. this just in. cops say the group of men suspected of killing a wealthy florida couple actually rehearsed the break-in. this is about a month ago. now another seven to nine people are wanted tor questioning. how big could this get? up close and personal with michael jackson's father. joe jackson answers tough probing questions about his son's death. pointing fingers at michael's doctors. he even talks about getting cut out of his son's will. call in on these topics. number, 1-877-tell-hln. e-mail us cnn.com/primenews. or text us at hlntv. all you have to to is start your message with the word prime. it's your chance to be heard.

-- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com let's get right to it. so many new developments. this out of the murder of the florida couple. murdered in their own home. cops in es scam by a county said the suspects rehearsed the attack, a dry run inside byrd and melanie billings' home. 30 days before the heist and murder. new court documents just released this last hour point to one trigger man. one of the eight suspects told police that leonard patrick gonzalez jr. shot and killed byrd and melanie billings. he's the man you see here. martial arts instructor for kids. the accused ringleader as well. the elaborate break-in and murder. call in with your thoughts, 1-877-tell-hln. joining me to talk about this, don clark, former fbi special agent in charge. and also with us, an

all-platform journalist from our sister network, cnn. first off, let's talk about the new information about gonzalez jr., the alleged mastermind, also being the trigger man. are we saying he's the only man who did the shooting here? >> well, this is preliminary, because we haven't received all the affidavits. so right now what has been released right now are affidavits for search warrants. this is the only bits of information we're getting right now. today we had two more released. just today was gonzalez jr.'s, his affidavit was released. in that we found in his car, were 9 millimeter rounds in his particular possession. today, to confirm some of those also was donny stalworth, who is currently held in alabama. we're waiting for extradition for him to be brought back here to florida. within his affidavit search warrant, we found that among other things, there was a black backpack that was in a

contained -- contained black gloves, two scarf caps, and four 12-gauge shot gun shells were contained within it. which would meet the description of the weapons that were seen on the tape, and that the police have confiscated. also along with that, new today released, way wald coldirn. wayne was mentioned yesterday in gonzalez jr.'s affidavit saying that wayne wanted to back out. mr. coldiron wanted to back out. and gonzalez jr. told him, no, you can't back out. you're way too deep into this right now. so it shows within that affidavit he's participating with the investigation. he said that he was there. he was part of what that -- we don't know to what degree, whether he was in the room where the shooting was, we're still reading through those documents. but the fact that they showed him, sheriff's office showed him pictures of the confiscated

weapons as they currently have to date, and he positively i.d.'d that those were the weapons used during the home invasion, robbery and murder. >> when you say he, you're talking about stalworth? >> no, wayne coldiron, whose material was released today. he was part of the group. but he had a problem with being a part of it. he wanted out. but it was gonzalez jr. as we know was the ringleader said, no, you're way too deep into this. >> stunning revelations there. coldiron, once again, getting cold feet, gonzalez jr. telling him no. don clark, special agent in charge. as we get this preliminary information as john points out, gonzalez jr. being possibly the lone trigger man in all this. you wonder on a common-sense front, why do you need seven people to storm the house if you're the guy that's planning it, you're doing the shooting yourself? >> mike, from the surface, it really seems like that whoever was the ringleader in this, wanted to make this a big

display of criminal activity. they didn't call it that, but that's exactly what it is, is criminal activity. wanted to really be leading some type of operation. that's what i can see. they gather up all of these people and get them involved. here's the other thing, mike, it doesn't make any difference where these people were, or what they did, if they were involved in this, and they didn't even show up on the scene, they still can be charged with crimes that's going to go on there. and i've got to say, mike, that that sheriff's department, working with the other law enforcement people down there, i think they're doing a really terrific job of trying to bring all of these pieces together. >> yeah. let's bring back john. john, so we're getting these new revelations. what about more arrests possibly is this and other people that need to be talked to? is it up to nine more people authorities want to talk to, john? >> well, we're -- there has been talk that there are three more people of interest. two of them that, for the most part, we'll never really see. they will be brought in, they will be discussed, they won't release their names.

who exactly they are or how they are connected to anyone. or the suspects or the victims. but he said there could be one additional arrest for sure. well, for sure is always loose in this investigation. because there were so many levels and so many agencies involved in here. like the sheriff said, this is a humdinger. there were so many differents layers and players participating in this particular crime. >> all right. guys, we'll take a quick break. we'll hit on more topics, more revelations. possibly another motive being thrown out there. this was a contract hit on those two people. you see them with all their adopted children. byrd and melanie billings. what about that. we'll explore it and take your calls at 1-877-tell-hln.

we want to let you know you're a huge part of the show. call us at 1-877-tell-hln. shoot us an e-mail cnn.com/primenews. or text message us at hlntv. the number is 45688. just start your message with the word prime, we like to show your text messages throughout the show. here's a new way to join the conversation. become a fan of "prime news" on facebook. go behind the scenes with me, richelle, the rest of the "prime news" team. see how we live it up behind the scenes. see that serious face right there? not always the case. we bring you the stories. continuing our conversation on the florida murders, as we just said, you are a huge part of the show. let's go to the phones. kay in tennessee, your comment or question here? >> caller: oh, yes. me now? >> yes, kay. >> caller: yeah. i told you what i thought. i thought everyone involved

should have got burned. should get burned. they should go to the electric chair or whatever it is in florida. they had no right to go in there and kill those two people. those two people didn't bother nobody. they were doing good. and those people that went in there and killed them, they weren't doing anything good. they were doing something wrong and they should burn. >> thanks for the call, kay. don, let's flesh it out a little bit when you talk about wayne coldiron getting cold feet and gonzalez jr. being the mastermind and trigger man in all this. how do you slice up all the charges and punishment they could face? >> you know, i think the prosecutors are going to get all the evidence that the investigators have collected. and as you know, mike, a lot of agencies involved in this. they'll work each individually at a time. what every individual was involved in, and what they actually did. what the evidence will show that each individual actually did. so that's the way they're going to differenty it up, by

investigative results. >> one other possible motive, another topic thrown out there. this is a possible contract hit. let's listen to the daughter of the victims speaking to susan candiotti with our sister network cnn. >> do you know of anyone who wanted to do harm to your parents? >> i can't. with the investigation -- >> this is an ongoing investigation. and those are the kinds of questions -- >> i will say my parents were wonderful people. and there shouldn't be anybody in the world who has that kind of hate to do something to anybody. i don't believe that anybody would deserve what's happened. they're wonderful people. and i can't imagine somebody having that magnitude of hate in their life. >> okay.

