clear
the house.

When you get to
a crime scene,

there's not necessarily
a metallic or g*n smell,

or something like that.

But death is a smell you'll
never forget in your life.

You know
as soon as you walk in.

And as soon as we walked in
that door, we knew.

And we walked
throughout the house,

and we see the bodies
on the bottom floor,

in the master bedroom.

Of course, it's horrific.
A lot of blood.

Blood everywhere
in the bedroom.

You see two people, shot almost
execution-style in the face

and the head.

From a picture
of the family,

we right away know that this is
Mr. and Mrs. Billings.

There was some splatter
in other areas of the house,

but most of the blood was in
the bedroom, where they were at.

And we also immediately started
looking for g*ns.

We didn't find anything
like that,

which eliminates suicide,
and points more to m*rder.

Your first responding officers
will secure the scene.

They will direct
the crime techs,

our crime lab people,
to specific areas.

And they're the ones that
actually photograph and measure,

look for latent fingerprints.

You don't want too many people
traipsing through a crime scene.

The deputies found shell casings
at the scene.

No weapons.

Any weapons had been taken
from the scene.

As they're clearing
the house,

they start finding
these kids everywhere.

If you can imagine,
they're hiding in closets,

scared to death.

There was a lot of tension,
especially with the deputies,

and what they had to deal with
just making house safe,

'cause you're talking about kids
that were non-verbal,

most of them.

They're special needs.

They're autistic children,
and Down Syndrome, et cetera.

Of course, you also want
to shield them.

After we had gotten
all nine of the children

out of the
Billings household,

we found out the Billings
actually had two other children,

Ashley Markham
and Justin Billings.

Police notify the Billings'
oldest children,

Ashley and Justin,
both from previous marriages,

and they rush to
the scene.

Justin mention the videotaping
on the compound.

He directed us to it, and said
"We have a video system."

You know, "The camera's set up,
and it's also taping."

That videotape system
covered everything

except for Bud
and Melanie's bedroom.

There was no videotape
in the bedroom.

When the crime scene techs
show up,

they take the videotapes
back to the sheriff's office,

and you begin an analysis
of the videotape.

It will take time to go through
the many hours

of security footage,
looking for anything

that might help identify
the k*ller or K*llers.

Meanwhile, police continue
to process the crime scene,

and gather as much information
as they can

about the Billings
from the family.

Bud Billings was a very
successful businessman.

He had been in the car business
for years and years.

And he funded
other car dealerships.

You know,
money stuck to Bud.

His wife, Melanie, had a heart
for special needs children,

and of course,
Bud was very supportive of that.

He loved children also.

So, they built that large
sprawling compound,

quite appropriately,
for all of those children.

Now, the family told us
that Mr. Billings would carry

a large amount of cash
around on his persons.

He would have a little briefcase
type bag that he would carry.

And he would also keep a large
amount of cash in his safe.

And people knew that.

The family tells detectives
that Bud and Melanie

kept a safe
in their bedroom closet.

A small safe was removed from
Mr. and Ms. Billings' bedroom.

We didn't see much of
anything else missing,

but it was obvious that the safe
was missing out of the bedroom.

Having that sort of cash,
you would be a target

for those who thought
they could do you harm.

At this point,
we're almost positive

the motive
is going to be money,

because of the large amount
of cash

that Mr. Billings
would keep.

I spoke to Ashley,
and she told us

the safe had some family
documents in it,

it had a couple of
small pieces of jewelry

that meant nothing to anyone
except the Billings family.

I think, Melanie – one or two
of Melanie's mother's rings

were in there –
small gold rings.

What's ironic is,
they go in to take the safe,

but they took
the wrong one.

We learned the safe that
they needed was upstairs.

And there was quite a bit
of cash in it.

Detectives believe they know
why the crime was committed,

but they need to determine
who is responsible.

They start by questioning
the only witnesses –

the couple's
special needs children.

Ashley helped us talk to
one of the kids in the house.

This little girl starts
telling us about a red SUV

that was out front of the house,
in the driveway,

at the time of
the homicide.

She was hard
to understand,

but she told us enough
to put out a BOLO for a red SUV.

Identifying that vehicle,
and finding out, you know,

who it belongs to
would be our first lead.

We knew this
was g*nsh*t.

We knew this was violent.

