MrBallen Podcast: Strange, Dark & Mysterious Stories - The Full House Heist (PODCAST EXCLUSIVE EPISODE)

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

On the morning of July 11th, 2009, an elderly woman grabbed a coffee and sat down at her kitchen table in Pensacola, Florida, to read the local paper. The news was a big part of her day – she had lived in her neighborhood for 60 years, and liked keeping tabs on everything that was going on in her community. Which was usually a lot – Pensacola and the surrounding county had some of the highest crime rates in Florida. So she wasn’t surprised when she opened the paper that morning and saw a police bulletin about a homicide in the area. The message asked residents of Pensacola to be on the lookout for a red van. But when she saw the grainy photo of the vehicle, she gasped and almost knocked over her coffee. Because she’d seen that van. And she knew exactly who it belonged to. For 100s more stories like these, check out our main YouTube channel just called "MrBallen" -- https://www.youtube.com/c/MrBallenIf you want to reach out to me, contact me on Instagram, Twitter or any other major social media platform, my username on all of them is @mrballenSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early and all episodes ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today. On the morning of July 11, 2009, an elderly woman grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down at her kitchen table in Pensacola, Florida, to read the local paper. The news was a big part of her day. She had lived in her neighborhood for 60 years, and she liked keeping tabs on everything going on in her community, which was actually usually a lot. Pensacola and the surrounding county had some of the highest crime rates in Florida, and so crimes were always making the news.

And so she was not surprised when she opened the paper that morning and saw a police bulletin about a homicide in the area. The bulletin was asking residents of Pensacola to be on the lookout for a specific red van. And when this woman saw the grainy photo of the vehicle, she gasped and almost knocked over her coffee because she'd seen that van, and she knew exactly who it belonged to. But before we get into that story, if you're a fan of the strange, dark, and mysterious, delivered in story format, then you've come to the right podcast, because that's all we do, and we upload twice a week, once on Monday and once on Thursday. So, if that's of interest to you, on the next hot day, offer the follow button a strawberry popsicle. But don't tell them it's actually just frozen hot sauce.

Okay, let's get into today's story. Hey, listeners, big news for true crime lovers. You can now enjoy this podcast ad-free on Amazon music with your prime membership. Listen to all episodes of my podcasts, Mr. Ballin's medical mysteries and Mr. Ballin's strange, dark and mysterious stories, along with a huge collection. of top true crime podcasts, completely ad-free. No more waiting through cliffhangers or dealing with ads, because let's be honest, ads shouldn't be the most nerve-wracking part of true crime. To start your ad-free listening journey, download the Amazon music app for free or head to Amazon.com slash balin. That's Amazon.com slash B-A-L-L-L-E-N.

Dive into uninterrupted true crime stories today. Just after 5 a.m. on July 9th, 2009, 67-year-old Bud Billings poured some cereal into a bowl and then passed it to his 11-year-old daughter. Then he grabbed another empty bowl, filled that one with cereal too, and passed it to his 10-year-old son. This was Bud's favorite part of the day. It was like a cereal assembly line that he did with his kids every morning while blaring country music from a nearby stereo. It was really the only way to get breakfast on the table because Bud had a huge family. He and his 43-year-old wife, Melanie, had nine children all under the age of 11 years old who lived in the house with them, and all of them had special needs. Now, it hadn't

always been that way, though. Bud and Melanie had gotten married 16 years earlier, and at the time they'd had Bud's adopted son, Justin, and Melanie's two girls, Ashley and Nikki. And at that time, it was actually just Nikki who had special needs, and she required a lot of extra care. She had autism, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy. And unfortunately, just last year, she had died from a stroke, which had been completely devastating for the whole family. But, you know, looking after her and caring for Nikki had really made Bud and Melanie want to take care of other kids with special needs too.

Which was why, about 10 years ago, they had actually intentionally begun adopting children like Nikki. And once they started doing that, they felt so fulfilled and so happy about it that it had been really hard to stop. Bud looked over to where the rest of his kids were gathered around the table eating cereal, and it seemed like a lot, and sometimes it felt like a lot. But Bud loved his big, chaotic family and was really proud he was able to give these kids a home. And he made a good living as an entrepreneur and business owner to the point where he'd actually

