THE NINJA ASSASSINS
SICK Leonard Gonzalez was a karate instructor on a mission for mayhem. But it’ll take more than a few kicks and chops to break the bars that now cage him on Death Row...
GENEROUS Byrd Billings, 66, and his wife Melanie, 43, didn’t deserve the terrible fate that befell them.
The wealthy couple, who owned a string of businesses in Escambia County, Florida, devoted their lives to helping others.
They had four children of their own, yet they took in a further 12 adopted kids – all with special needs – in a bid to give them a life filled with love and joy.
Shattered
But the happiness in the Billings home was shattered forever on the night of July 9, 2009.
Evil martial arts expert Leonard Gonzalez rounded up a posse of ninja assassins and invaded the Billings home, seeking jewels hidden in a locked safe. When the heist went horribly wrong, poor Byrd and Melanie were gunned down in front of nine of their terrified, cowering and vulnerable adopted children.
It was a callous, heartbreaking act that deserved justice to match.
So when ringleader Gonzalez was sentenced to death in February 2011, few mourned his fate.
Judge Nickolas Geeker slammed his actions, saying the Billingses would have died believing their children would also be murdered.
Mercifully, those children – who have disabilities ranging from Down’s syndrome to foetal alcohol syndrome and cerebral palsy – were unharmed.
Judge Geeker told Gonzalez: “They would have assumed their minor children would not have been left behind as witnesses.”
State attorney Bill Eddins added: “Leonard Patrick Gonzalez is the man who had his hand on the gun and his finger on the trigger.
“He is the man who fired the shots that killed Mr and Mrs Billings.
“This defendant had every opportunity in life. He had a good, loving mother who provided him with love, support and positive direction. He had a loving wife who put up with his addiction to painkillers and his inability to make a living.
“This man knew, beyond every shadow of a doubt, how to respect people. He taught children to have respect for others and to have integrity.”
Gonzalez, a father of six, had once run a karate school with this wife Tabitha.
Ironically, the pair even laid on self-defence classes for women and children called FightBack.
Gonzalez, a bona fide black belt, had been interviewed by the local press about the way he was equipping kids with the skills to beat bullies.
He told one reporter: “Our goal is to get to the children first and educate them in their rights.”
But behind the scenes, the karate school was failing.
By July 2009, the business had closed its doors for good and Gonzalez was struggling financially.
He and Tabitha got jobs at a local antiques firm, while his mother, Terri Poff, was helping them pay the bills.
Gonzalez showed up at the Billings home, where he attempted to talk Byrd – a renowned local entrepreneur who ran several successful car dealerships – into putting his money in the karate school so they could open up shop again.
Byrd politely declined the offer, warning that it represented to him a “bad investment”.
Generosity
But, ever the gentleman, he wrote a cheque for $5,000 in a bid to keep the self-defence project going.
It was an act of complete generosity – but Gonzalez seethed at the perceived snub.
He was convinced Byrd kept close to $13m worth of jewels and cash in a locked safe on the property.
He set about recruiting a small army to go and get it, with each thug promised a cut of the haul.
One way or another, Gonzalez was going to get his “investment” from Billings.
Those recruits were Donnie Stallworth, Wayne Coldiron, Frederick Thornton, Rakeem Florence, Gary Sumner, Pamela Long-Wiggins and Gonzalez’s own father, Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Snr, who acted as a getaway driver.
The team hatched a plan to perform a ‘pincer movement’ on the property, with half the gang entering the front of the house and the other half storming the back, ensuring that the Billingses had nowhere to run.
Gonzalez equipped every team member with a black ‘ninja’ uniform, as well pistols, shotguns and an AK-47 machine gun. Court documents reveal what happened during the ambush.
They state: “Gonzalez accosted Mr Billings and demanded to know where the money was located.
“When Mr Billings replied that he did not have any money, Gonzalez fired a shot into the floor.
“Gonzalez repeated the same question and received the same reply from Mr Billings.
“Gonzalez then shot Mr Billings in the leg.
Response
“And when Gonzalez repeated the question a third time – receiving the same response – he shot Mr Billings in the other leg.
“Gonzalez then led the
Billingses into the master bedroom. While Thornton retrieved duffel bags from the van outside, he heard three more shots.
“When he returned to the bedroom, he saw Mr Billings lying face down on the floor in a pool of blood.
“Gonzalez then asked Mrs Billings to open the safe in the closet of the bedroom.
“Thornton then saw Gonzalez fire the gun again.”
Poor Byrd and Melanie died horrific deaths.
The police files state: “The Billingses both died from multiple gunshot wounds.
“Mr Billings was shot five times – in both legs, the left cheek and twice in the back of the head.
“The two leg wounds would have been survivable. The cheek wound have been survivable for a few minutes until the victim drowned in his own blood.
“The two head wounds were inflicted close together, based on the similar angles and positions of the wounds. They were each fatal.
“Mrs Billings was shot four times – once in the face, once in the head and twice in the chest. All of her wounds were fatal.
“The first shot to her face would have rendered her unconscious. The other shots were inflicted as she lay on her back on the floor.”
The court heard truly gut-wrenching evidence about the experiences of the children, too.
The couple’s grown-up daughter, Ashley Markham, said one of the young adopted boys, named Jake, had raised the alarm.
Ashley revealed: “I had a missed call from my mum. I called back and Jake answered the phone.
“He wasn’t saying anything, he was just screaming. I was asking if he could just let me talk to Mum and Dad.”
Another one of the children, Adrianna, ran from the home and alerted a neighbour, nurse April Spencer.
April told the jury: “As I was walking toward the staircase I could see drops of blood.
“Melanie’s son – he’s 10 years old and he’s got Down’s Syndrome – he was standing in the living room and pointing to his mum and dad’s bedroom.
Lying
“I went in. Byrd was lying in front of the dresser, face down. It looked like he had been shot in the head.
“Melanie was lying in front of the closet, face up.”
According to a sheriff’s report, the 10-year-old had been sleeping with Byrd and Melanie at the time.
The report stated: “He heard a knock on the door and then ‘ two bad men’ said, ‘You’re going to die – one, two, three’, and then, ‘ No way, no way’.”
The child witness said his dad grabbed the neck of one of the gunmen and that his mum “got shot in her shirt”.
It took until July 12 – three days after the murders – before Gonzalez and his posse were rounded up.
They’d been clinical in the execution of their sick plan, getting in and out of the house, with the safe, in less than 10 minutes.
But the safe they stole was virtually worthless – and, crucially, they’d made clumsy errors.
Fingerprints were found belonging to Long-Wiggins, while Gonzalez aroused suspicion by telling a friend: “If anyone asks, you haven’t seen me.”
Thornton eventually testified against his co-accusers, scoring a reduced prison sentence.
Only Gonzalez had protested his innocence.
Penalty
While the others escaped with life terms, he received the death penalty.
After the sentencing, Ashley Markham, said: “My mother always told me some people grow up wanting to be doctors or lawyers or teachers.
“She just wanted to be a mummy.
“Her lifelong dream was loving her babies and being a voice for them.”