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Couple With 16 Children Found Slain

By MELISSA NELSON

posted: 7 MINUTES AGO

comments: 268

filed under: Crime News, National News

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PENSACOLA, Fla. (July 10) - 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.

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The sheriff's office released an enhanced but still grainy photograph of a red, 15-passenger van dating to the late 1970s 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. But they said they wanted to question the three men suspected of involvement in the crime.

"It would be pure speculation. We see many random acts of violence now. We just don't know," he said.

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 fiance 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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Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

2009-07-10 15:53:48

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Towprofever

06:46 PMJul 10 2009

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Rshep3372

06:46 PMJul 10 2009

IT IS GUARANTEED THAT THIS CRIME WAS PERPETRATED BY EITHER MONKIES ARE SPICS. PROVE ME WRONG AND YES I AM A RACIST AND IT ONLY TOOK 7 MONTHS TO BECOME ONE.

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S Uncle Tom

06:44 PMJul 10 2009

DubuqueLaw 06:29 PMJul 10 2009 When is the last time you heard a happy story involving guns?You won't ,They don't want you to know about happy story's only negitive.

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Strawmanslave

06:44 PMJul 10 2009

You can be sure that covert operations by American agencies are behind these killings

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fairclojim

06:42 PMJul 10 2009

12 OUT OF 12 BALL PLAYERS WHO WERE SHOT WERE BLACK WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOU ????

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sgt Brutality

06:42 PMJul 10 2009

I like to tie them to my harley and drag them across the country......alive

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Egrjnot

06:42 PMJul 10 2009

Florida again ! ! ! ? ? ? What is it with Florida? Do all the cruds & creeps of the earth live in Florida? These people had way too many kids in that home. Probably one got out & killed the parents.

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TICACU

06:42 PMJul 10 2009

Wow what is wrong with Floridian rednecks,insane evil bastards

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Rshep3372

06:41 PMJul 10 2009

IT IS GUARANTEED THAT THIS CRIME WAS PERPETRATED BY EITHER MONKIES ARE SPICS. PROVE ME WRONG AND YES I AM A RACIST AND IT ONLY TOOK 7 MONTHS TO BECOME ONE.

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Annikaj31

06:41 PMJul 10 2009

Why would anybody shoot a couple with 16 kids? It's not like they had anything worth robbing for.

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