been able to build this entire huge house for his kids. It had nine bedrooms, so everybody could spread out and have their own space. And outside, they had a big fenced-in area with a whole setup, a slide, a swing, big tramp, Now, the home was technically on the highway, but the driveway was so long, they couldn't even hear their cars. Plus, the town of Bula, Florida, where they lived, was really remote anyway, and there weren't a lot of people around to even be driving on the highway. All that's to say, this big old house on the highway felt more like their own personal little fortress, especially when you consider the fact that Bud had an extensive surveillance system. He had a bunch of cameras inside and

around the property to keep an eye on all the kids and make sure everybody was accounted for. And so Bud filled up the last cereal bowl and went over to the table, where his wife, Melanie, was busy breaking up a fight between their two youngest. Bud watched her very calmly end the argument without ever raising her voice, which was sort of typical of Mel. She was the most patient person he had ever met. As Bud sat down at the table, the phone rang and Melanie got up to get it. Bud could hear the happiness in his wife's voice as she answered. so he guessed it had to be Ashley. Melanie's oldest daughter, Ashley, was 26 now,

but she still called home at least a few times a day, which, you know, Bud didn't mind, but it did sort of make him a bit jealous. He wished he was as close with his older son, Justin, as his wife was with Ashley. He'd adopted Justin when he was just a baby, and he was 20 now, and so he'd basically had him his whole life.

But for some reason, Justin, ever since dropping out of college last winter, really didn't seem interested in spending any time with his dad. Bud guessed it was just because he was embarrassed, or maybe there were some growing pains that came with adulthood, but it was still tough to feel that distance with his son. Just then, Melanie suddenly handed Bud the phone and told him that Ashley had a question for him. And Bud could guess what this was about. He owned an auto business and financing center, and Ashley had taken it over a few years ago so that Bud could slow down and spend more time

with the kids. But he still helped her with problems as they came up. So Bud took the phone and asked what was up, and sure enough, it was an issue about the business. And so Bud listened carefully, as she described some billing issue that he did have an easy fix for, and then after they were done, they hung up, and they both went about their day. Later that day, around 4 p.m., Bud went upstairs to his home office. The summer heat had finally broken, so he had spent most of the day outside with his kids. But their 37-year-old neighbor, April Spencer, was now downstairs helping Melanie out with all the kids, which meant Bud could finally break away and go get some work done. Even though Bud was basically retired, he'd been an entrepreneur all his life, and it felt sort of

unnatural to completely stop working. So he'd sort of started a side hustle, financing used car lots. He also invested in other businesses, but he was picky about who he got involved with. Recently, he was approached about investing in a local karate company, but he had had to back out because he wasn't really sure it could be profitable. Plus, the owner, Patrick Gonzalez, was friends with a man whose name was Cab Tice, and Bud hated Cab Tice. Now, Bud was a nice guy with a very clear soft spot for kids,

but when it came to business, he never let people get the best of him. And Cab Tice had tried. Bud and Cab used to be partners, but then Cab had stolen a bunch of money from Bud, and the way Bud had handled it was to basically confront Cab almost every day calling him all the time and demanding he pay him back.

And so on this particular afternoon, Bud decided he would call Cab again and demand his money again. So he dialed Cab's number and he let it ring until it went to voicemail, which was not a surprise because Cab really never answered. But decided not to leave a message. Instead, he just hung up and made a few more calls to some associates at his car lots. It was around 5 p.m. when Bud went back downstairs to find his wife, Melanie and his neighbor April in the kitchen, making some mac and cheese for the kids' dinner. April actually lived on their property in a trailer and was basically part of their family. Melanie and Bud had known her for 10 years at this point. She was also a registered nurse,

so she was a huge help with their kids who all basically had health issues. When Bud got down there, he thanked April and told her she could head back home now. He was ready to step back in. So they all said their goodbyes, and then the next two hours were just a blur of bath time and bedtime. Then it was lights out for the kids right at 7 p.m. Once the kids were in bed, Melanie went to clean up the kitchen while Bud settled down in the living room and turned on the TV. And as he sank into the couch, he let himself feel the exhaustion of the day. He loved his life and he was ready to do this all over again tomorrow. But still, he was tired. As Bud sat there on the couch, he began to dose off. However, his eyes

shot right back open again when he heard a loud bang come from the front door. Instinctively, he leapt up having no idea what was happening, but all he could hear were these loud, pounding footsteps charging through the house, headed straight towards him. 20 minutes later, around 7.30 p.m., Bud and Melanie's neighbor, April Spencer, made dinner in her trailer and got ready to relax for the night. And she'd just taken a plate out of her microwave when she heard a child's voice outside yelling. April was, more confused than alarmed. I mean, it was typical to hear the kids next door, but usually at this point, they were all in bed asleep. And then before she could investigate, someone started

