The Surveillance System and The Tapes

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Maybe I'm off on this, but why did BB put up his hands (like arrest?) when guys came in?
I'm curious if this is a normal reaction to do in home invasion?
any home invasion specialist out there????
or did BB somehow know there was trouble brewing that fateful night?
This act of execution was done in 4 minutes flat............so quick it's unimagineable!
JMOO

Maybe they yelled "Put your hands in the air!" as they entered? The video will tell us, I suppose (assuming it has sound?)
 
Maybe they yelled "Put your hands in the air!" as they entered? The video will tell us, I suppose (assuming it has sound?)

If someone came into my house with guns, probably the first thing I'd do would be to raise my arms to show that I was not a threat. That's assuming I would do this while being scared you know what.
 
C'mon guys -- this one is a no-brainer.

Black outfits, one with a shirt saying "K9", Billings puts hands up before they even get to him... pretty clear that they must have been yelling "Police, put your hands up, let me see them, Police!' or perhaps "Federal Agents, hands up or we let the dog loose!"

And with Billings knowing the stuff that he is engaged in, he would have figured there would be some questions, maybe some paperwork, and he would talk to his lawyer to clear it up or handle it.

Only once they were on him did he likely have a split second to realize these were actually robbers, with at least one self-styled assassin.
 
I do not know whether to put this here or in the Tice thread. Morgan is speculating that Tice could have been responsible for the security system.........

"It would not be unrealistic to assume that Mr. Tice was aware of a security system," the sheriff said. "He had been in the home many times, also at the office Mr. Billings was known to pull up his home system so he could observe the children and how the home life was going."

But anyway, it confirms what was speculated here, that the Billings had internet access to their security system and it is possible that someone knew about it and was supposed to disable it via the internet:

http://cbs4.com/local/billings.tice.mexican.2.1121080.html


I am going back and reading over some of these older comments after having read all of the document releases to see if I can pick up anything new and this post caught my attention.

Tice supposedly called LPGJr around 7 or 7:15pm the night of the murders, ostensibly in regards to having a "problem with his email."

Why would someone who is supposedly computer literate would call someone like LPGJr regarding "an email problem?"

Suppose the problem he was having DID have to do with disabling the surveillance cameras. Maybe he tried to disable the system, but the password had been changed from what he might have known it to be previously.

Maybe he was actually trying to reach LPGJr to tell him that he couldn't disable the system and to abort the plan. Instead, all he got was LPGJr's voice mail and well, the rest is history.
 
Regarding how law enforcement would have known that there was a safe missing prior to speaking to Justin--it is possible that one or more of the children saw the safe being removed by the perps and related this information to either April or to one of the officers.
 
He probably held his hands up because they were holding guns and told him to I would imagine.
 
Well he had to come up with an excuse of why he made a call to Gonzales on murder night. That's probably the first thing that came to his head when they busted him. The real reason he probably called him is to see if the dirty deeds had been completed.
 
Well he had to come up with an excuse of why he made a call to Gonzales on murder night. That's probably the first thing that came to his head when they busted him. The real reason he probably called him is to see if the dirty deeds had been completed.

Sure was a stupid move on his part if he knew about the plan. That said. It would fall right in with the rest of the stupidity displayed by this bunch.
 
I am going back and reading over some of these older comments after having read all of the document releases to see if I can pick up anything new and this post caught my attention.

Tice supposedly called LPGJr around 7 or 7:15pm the night of the murders, ostensibly in regards to having a "problem with his email."

Why would someone who is supposedly computer literate would call someone like LPGJr regarding "an email problem?"

Suppose the problem he was having DID have to do with disabling the surveillance cameras. Maybe he tried to disable the system, but the password had been changed from what he might have known it to be previously.

Maybe he was actually trying to reach LPGJr to tell him that he couldn't disable the system and to abort the plan. Instead, all he got was LPGJr's voice mail and well, the rest is history.

Cab Tice was most likely MONITORING the system and was trying to warn LPG, jr that it was not disabled as planned. It's unlikely that Tice had the ability to actually disable the system remotely, imo.
 
All of that is pretty far out there speculation. I have heard nothing of the power or phone lines being cut.
Maybe that was their original intention. If you remember the statement given by the guy who was working on Pam Wiggins' rental house (I think those details are right) he talked about Gonzalez Jr. driving a brand new bucket truck, like the trucks the power company uses to work on power lines. The guy understandably thought it was really odd that anybody would drive a new bucket truck so he made a comment about the truck to Gonzalez Jr, who got real defensive about it and gave him a jerk-y comment in response.

So where did Gonzalez get the bucket truck and why did he have it? Obviously he must have gotten it from a used car dealer and I bet he had it because they were thinking about cutting somebody's power or phone.

Why didn't they use it? The most obvious reasons are because you could get killed messing around with power lines or because they had to give it back to the car dealer (maybe the car dealer had it on loan from somebody else or something) before the home invasion occured.
 
Gene posted this on the media thread and I think it should also be put here.

