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