banging on her trailer door and screaming for help. April rushed over and swung it open to see the Billings' 11-year-old daughter standing on her trailer steps, sobbing. She then mumbled through panic tears that something bad had happened in her house. Seconds later, April sprinted towards the Billings home, which was only a short distance from her trailer. And when she got there, the front door was already open. She hurried inside to find the house very still and quiet, except for the sound of someone sobbing upstairs. She could tell it was one of the kids,

and immediately she called up to them that everything was okay. She was here, but then April saw something that made her stop mid-sentence. On the floor of the hallway, just outside the living room, was a trail of blood. April gasped and started to panic when she realized the trail led to Bud and Melanie's first floor bedroom, but she forced herself to slowly follow the blood, and push open that bedroom door.

And when she saw what was inside, she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming. She staggered backwards away from the room, then ran to call 911. Within the hour, at least six police units and a team of crime technicians were at the Billings' home, documenting the horrific scene and collecting evidence. Deputy Robert Guy climbed out of his cruiser in front of the house.

So far, he'd been told that the homeowners, Bud and Melanie Billings, had been found shot to death inside of their bedroom. And before even stepping one foot inside of this house, Guy already had a theory. So he had been with the Ascambia County Sheriff's Department for six years, and in his experience, when a couple was found dead at their home, it was always a murder-suicide. But even if that was what happened here, Guy had never worked a case like this before because he'd also been told that nine young children lived inside of this home

and they were actually in the house during this shooting. They had all been found hiding around the house during the initial police sweep and they were now standing outside by a police cruiser wrapped up in blankets. There was an adult woman standing with them and Guy could see that all of them, the woman included, were either sobbing or staring off into space, clearly in shock. Guy felt this wave of sympathy come over him. These kids were too young to go through something like this. And so the more time he could give them to process, the better. So instead of speaking to them first and forcing them to sort of confront what had just happened, he decided his first move would just be to go into the crime scene and have a look around.

Guy headed towards the house and entered through the front door. And the first thing he noticed was there was a big bootprint on the wood of the door, and the sides of the door were all splintered. This door clearly had been kicked open. And so seeing that, told Guy that his murder-suicide theory likely couldn't be true. Someone else had forced their way into this home and committed this crime. Guy asked Attack to take a photo of the door. Then he went inside to do an initial walk-through of the first floor.

There was some blood in the front hallway, and even more of it soaked into the living-room carpet, where there was also a bullet hole in the floor. So at least part of this attack must have happened here. Guy then headed to the primary bedroom where he'd been told the bodies were, and the first thing he noticed in there was that there was a lot of blood soaking into the carpet, and there were also a bunch of shell casings on the ground. Bud's body lay at the foot of the bed face down, and when Guy approached, he could see that Bud had been shot multiple times, including at least once in the head, and he also had a zip tie on his left wrist, and so clearly at some

point, the killer must have tried to restrain him. Melanie was by the closet on her back. and also she had gunshot wounds in her head and chest, and she did not have any restraints on. And so she had either cooperated with the killer or was just shot first. After looking at Melanie, Guy's eyes moved over to the closet right nearby, and it was wide open, and he saw inside the closet there was a very clear, square impression in the carpet on the floor. It looked like something very big and heavy had been removed from that spot, possibly by the killer. And so this gave Guy a new theory. If something had been stolen from this room, that suggested this was a robbery. And maybe Melanie and Bud had just gotten in the way. So Guy left the bedroom

to do a full walkthrough of the whole house, including the upstairs, with this theory in mind. However, he didn't actually see anything else that pointed to a looting or a robbery. Big ticket electronics and jewelry were still in the house, and so was a safe that was upstairs. Which of course could mean in his new theory that this was a robbery, was wrong. Or it could mean this was a robbery, but the robber had only been looking for something specific that they knew was in this house. Like, for example, whatever that heavy square object was

that had been at some point sitting in the closet in the bedroom that left that impression in the carpet. He really wanted to know what had been in there. So he figured now was the time to go outside and actually speak to the kids. Moments later, Guy was standing with the Billings kids and the woman who was standing with them. The woman said her name was April, and that she was the one who called 911. As April spoke to Guy, she kept glancing over his shoulder at the kids to make sure they were okay.

