murders never make sense, but this crime, says the eriff, seemed just plai crazy. >> it's going to be a humdinger. >> the viims? a coupl parents to 17 children, inuding 13 who were adopted. >> she ke up evy day for the

children. >> the alleged kiers? seven men dressed like ninjas ving lke commandos, forgetting only one thing. >> the thing was caught on tape. how often is aurd caught on tape? >> but evenf police say tey know who committed these murders, no one seems tonow why. >> i ask every day, "why?" >> or do they >> i would tell the public and the media to snd by. you will not be disappointed. >> now a new person of interest is speaking out with exclusive information. >> bud normally carried $20,000 in cash in hisrief case. >> might he hold th key to the case? >> i wish my family wasot going through wha they're going through right now. >>o safe pla. a "datine" exclusive. >> i'm ann curry. thanks for joining us. it was the kind headline some pele need to hea twice to be sure they hard it rig. aother and father, paren of

17 children, including 13 who were adopted, murded in their own hoe. nine of the children,ll with special needs, were in th house at etime. within days police arresd a group suspects and establishe a possible motive but there could be more to this case th mes the eye. here's keith morrison. >> reporter: relief, finally. along the gulf coast and the florida panhand the prise of sunset brought a respite from the withering humidity, the oppresive sun. it was july 9th, just past 7:00 p.m. a breeze kicd in. you could breae agai and then the cime that stole that breath away. eseimages were captured by the sophiscated security system mountedoutside and

inside a ninbeoom house a home invasion inprogress, a double murder about to occu the victims a husband and wife. but not any suburban couple. this was no typical family. >>e have a child here. she's almost 2 1/2 and just stard walng. it's great because she walked. >> melani and b billings were the locally celebrated parents of 17 ildren, 13 of them adopted, many with a variety of disabilities and special needs. nine of the children, ages 4 through 11, were home when the masked intrude wearing ninja-like garb arrivedn the fading daylight in a van and burst into the billings residence. >> autrities say at least three people entered the family's sprawling home from the front and back doors. >> the question which grew by the hour fed and watered on the internet, why these people? why the billings? was it a robbery, or wasit someing els too, something hinted atdarkly?

it m seem strange even to s it but what happened as darkness fell on jul 9th was really only amall part of the story. before that, for exale, what went on behindhose woods and down that private road was a beautiful ing. all those children whose futures in this cruel world had seemed verdark, even peless, now had full-time devoted parents and a happy tribe of siblings and a big, fine house inhich to live with its toys and pool and pond and backyard barbecue and secity system to keep them safe. from hopeless to happy ev after is how this was suosed to go. and would ve, had it en a fairy tale. but it was not a fai tale. we a now know. but to understand the gravity of the story, it will he to meet this remarkable young woman. >> those children were her life. she did not want them separated no matter what it took.

she did not want them to be without their home. >> her name is ashle rkham. shs talkingbout her mother and father, melanie and bud billings. >> you kw, i think that we're able to honor her wishes and my father's wishes andit's wha we'll do. >> ashley is 26. she and her husband ar determined to keep the billings children together. and she' also deteined to keep her mother mory alive, gain strength and inspiratn from her life, and tell melanie billings' story in pth for the first time. > you're the one who knew her best. >> i did. she was a young mother. >> when s hyou. >> when she had me. she had my sster only two years later, so she had both of us at very young age. >> melanie billings was just 17

when she had ashley and just 19 when her sond daughter nicky was born. >> my sister got sickwhen she was 2 months old. sh got spinal meningitis, so th brought a whole new wod of issues for my mom. >> nicky suffered disabilities, including auti, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, then melanie's first marriage ended. >> i can remember ncky being very sick as a child and in a out of the hospital. it was always just us three. you know, my mom never, never faltered in anyay in taking care of me or nicky. she wked two jobs and provided us with the things she could. >> but as a single mom, melanie ruggled to take care ofashley and nicky whoas unable to spea melanie's sister, julie. she was amazing with nicky. she moved heaven and earth for her. she was her voice. >> arnd 1990 when she was 25,