there's words from a broken-hearted daughter. don, as you look at this, and we talk about, basically the sheriff saying contract hit not off the table. are you seeing that here at all, don, in what you've studied so far? >> i can understand the sheriff's comments. and i would agree probably putting it in that term. from where i sit, it doesn't have the tentacles what i know a contract hit would usually be. having been in new york and new jersey, with the mob and so forth, it's usually direct, one-to-one. there are just too many elements here that it would appear to be a contract. could it be? i'm not going to say it's not. it just doesn't seem to have the elements of a contract killing to me. >> john is covering this for cnn. john, appreciate it. don, you as well. the latest with michael jackson, his father, joe jackson, speaking candidly with larry king. denies beating his son. really saying his death, foul play. call in with your thoughts, 1-877-tell-hln.

to "prime news" been arrested because 555 pounds. she's been charged with child neglect. she said she's following the safe guidelines to get her son to lose weight. a son taken away from a mom? call in, 1-877-tell-hln. get back to michael jackson. father, joe, now answering some deep personal questions about his relationship with his son. michael jackson died nearly a month ago of the last night joe and concert promoter sat down with cnn's larry king on our sister network cnn. the possibility of foul play, to the 50-concert tour, what joe thought getting cut out of his

son's will. talking about how hess basically shut out of his son's life. >> larry, i'm going to cut through the chase on this. i could never get to him. i tried all i could. and i could never get to him. type of thing. >> joe jackson and lend ard rowe on "larry king live" last night. joining me to talk about this, we welcome back about jim moret for inside edition. and former anchor for cnn. also with us ted rowlands. he's been on this story since day one. one topic that we have between the three of us, we've batted around a few times, the will, whether or not it will be contested. this is larry king asking joe jackson about him being cut out of the will. let's give it a listen. >> larry: are you surprised, joe, that you were left out of the will? >> well, i wasn't too surprised,

because, you know, that's what he -- that's the way he wanted it. and it's not going to hurt me. that i was left out of the will. but it happened. >> kind of a meandering answer there. jim, i'll go to you. i want to go to you with a viewer e-mail. cannot be capable of what are your thoughts on that, jim? because katherine, we talked about it yesterday, jim, she could be contesting who the executors are, right? >> she's contesting -- she's asking the court for guidance. this will has something called a no-contest clause. which says if you contest the will, you get nothing. so katherine jackson's lawyers have gone to court and asked for guidance. does contesting the executors constitute contesting the will. probably they'll decide no,

because she's claiming that the executors have a conflict of interest. but if she contests the will, she will get nothing. i do not suspect katherine will contest the fact she's getting 40%. that's what we've been told under this trust. >> ted, let's clarify. does katherine jackson have any problem with who's controlling the estate? >> i think clearly that they're reserving judgment on that, when this is all hashed out. that's what that initial filing was last week. it's basically covering their bases, if indeed they want to publicly, katherine jackson's lawyers are saying, we're not contesting anything right now. we're concentrating on the children. but this is just a preliminary step to sort of covering our bases. >> jim, let's help understand who these two men are, john

branca, john mclean. both worked with michael jackson in the past. was there a separation for awhile and then they came back in the picture weeks before the life. success. death, he came back, john branca came back into michael jackson as did his long-time manager deleo. it was an odd coincidence that these people came back at the last point. this is really a multi-national corporation. it's not just michael jackson. this is a huge industry now. you can see it with the rights to the videos that were shot, and all of the music sales. so these people are instrumental

in negotiating contracts. and that's what they did during michael jackson's life, and that's apparently what he wanted to happen to his estate in his death. >> let's zone in on john branca for a second. he and michael jackson parted ways in '0 #. they were together in 1980 to 2006, is that correct? >> yes. >> he questioned the people that michael jackson let in. people he thought didn't have his best interests at heart, correct? >> those are things that we've heard echoed by other people, throughout michael jackson's life. so nothing -- john branca made some very good deals for michael jackson. he's a highly regarded attorney. to have him involved makes sense. if you look at the deals he's put together in michael jackson's past. >> yeah. especially with what -- with his estate and possibly unreleased music, a good business mind like that would seem to be a good thing. lisa, your thoughts? >> caller: what? >> go ahead, lisa, you're up. >> caller: i was watching the interview with joe jackson last night. number one, i can see why

michael didn't want him anywhere near him. number two, was the slanderous comments against aeg, i wonder if aeg could charge joe jackson with slander. he said awful things about them. >> thanks for the call, lisa. jim, address that, some of the things said that basically leonard rowe, this concert promoter, who had been an associate with michael jackson, said aeg controlled the situation, didn't want people around michael who were not aeg people, can they come back at leonard rowe and joe jackson legally? >> i'm sure they have a signed contract. and that contract with michael jackson, i'm sure, spelled out all of their rights, all of their obligations, all their duties. so aeg can say, look, michael jackson agreed to doing 50 shows. it's right here in black and white. he signed it. as far as joe jackson's claims, joe jack -- óóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóóó

welcome back. we have new disturbing insight into the mind of a man accused of killing his entire family. just released court documents say chris coleman sent text messages to his mistress the day of his family's funeral. this is the guy from columbia, illinois, accused of strangling his wife and two sons. his sons, ages 9 and 11. he's accused of strangling, choking the life out of them with his bare hands as they slept in their bed. here's a picture of his mistress. she's a waitress at a dog track in florida. was friends with his wife since high school. well, now she is working with the cops. we'll take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln. joining me to talk about this, former prosecutor, doug burns is