And Guy did too, because even though he wanted to speak to these kids, he knew he had to tread very carefully. Not only were these kids likely very traumatized, but anytime law enforcement interviewed young kids, it had to be done with precautions, like with a specialist or trusted adult. So for right now, he was just starting with April. Her voice shook, as she explained how one of the Billings' daughters had come to her trailer and then also what she had actually seen when she went inside their home. April said she lived on the property, but she hadn't seen or heard anything strange before going over there. April also told Guy that she looked after the Billings' kids a lot, and that they actually had two other older kids actually

and Justin who did not live in the house with them. And so she gave Guy their numbers and said somebody was going to have to call them and let them know what happened. Guy immediately headed over to some officers and asked one of them to get in touch with Ashley and Justin, not only just to notify them because that was obviously necessary, but also because these two likely could have critical information about this case. And in a domestic murder like this one, loved ones were always the first people Guy looked at as potential suspects. Just then, Guy turned and saw a flash of headlights coming down the driveway, and soon a car pulled up and a young couple jumped out. The woman was frantic and headed right for the kids. When some officers tried to

stop her, she shouted that her name was Ashley and those were her siblings. Guy rushed over and she said again to him who she was, and also that the man she was with was her husband whose name was blue. Then she breathlessly explained why she was there. She called the home earlier and the kids answered, screaming that mom and dad were shot. She had been the one who told them to go to April's. She'd also called her brother, Justin, who was on his way too. But she said she still didn't know. Were her parents okay? Had they really been shot? As gently as he could, Guy told her what happened, and he watched as Ashley collapsed in Blue's arms. A few minutes later, after Ashley had hugged the kids and calmed down enough to speak, Guy pulled her aside to ask her a few questions. She was still

having a hard time catching her breath by this point, but she managed to explain their family situation. Melanie was her mom, and Bud was Justin's dad, and the other kids were their adopted siblings who were adopted by Melanie and Butt. And so Guy let Ashley talk about her parents and her siblings for a few minutes, and then at some point, he asked her the question that had been bothering him. Did Melanie or Bud keep anything valuable in their bedroom closet? Ashley looked confused, and then said, you know, her parents had a safe in there. but inside of it was just documents and some sentimental pieces of jewelry, nothing financially valuable.

She said they did have another safe that was upstairs, and that one had a lot of cash in it, maybe around like $200,000. Guy hurried to write this down, and as he did, it just didn't make any sense to him that this killer potentially had taken a safe from the first floor that had nothing valuable inside of it, but then left the safe upstairs that potentially was full of money.

But Guy wasn't really confused, it was more like he was excited, because now he was thinking the killer must have inadvertently taken the wrong safe. And so if this was true, it meant that whoever did this knew enough about this family to know that Bud and Melanie did have a safe, but the killer apparently didn't know enough to know that there were actually two safes in the house, one with money and one without. So, very likely this meant the killer was, you know, somewhat close to the family, but not that close, which made it unlikely that Ashley and her husband Blue, Ashley's brother Justin, and even April the neighbor, were suspects. However, before Guy was going to eliminate anyone,

he really needed to speak to the kids. So he asked Ashley if she would help him do that. About a half an hour later, Guy watched as Ashley and Blue coordinated with April to bring the kids away from the scene over to Ashley and Blue's place. By this point, neighbors had gathered outside and everybody was just standing there watching the scene in total shock. It had proven to be very difficult speaking to the kids because they were kids and they were terrified and many of them had disabilities which also made it difficult for them to speak. However, during his conversation with the kids, Guy had been able to learn one huge thing. One of the girls happened to look out the window right before the murders and saw a red car parked outside. Now, she wasn't able to

give Guy much of a description of this car other than the color and that it was a bigger car, like an SUV. But a large red car was distinct, and Guy had already asked some officers to put out a message to patrols to keep an eye out for it. He also had officers speaking to the neighbors, but the Billings lived on a pretty remote patch of land, so he doubted anybody had seen or heard anything because they just lived too far away. And so Guy had just decided to wrap things up for the night when he saw another set of headlights appear from down the driveway. Seconds later, a car pulled up and a young man got out, and then he hurried toward the house. An officer stopped him, and Guy could see that at that point the man began to look around and then jogged over to Ashley and the kids.

