Changes
→Murder & investigation
Leonard Gonzalez, Sr, the father of Patrick Gonzalez and mentally incapacitated, drug abuser, implicated his son in the robbery after nearly 6 hours of undocumented interrogations. Mr. Gonzalez had been on a 3 day bender of sleep-deprivation, methamphetamine and drinking. He also owned a van SIMILAR to the van on the video surveillance tape. That fact in combination with his "sketchy" behavior, led him to be the prime focus of the murder investigation even though the evidence suggested a much different scenario.
Melanie & Byrd Billings were each shot 6 times, with Byrd being shot once in each leg and the kill shots was a "double tap" to the head. This is suggestive of pre-meditation and possibly a hit, making robbery the periphery crime and not the planned crime. According to an account my by Rick Outzen, there was a picture of a deceased daughter, Nikki, underneath Melanie Billings' leg. This could imply a message or a more person personal aspect to the murders. This contradiction is never addressed and the Sheriff submitted 6 additional people, Rakeem Florence & Frederick Thornton, the 2 young boys who testified against Patrick Gonzalez Jr, as well as Wayne Coldiron, Gary Sumner, Donnie Stallworth and Pamela Long-Wiggins.
Wayne Coldiron was convicted of 2 counts of 1st-degree murder & was sentenced to life in prison. He never denied participation in the crime.