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Just did a little research about the Sunshine Laws on the official site:

http://www.myflsunshine.com/sun.nsf/pages/FAQs#1

If I am understanding this correctly:

* Anyone can request copies of arrest documents (not just media)
* Typical costs are $0.15/page
* It costs nothing to go and see documents in person
* Documents can be ordered by phone
* ID or reasons are not required

Note: It is likely that media will only give out limited reports and may miss important information. Locals are kindly requested to stop by the courthouse and have a look at the documents. Please let us know if the media is releasing everything that is available. Take notes and report back to your fellow sleuthers. :)
 
New details about the slayings of Byrd and Melanie Billings were revealed Monday when the State Attorney's Office released more than 700 pages of statements, interviews, arrest warrants, crime scene reports and other documents.
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The investigative documents shed light on the raw brutality of the attack on the couple at their Beulah home just before dusk on July 9.

Several interviews point to Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. as the leader of seven suspects, who have been charged with first-degree murder and home invasion.

The documents also include an interview with Gonzalez Jr. in which he suggests that Billings, a used-car dealer, was having problems with other dealers.

(snipped)

http://pnj.com/article/20090818/NEWS01/908180323&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL
 
The interviews by the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office with dozens of witnesses give the picture of a horrible, grisly double homicide that defies the motive a simple robbery.

Seven men invaded the Billings’ home and while some may have thought the motive was robbery, the investigators’ reports give a far more brutal picture of the crime.

On early evening of Thursday, July 9, a red van pulled in the front yard of the large home owned by Byrd “Bud “ and Melanie Billings. Friend and neighbor April Spencer had left the residence about 90 minutes before after helping Melanie bathe two of her daughters. Bud Billings was watching TV and Melanie was getting dinner ready in the kitchen as Spencer walked out the door.

Around 7:30 p.m. Adrianna Billings was pounding on the Spencer’s door, yelling, “Come, Mom and Dad are dead.” Leaving the young girl at her home with her daughter, Spencer ran to Billings’ residence to find the laundry room door, which is on the north side of the house, kicked in.

(snipped)
http://ricksblog.biz/?p=7204
 
The State Attorney has released the transcripts of the interviews with Henry “Cab” Tice.

In his interview, Tice described Salvano Gonzalez has a good salesman that worked for him and later for Bud Billings collecting on accounts, after Tice’s Hispanic-American Auto Sales closed. According to Tice, this is the man who got him the $20,000 loan from the Mexican mafia. Tice was told the interest was would only be $1,500 if he paid it back in five to six months.

When Tice’s car business closed, Salvano “began to panic and told me that, he had previously told me he had cousins in Atlanta, but he inferred that they were in Mexican Restaurant business…well, then he tells, me ‘they’re members of the Mexican mafia.’”

Salvano tells Tice that he used to work for them, these people don’t play, they were gonna kill. They won’t kill you, they kill your family and we got to get them this money.”

(snipped)

http://ricksblog.biz/?p=7217
 
Ties unclear in murders
As the prosecution in the Billings murder case releases more information, details about the relationship between the alleged ringleader in the crime and the slain family remain unclear.

Court documents released this week show at least one past business connection between Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr., the alleged “mastermind” of the crime, and Byrd Billings, but details of other suggested connections remain foggy.

(snipped)

http://pnj.com/article/20090818/NEWS01/90818020
 
http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/top_stories/videos/wear_vid_3386.shtml
More Evidence Released from Billings' Murder Case

<snipped>
Channel Three's Dan Thomas just spoke to the sheriff. He joins us now with the latest. Dan?

Earlier in our 4 o'clock show, I asked Sheriff David Morgan about a disturbing statement by Gonzalez Junior in a document released yesterday apparently admitting to having been a hitman in the past. To quote "whack" folks. For a group of local car dealers.

Today, I asked Sheriff David Morgan about that statement.

Dan Thomas/Reporter: "Is he the subject of any other death investigations that you know of?"

Sheriff David Morgan/Escambia County: "We have received some inquiries from some other law enforcement agencies in the United States and outside the United States as it applies to this gentleman and we're providing that information to other law enforcement agencies."
 
http://www.fox10tv.com/dpp/news/crime/Repairman_Who_Turned_In_Wiggins_Talks

Repairman who turned in Wiggins talks
Powell saw Wiggins in boat just after murders
Updated: Tuesday, 18 Aug 2009, 6:43 PM CDT
Published : Tuesday, 18 Aug 2009, 6:43 PM CDT

<snipped>
"ORANGE BEACH, Ala. - The man who investigators say played a crucial role in locating the only woman charged in the Billings murder case, is talking. The boat repairman said he saw Pamela Long Wiggins on her boat in Orange Beach with her husband, shortly after the murders."
 
Anatomy of a Massacre
by Rick Outzen

New witness reports give horrific details about the murder of the Florida parents of 17, including an underworld motive, the Billings&#8217; last words&#8212;and the mute 10-year-old son who saw it all and could only sign for help.

With the release Monday of 729 pages of interviews and reports concerning the investigation into the grisly double homicide of Byrd &#8220;Bud&#8221; and Melanie Billings, parents of 17, a mystery that&#8217;s been answered piece-by-piece suddenly comes into fuller view, with details nothing short of haunting. What emerges is a cast of characters reminiscent of those found in a William Faulkner short story&#8212;desperate, double-crossing, and living by a code that only they understand. This real-life tragedy on the Florida Panhandle has three acts, which I&#8217;ve been able to piece together through weeks of reporting and the aforementioned documents.

(snipped)

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-19/anatomy-of-a-massacre-1/
 
Threats And Meetings In Billings Murder Plot
Published: Tue, August 18, 2009
Jessica Taloney
4:15 pm

In an interview with Escambia County sheriff's deputies on July 24, Lonnie Smith, 32, said three weeks before Byrd and Melanie Billings were shot and killed in their Beulah, Florida home he witnessed a meeting between Gonzalez, Jr., Gary Sumner and Hugh Wiggins.

Smith said in the weeks leading up to the murders, Gonzalez Jr. repeatedly asked him to get involved, even calling him thirteen times the day the Billings' were killed.

"I was like dude, I don't know what the hell you keep calling me for, you're not gonna get me to, to do this thing," said Smith. When asked how much money Gonzalez Jr. thought was in the safe, he said "a couple million dollars."

In the 97 pages of the interview released Monday by the State Attorney's office, Smith said Gonzalez, Jr. introduced him to a man with a pony tail several times. According to investigators, Smith identified the man in a photo line up as Hugh Wiggins, who is not charged in the case.

Smith says after the meeting at the condo, Hugh Wiggins threatened him saying "if I got wind that you said anything, you know me....you'd go on a vacation you'd never come back from."
Click to expand...
http://www.wkrg.com/crime/article/a...lings-murder-plot/271969/Aug-18-2009_4-23-pm/
 
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