with us. psychotherapist stacey kaiser. and by phone, nicholas, for the dispatch. nicholas, you're teg me this guy can see his wife and his two sons in a coffin one minute and he's going to be text messaging love notes to his mistress the next? >> that's what police are saying. they're saying on the day of the wake, and on the day of the funeral, that he text messaged the girlfriend on her mother's telephone and he told her he loved her and misses her. >> brother. stacey, how does someone get to that place where evil grips them so much that you can -- he's accused, innocent until proven guilty, but you're still looking at your dead sons and wife and you're going to be texting your girlfriend in the same breath? >> mike, you've heard me talk on your show about sociopaths. this is sociopathic behavior, it's an ability to completely disassociate from your feelings

and go a whole other direction. >> okay. you know the follow-up to this. again, when we're not dealing with logical thinking here, it's sociopathic mind, i get that. but why not just divorce? if you're hell-bent on marrying this mistress, why do you have to kill your wife and kids? >> you know, sometimes people see only one direction out of things. and if you have kind of a sociopathic mind like this guy does, he probably didn't even think like a regular person would think. so he was thinking of the path that would be the least ultimately consequential for him. this way he doesn't have to pay alimony. he doesn't have to deal with messy divorces. he just figured he could get away with it. >> do you think because he worked for joyce meyer ministry, which is a very popular ministry, that that played a part as well, that maybe he didn't want the stigma of divorce in the midst of that? that type of thinking, you kill instead? >> i think there's a really good a chance of that. what i have found in people like

this they really do what they think they can get away with. i think he thinks he can get away with it. >> or thought anyway. let's talk about this fake plot he conjured up. nicholas, help me out here. this is the way i'm gathering that he set the stage for this. that he was trying to -- and it was all fake -- that some crazed fan wanted to get to joyce meyer. couldn't get to her so the fan will get to him, the bodyguard. couldn't get to him so next becomes the targets of the family. is that the way he laid this out there? >> that is what the police say, the way they've laid out the documents and search warrants. they've said that coleman in november, which was shortly after he consummated his relationship with the girlfriend in florida, that all of a sudden threats started to arrive at his home and through e-mail. you know, death threats saying they had a problem with the ministry, with joyce, and they were going to go after chris. and then all of a sudden, envelopes started arriving at the home. and police say that they've been

able to trace at least the e-mail threats back to chris coleman. >> so he's plotting the death of his wife and kids for six months? that's what you're saying here, nicholas? >> that is what police say, yes. >> let's bring in our attorney, doug burns. this looks like a slam-dunk, isn't it? >> absolutely. he made every mistake in the book, mike. you're so right. first of all, this is amazing, it's really like a columbo tv show. he spelled the word opportunity wrong in a number of e-mails in the threats, mike. of course, he had spelled that word wrong in many, many prior e-mails. next the handwriting can comes back to him. next, the threat messages, as you guys have been discussing, come back to his computer, which is hay playsing. it just goes on and on. he set up a timeline that dr. baden directly refuted. dr. baden said this happened between 3:00 and r5 clock a.m., which places him in the house. the last nail in the coffin, of

course, is him texting the girlfriend saying i love you and miss you during the funeral. perry mason couldn't win this case. >> diana in tennessee, your thoughts here? >> this case is like distant. they actually should have the death penalty. because the man evidently broke away from any feelings he had. at his wife's funeral and his children's funeral that he caused. >> you're seeing zero remorse. i know people struggle with the death penalty. but if there's a case, this would be it. stacey, does that strike you, six months in planning the death of his innocent sons and wife? >> you know, it doesn't surprise me at all. this is the kind of behavior we see with sociopaths. they really don't think logically. that's why he's made a lot of mistakes. everything is out of emotion. so he sort of was emotionally plotting how he was going to go about this, throughout that block of time. >> when there's other evidence, when we talk about a part of it, his fake plot. he set up home surveillance to

keep everybody safe. the surveillance caught him leaving the house at 5:43 a.m. he's first called to his house to check on everybody was one minute later. he called three other times after that, knowing full well everybody was dead. there's latex gloves that was found on the road as evidence. latex gloves similar -- similar to those found to his office that he had access to. red paint, a receipt for that, tied to him at home depot. it continues to add up. real quick to you, nicholas. did his wife know he wanted a divorce? or was she -- blindsided is putting it mildly. >> police say now she had talked with her friends that the marriage was having problems, that he had said he was wanting a divorce. at least a couple months before the murders, she knew that there were problems in the marriage. >> okay. guys, we'll take more phone calls, talk a little bit more about this as we lay out more of the evidence against him. looks to us like he's caught in cold here. call in 1-877-tell-hln.

you're a huge part of the show. we love hearing from you. call in on or topics, 1-877-tell-hln. shoot us an e-mail at cnn.com/primenews. text to hlntv, the number 45688. start your message with the word prime. we like to show your text comments throughout the show.

one other way to get in on the conversation, become a fan of "prime news" on facebook. go behind the scenes with me, richelle, the rest of the prime news quoeg team. really good behind-the-scenes stuff for you. sneak peek at some of the stories we'll be following that day as well. go to cnn.com/primenews. we talk about chris coleman, accused of strangling, killing his wife and two sons, ages 9 and 11. just unthinkable. jeronica in north carolina, your thoughts? >> caller: yes. i just want to tell you that i just think that he's evil. he's an evil man. sometimes people are so evil. and he deserves the death penalty. >> all right. >> caller: those babies had a future. they had a future. they could have been anything they wanted to be. and that man needs to die for what he did. >> evil is the only way you can explain it, if you can strangle the life out of your two sons

while they slept in their bed. his wife as well. we have our experts standing by. we've been talking to nicholas pister, doing a great job working on the post dispatch on this. let's talk more of the evidence. did he -- did i explain that correctly a couple of minutes ago, that he set up home surveillance to keep everybody safe? >> yes, that's certainly what he claimed to have done. and that surveillance was somehow deleted, or not available to police. or destroyed at some point before the murders. >> so they never caught a look at him leaving the home? >> they did from -- a police officer lived nearby. the police officer had set up surveillance at his own house. >> again, nicholas, that's what -- he leaves the house at 5:43, calls a minute later. he was hoping to lay the groundwork, i'm calling to check on my wife and kids, right? >> certainly he could have said i was calling, i had forgotten something and i wanted to tell my wife something, and left. and that he had went to the gym,

and had finally called the neighboring police officer saying i can't get ahold of them, i'm worried about them, go and check on them. that's when the officer arrived and discovered the bodies. >> the latex gloves, that's just more cold evidence against him, right? the gloves can be traced back to his work? the gloves were found on the roadway from his home to the gym? >> the glove was found directly on the roadway on his way from the home to the gym. and, you know, the police are now saying that that glove, which had the remnants of red spray paint on it, which was similar to messages that were scrawled on the wall of the home, you know, is linked directly back to his place of work. >> it just doesn't get any easier, doug burns, does it, as an attorney to prosecute this guy? >> you hit it on the head originally, mike. we've been saying this all along, unbelievably strong fact pattern. one point you made is a good one, which is very often the -- a very minute point triggers crazy behavior.