Ashley gave this young man a big hug, and then she began to cry into his shoulder. Guy guessed this young man had to be Justin, Bud's older son, who Ashley had said would be coming. But even though he was only a few feet away, Guy thought there was just something off about him. He didn't appear to be shocked or even really upset at all. You know, he's just arrived at a crime scene where his parents had been shot to death and he seemed sort of unfazed. But actually, less than being unfazed, it was more like he was sort of nervous. He kept furtively looking over at the police and then the home and sort of fidgeting a little bit. Now, like Ashley, Justin was very likely quite familiar with this house, and also the location of the safes and what was

in them and certainly might not have needed to force entry if he was going to come in here and rob the place. But Guy just had a feeling that something was up, and so he went to speak to him. And as he took the few steps over to Justin, Guy saw Ashley suddenly push herself away from Justin with what appeared to be a very urgent look on her face. When Guy reached the group, Ashley was just shaking her head almost incredulously saying out loud that, she couldn't believe she hadn't thought of that. Then Justin turned to Guy and said, has anybody checked the cameras? Guy froze and asked what he was talking about. Justin told him that their father had cameras in basically every room, and he knew where the recordings were

kept. Guy couldn't believe that nobody had noticed these cameras all around the property this whole time. But regardless, you know, if they were there and were as extensive as Justin claimed they were, this was huge. And also, offering up this information, suddenly, made Justin's behavior seem a whole lot less suspicious. If Justin was on those cameras, he certainly wouldn't have mentioned them. But Guy still wanted to interview him at some point in a more controlled environment to get a better read on things. So before he ran off to tell the crime texts about these cameras and the tapes, he asked Justin if he would come to the station tomorrow, and Justin agreed. Around 8 p.m. the following day, Guy was sitting in his office,

staring at his desk phone. And he was feeling really antsy because his case had taken a huge turn in the last few hours. And now he was waiting on a call that he hoped would be the first step in wrapping this thing up. He still didn't have the surveillance footage, which would take a while. There were 16 cameras located on the property, and crime techs were still going through all the tapes. They also hadn't found any fingerprints at the crime scene either. However, they had used the bullets and the shell casings from the scene to figure out that the murder weapon, the gun that was used to kill Melanie and Bud, was a 9mm. It was information Guy could later use to connect to suspects. Guy had interviewed Justin earlier that day, and even though the 20-year-old

had still acted way too casual for someone whose parents had just been violently murdered, Guy didn't think he was actually a solid suspect. For one, there was no motive. Even though Justin admitted that he and his dad were not on great terms at this point, he didn't seem angry with his dad. He also had an alibi. He was at his friend Greg's house for dinner that night, and Guy had confirmed it. And Justin knew about the two safes, and which one was more valuable, just like Ashley had. But what Justin had given guy was a suspect, a man named Cab Tice. Cab used to be Bud's partner, but then he apparently stole from Bud's business, and Justin said he had actually seen his dad and Cab arguing over this money, and how Cab still had not paid Bud back. And so

if Bud had any enemies, Cab was very likely one of them. It had taken all day, but Guy had finally tracked down Cab at his used car lot in a town that was located about 20 miles away from the crime scene. And since this lot was actually in a different county, Guy had to ask some deputies from that precinct to go over there and see if Cab was actually there. And so now Guy was just waiting for their call. And a few minutes later, he finally got it. One of the deputies rang him up and said they were at cabs, and Guy would never believe what they found him doing in the back of the parking lot. He was cleaning out a red SUV.

Within the hour, the deputies brought cab to the station. Now, they couldn't bring the red SUV in or even search it because Cab had not given permission. So Guy would have to see what he could learn from Cab himself. And as soon as Guy sat down across the table from Cabb, He instantly knew, you know, Cab Tice was the kind of guy who always had an answer for everything, like the red car. Cab said he was cleaning it because he was going to sell it tomorrow, which sounded way too

convenient. But Guy let it slide. And instead, he asked about Cab's relationship with Bud. And to Guy's surprise, Cab launched into a tirade. He said he hated Bud. Everybody did. Because Bud nickel and dined everybody he did business with, even though he was rich. And it was common knowledge.

He literally carried around a briefcase full of money, like 20 grand, whenever he was doing business deals. And so Cab told Guy about all these people Bud had screwed over, like him and his friend Patrick who had been relying on Bud to invest in that karate company before Bud apparently pulled out over profitability. And then at some point, Cab said if he was being honest, Bud probably deserved to get murdered. Guy couldn't believe what he was hearing. I mean, Cab had just admitted to despising a murder. victim, and also he admitted to knowing that this same murder victim kept cash in his house. So, the next thing he asked Cab for was an alibi. But Cab had an answer for that too. He said he was over at this other used car lot, meeting about a potential business deal, and he said that lot was