In a case like this,

you check out and interview
all loved ones.

They have to be
eliminated first.

Justin was jittery,
acted very nervous.

Blue Marcum,
who is married to Ashley,

the daughter of the Billings,
tells us that Mr. Billings

and Justin have had issues
in the past.

Justin, of course,

said he didn't have anything
to do with it.

So, we kept
questioning him on it.

We wind up
bringing him in,

and interviewing him
at the sheriff's office.

He wasn't devastated
like the rest of the family.

He didn't seem
that upset.

It looked more like a raid
than anything else.

It was almost
an unburdening.

He wanted to tell
this story.

He said,
"I'll be honest with you.

I didn't like him."

A lot of people
owed him money.

If you had to make a payment,
you better make your payment.

Then, we walk to the back,

and I'm thinking,
"I may have a clue here."

♪

As police in Escambia County,
Florida search for a red SUV

spotted near the home
of m*rder victims

Bud and Melanie Billings,

they also questioned
Bud's oldest son, Justin,

whose behavior at
the crime scene was suspicious.

People handle shock and grief
in many, many different ways.

Everybody handles things differently.

He seemed to kind of, like,
take it in stride,

if that makes sense.

So what you look for
in that case is,

"Okay, can we tie him
to other people,

places, events, dates?"

I got a call from Pensacola,
telling me that

Bud and Melanie Billings
was just m*rder*d in their home.

And I said, "What?"

And just broke down crying.

I was worried
about Justin.

I met Bud Billings
when I was 20 years old.

He was definitely
a charmer.

I cannot have children,
so we adopted Justin.

Justin was 6
when Bud filed for divorce.

And I knew that Justin Billings
was no way guilty

of pulling the trigger,
and k*lling his parents.

He told us about
some of the issues

that he had
with Mr. Billings.

I guess they had a pretty big
falling out.

To rule Justin out, we had to go
through his entire timeline,

and interview people
that he said he was with.

Justin tells detectives that he
spent the night of the m*rder

hanging out with
a friend named Greg.

Justin not only provides
detectives with his alibi,

but as the interview continues,

he provides them
with a possible lead.

He tells us that Mr. Billings
and his ex-business partner

in the car industry, Cab Tice,
had issues in the past,

that it had ended
on a really bad note.

And at one point,

Cab Tice have even made threats
towards Mr. Billings.

Justin's story raises
the detectives' eyebrows,

because they have also heard
the name "Cab Tice"

from Justin's sister.

Bud ran the [Indistinct]
Finance company,

so he had a lot of people
that owed him money.

Ashley also assisted
in running the business.

And – And you look
for things,

like is anybody in arrears
in their accounts?

You know, does somebody
still owe Bud money?

And Ashley mentioned that
Cab Tice did not pay his bills,

and he owed [Indistinct] Finance
$10,000.

But again, does that rise to the
level of committing homicide?

Investigators now need
to question Cab Tice,

and they begin the work
to track him down.

As they do that, Justin's friend
corroborates his alibi.

Justin was at his house
for dinner

on the night
of the murders.

Justin was eliminated
as a person of interest,

and never became
a suspect.

We knew Cab had a car lot
in Pace, Florida.

When we sent Santa Rosa County
deputies to the lot,

they get there,
it's 8:00 or 9:00 at night,

and Cab Tice is in the back
of this parking lot,

cleaning out a red SUV.

We made contact
with Cab Tice.

He admits, "Yeah."

He said,
"I'll be honest with you.

I was business partners
with Mr. Billings."

And he says, "It ended on a bad
term, and I didn't like him."

He felt like Mr. Billings
took him for some money,

and he wasn't happy
with it,

and admitted that they were
not friendly at all.

Cab Tice tells
the investigators

he's far from the only one to
have issues with Bud Billings.

All the people that he worked
with all loved him,

and thought he was
the greatest person.

But then, you also,
you know,

had the ones that knew
his business,

said that sometimes he was
a real hard business person.

If you had to make a payment,
you better make your payment.

As we're talking to
Cab Tice,

he admits that
he probably deserved it.

That's how Cab felt.

We asked him about the vehicle,
and the lot he's cleaning out.

He said, "Yeah,
I'm just cleaning it out,

getting it ready
to sell."

Right away, my partner
and myself, we're like,

"This guy's shady."