the joyce meyer ministry actually prohibited divorce. he was the main bodyguard reportedly for joyce meyer. i think that's part of the calculus why he went nuts like this. >> one last thing. the red paint, stacy, that's just the way we understand the story, nicholas, correct me if i'm wrong, even the red paint on his dead sons as they slept. it's unconscionable. i can't even fathom what's going on here, stacy. >> the bottom line is, if you think of it this way, these guys are thinking about the end game, which is the result he wanted. and that's why there are so many mistakes along the way. he's not thinking in the moment. which frankly, i'm grateful for, because it's going to help us get him where he needs to go. >> guys, we have to leave it there. we appreciate it. we want to hear from you on this one. good debate topic. is having an obese child against the law? a mom thrown in jail because her son's overweight.

the kid's 14, weighs 555 pounds. she's charged with child neglect. the kid's been taken away. he's now in foster care. call in with your thoughts.

welcome back. we want to hear from you on this topic. a mother's been locked up because her son is obese. wild story here. we're talking about a 14-year-old boy in south carolina. he weighs 555 pounds. his mom's been charged with criminal neglect. the kid's in foster care. jerry gray claims she tried to set her son up with a diet following the state's guidelines. but the boy sabotaged it when she wasn't around. what do you think of this? is it extreme? i would think you would keep

working with the mom and her son, until this has got to be your just absolute last option here to pull apart a family. i want to hear what you think. 1-877-tell-hln. let's bring in our guests on this one of the joining me once again, psychotherapist, stacy kaiser. pediatrician dr. lisa thornton. we also welcome back former prosecutor, doug burns. real quick, ten seconds each. is it a crime or not? dr. thornton? >> i don't think this is a crime. i think mothers are trying very hard. now, it's a very difficult problem. and kids can sabotage things. you might want to bring in protective services if the mom is really failing. but not to be punitive. >> stacey, a crime here? >> not a crime. but she needs an intervention. >> she needs help. the three of us agree on that. doug, are you seeing something criminal here? where her son needs to be taken away? >> i don't like it as a criminal prosecution. i think the other guests are

right on. you should do nutritional counseling through social services. >> doug, let me stay with you. as we try to delve into the mind of the d.a. and prosecutor. the mom said she followed the guidelines set up by the state. yet the kid obviously was getting larger. turning out now at 555 pounds. what do you think went into the decision-making here? that's a drastic step to pull apart a son and a mom. >> i did a little research. there have been a couple of criminal cases. one i think was california, one was indiana. neither resulted in prison time, not surprisingly. but again, i don't see piecing together the theory, because first of all, he probably consumed a lot of food outside the home and when the mother wasn't supervising him. i saw an interview she gave where she said she was out of the house working a lot of time. the usual criminal theory of, of course, is the parents directly contributing. she didn't force feed him as one expert was quoted in an article. i don't see it.

>> police officer who ticked up -- i believe what happened, she was supposed to have gone to a hearing where she was going to turn over custody of her son. when they were picked up this police officer picked them up. let's hear what he had to say about this situation. >> there have been some opportunities to get alexander some treatment over the course of the last several months. and unfortunately some of those things have not been taken advantage of. >> okay. the authorities on one side, mom on the other. dr. thornton, what do you think is going on here? what can, should a mom and a case like this do? a 555-pound 14-year-old is a dire situation. >> well, here's the thing. he didn't get to be 555 pounds a few months ago. so if the intervention only 125r9d a few months ago, there's a problem there. this child's been in the health community his entire life. he had to have been seeing somebody for his general health, and this probably started many,

many years ago when he was 4, 5 or 6. so this is a problem he didn't get to overnight. it can't be managed overnight. that's why arresting a parent for this sort of thing why arre for this sort of thing is not the right direction to go in. we want to get her help and figure out where the problems are, where is this breaking down? and if that means getting her extra assistance or admitting him to the hospital for a few months because this is really a health crisis for the child. >> well, put. it might be if he's sabotaging the dietary guidelines at school, maybe you have to bring him home. let's get a couple of calls in. deanna in kentucky, your thoughts? >> caller: i just think that no amount of outside pressure from a parent or any school can make a child want to lose weight. it has to be their own, you know, commitment. he obviously has some emotional issues he needs to work through because when you're 555 pounds

you're not eating out of hunger, you're eating for something else. >> i think our caller makes a good point. he has to want to change, right? >> yes, that's a piece of the pie, but the real truth is as parents we have to take responsibility of our access for kids. if she isn't home, i don't know what kind of food or money he's having access to buy food but somehow he's eating way more than just the average overweight teenager. >> dr. thornton, real quick, cojust in the hours at school sabotage these dietary guidelines set up by the state? >> sure and every parent knows kids sneak food. they trade food at school. this is a time-honored tradition. unfortunately for this child, it's causing major health problems and the school should have been involved in this, as well. >> well put. we'll take a quick break. much more on this. we want to take more of your phone calls, the number 1-877-tell-hln.

this just in. cops say the group of men suspected of killing a wealthy florida couple actually rehearsed the break-in. just a month about before and now another seven to nine people are wanted for questioning. an up-close and personal with michael jackson's father. joe jackson answers tough, probing questions about his son's death, points fingers at michael's doctors, even talks about getting cut out of his son's will. you're a huge part of the show. call in, the number 1-877-tell-hln. you can e-mail us nbc5i.com or text us at hlntv. just start your message with the word prime. your chance to be heard.