about an hour and a half away from the Billings' home, and he gave Guy the number for the people he had been with when he was over there, so Guy could call and confirm it. And Guy just got up and left the room to do just that. And like Cab said, his business partners confirmed he really was there during the time Melanie and Bud were killed. And so when Guy hung up the phone, he was frustrated. He had felt sure that Cab had to be involved, but there just was not enough evidence to keep him here. So Guy headed back towards the interrogation room to tell Cab he could go home, but before he got there, he noticed one of his detectives running down the hallway towards him. And when he got to Guy, the detective told him that after looking through hours and hours of footage from the Billings' house,

they had found something that Guy needed to see. Late on July 10th, over 24 hours after Bud and Melanie Billings were murdered, Guy and another detective sat in front of a TV in silence, watching footage from the Billings' home surveillance system. The shot they were looking at was from an outdoor camera, and it showed a red vehicle pulling up to the home around 7 p.m. Now, the license plates were covered, but Guy could tell this vehicle was not the same one Cab Tice was caught cleaning.

The vehicles were both red, but this in the video was a passenger van, not an SUV like the one Cab had. And so this, along with Cab's alibi, meant they had virtually no evidence that Cab was the killer. But Guy quickly forgot about Cab, because what he saw next on this video shocked him. Five people wearing all black, gloves, mask, and carrying guns jumped out of the red van. They immediately split up and without hesitation ran to different points outside of the home. And then the footage inside the house showed these intruders entering from three places,

a bedroom slider door and a back utility door, both of which must have been unlocked because none of those were forced open, and then of course the front door, which was kicked in. They all stormed into the living room where Bud was watching TV and where Melanie soon appeared. There was no sound, but Guy could see. them talked to Bud before one of them shot the floor. After that, some of them zip tied Bud's wrists, and then the one who fired at the floor, then shot Bud in each of his legs. And then after that,

they dragged the couple down the hallway to what Guy assumed was the bedroom, where they disappeared. And unfortunately, there were not any cameras in the bedroom. Shortly after that, Guy saw on some outdoor footage the five intruders reappearing, leaving the house now with a safe, and then they drove away in the van. The whole thing happened in less than 10 minutes, and they were only in the home for maybe four minutes. After watching this footage, Guy just leaned back in his chair, feeling completely stunned.

All along, he'd been thinking this was a robbery gone wrong, but what he had just watched seemed more like a military raid. It involved what appeared to be a sort of ruthless precision that seemed out of proportion for this small-town family home. But now, Guy knew he must be missing something than crucial about the Billings' family. It could be that maybe Bud was involved in some kind of criminal enterprise, and the extreme security at his home was to protect the family from his various shady associates. If that was the case, it was more likely this was some kind of hired

hit, done by professionals, and the safe was just stolen to cover up what really happened. And if that was true, it changed Guy's entire case and basically made all of his suspects viable again. You know, Cab's alibi was now worthless. You know, the fact that he was not physically at the crime scene didn't matter because maybe he hired a hitman. Similarly, just because Justin and Ashley knew which safe had money didn't matter either, because again, they could have hired hitmen to do this. But now, in order to narrow it down, Guy of course, needed to find the killers, you know, the supposed hitman. And since he now had an actual image of the killer's red van, he decided he would release it to the public in case anybody in the area had seen it.

The next morning, Guy was at his desk drinking some coffee. He'd just released the image of the red van to the public, and now he was just waiting for local tips to come in. In the meantime, he'd also been looking into other areas. of Bud and Melanie's life to see if there was anything that explained the apparent trained team of assassins that stormed their home. And he found out that Bud used to work in the strip club scene, and he was known as a local investor for businesses in the area. But Guy didn't see how any of that connected to the murders yet. And all of his initial suspects who he'd just put back on the table

were off of it again. He'd learned that Cab Tice was basically homeless and living at the used car lots that he worked at, which certainly gave him a motive for robbing and killing Bud, but no means. Because if Cab was broke, it was unlikely he could have afforded one hitman, let alone five well-trained hitmen. And then as for Ashley and Justin, even if, you know, that safe had been stolen as a decoy, you know, to show that it couldn't have been them because, you know, they knew where the money was, well, there was still no clear motivation for either of them wanting their parents dead. Guy knew that Ashley had taken over operations for Bud's business, and so, you know, perhaps she wanted the whole business to herself. But with her

parents' death, it meant that she, sort of by default, would become in charge of her nine siblings, which was going to be a lot of work and stress. And so Guy wasn't really sure that that tradeoff made any sense. As for Justin, he just didn't seem like he had enough anger to want Bud or Melanie did. Plus, he was the one that literally pointed out to Guy that there were cameras all over the house. And so it was doubtful he would send hitmen to a home he knew was littered with surveillance cameras, only to tip the police off to go look at the camera footage. But just then, an officer poked his head into Guy's office and told him that a woman had just called the tip line, and she believed she had actually seen that red van in her neighbor's backyard.