melanie met a man who was a big success in the used car business around pensacola. bud billin was 23 years melanis senior, but it didn't seem to matter. >> when i met him, he was ve giving and loving and he was amazing to my siste his world wy sister. >> i fact, there was a special bond between the t. >> there's a story that my d fell in love with my sister nicky beforee fell in love with my mom. so i think their similar intest in nicky andeing there for her really drew their bond closer. >> melanie and bud married in 1993nd wen the families blended,ealing with issues involving disabilities and adoption became part of the fabric of their lives. bud bilngs had already adopted two little children with no disabilities. his first adopted child, though,

from a previous marriage died two years after bud and melanie married. >> that was the first adoption and then justin was adopted, 20 years ago. >> did you ever know this was something that would ppen, that they would just keep adopting kids? >> my mom, after she was 24, she couldn't have children. she h a surgery that prevented her from ever being able to have children so once they were married they couldn't have children of their own, s it was alwa something that they had wanted. >> why a spial needs child? because of nicky? >> i think nky gave them th inspiration. they knew that they could care for nicky and i think ey knew it was kind of their calling. >> and thusheir big house became the refuge and salvation of children whose lives hadnce en marked f pain and deprivation. of course, the could not know enveloped here in the security of a loving fily that red van was coming that authorities say would take it all away.

coming up, every day lfe in a homewhere horror was about to replace happine. >> weon'txpect macles from our children so we're happy, ecstatic. >> and later, a new man surfaces in the case. >> bud told all of his associates that he had more cash than he could ever spend in a lifetime. >> and he speaks out in a "dateline" exclusive when "no safe place" continues. seem smooth and strong to irreversible damage. no different. irreversible loss of enamel. enamel shield enamel loss by forming against acid attack. toothpastes dentists check most. save your enamel. be gone for good. enamel shield. with the rinse.

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is better on tough mud stains than tide total care. wisk®. powerfully clean. perfectly priced. >> reporter: on the night of july 9th the pensacola area was rocked. a home invasion double murder at the home of a much admired family. now, of course, much of the city has been rooting around in the history of that family melanie and bud billings put together searching for a clue, anything,

to explain what happened to them. there are certain well established facts. bud billings owned several area businesses and then he married melanie and the two of them devoted much of their attention to their new, blended family, which included an adopted son and a daughter with special needs. six kids, more than enough for most people. but they wanted more -- their daughter, ashley. >> they knew they could take care of a child with special needs and that a child with special needs would fulfill them and the baby was born for them. >> how long before the next one came along? >> it was within a year. he was the first baby with downes syndrome. >> reporter: his name was bailey and over the next few years a new special needs child seemed to arrive with each turn of the calendar. babies with fetal alcohol syndrome, babies from drug-addicted mothers, children with autism. melanie's sister, julie. >> did you get to meet them all one by one as they came along? >> i did, yes.

and she would always call us and i'm getting a new baby. i'm getting a new little one. i'm like, another? >> reporter: before each placement, the billings had to undergo rigorous home placement studies. ashley markham's spokeswoman, attorney crystal spencer. >> they look at your criminal history, your background, your financial stability, your ability to care for the child, they look at your suitability psychologically, socially, medically. >> reporter: in 2004, pensacola was devastated by hurricane ivan. it was just a few days later 3-year-old bailey sneaked into a bathtub and because of a damaged water heater he was scalded. they rushed him to a hospital, where bailey died, complications from a tube inserted in his artery. melanie billings was devastated and the family dynamic changed. >> i planned on going into

special-ed teaching. >> reporter: imagine that. >> yeah. and i kind of put career plans on hold and started helping my dad more with the business. he wasn't able to be there as much. he was there for the family. >> reporter: by the end of 2005 the family was locally famous. it was christmas day when the pensacola news journal ran its big spread on the billings. melanie told the paper she and bud savor every moment, "you never know when you won't have this time." their household of special needs children was everything to them, they said. >> they didn't see it as there was something wrong with those children. they saw it as those were their perfect children and it was just everyday life to them. >> reporter: later the billings were featured on wear tv's local news. >> we don't expect miracles from our children, and, you know, so we're happy, ecstatic.