welcome to hour number two of "prime news." so many new developments in the murders of a florida couple known for adopting special needs kids. cops in escambia county now say the suspects rehearses the attack. a dry run inside byrd and melanie billings home just a day before their kilgs. now for the first time the victim's daughter is going into detail about her parents brutal murders. susan candiotti from cnn asked her about the possibility of a contract hit. >> reporter: cnn has learned the suspects made a dry run at the billings home about a month before the murders but the sheriff says it was not caught on surveillance cameras. we are also finding out that the suspected master mind leonard gonzales junior allegedly told investigators that he once received money from mr. billings before opening a martial arts studio. and gonzales was apparently also at one time on mr. billings'

payroll. >> mr. gonzales worked i think for an automobile dealership again we're verifying that information that he worked with one of the companies that mr. billings had had owned an interest in. >> the billings family is doing everything it can to try to heal. billings' daughter tells me that they've had a lot of help from the community and putting in new windows, cleaning up the house and putting a new security gate outside. i also asked billings' daughter about the funeral and about mess ands that the children attached to balloons that were sent up into the air. >> there were several i love you mommies, i love you daddy. i think one of them had said that you're the best mommy in the world. there's just, you know, they -- they understand and they're compassionate children and they know that they -- their mommy is not here and children, all

children need a mommy. and she was the best mommy. >> reporter: in her will, police billings asks her daughter to take care of the children. if anything happens to her. and ashley markham says i've told my brothers and sisters that's exactly what i am to you, i am your sister. always only have one mother and father. susan candiotti, cnn, pensacola, florida. >> heartbreaking to hear that and that picture that susan painted of the balloons going up. i love you mommy, i love you daddy. such tragedy here. we'll take your calls on this 1-877-tell-hln. joining me now to talk about, welcome back all platform journalist john cowells, don

clark former fbi special agent in charge. john, some of the new things we're finding out today. where we began with susan and the possible contract hit. what's the sheriff saying about that? where are we getting that? >> well, we're getting the fact that there's been that speculation from different law enforcement agencies and it's been a lot of the talk with among town. we've been out talking to, he was in the car industry and the carrie say industry and also finance. it's a pretty small community. so a lot of conversation as we've branched out throughout the community and talked to people and people have said that they've wondered about it. but we've asked the sheriff many times, you know, is this a possibility. and from the beginning he kept denying that's not possible. but last night on anderson cooper did say, he says we're not ruling that out, we're not ruling anything out. we're not going to take anything off the table were his exact words. that opens up the speculation is it still possible.

>> okay. >> and along with the fact that new items that were released, there were new affidavits where search warrants were released on donnie stallworth in alabama still currently being held there, he fled from there back to his home in alabama just an hour north of here. >> john, lets me stop you real quick. i want to get to those. let me wrap up the part about a possible contract hit and get to don on that. don, sheriff saying nothing's off the table. does that tell you, hey, this is a legitimate theory they're really looking at or is this just one of many? >> you know, mike, i think it's a precaution on the part of the sheriff. i can't read his mind. it just doesn't really have all the ingredients that what i know a contract killing is like. paul castellano was killed on the streets outside of stark restaurant. that was a contract killing but it was a family contract killing so you had a lot of people involved. i know of very few others you had more than one or two others involved in a contract killing.

>> we're talking what, seven stormed the home and possibly leonard gonzales junior the alleged mastermind is probably the alleged triggerman, too. john, what are we learning from stallworth? you're saying there's items found with him that link him to the crime? >> yeah, that was released today from the courts. it contained a backpack and with it, there were black govs, there were stocking masks, and there was also four 12 shotgun shell casings .12 millimeter shotgun casings in that particular -- in the back of his car in the cargo area. which were similar to a lot of what we saw on the surveillance video at the billings homes at the time when they were attacked. >> okay. we're going to continue our conversation after a quick break. take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln is the phone number. possibly more arrests could be coming down the pike, as well. so again, call in, 1-877-tell-hln.

welcome back to "prime news" on hln, keeping you update on the tragic deaths of byrd and melanie billings. a lot of new developments. we're taking your calls as well, 1-877-tell-hln is the number. let's go to the phones. sandra in georgia, hi, san dra, your comment or question here? >> caller: yes, mike. love the show, love you. i was just wondering why the dea has been brought in. are they just helping with the investigation or do they think there may be drugs involved. >> let's bring back john couwels covering this for cnn. clarify for the caller why the

dea is in. why what do we know. >> that was one of the early questions. there was a lot of confusion. the billings family was very upset the media was reporting they were thinking the billings had some connection to drugs and the dea and the sheriff did say the following day to clarify the reason the dea was brought in was for the suspects, the suspects gonzales junior had a history of drug, you know, a drug history and drug arrests. and other suspects. so they were brought in and specifically to deal with the suspects. >> got you. let's bring back don clark, former fbi special agent in charge. it seems every day we're getting new information here. what's going on on? if you're an investigator, are you just sitting back and letting these guys talk and piece your case together as they spill the beans? >> you're doing a lot of that. you are doing a lot of listening, but you've got to be looking and trying to compare. and again, i'll go back to the old days, ten or 12 years ago, there were a lot of spread sheets on the wall and you would go in columns with each one.