An hour later, Guy, along with another detective, stood in the backyard of a home in Pensacola, Florida, located about 15 miles away from the buildings his home. This house belonged to the neighbors of that woman who had called their tip line. Basically, they were at the house where presumably this red van was located. A couple lived at this house together, but right now, only a woman was home. And she gave the detective's permission to go look around the property. And sure enough, in the back, the detectives found a red passenger van parked behind a shed. The van was missing its license plate, and also there were all these patches of black spray paint all over it,

like somebody had been trying to alter its appearance. At some point, the other detective wandered away from the van and began walking around, and then a minute later, he yelled to Guy to come over and look at something. And so Guy jogged over, and he saw there was this burned-out fire pit right in the backyard, and when Guy looked inside of it, his jaw dropped. At the bottom, in the ashes, was a pile of partially burned black clothes, just like the kind of outfits that the killers were wearing in the footage. Guy turned to look at the home they were standing behind.

At this point, Guy knew they had to get that van toad, and they had to bring the couple who owned this place in for questioning, because that couple either knew who killed the Billings or they had done it themselves. It would be a few hours before Guy finally spoke to the husband of the woman who had let them into the backyard. And when he did, that man told him everything. Based on multiple confessions and surveillance footage, the following is a reconstruction of what police believe happened

to Bud and Melanie Billings on the evening of July 9, 2009. Around 7 p.m., the killer stormed into the Billings' home. As they did, they could hear their four other hired accomplices running through the house as well from where they had entered, and the killer knew they would all congregate in the living room as planned. They had all practiced for this moment for a month, so everybody knew exactly what to do and what their role was. They were ready, and their execution would be flawless.

So the killer ran into the living room, and by the time they got there, their other accomplices had arrived there too. And so the team of five swarmed Bud who had been watching TV, and they also grabbed Melanie as she ran into the room screaming. The killer then struck Bud and demanded to know where he kept his money. But Bud said he didn't have any, which the killer knew was a lie. Because it was practically common knowledge that Bud kept a lot of money in his home. That was why Bud had so much security and lived in the middle of nowhere to protect his money. And so the killer was not going to let Bud lie his way out of this, and so they pulled out their gun and fired a warning shot right into the floor. That way Bud and Melanie knew they were serious. Bud flinched, but when the killer

asked the same question about the money, Bud still said he didn't have any. And that's when the killer became enraged. They coldly ordered their accomplices to tie Bud up. And then once he was, the killer walked over and shot Bud in the leg. And even though Bud began screaming and so did Melanie, the killer, calm as can be, just asked their question again. Where is the money? But amazingly, again, Bud gave the same reply. And so the killer aimed his gun at Bud's other leg and shot that one too. At this point, Bud and Melanie are screaming at the top of their lungs, and the killer and their accomplices just grab Bud and Melanie and begin dragging them down the hallway towards the bedroom. And when they got into the bedroom, the killer smiled.

because the closet door in the bedroom was open, and they could clearly see there was a safe sitting inside. And so the killer told their accomplices to go get some duffel bags ready. They were about to get their cash. And so once the accomplices were gone to get their bags, the killer was alone with Bud and Melanie. And they turned to Bud, who by this point was writhing in pain but quiet, and they asked Bud to open the safe. But through gridded teeth, Bud claimed there was no money inside of it, which made the killer even more furious. How could Bud still keep lying?

And so the killer, without even thinking, put their gun right up against Bud's face and shot him through the cheek. Bud fell to the ground, shocked by the blow, but still very much alive, but the killer walked over, they aimed their gun at Bud, and fired several more times.

Melanie began screaming right behind them, and so the killer turned and demanded that she opened the safe. And when she didn't either, the killer shot her multiple times as well. When the killer's accomplices returned, they knew they were going to be shocked to see Bud and Melanie dead. This was not part of the plan. And the killer was anxious too.