Everything about it
was odd.

We take Cab in
right away.

As the questioning continues
at the station cabin,

Cab insists he had nothing to do
with the murders.

But what he says only increases
investigators' suspicions.

With Cab Tice, I might think
I've got a great,

you know, person of interest,
here, and suspect,

but I've got to come with
some pretty hard evidence

to convince the state attorney
that, you know,

we need to arrest him.

We felt like Cab Tice was...

gonna be one of
the main suspects.

Then, a video comes in.

Police have spent all night
examining security camera

footage from the Florida home
of m*rder victims

Bud and Melanie Billings.

In poring over hours of video,
they find stunning images.

In the videos, a red van
comes down the driveway,

and pulls up to the house,
the front door,

and five people
jump out.

They looked like
they had hoodies on.

The way that these five
individuals came in the house,

they went in the front door
and back door at the same time,

which is
a surprise tactic,

just like what we do
in law enforcement.

They'd come in with r*fles
and weapons.

And it looked more like a raid
than anything else.

These weren't people
just off the street

trying to rob somebody.

These individuals knew exactly
what they were doing,

how they were gonna it,
and got in and out quickly.

They were in all black.

They had black boots,
face masks, long r*fles,

handguns, military style.

We see them sh**t Mr. Billings
in the leg.

And you see
one of the kids...

right there
in the living room.

You see him drag Mr. Billings
in the bedroom.

There was not a camera
in the master bedroom,

so you don't see anything
that happened in the bedroom.

But you see video
of this kid watching.

What happens in the bedroom
is obvious.

It's horrific.

The video reveals that
the home invaders' vehicle,

described by Billings' daughter
as a red SUV,

was actually
a red passenger van.

The Billings girl was right.
It was red.

But it was a van,
not an SUV.

So, we're like, "Holy cow."
She did see it.

And we were wrong,
not her."

She was trying to tell us
it was a red van,

but we had such a hard time
interacting with her

we didn't know.

The red SUV detectives saw
at Cab Tice's auto dealership

does not match the vehicle
driven by the K*llers.

And Cab has an alibi.

He was negotiating a deal
at a rival car lot

at the time of
the murders.

We had felt like
Cab Tice

was gonna be
one of the main suspects,

but the red van
changed everything.

So, we left Cab.

Now, we're trying to find
this red van.

You find the van, maybe you can
find some evidence out of it.

Maybe they got something
from the house,

took it to the van,
and left it there.

So, we immediately put
this red van on the news.

The search for suspects began
with an important clue –

video of a large
passenger van

seen at
the crime scene.

We formed a very effective
partnership with the media.

We need to get the maximum
amount of press coverage

that we can
for this van.

We help the Escambia
County Sheriff's Department

put out the word.

Whoever owns this van

is a person of interest,
at this point.

The community's reaction
was really the horror of it.

I remember going to breakfast
at one of the diners,

and they were talking about,
"Have you heard about this?

Did you know
Bud Billings?"

And when the sheriff
showed the van,

that got the community involved
that much more,

that they – all of a sudden,
everyone wanted to be the one

to help solve the case.

The next day,
we get a tip

that a van that matches
that description

is at a lot behind a shed
in the middle of a group

of old shotgun houses
in West Pensacola.

There was a big dog in the yard,
and all these big, tough,

brave investigators are not
gonna try to fight that dog.

And even though the tip said
that the van was behind a shed,

I couldn't see it,
so I don't have enough

probable cause to go anywhere
other than to that front door.

So, I go up there,
knock on the door,

and a lady answers,

and identifies herself
as Miss Brant.

She says she's the wife
of Leonard Gonzalez Sr.

I explained to her that there's
a red van that we're looking for

in a homicide,

and we got a tip that it could
be parked behind the shed.

She said, well, her husband
brought a van home,

and parked it back there.

As I'm sitting there,
I look across the living room

and sitting There is this
brand-new box of those boots,

like we saw the suspects wear
on the video.

Brand-spanking new,
just sitting there.

And I said, "Mr. Brant,
who belongs to these?"

And she said, "Well, my husband
brought them home.

I was gonna
throw it away."

And I said, "Well,
I'm going outside.

Why don't I
throw them away for you?"

And she said, "I don't care.
Take what you want."

I'm thinking,
"I may have a clue, here."