today i'm sure it's done by computer and looking at what each individual did, what they know he did, what they think did he and they keep going and start to link the two, three, ten, or whatever together. and that's how they ultimately get to a complete circle as to what actually took place in this case and what each -- the involvement of each person was. >> got you. there still could be more. john couwels, how much more arrests? is it one likely? is that what we're hearing? >> it pretty much seems from the indication the sheriff has given us is that they're only expecting at this point one more. three people of interest all together. but one they suspect is a possibility arrest. >> john, do you think it's going to be the person who didn't disable the surveillance video? is that what we're led to believe? >> that certainly seems to be what exactly we are being led to believe that, from many different people beyond just the sheriff or and sources within and amongst the investigation,

exactly. >> don, should that about wrap it up or do you think we could have more people part of this plan. >> i'm going to leave the book open. as people start to talk, there could be other people out there, and i don't think they want to close the door on this one last guy. leave it open until it's done. >> last thing, john, we have about 15, 20 seconds. you saw the balloons. how heartbreaking was that. >> for me personally it was very heartbreaking. i had only buried my mom a week prior to that. being at the cemetery, but at the same time it was heartbreaking as it may be, it was the lightest moment of the entire ceremony because that was when people were laughing and the kids were screaming when they saw the balloons, first they overweighted it with all -- there were a ton of messages and it capitol get off the ground. so they had to release the messages. it was really heart touching. >> john, we thank you for your perspective. don, john, we appreciate it. stay with us.

welcome back to "prime news" on hln. a mom has been arrested because her son is morbidly obese. this kit is 14 years old and weighs 555 pounds. she's been charged with child neglect. she says she has followed the state's guidelines in trying to get her son to lose some weight. what do you think of this? slippery slope that a son is taken away from a mom? call in, 1-877-tell-hln. let's get back to michael jackson's father, joe, now answering some deep personal questions about his relationship with his son. joe jackson -- michael jackson died nearly a month ago and last night, joe and concert promoter leonard rowe sat down with larry king and they talked about everything from jackson's doctor and a possibility of foul play to that 50 concert tour. what joe thought about getting cut out of his son's will.

start out with joe jackson talking about how he was basically shut out of his son's life. >> larry, i'm going to cut to the chase on this. i could never get to him. i tried all i could and i could never get to him because i was barred away from him by securities and that type of  thing. i could not get to him. >> joe jackson, leonard rowe on "larry king live" last night. joining me now to talk about this, jim moret, chief correspondent for "inside edition," an attorney, also former anchor for cnn and ted rowlands from cnn. ted's been on this story since day one. let's talk about one topic we have between the three of us. we bat it had around a few tiles, the will, whether or not it will be contested. this is larry king asking joe jackson about him being cut out of the will. give it a listen. >> are you surprised, joe, that you were left out of the will?

well, i wasn't too surprised but you know, because that's the way he wanted it. and it's not going to hurt me. but i was left out of the will, but it happened. >> kind of a meandering answer there. jim, i want to go you with a viewer e-mail. very good question from carol in california writing, if katherine jackson contests the will, could this be pressure from her husband? michael jackson has extensive assets as we know which she cannot be capable of controlling. what are your thoughts on that, jim? that anything -- because katherine, she could be contesting who the executors are, right? >> she's asking the court for guidance. this will has something called a no contest clause, which says if you contest the will, you get nothing. so katherine jackson's lawyers have gone to court and asked for guidance. does contesting the executors constitute contesting the will and probably will decide no

because she's claiming that the executors have a conflict of interest. but if she contests the will, she will get nothing. i do not suspect she will contest the fact that she's getting 40%. that's what we've been told under this trust. >> ted, let's clarify. does katherine jackson have any problem with who's controlling the estate, ie john mcclain. >> clearly they're aring judgment on this when this is all hashed out. the initial filing is basically covering their bases if they do want to contest certain decisions and specifically the executors and the decisions they're making down the line. they're asking the court for guidance as jim said and sort of aring that right if indeed something comes up. but publicly, katherine jackson's lawyers are saying we're not contesting anything right now. we're concentrating on the childrenet al, but this was just a preliminary step in sort of covering our bases. >> jim, let's help everybody understand who these two men

are, john branca, john mclean. both had worked with michael jackson in the past. was there a separation for a while and they came back in the picture just weeks before his life -- help us out with that. >> not just with these two men but with other people in his life. they were instrumental in much of his early success, john branca helped him negotiate the purchase of the beatles catalog and negotiated the sale of half of that catalog to sony. they parred company. as you see in june, just weeks before his death, he came back, john branca came back into michael's life as did his long-time manager frank deleo. it was odd coincidence that these people came back at the last point. you have to understand, this is really a multinational corporation, if you look at it. it's not just michael jackson. this is a huge industry now. you can see it with the rights to the videos that were shot and all of the music sales. so these people are instrumental

in negotiating contracts, and that's what they did during his life and that's apparently what he wanted to happen to his estate in his death. >> yeah. and let's zone in on john branca for a second, that he and michael jackson parted ways in '06, had been together from 1980 to 2006, is that correct? and then he was. >> yes. >> he questioned the people that will michael let in, people he thought didn't have his best interests at heart, correct? >> those are things echoed by other people throughout michael jackson's life. john branca made very good deals for michael jackson and he's a highly regarded attorney. to have him involved makes sense. if you look at the deals he's put together in michael jackson's past. >> especially with his estate and possibly unreleased music a business mind would seem to be a good thing. lisa in michigan, your thoughts here? >> caller: what? >> go ahead, lisa, you're up. >> caller: hi, mike. i was watching the interview with joe jackson last night. number one, i can see why michael didn't want him anywhere

near him. number two, with the slanderous comments against aig, i was wondering if aeg could charge joe jackson with slander? >> he said some awful things about them. >> thanks for the call. we'll hit on more of that after the break. jim, address that. some of the things said that leonard rowe this music concert promoter, who had been an associate of michael jackson saying aeg controlled the situation and didn't want people around michael who were not aeg people. can they come back at leonard rowe and joe jackson? >> they have a signed contract. that contract with michael jackson i'm sure spelled out all of their rights and obligations, all their duties. aeg can say look, michael jackson agreed to doing 50 shows. it's here in black and white. he sign this had. as far as joe jackson's claims, joe jackson is a dad that's grieving. >> more with jim coming up.

