New Developments in Florida Murder Investigation
BROWN: Breaking news tonight in the case of that Florida couple, parents of 17 children, killed in their own home last week. Why is the DEA, the federal Drug Enforcement Agency, now investigating? And what about the person of interest who surfaced today? What exactly is she saying? And is there possibly another suspect still on the loose? CNN's Ed Lavandera is live for us in Pensacola. We have also got Rob Williams of Pensacola's News Radio 1620, who has been helping us out this week as well on this story. Thanks to both of you guys for joining us right now. Ed, I know we're expecting this news conference some time this evening. Any indication about what police are going to tell us tonight?</s>ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, believe it or not, it sounds like we're told that another arrest will be made, even though authorities have said so far that they believe that they have arrested the seven people that were inside the property when the Billings couple was murdered. But they say there is another rest. We're not sure if it's the woman that authorities have been looking for and found throughout today, or that eighth person that they believe might be connected in terms of shutting off or not shutting off the surveillance system inside the house. So, we're not sure who it might be, but they say another arrest is going to be announced later tonight.</s>BROWN: OK. And flesh that out for us. Explain what you mean, Ed, for the people who are not aware, about what was going on with the security system, what they discovered.</s>LAVANDERA: Well, this has been interesting insight into how this investigation has played out, authorities here explaining one of the theories that they have been working under over the last few days. And what has bothered them is that they know that -- or they believe that men had rehearsed, practiced for several weeks leading up to these killings how they were going to carry this, that they had rehearsed this. So, they couldn't kind of reconcile the fact that, if these guys had practiced this, were familiar with the property, knew what was going on, how did they not know that there were video cameras that would be recording their movements on this? How did that not get shut down. So, their theory is, is that another person, this eighth person that they're looking for, was supposed to have turned off the surveillance system at the house, but that didn't happen. Whether it was a stroke of consciousness that overcame that person or not, they don't know. But that's the person that they want to get to as well.</s>BROWN: OK. And then go back to, Ed, also -- before I bring Rob in, we do understand that police have located this latest person of interest, Pamela Long. They were showing her picture throughout the day today. Do we have any specific details about her involvement?</s>LAVANDERA: We don't know about the involvement. We do know that she has perhaps an extensive history with the suspect that authorities are saying is the ringleader of this group. And that's Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. The sheriff here saying today that they believe that she had been in contact with Gonzalez Jr. in the days leading up to and even perhaps the day of the murders. We understand that she might have also been his landlord as well. So, there is that connection that they know each other, but exactly how that plays into what has happened in the Billings murder case, we don't know the specifics of that.</s>BROWN: OK, and, Rob, let me bring you into this. I know you have been doing a lot of additional reporting on the story. Anything that you can add? In addition, do you know anything about this other person of interest that police may be talking about?</s>ROB WILLIAMS, WNRP ANCHOR: Well, the lady from suburban Gulf Breeze -- it's the town just on the coast of the -- just to the east of Pensacola, five minutes away -- has an antique store there and has some real estate interests. I haven't found her especially to be well-known, as the sheriff might say. Police found her in Gulf -- in Orange Beach, Alabama, about 20, 30 miles to the west. She came in voluntarily. She's been talking to the sheriff's department. But, as one source says, they don't unarrest anyone. So, look for at least one, maybe two people in jail by the close of business tonight. The sheriff's news conference, Campbell, could be coming up inside of an hour, certainly two hours.</s>BROWN: And, Ed, we have been hearing -- or, actually Rob, let me start with you on this. We have been hearing about possible DEA involvement. The sheriff said that initially and then sort of seemed to back away from it. Do we know anything more about this?</s>WILLIAMS: Well, I interviewed the sheriff on the air at News Radio 1620 on Monday morning. He told me right then, the FBI, and the DEA, the Internal Revenue Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were all in on this in one way, shape or form, maybe just their resources, their ability to do technical things. But they are here, they're looking, they're involved, hands on, every day.</s>BROWN: And, then, finally, Rob, tell us a little bit about the primary suspect that they have in custody that we're hearing is the mastermind, this guy Gonzalez, who, as many, the paper down in Pensacola and you guys, have been reporting, even his family has talked about him as being a really bad guy. What do we know about this guy?</s>WILLIAMS: Well, we know that the daughter that he talked about in his Facebook page or MySpace page is actually still with her birth mother down in Sarasota, Florida. So, his daughter, now 8 years old, was not one of the children that the Billings family had adopted. So, that's off the table. He has six kids now, got an award as a humanitarian for the Sertoma Club for service to mankind for teaching elementary school, middle school kids some self-defense moves. But yet people say he has a mean streak to him. And that's one of those things you're going to have to wait and see how it all develops. But even though the sheriff's department really won't say he's the mastermind, apparently, he's the linchpin in all of this. He's the one common denominator all of these people had. And as one of my sources told me in Florida it's going to go one of two ways, death by lethal injection or death in the electric chair -- Campbell.</s>BROWN: All right. Rob for us, along with Ted, you guys are standing by, Rob Williams, of, Ed Lavandera, as we await this news conference with new details coming from the sheriff's department tonight. We will be checking back in with both Ed and Rob and of course bringing you that news conference live the minute it happens. A plane falls out of the sky. It explodes on impact. That's coming up in tonight's "Download." Plus, Paul McCartney live on the streets of New York playing on top of The Ed Sullivan Theater, almost like 1964? We have got the video.