Then, we walked to the back,
and there's a red van.

It's got that funny shape.
No tags on it.

Some paint's
been scraped off,

like they're trying to conceal
some of the markings,

or whatever.

Matches my video.

I mean, we're sitting there
going, "We found the van."

You could see where they were
trying to paint it,

cover up things, where it
wouldn't be recognizable.

And then,
we find a burn pit...

...that somebody tried to burn
some clothes in.

And then, there was a receipt
near the burn pit,

from the dollar store down
the road from the residence,

where they had bought
spray paint from the store

that was the color
that was on the van.

So, I went back to Mrs. Brant,
and said,

"We think
this van's involved.

Do you mind if we tow it
out of here, at our expense?"

And she said,
"Certainly."

Police immediately
began searching

for Leonard Gonzalez Sr.

It doesn't take long to find him
at a friend's house.

And they bring him in
for questioning.

Leonard Gonzalez Sr.
first came in for questioning,

originally,
for tampering with evidence,

because it appeared that
he was trying to paint the van

behind his trailer.

Not a very smart move
on his part.

He starts talking about
the van,

telling us that it was
his son's,

that it didn't run,
hasn't been running for a while.

I told him, "This is what
I found in your fire pit."

At this point,
I think it finally hit home.

He looks me dead in the eye,
and says,

"If you guarantee I don't die,
I'll talk."

♪

Evidence in the home
of Leonard Gonzalez Sr.

appears to be linked to
the brutal m*rder

of Bud and Melanie Billings.

Gonzalez agrees
to tell police

everything he knows
about the crime

if prosecutors take a possible
death penalty off the table.

It was almost an unburdening,
in his case,

that – that he wanted
to tell this story.

♪

He gave us a list of names,
and he gave us all the suspects.

He said that his son Patrick
was in the van,

along with Wayne Coldiron
and Danny Stallworth,

Gary Sumner, Frederick Thornton,
and Rakeem Florence.

As investigators begin
checking into the names,

a video camera rolls
as Leonard Gonzalez Sr.

continues telling
his story.

'Cause we have the van,
we have these other items,

we have Sr.
talking about it,

we know for sure
that Gonzalez Sr.

is involved in
the Billings murders somehow.

Now, because we have
information that Gonzalez Jr.

owns this van,
we had enough to bring Jr. in.

Although his father
identified his own son

as one of the K*llers,

Patrick Gonzalez
denies everything.

And he says,
"Don't listen to my dad.

He's crazy.

He doesn't know what
he's talking about.

Blah, blah, blah.

Detectives are skeptical
of Patrick's claims

about his father, and shift
their attention to the red van.

He starts talking about
the van, that it didn't run,

hasn't been running
for a while.

You know, he had several
different stories about the van.

When police searched the van,
they find nothing

tying Patrick
to the murders.

They're forced
to let him go.

We didn't have enough to do
anything with him at the time.

He wound up leaving that day,
and going back home.

At this point,
you're just trying to find out,

what kind of evidence
do we have?

I started watching
the video enhancement.

They're wearing these boots.
I got a boot box.

But how are we going to figure
out where this box come from?

Somebody said, "Patrick lives
out 98, in Santa Rosa County.

And across the subdivision
he lives in is a Walmart."

I said,
"Y'all go to Walmart."

Because most criminals,
they're lazy.

They're not gonna go far
from the house.

Walmart is awesome.

They keep documents
of everything.

They were able to scan it
for us,

tell us the time
that it was purchased.

Investigators wind up
pulling the video.

We start watching
the video.

You see Patrick Gonzalez
purchasing the boots,

with some other
black clothing,

and you see three other males
with him.

Detectives are able to identify
the men in the video,

as Wayne Coldiron,
Donnie Stallworth,

and Gary Sumner –

three of the suspects named
by Leonard Gonzalez Sr.

At that point,
we're rolling.

We got a person
of interest

that is seen with
multiple suspects on the video,

and they're buying
high-tech boots

which matches
the boot box

found at a possible suspect's
residence.

So, the dots are starting
to come around.

♪

The investigation
into the murders

of Bud and Melanie Billings
gets a boost

when surveillance video
from a Florida Walmart

shows the suspects purchasing
clothing they're believed

to have worn
during the crime.

There's a chasm's difference
between a person of interest

and a suspect.