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or go to our website. i'll see you at 3:00! announcer: captioned telephone - enjoy the phone again! welcome back. we have new disturbing insight into the mind of main accused of killing his entire family. just release the court documents say chris coleman sent text messages to his mistress the day of his family's funeral. this is the guy from columbia, illinois, accused of strangling his wife and two sons. his sons ages 9 and 11 and he's accused of strangling, choking the life out of them with his bare hands while they slept in their bed. here's pictures of his mistress, she's a waitress at a dog track in florida. was friends with his wife since high school. well, now she is working with the cops. we'll take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln. joining me now to talk about this former prosecutor douglas

burns is with us. also with us, psychotherapist stacy kaiser and nicholas pivoter has done great reporting from this. nicholas, you're telling me, this guy can see his wife and his two sons in a coffin one minute and going to be text messaging love notes to his mistress the next. >> the police are saying on the day of the wake and the funeral, that he text messaged the girlfriend on her mother's cell phone because her phone had been confiscated by police and he told her that he loved her and misses her. >> brother. stacy, how does someone get to that place where evil grips them so much that -- he's accused again, innocent till proven guilty. you're still looking at your dead sons and wife and going to be texting your girlfriend in the same breath? >> you know what, mike, you've heard me talk on your show about sociopaths. this is sociopath thick behavior, an ability to

completely disassociate from your feelings and go a whole other direction. >> you know the follow-up to this. when we're not dealing with logical thinking here, it's a sociopath thick mind, i get that. why not just divorce if you're hellbent on marrying your mistress, why do you have to kill your wife and kids? >> sometimes people see only one direction out of things. if you have a mind like this guy does, he probably didn't think like a regular guy would think. he was thinking of the path that would be the least ultimately consequential for him and this way he doesn't have to pay alimonyny ordeal with messy divorces. he figured he could get away with it. >> do you think because he worked for joyce meyer ministry, a very popular ministry that, that played a part as well that, maybe he didn't want the stigma of divorce in the midst of that so he goes against that type of thinking? you kill instead. >> i think there's a good chance of that. what i have found in people like

this is they do what they think they can get away with. i think he thinks he can get away with this. >> let's talk about this fake plot he conjured up. nicholas, help me out here. this is the way i'm gathering he set the stage for this. it was all fake. that some crazed fan wanted to get to joyce meyer. couldn't get to her. then the fan was going to get to him, her bodyguard. couldn't get to him, next targets the family. is that the way he laid this out there? >> that is what the police say and the way that they've laid out the documents and the search warrants. they've said that coleman in november, which was shortly after he consummated his relationship with the girlfriend in florida that, all of a sudden threats started to arrive at his home and through e-mail, you know, death threats saying you know, they had a rob with the ministry with, joyce and they were going to go after chris and then you know, all of a sudden, you know, envelopes started arriving at the home and police say that they've been able to

trace at least the e-mail threats back to chris cole pan. >> so eelz plotting the death of his wife and kids for six months? that's what you're saying? >> that is what police say. >> let's bring in doug burns. from my layman's point of view this looks like a slam-dunk. >> absolutely. he made every mistake in the book. you're so right. first of all, and this is amazing. it's like a columbotv show. he spell the word opportunity wrong in a number of e-mails in the threats, mike. of course, had he spell that had word wrong in many, many prior e-mails. next the handwriting comes back to him. next the threat messages as you guys have been discussing come back to his computer which is amazing. and it just goes on and on. then of course, he set up a timeline that you know, famed forensic scientist dr. baden directly refuted and said this happened between 3:00 and 5:00 a.m. which places him in the house. so the last nail in the coffin,

of course, is him text iing the girlfriend saying i love you and miss you during his wife's funeral. perry mason couldn't win this case. >> let's get a call in real quick. diana in tennessee, your thoughts here? >> caller: it's cases like this i think they should have the death penalty because the man, evidently broke away from any feelings he had. at his wife's funeral and his children's funeral that he caused. >> yeah, you're seeing zero remorse. i know people struggle with the death penalty, but if there's a case, this would be it. stacy, does that strike you, six months in planning the death of his innocent sons and wife? >> you know, it doesn't surprise me at all. this is the kind of behavior we see with sociopaths. they really don't think logically. that's why he's made a lot of mistakes. everything is out of emotion. so he sort of was emotionally plotting how he was going to go about this throughout that block of time. >> there's other evidence when we talk about part of his fake plot he set up home surveillance

to keep everybody safe. the surveillance caught him leaving the house at 5:43:00 a.m. he's first called to his house to check on everybody was one minute later and he called i believe three other times after that knowing full well everybody was dead. there's latex gloves that was found on the road as evidence, latex gloves similar found at his office that he had access to, red paint, a receipt for that tied to him at home depot. it continues to add up. one last one, real quick to you nicholas. did his wife know he wanted a divorce, or was she -- i would say blind sided is putting it lightly. >> police are saying she had talked with her friends that the marriage was having problems, that he had said that he was wanting a divorce. at least a couple months before the murders, she knew that there were problems in the marriage. >> okay. guys, we'll take more phone calls, talk more about this as we lay out more of the evidence against him. looks to us like he's caught him cold. call in 1-877-tell-hln.

you're a huge part of the show. we love hearing from you. call in on our topics. the number 1-877-tell-hln. shoot us an e-mail cnn.com/"prime news" or text us your comments hlntv, 45688. we like to show your text

comments throughout the show. become a fan of "prime news" on facebook. go behind the scenes with me, richelle, the rest of the "prime news" team. really some good behind the scenes stuff for you, sneak peek at some of the stories we're going to be following that day. go there, cnn.com/primenews. let's get back to the phones as we talk about chris coleman accused of killing his wife and two sons, ages 9 and 11. unthinkable. jeronica is with us in north carolina. your thoughts? >> caller: yes. i just want to tell you that i just think that he's evil. he's an evil man. sometimes people are so evil. and he deserves the death penalty. >> all right. >> caller: because those babies had a future. they had a future. they could have been anything they wanted to be. and that man needs to die for what he did. >> jer ronka, evil is the only way you can explain it if you can strangle the life out of

your two sons while had he slept in their bed, his wife, as well. we have experts standing by. we've been talking to nicholas pistor from the st. louis post dispatch on this. let's talk about more of the evidence. did i explain that correctly a couple minutes ago, he set up surveillance to keep everybody safe? >> yes, yes, that's certainly what he claimed to have done and then that surveillance was somehow deleted or not available to police. or destroyed at some point before the murders. >> oh, so they never caught a look at him leaving the home? >> they did from a police officer lived nearby and the police officer had set up surveillance at his own house. >> again, he leaves the house at 5:43, calls a minute later. he was hoping to late groundwork, i'm calling to check on my wife and kids, right? >> yeah, certainly he could have said i was calling you, i had forgotten something and left and that he had went to the gym and then you know had, finally