>> reporter: friends found it hard to believe how calm and organized life was at the billings' or how hard melanie and bud had to work to make it that way. >> bud and melanie were so strong. they worked from 4:00, 5:00 in the morning until 10:00, 11:00 at night, getting up with the kids, and going to doctors' appointments and just every day routine. >> reporter: robbi jones not only knew the family well. she and her partner, james samuels, were essentially adopted by the billings, too. robbi and john were strangers in town and down on their luck when they met bud billings, bought a car from him. later robbi and james lost their home to foreclosure. >> he said, you know what? i'm going to bring you out to where i live. he said, y'all are going to live with me. >> reporter: bud fixed up a trailer on his property. robbi and james moved in. bud was like that, said his friends. would give a stranger the shirt off his back. but when it came to business?

>> now that he had two sides he could be -- >> reporter: he could be a tough businessman. >> he could be a very tough businessman. that was his business and livelihood and he wasn't going to let people get the best of him. business was business. >> reporter: and those businesses did very well, indeed. when bud ran them, they included a used car lot at the time called first use auto sales and a finance company. but success of a family business didn't mean much to melanie because a year later she suffered a devastating loss. her second daughter nicky died of a stroke. >> every day the first thing she did in the morning was take care of nicky. the last thing she did at night was take care of nicky. so when that stopped, she explained to me that she felt like she had lost herself. >> reporter: she kept going, though. she had to. there were all those others who needed her. so she suffered silently,

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>> reporter: around the pensacola area in recent years people heard about melanie and bud billings and their big family. katherine and her family lived in the same house for nearly 60 years. she reads the paper every day and remembers seeing the piece in the "pensacola news journal." >> it was very interesting because they were telling about

the children that they adopt and take care of and i thought that was wonderful. >> reporter: so did others. yet the billings didn't really want any special attention, didn't want outsiders intruding on their children's little world. in fact, in what seemed a strange twist bud billings tried to copyright the very names of his special needs kids. ashley markham's spokeswoman, attorney crystal spencer. >> bud felt, rightly or wrongly, that by copyrighting their names it would provide a level of privacy for the family, and bud and melanie wanted to protect these children. they wanted to be their voice. >> reporter: whatever privacy this family had, though, was about to be shattered. strangely, just the day before the murders someone entered the billings property without permission. in the afternoon an eyewitness has told "dateline" there was an uninvited visitor at the billings home, a man peering in

the window. bud billing saw this from cross the property and went dashing over to accost the man who asked billings if he wanted to have his house pressure washed. billings said, no. the man left. melanie and bud billings woke up the morning of thursday, july 9th, at their big house in the woods. later, ashley was driving along a nearby highway and for the fourth time that day called her mother. you look back on that conversation now and will never forget it, huh? >> never forget it. >> reporter: how did you ring off? what did you say to each other? >> we always told each other we loved each other when we got off the phone. there wasn't a time that she didn't tell me she loved me. >> reporter: now it was evening, thursday, july 9th, still light. james samuels was riding home from work heading down this road to the billings place and his own little trailer at the back of the property. that's when the police cars went rushing by, hell bent for someplace. james pulled out his cell phone, called robbi at home in the

trailer. >> i thought it must have been a bad accident because i seen four police cars. >> reporter: james rushed to the house. when he arrived, there was chaos. police were carrying the billings children out of their home. robbi wanted to make sure the kids were okay. >> as they were bringing the children out i ran up and would grab a child and run back to the driveway and hand the child off. >> reporter: and then run back and get another one? >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: mercifully, the children were unharmed, at least physically. bud and melanie, however, were dead. and bud's video system recorded most of what happened, though the sheriff's department has only released these images so far. wearing ninja costumes, three men entered the front door. one stayed with the vehicle. two more came out of the woods, entering another door. still another stayed behind in an suv, not seen on camera. five intruders in total stormed into the billings home.

