Florida Double Murder Investigation; Abuse of Public Funds?
COOPER: Continuing with our breaking news coverage in the brutal murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings in their home outside Pensacola, Florida during an outwardly clockwork, operation -- and chillingly so -- with robbery as the alleged motive, or an alleged motive. Just a short time ago, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan announcing the arrest of Pamela Long Wiggins, charged with accessory after the fact to murder. Sheriff Morgan joins us now. Thanks for your time tonight. You arrested a woman -- this woman, a local realtor, Pamela Long Wiggins an accessory after the fact. What was her involvement?</s>MORGAN: Well, she has had a long association with one of our primary suspects, Mr. Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. And that was why she became the person of interest because of that long-term association as a landlord and through her realty company. And she also was a very good family friend, transporting him and his wife and children around. And so that's how she became a person of interest. We wanted to find out exactly what is that tie between the two of them and of course, she was with him -- we've developed up on through the day of the murder and so one thing led to another. We will be holding a joint press conference tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. Central time...</s>COOPER: Right.</s>MORGAN: ...with the state attorney's office and he will release the specifics on that.</s>COOPER: Can you say if she turned herself in?</s>MORGAN: Yes, sir, she did. She was located in Orange Beach, Alabama, at a marina there. We put out earlier today what's called a BOLO or "be on the lookout" order and the Orange Beach PD received a call-in tip. And also I want to thank you, Mr. Cooper and your station. You were one of the stations that published her photo and put it on the air. People are watching this newscast as well as others. And a maintenance man called the tip-in and so we managed to get to the Orange Beach PD down there. And she was held for us pending the arrival of our investigators and she complied -- I want to add. She complied in coming back to Pensacola, Florida.</s>COOPER: You say there is a distinct possibility there are more people involved, who are out there. Do you know specifically who they are -- I mean, you've been talking about looking for somebody who may have had knowledge of the security system because it seems that those who were -- the accused in this case believed the security system was off. It didn't. So maybe somebody was supposed to turn that off and did not fulfill that part of the mission. Is that correct? And do you know who that person might be?</s>MORGAN: That's true -- that's true, Anderson. We have -- at this time we've developed two persons of interest along those lines. And again, at this point in the investigation, it's something that we could share with the press, with the media, I should say. And that, again, when you review this operation, the one gaping hole in this is why was that system left on? And we are of the opinion that they thought upon entering the Billings' compound, that in fact, the system had been disabled.</s>COOPER: Are you in touch with those persons of interest or are you searching it for them?</s>MORGAN: No, sir. Not at this time. We hope to begin the interviews of these persons of interest very shortly and hopefully within the next day or so.</s>COOPER: But you know where they are?</s>MORGAN: Yes, sir. We do.</s>COOPER: Ok.</s>MORGAN: Yes, sir, we do.</s>COOPER: Now, we've looked at some of Byrd Billings business documents filed with county courts. And they indicate an intention to shield his assets from taxes. Is it -- there are those who believed he may have been hiding cash in that safe. A, can you confirm that? And B, was that what was taken from the safe?</s>MORGAN: No, sir. We cannot. And I want to state here and refocus for the public what we have done throughout this investigation. People need to understand that the focus of our investigation has been the murder of Byrd and Melanie Billings, specifically that. Who are the perpetrators of this crime and we believe we've got the seven suspects that are involved this violent crime in custody today. We are working on those folks now that worked on the periphery of this who may have had some involvement that aided and abetted in some way the commission of this felony. We have not -- and I repeat -- not investigated any member of the Billings family for any crime nor have we even looked at that. We've received no complaints and at this point and juncture in this investigation, we have no reason to do that.</s>COOPER: In some interviews you've said that robbery was a motive, maybe it's just a syntax thing. You didn't say the motive. Are there other possible motives?</s>MORGAN: Yes, sir. We believe there are. And again, we're developing those in conjunction with the state attorney's office.</s>COOPER: There are other -- there's also the DEA had said that someone had -- from your office or from a law enforcement had contacted them for help in this investigation. You've said you did not do that. Do you have any knowledge of any other agency that contacted the DEA?</s>MORGAN: I believe, Mr. Cooper, there was some confusion in that. Last week we held a joint conference in my office, in my conference room where we brought in the bureau, the DEA, ATF, IRS, ICE, almost every federal investigative agency was there. During the conduct of this investigation, one of the things that was intriguing to us and also very frustrating was the amount and volume of information that we had developed on other individuals, other crimes that may have been committed, et cetera. And so I have both the legal and ethical responsibility to pass that information on to the appropriate agencies. Now, we have, in fact, briefed agencies along the way during the conduct of this investigation as a courtesy to keep them updated on our investigation. I think somehow it was confused that the DEA somehow was involved in our investigation. And I want to state here that to the best of my knowledge as a Sheriff of Escambia County, they are not.</s>COOPER: Ok, we've been getting a lot of emails from viewers who are kind of scratching their heads and say, if these folks were out to rob this couple, A, why kill them? And also, why have this military operation? We've got one question from a viewer from text 360, their question was why kill the parents if this was just a simple robbery? This is from Candace in Georgia.</s>MORGAN: Well, again, if you're not present at the crime scene, or not involved with the crime, you're not really sure what spins out of control. I can tell you that in law enforcement there's many things that start out as a simple street buy on drugs that turns violent very quickly and a death occurs. So unless someone was actually in that home at the time of this robbery, you're only speculating as to why it devolved into a murder.</s>COOPER: Finally, at this point, do you feel like you have your hands around the overall -- I mean, what happened and why it happened and at this point you're kind of trying to just put the pieces together. Or is there -- and has that information been released -- or do you feel like there's more to this story that the public has yet to learn?</s>MORGAN: There will be more to the story in Florida, sir, because we work with the prosecution at this stage in this case. We have basically deferred to the state attorney on the release of much of this information. But it will also come out at trial once the prosecution begins their case and of course, the defense also. And so the elements that we can't speak to today will, of course, come out during the trial. But what I want to assure the public of is this; we have the seven individuals that entered the Billings' compound and committed this violent crime. They're in custody in the Escambia County jail today. And again, we're working on those folks who may have had some peripheral involvement with this; who may have such as with the alarm system had a key component or element to play that chose not to but our community is safe from that perspective. We do not have any violent offenders associated with this case that are still at large to the best of my knowledge.</s>COOPER: All right, Sheriff Morgan, it's been a long couple of days for you. And I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you very much, sir.</s>MORGAN: Thank you sir, it's an honor to be here.</s>COOPER: The conversation continues online. You can join the live chat right now at AC360.com. I'm about to log on myself. Just ahead tonight: journeying through Michelle Obama's past and that of countless African-Americans. She's descended from both slave owners and slaves, as the president pointed out during the campaign. Tonight, we'll show you the world of her great, great grandfather. Also, the video behind the picture, that picture. Never shown before, the video of Michael Jackson, his hair on fire. Did his injury set in motion the chain of prescriptions and addictions that may have led to his death? That and more, when we continue. We'll be right back.