called the neighboring police officer saying i can't get ahold of them. can you check on them. that's when the officers arrived and discovered the bodies. >> the latex gloves, that's just more cold evidence against him, right? the gloves can be traced back to his work? the globs were found on the roadway from his home to the gym? >> the glove was found directly on the roadway on his way from the home to the gym. you know, the police are now saying that that glove, which had the remnants of red spray paint on it, which was similar to mess ands that were scrawled on wall of the home, you know, is linked, you know, directly back to his place of work. >> it just doesn't get easier, doug burns, as an attorney to prosecute this guy. >> you hit it on the head originally. we've been saying this all long covering this case. unbelievably strong fact pattern. the guy made every mistake in the book. i want to amplify a point. very often a minute point

triggers crazy behavior. the joyce meyer ministry prohibited divorce. he was the main bodyguard apparently to joyce. i think that's part of the calculus why he went nuts like this. >> good word. red paint, stacy, the way we understand the story, nicholas correct me if i'm wrong, he painted the red paint on his dead sons as had he slept. i mean, it's unconscionable. i can't fathom what's going on here, stacy. >> i mean it's just really disturbing. if you think of it this way, these guys are think about the end game, which is the result he wanted. that's why there's so many mistakes along the way because he's not thinking in the moment which frankly i'm grateful for. >> coming up -- disturbing allegations against steelers quarterback ben roethlisberger. a nevada woman says she was sexually assaulted in the penthouse of a casino hotel and has filed a civil lawsuit seeking $390,000 in damages.

this allegedly happened a year ago, no criminal complaint here. is this a legitimate case? call in, 1-877-tell-hln.

welcome back. shocking allegations against the quarterback of the pittsburgh steelers. a woman in nevada claims ben roethlisberger sexually assaulted her in a hotel room. the alleged crime took place a year ago, july '08. but there's no criminal complaint, no criminal charges, just this civil lawsuit. roethlisberger's attorney says ben has never sexually assaulted anyone and he will be exonerated. here's the question, is this a legitimate case, a money grab? we'll take your calls, 1-877-tell-hln. joining us to talk about this, like to welcome back jane velez-mitchell host of issues

with jane la vez mitchell" coming up top of the hour. also with us, sharon lyco who specializes in sexual assault cases and brandon adams, co-host of the zone here in atlanta. we're getting more details as this breaks out, and we don't want to get too graphic with the details. allegedly took place of july of '0 . >> the event was alleged to take place over a year ago in lake tahoe. the plaintiff is suing mr. roethlisberger and eight other people. the eight other people are apparently employees of the ca tin know in lake tahoe. she alleges that mr. roethlisberger called her into his room to fix his television. then according to her, he forced himself on her. that's at least what she's accusing him off and suing him in a civil case for $390,000. this is not a criminal case right now. the district attorney is not involved. this is strictly a civil matter, her as a plaintiff suing him as a defendant. >> jane, you and i were just

talking about it. it's baffling why no criminal complaint, why is this coming up a year after the fact? >> well, it stresses the importance in general of filing a criminal complaint in cases like this because otherwise, you can always essentially be accused of making it up because of the nature of the crime, the nature of sexual assault is that quite often, there is no external evidence, no black eye, no shock gun wound, you know? so if you don't file a criminal complaint and you come back a year later, you open yourself up to somebody saying well, this never happened. i have absolutely no idea whether it happened or not. i don't think anybody could really say that beyond the people who were there behind closed doors. it is interesting, though, that she's also taking aim at these employees of the hotel and essentially saying one of the security chiefs there said she was overreacting and claiming she said, most women would be consider themselves lucky to have sex with a guy like this. now, again, i have no idea whether any of that was said.

if there's some kind of documentation within the hotel records, that would certainly bolster her case. if there's some kind of documentation that somebody went into her computer and tried to erase some of her notes, that essentially would bolster her case, as well. but who knows. >> let's bring in our attorney sharon lyco. sharon, let me read ben roethlisberger's attorney's statement. here's what he's saying. ben has never sexually assaulted anyone. the timing of the lawsuit and the absence of a criminal complaint and a criminal investigation are the most compelling evidence of the absence of any criminal conduct. if an investigation is commenced, ben cooperate fully and be exonerated. it's it an uphill battle for this lady to bring this a year later? >> it certainly doesn't help her case. i mean, the 2009 gold digger of the year award goes to miss

mcnulty. sexual assault cases, if the person really was sexually assaulted, she would have cried out and made a report to the police. >> you know think you can ever say unequivocally, oh, have you been -- we don't know how people react when they're going through a trauma like this, and i'm not saying it happened, but you can't write the script for somebody and say that because it's such an emotionally loaded crime we don't know how people react. and apparently she did get hospitalized for something. >> for depression, i believe. >> yeah, well, allegedly. look at the facts. she didn't make a report. she said that she was afraid to file criminal charges because she'd lose her job. well, she filed the civil claim a year afterwards, like that isn't going to jeopardize her job? so where is the criminal complaint? >> well, sometimes women are traumatized after an experience like sexual assault. again, i'm not saying it happened.

it's easy for someone who hasn't experienced that to say, oh, she should have done this, that, or the other. it's an insidious crime and that's why quite often women are paralyzed. >> sharon, let me ask you -- >> she wins the gold digger of the decade award. >> you can't say that. >> even a woman who accused kobe bryant, filed criminal charges and a civil case, so she has some leverage in order to obtain her settlement. it just doesn't add up. >> the evidence is going to be an issue here when you talk about a year after the fact. what kind of evidence could prove her case? >> her testimony, if there's any tapes that the hotel had, but who knows whether they had tapes. they may have tapes of him coming or going from her room. he's an athlete. he's rich. he's famous. hey, it doesn't get any better than that. >> we'll watch "issues" top of the hour. more of ben roethlisberger. ddd