We had videotapes
of our suspects

over in Santa Rosa County,
at the Walmart,

when they were purchasing the
garb that they wore when they,

you know, entered the compound,
and committed the crime.

We had enough information
to get an arrest warrant.

Investigators head out to round
up the suspected members

of the deadly
robbery crew.

Patrick Gonzalez Jr.
Turned himself in.

He was concerned about
being arrested

in front of
his children.

I went in, and sat down,
and I talked to him.

He was extremely nervous,
and he was very scared.

And I'm like, "Okay.
Let's – Let's break this down.

What's going on?"

He swore up and down
that he didn't do it.

He told me about the fact
that a lot of people

didn't like Bud Billings, whatever,

because of his demeanor

with some of the businessmen,
and such.

He was pretty strong
on the thing.

He said,
"I didn't do this."

I was like,
"But, you know, you were there."

I took whatever notes I had,

and I gave it to
the investigators,

and they took it
from there.

♪

Then, the next day,
Donnie Stallworth was arrested.

Stallworth actually had left
the county.

He went to Alabama.

We had to have him brought back
to Escambia County.

Gary Sumner ran
an auto-detailing shop.

Sumner, he had a traffic stop
over in Fort Walton Beach.

The law enforcement officer,
you know,

just happened to come on
to that.

And that's how we ended up
arresting him.

Wayne Coldiron, he had just
gotten out of prison.

Wayne Coldiron,
he had done time, I believe,

in Tennessee,
for second-degree m*rder.

We secured the arrest warrant,
and went to his house

here in Escambia County,
and arrested him there.

With five of the seven suspects
in custody,

and detectives
preparing to question him,

the remaining two
suspects surface.

I got a call from a detective
in Okaloosa County.

And lo and behold,

somebody had told on
Frederick Thornton

and Rakeem Florence,
and they were at his office,

wanting to set
the record straight.

Investigator Nesmith
and his team

make the 40-minute drive
to Okaloosa County,

where the suspects
are being held.

They're both
only teenagers.

We broke up in teams.

One pair took
Frederick Thornton.

Myself and my captain
took Rakeem Florence.

How's it going, man?

He tells us that
he was in the van,

and Frederick Thornton
was with him,

and that they were all promised
by Gonzalez Sr.

$2,000 or $3,000,
or something like that,

to carry this deed out.

In the next room,

detectives hear a similar tale
from Frederick Thornton.

We got authorization
to bring Thornton and Florence

back to Escambia County,

where they could face charges
for the m*rder.

In jail
back in Escambia County,

teenager Frederick Thornton
keeps talking.

We found that, when the van
left the Billings compound,

they drove to
Santa Rosa County,

and they dropped the safe off
in Santa Rosa County,

to an antique mall
off of Highway 98.

Frederick Thornton
has unexpectedly revealed

a possible eighth suspect
in the robbery and m*rder.

Detectives immediately begin
digging in

to find out who
the woman is.

We found out
the antique mall,

it was owned
by Pamela Long Wiggins.

She matched
Thornton's description.

Pamela Long Wiggins,
she was reasonably successful.

She had a very successful
real estate business,

not only buying
and selling houses,

but she had
rental properties.

Pamela Wiggins was seen
in Gulf Breeze.

She was a businesswoman
that was fairly successful.

Detectives want to know how
this successful businesswoman

might be connected to
the seven suspects in custody,

and if she played a hand
in the murders

of Bud and Melanie Billings.

You talk about
the power of the press.

She was all over the news,
with her – with her photo,

that, you know,
we needed to talk to her

at the Escambia County
Sheriff's Office.

We believe that Ms. Long
has significant and substantial

information that we need
to conclude this case.

I got a call from
the Orange Beach Police.

Pam and Hugh Wiggins,
her husband,

they had taken their yacht
from Santa Rosa

to Orange Beach, Alabama.

They pulled up to
the dock,

and they check with the
harbormaster in the marina.

The value of being
at Orange Beach

is that that marina was probably
one of the closest marinas

to getting into
the Gulf of Mexico.

There's a path
right there.

So, they could get into
the Gulf fairly quickly.

We learned that they had taken
their yacht,

which needed some engine repair,
from Santa Rosa,

and had taken it over to
Orange Beach, Alabama.

And they wanted to get it
repaired immediately.

