Photo credit: AP/PNJ, Karena Cawthon
Source: pnj.com
Two men arrested on murder charges in the slaying of a Florida couple who adopted a dozen children with developmental disabilities went to their house intending to burglarize it, according to arrest warrants.
The suspects were due in court today, a day after they were arrested by authorities probing the shootings.
Day laborer Wayne Coldiron, 41, turned himself in to Escambia County authorities and Leonard P. Gonzalez Jr., 35, was arrested in neighboring Santa Rosa County, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said.
Earlier Sunday, authorities charged Gonzalez’s father, Leonard P. Gonzalez Sr., with evidence tampering. Police said the 56-year-old tried to paint over and hide damage on a red van that was spotted on surveillance video leaving the home where Byrd and Melanie Billings were shot to death Thursday. Eight of the couple’s children were asleep in the house when the shootings took place.
The wealthy couple were well-respected in the area for providing a home for children with autism, Down syndrome and other developmental problems, and “especially Melanie has been referred to as an angel,” the sheriff told the CBS “Early Show.”
Murders conducted with ‘military precision’