They really had not expected this to happen. But the killer thought, you know what, it doesn't matter. We don't need Bud and Melanie. They could just take the safe and break it open later. So together, the accomplices and the killer hauled the heavy safe out of the home and into the waiting van. 10 minutes after they'd arrived, the killer and their accomplices drove back down the Billings's long driveway, eventually returning to their father's home, where they parked the van out back

and burned all the clothes that they had worn during the attack. Finally, after all that, the killer went home. And as they were driving, they thought about the safe that they had stolen, and how relieved they were that finally they had some money for their business. It would turn out the person who organized the robbery and eventual murder of Bud and Melanie was one of Bud's former business associates, Patrick Gonzalez. Patrick owned a karate company, and at one point he had tried to get Bud to be an investor. And initially, Bud seemed interested.

And for a moment, Patrick felt like all his financial problems were about to go away because here comes Bud with all his cash, but then Bud. backed out, citing, you know, lack of profitability. And after that, the karate business failed. And so suddenly, Patrick was desperate for cash and simultaneously feeling very burned by Bud. And like everyone who did business with Bud, you know, they assumed that Bud was very rich. Patrick knew Bud had a huge house. And also he had this state-of-the-art security system, sort of reinforcing the idea that, you know, behind the walls of this home, there was great wealth. In reality, the reason Bud had a big house and had the security system was just for his kids.

He'd worked hard to build them this big, safe house. But to Patrick, he was convinced Bud had potentially millions of dollars stored in that home, and he was going to get it. So, before the murders, Patrick asked his father, Leonard Gonzalez, and a group of men he knew from working at a mechanic shop, to help him rob the billings. And under Patrick's guidance, using his self-defense knowledge, The group trained for a month to pull off what they thought would be a very smooth, efficient

heist. Killing the Billings was never a part of the plan. It was just about taking the money that Patrick had convinced them all was going to be in this house. However, Patrick had become enraged once he had confronted Bud and felt like Bud was lying to him and further, you know, insulting him. And so he had killed the couple. And so after Guy and his team found the van at Patrick's father's house, police brought the father, Leonard, in for questioning, and very quickly, he turned his son in.

Patrick Gonzalez was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death. As for his father, Leonard Gonzalez, he received two 17-5-year sentences, and the other accomplices involved in the attack got between 22 years and life. While this is just speculation, it's believed that the reason Bud and Melanie did not give up the code to that safe is because they knew in doing that, the killer and the accomplices would see there really was no cash in there, and they wouldn't stop until they searched the whole house and found their cash. And they knew that their cash was actually located upstairs in the second safe where their children were. And so very likely, Bud and Melanie essentially died, you know, ensuring that these intruders never went upstairs and so did not harm their kids.

As for the nine kids, they were raised by Ashley and her. husband Blue, who eventually moved into the Billings' home. A quick note about our stories, they are all based on true events, but we sometimes use pseudonyms to protect the people involved, and some details are fictionalized for dramatic purposes. The Mr. Bollin podcast, Strange, Dark and Mysterious Stories, is hosted and executive produced by me, Mr. Bollin. Our head of writing is Evan Allen. Our head of production is Zach Levitt. Produced by Jeremy Bone. This episode was written by Kate Murdoch. Story editing by Karis Pash Cooper. Research and fact-checking by Shelley Shoe, Samantha Van Hoose, Evan Beamer, Abigail Shumway, and Camille Callahan.

Research and fact-checking supervis. by Stephen Ear. Audio editing and post-produced by Witt Lacasio and Cole LaCasio. Additional audio editing by Jordan Stidham. Mixed and mastered by Brendan Kane. Production coordination by Samantha Collins. Production support by Antonio Manada and Delana Corley. Artwork by Jessica Clogston Kiner. Theme song called Something Wicked by Ross Bugden. Thank you for listening to the Mr. Ballin podcast. If you enjoyed today's story and you're looking for more bone-chilling content, be sure to check out of our studios podcasts. There's this one, the Mr. Ballin podcast, as well as Mr. Ballin's Medical Mysteries, Bedtime Stories, Wartime Stories, Run Fool, Redacted, Late Nights with Nexbo,

and a twist of history. All you have to do is search for Ballin Studios wherever you get your podcasts. To watch hundreds more stories just like this one, head over to our YouTube channel, which is just called Mr. Ballin. So that's going to do it. I really appreciate your support. Until next time, see you. Hey, Prime members, you can binge eight new episodes of the Mr. Ballin podcast one month early, and all episodes add-free on Amazon music. Download the Amazon music app today. And before you go, please tell us about yourself by completing a short-cirre at Wondry.com slash survey.