melanie and bud were in the living room, dragged into their bedroom. one of the men, according to authorities, shot them multiple times. nine millimeter shell casings littered the floor. then the attackers stole a safe from the bedroom. it was all pulled off with military precision. the attackers were in the house less than five minutes, on the property less than ten. the children, who had just been put to bed, were awakened by the sounds of the gunshots. one child ran to a neighbor's, who called 911, and the security cameras caught the police arriving soon after that call was made. within an hour, as the escambia county sheriff's department tried to make sense of the senseless, the media descended. >> the investigation remains wide open with some new information -- >> reporter: reporter mike rush of wmpi tv first thought this was a typical home invasion. >> reporter: we get out there and then this starts to change. this is a well known, wealthy couple known for adopting

children, number one. then you find out the thing was caught on tape. how often is a murder caught on tape? and how many people have such an extensive home security system in their house to begin with to where it could be caught on tape? >> reporter: it was night now, black, frightening night. and the questions had just begun. the answer, said the sheriff, would be a shocker. >> i would tell the public and the media to stand by. you will not be disappointed. t. - others buy the car of their dreams. - ( beeps ) during the lexus golden opportunity sales event, you can do both. introducing our best offers of the year on the vehicles intellichoice calls "the best overall value of all luxury brands." it's an opportunity today. it's a lexus forever. "the best overall value of all luxury brands."

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heart breaking family tragedy in the florida panhandle. >> reporter: the billings murder case set off a firestorm of media attention and speculation. >> police are describing these killings as hateful and senseless. >> reporter: why the billings? why were men dressed as ninja fighters invading the home of this family with so many special needs children and kill the parents, in day light no less? was it robbery, or was it something else? the area's chief law enforcement officer seemed to promise that the answers would be big, really

big. >> we are very anxious to share this story with the citizens of escambia county and with the nation, if you will. it's going to be a humdinger. i'll tell you that. >> reporter: at the center of the media firestorm the sheriff of escambia county, florida, david morgan. >> as more facts became known, the number of people involved in the murder, the special needs children, etcetera, it caught fire internationally. we received phone calls from germany and france and all over the world about this case. >> reporter: behind the scenes sheriff morgan and the department moved fast to catch the suspected killers and he did catch a few good breaks. >> we had a tremendous break with the fairly sophisticated video system the family had in place. >> reporter: the intruders' faces were covered, but their vehicle was red, an older model van. it stuck out like a sore thumb. >> we determined quickly from

call-ins who the van was sold to. >> reporter: that's because several tipsters contacted authorities they'd seen the pictures. one of them, a very observant kathryn colbert couldn't help but notice. ms. kathryn as she is known, you met her earlier, has lived in the pensacola neighborhood for nearly 60 years and likes to keep an eye on things. she was certain she had seen that van before. >> and i said, this looks exactly like the van that's been over in that yard for about a week. and, you know, i had, excuse my language, but i had a gut feeling, you know, it was just that that was it. >> reporter: and, excuse my language, her gut feeling was right on. the sheriff says the van in the video was the same one parked at the home of ms. kathryn's neighbor, leonard patrick gonzalez sr., age 56. he had a pressure-washing business. could he have been the same man who visited the billings house

the day of the murder? to ms. kathryn and others he seemed a bet of a ne' er do-well. >> i know that he had a real drinking problem, which was his business you know. >> reporter: drink lots of beer? >> then sometimes he would try to get on his bicycle and fall and stuff, you know. >> reporter: once gonzalez sr. was picked up it seemed to open the flood gates. his son, leonard patrick gonzalez jr., was arrested. authorities said junior appeared to be the ring leader. and then five more suspects were picked up in quick succession including an air force sergeant and a 16-year-old. all are charged with two open counts of murder. none have yet made a plea. of the group, leonard patrick gonzalez jr. was the best known around town. he ran a self-defense group called "project fight back" and even won a coveted civilian service award. reporter mike rush of wpmi tv.

