Fla. couple who adopted 12 children found slain
PENSACOLA, Fla. — Investigators asked the public to be on the lookout Friday for a red van they believe carried three men involved in the deaths of a Florida Panhandle couple who were shot in their rural home while eight of their children slept.
Surveillance cameras showed the van at the home of Byrd and Melanie Billings in Beulah, a rural area west of Pensacola near the Alabama border, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said. The children were unharmed.
The sheriff’s office released an enhanced but still grainy photograph of a red, 15-passenger van dating to the late 70s or early 80s.
Morgan said investigators did not know who killed the wealthy couple known for adopting children with developmental disabilities, many born to drug-addicted mothers.
Investigators are also awaiting autopsy results on the couple to learn more about the killings, he added.
Morgan said eight of the children, ages 8 to 14, were in the home when the couple was killed Thursday evening. A woman who lives in an outlying building and helps care for the children called emergency dispatchers from the home.
Deputies had to wake some of the children after they arrived, authorities said.
Investigators interviewed the children, who are now staying with other family members, Morgan said.
The Billings had 16 children, 12 of them adopted. They married 18 years ago and each had two children from previous marriages. The couple then began adopting children with developmental disabilities and other problems.
The couple owned several local businesses, including a finance company and a used car dealership.
In a 2005 story in the Pensacola News Journal, the couple said they wanted to share their wealth with children in need, but didn’t imagine their family would grow so large.
“It just happened,” Melanie Byrd told the newspaper. “I just wanted to give them a better life.”
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July 12th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
after reading all of the printed word on this flick on, all that came to my mind were these…to help us all live better lives
The Ten Commandments are a good basic guide for moral living, no matter what religion a person is or is not. The basics are there as a helpful guide for living a good and moral life.
they are found in The Holy Scriptures Exidous ch 20
If more people would read them and use them as a guide for daily living, they could live improved lives with improved relationships.
The beautitudes are also helpful they are found in the HSs found in Matthew and Luke.
The Golden Rule “Do unto others that which you would have them do unto you.” see Matthew 7:12 & Luke 6:31
Peace, Love and Hope to you