PENSACOLA, Fla., July 14 (UPI) -- All seven suspects have been arrested in the killing of a Florida couple whose security system caught a home invasion on video, officials said Tuesday.
Sheriff David Morgan of Escambia County told a news conference "some loops need to be closed" in the investigation and police are looking at one or two other people who may have some involvement, NorthEscambia.com reported. But he said at a news conference the killing of Byrd and Melanie Billings at their home outside Pensacola has been solved.
"We have found them," he said.
Sheriff's deputies in Okaloosa County arrested Frederick Lee Thornton Jr. of Walton Beach, about 35 miles east of Pensacola, early Tuesday. A 16-year-old boy was also arrested Tuesday in Okaloosa County, and a third suspect, Gary Sumner, was detained there Monday after a traffic stop.
The Billings' bodies were found in their bedroom Thursday. Nine of the couple's adopted children were at the house in Beulah at the time.
State Attorney Bill Eddins said the group wanted to rob the couple. At least two of the suspects worked for the Billings in the past.
"They did take items that you would normally expect to be taken in a robbery," he said.
One of the stolen items was a safe, which Morgan described as "medium-sized."
The Billings, who each had two biological children by previous relationships, had adopted 13 children, their daughter said, many of them with physical special-needs or other handicaps.
Ashley Markham, Mrs. Billings' daughter, and her husband joined Morgan and Eddins at the news conference.