What I saw…

The videos from the surveillance cameras from the Billings’ residence are haunting. The 16 cameras captured both the inside and outside of the home while the seven intruders drove onto the property and five masked men stormed into the house.
The intruders were deliberate and well organized. There was no hesitation or any sense that the men didn’t know what they were doing.
Gonzalez shot him from the hallway by the kitchen, within in seconds of coming in view of the camera. One intruder with a rifle stayed in the hallway. Gonzalez and another stood over Billings. Gonzalez pressed his pistol to back of Billing’s head. The fifth intruder guarded Melanie Billings.

The videos of the children ripped my heart. No child should ever have to experience such horror. The home and their bedrooms should be sanctuaries. The video from the living room that showed Bud Billings being shot and the couple being terrorized made me angry. This couple did not have to be shot for the intruders to complete the robbery.

Someone wanted these people dead.
http://ricksblog.biz/?p=7299&cpage=1#comment-258904
 
This caught my attention in Ricks description of the crime scene photos:

http://ricksblog.biz/?p=7312

There was a TV in the bedroom that was inset in the wall that displayed views from the surveillance system so the intruders would have known the cameras were working when they took Bud and Melanie into the master bedroom.



* Were they so pumped up that they did not notice?

OR and this is a big OR,

* Could it be that they wanted the video system to work?
* Could it be that whoever set this up was watching?
 
Differences in reports of the tapes:

WearTV states:
Byrd Billings emerges from the kitchen, puts his hands up…….
Byrd is taken out of camera range, then reappears and motions for Melanie, who appears to be holding the boy.
She goes with Bud, and they never return.

Fox News states:…a camera in the couple's living room shows Melanie Billings enter from the kitchen following a dog and what appears to be a child.
Byrd Billings, wearing only boxer shorts, comes in next with his arms in the air in surrender as two men, dressed in black with their faces covered, point long guns at him. A third man dressed in street clothes then points a handgun at his head.
Melanie Billings appears to grab the child protectively. Byrd Billings falls to the floor, then appears to get up and struggle with the intruders. Melanie Billings goes to Byrd's side.

Rick Outzen states:
Bud and Melanie Billings both approached the front door when three men kicked it in. Both had their hands up in the air…
At one point, Melanie comes back into the living room and hugs Jake. Bud also appears and both are taken back to the bedroom. We don’t see them again.

WKRG states:
Byrd Billings walks out of the kitchen, wearing jean shorts and no shirt.
The next thing seen is Byrd's hands go up as the suspects enter. Melanie Billings is seen gripping the couch, trying to hide behind it.
Byrd is shoved down, and guns are pointed at his head. It appears he is shot in the leg. The suspects then lead him into the bedroom area, and Melanie grabs the child hiding behind the couch.
 
Wow...what a difference in perspective!!!

All the more reason the public should be allowed to have access directly to the info, not have to traipse up to some location in person.

Family lawyer is now filing suit to prevent even sketches made from memory of the material on the tapes.

Ridiculous -- how can you prevent a person from creating a drawing of their own, from a mental image? Maybe the artist can claim it is 'similar' to the event, but not depicting the event, etc.

Once you start down the road of restraint, this is where you end -- ridiculous.

Same with 911 tapes -- with all the the redaction, bleeps and chopping, how can anyone make heads or tails out of them? All investigative value to the public has been removed, purposely or not.

"The truth shall set you free"
 
A third man dressed in street clothes...from Fox News. Intriguing observation, imho.
 
I am most intrigued by, and find most credible, FOX News' description. It is the most detailed and indicates the rep that viewed it was really paying attention.

I go back and forth about wanting to view the tape. Part of me wants to, but I'm not sure how crucial it is in terms of sleuthing. Suspects are in custody. Sounds like they were pretty well camoflauged. I'm afraid it'd just make me terribly sad and I wouldn't come away with anything new from it. Might feel voyeuristic.

Usually I'm all "Roll the tape!" but is there anything to be gained from it?
 
Fox intrigues me because it says that MB comes from the kitchen following a dog. The dog disappearance and reappearance has been a big mystery to me.
 
I am most intrigued by, and find most credible, FOX News' description. It is the most detailed and indicates the rep that viewed it was really paying attention.

I go back and forth about wanting to view the tape. Part of me wants to, but I'm not sure how crucial it is in terms of sleuthing. Suspects are in custody. Sounds like they were pretty well camoflauged. I'm afraid it'd just make me terribly sad and I wouldn't come away with anything new from it. Might feel voyeuristic.

Usually I'm all "Roll the tape!" but is there anything to be gained from it?

It is a good question and I am afraid you will not know until you see it. I think you can get a very different impression from seeing the tape that you may not get listening to the descriptions. For example, no one has said if they could determine the race of the Ninjas from the tape? Can you see all five Ninjas that entered the home? Other than the killers, what were they doing?

We have heard "reporters" descriptions of events....but there have been no "AHA's". I am thinking that if a few sleuths dropped by, there could be a few AHA's coming out of it.

If I were local, I would definately be there.......
 

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