Blogger Rick’s Early Call on Double Murders

By: Damen Cave

Source: nytimes.com

The official storyline was clear. The state attorney said it was a robbery; Byrd and Melanie Billings, the parents of 13 adopted children with special needs, were murdered in their nine-bedroom house just a few miles from here because they were rich.

But Rick Outzen, a local blogger and publisher of a small alternative weekly, heard a darker tale. A few days after the killings on July 9, someone told him that Mr. Billings used to own a seedy strip club and had a reputation for ruthlessness in the used-car business. Others, insisting on anonymity, said some of the seven people charged with the murders told the police it was a contract killing.

“I’m the only one who has it,” Mr. Outzen recalled thinking as he wrote. “Does that mean I’m wrong?” He hit publish after talking to a lawyer. And with that 277-word blog post on July 19, Mr. Outzen, 52, a former accountant who sometimes forgets to remove the tags from new shirts, became a controversial player in a case that has drawn international attention.

Blogger Stirs a City by Suggesting That a Florida Couple’s Murder Was a Contract Killing

Posted by Sources on Aug 17 2009. Filed under Latest News, Photo Gallery. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.