So, the mechanic at the –
at the harbor,

he was watching
the television,

as most people
in this area were,

because they're following
the Billings case.

Well, up walks
Pamela Long Wiggins

and Hugh Wiggins.

And of course,
he's doing double takes.

He's looking down at the TV,
looking up at them,

looking down at the TV,
looking up at them.

And they wanted to pay extra
if he could fix

their yacht right away.

Hugh offered to,
you know,

pay cash
if he could get it done quickly.

And of course, the guy said,
you know,

"I'll get right on it."

And when they left,
he immediately called

the Orange Beach Police
and said, "Hey, that lady

that they're looking for
over in Florida,

her boat is here
in Alabama."

A tip from a yacht mechanic
in Alabama

helped Florida investigators
locate Pamela Wiggins,

a suspect in the murders
of Bud and Melanie Billings.

Based on the location
of the marina,

police suspect she may have been
trying to flee to Mexico.

The Orange Beach PD just,
you know, move with rapid speed.

They contacted us,
and verified, you know,

that that was who
we was looking for.

And I don't think
an hour passed,

and they called us,
and said,

"How would you like for us
to transport her?"

Late this afternoon,
police announced

that Pamela Laverne Long,

a woman they had identified
as a person of interest

earlier in the day,
has been found,

and is cooperating
with the investigation.

♪

As they begin checking into
her background,

police discover
Pamela Long Wiggins' finances

aren't as impressive
as they first appeared.

Pam Wiggins
was fairly successful,

but a lot of her mortgages
and everything

were starting to
cause problems,

were having trouble
making payments.

She did need money.

7:10 p.m.

Detectives quickly discover
there is a key link

between her and m*rder suspect
Patrick Gonzalez.

We learned that
Pamela Long Wiggins

had a rental property

that she rented to
Patrick Gonzalez Jr.

and his wife.

Patrick Gonzalez Jr.,
he did some collections for her,

you know, people who didn't
pay their rent, et cetera.

And so, Patrick would go with
a couple of other accomplices,

and he would collect
on the rents.

Based on what they've learned
about Pamela's financial issues,

and her connection
to Patrick Gonzalez,

detectives put together a theory
about a misguided crime

that turned deadly.

This was a money score
for Pamela Long Wiggins.

And she got Patrick Gonzalez Jr.
and this group of people

to do what should have been
just a simple robbery.

But this was a robbery
that went horrifically bad.

They also took
the wrong safe.

The small safe
that they took,

you know, had nothing
of any substance.

She was condescending,

and she thought she was better
than everybody else.

Her approach was that,

"I really didn't have anything
to do with this,"

but the investigation
shows otherwise.

Pamela provided the weapons for
the homicide, and hid the safe.

Pamela will not admit
that she is the brainchild

behind the robbery,

but confronted with the evidence
against her,

she agrees to
a plea deal.

We did a search warrant
on the house.

We found the safe
in the backyard.

Within a little over 100 hours,
we had seven people

and we had
Pamela Long Wiggins,

which was our final arrest,
in custody.

Our folks worked
around the clock.

There was a couple of junctures
where I literally had to order

investigators to go home,

because I don't think
they would have left.

Everybody worked
brutal hours.

It is my honor today
to tell you, Ashley,

and your family,

we have found them,
and they are in custody.

Pamela Wiggins is charged with
accessory after the fact.

The remaining suspects
are charged with

armed home invasion,
robbery, and m*rder.

All except Patrick Gonzalez
agree to plea deals

resulting in life sentences
for Donnie Stallworth

and Wayne Coldiron, and lengthy
prison terms for the rest.

Patrick Gonzalez,
the accused triggerman,

takes his chances
with a jury.

The trial was a zoo
because Court TV was there.

Made it more difficult to get
people in and out to testify.

After a four-day trial,
a jury convicts Patrick Gonzalez

on two counts
of first-degree m*rder,

and armed home invasion robbery.

He is sentenced
to death.

I think what he did
is absolutely demonic.

To k*ll people
in front of their kids –

who can do that?

Gonzalez Sr. died in prison
of lung cancer.

Pamela, she also died in prison,
of cancer.

Patrick Gonzalez
is on death row.

He still proclaims
his innocence.

I thank God every day
that the people that did it

have been caught,
justice is served.