>> he had a criminal record. he had spoken about his criminal record and kind of touted the fact that because head fought that way at one point and turned himself around that he's really the guy to be teaching this sort of thing. >> reporter: but back up a minute. ms. kathryn reported the red van had been hanging around for a week or more, and sure enough, law enforcement officials said the suspects had been getting together and training for the crime for weeks. this surveillance photo shows gonzalez jr. with a child and two other suspects entering a walmart, where they bought materials, allegedly used in the murders. >> and we're hearing aside from doing training at different locations for this exercise that they had been casing the place for a while, a very disconcerting fact to the family when they found this out. >> reporter: two of the suspects, leonard gonzalez sr. and wayne coldiron, have entered not guilty pleas. the other men and the minor are expected to enter pleas at

upcoming arraignments. on july 14th, five days after the murders, the sheriff told ashley markham it appeared they had caught all the suspects. >> it is my honor today to tell you, ashley, and your family we have found them. and they are in custody. >> reporter: the sheriff also said there could be more accomplices. and the very next day he announced another person of interest. >> we would like your assistance and the community's assistance in locating this individual. >> reporter: pamela long wiggins, a realtor and local businesswoman located on a yacht in an alabama dock within 30 minutes. she was charged as an accessory after the fact and she's out on bail. she's entered a not guilty plea. turns out according to the sheriff that others arrested in the killings rendezvoused that night at a property long-wiggins owned in florida and at her home. and it turns out authorities say the safe stolen from the billings house, though it contained nothing of any

significant value, was found buried in long wiggins' back yard. all of which forced some nagging questions none of which seem to have satisfactory answers. officially at least the police were saying this was a simple home invasion robbery but if that were the case, why were so many people involved for so little money and all those vulnerable children in the house? why all the training, the preparation, the apparent accomplices? how did these people even come together? was there a second undisclosed safe in the house with lots of money in it? or was this something else all together? was this possibly a hit? the sheriff could knock down the spiraling speculations. he could. but he doesn't. not quite. what can you tell me about your suspects? >> gosh, a hodgepodge mix of people. day laborers, business owners, martial artists, realtors. pick one.

it's almost like the butcher, the baker, and the candlestick maker in this gruoup of folks. part of the interest i believe in this story is that. how did this desperate group of people coalesce into committing this crime? >> reporter: sure. must have been something behind it then. >> yes, sir, you bet. they agreed to be involved together in a home invasion robbery. how about that? >> reporter: because they believed there was something of great value in that house which they could take? >> that's one theory out there. >> reporter: or because the home invasion robbery was intended to cover up the rubbing out of somebody's enemy? >> that's a theory that's out there. >> reporter: can't you put any of them to rest, to bed? >> not at this time, sir. that is -- >> excuse my using a rather common expression but is this in a sense covering your butt just in case one of these wild theories turns out to be true? >> oh, no, sir. not in the least.

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days after the murder, they buried bud and melanie billings. the funeral was held in there, beyond the crowd of the mourners

and the still shocked and the ever curious, a private service for family, which laid the billings to rest but not the ever growing list of questions, the first from their daughter, ashley markham. >> i asked every day, why our family? i don't think i'd ever be able to explain it. and i may never know the answer. >> reporter: what investigators do allege is a disparate group of seven men took part in the attack. according to the sheriff, leonard patrick gonzalez jr. fired the killing shots. the group allegedly took a safe, which contained nothing of great value. the sheriff says it was found buried in the back yard of pamela long-wiggins. she is just one more of the odd cast of characters, owns a building that houses an antique mall, is a realtor and investor and, oh, yes, a suspected

bigamist. she is married to a man named wiggins but also it turns out to this man, james malden, still pamela's legal husband. malden went to the authorities with proof, including the marriage certificate. she was arrested on bigamy charges. >> so you are current husband number one. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: and there is a current husband number two. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: she may have more? >> could be. if she done this and risked this being found out, there's no telling what she's done. somebody better start doing some checking on that lady. >> reporter: oh, somebody is checking all right. that would be the sheriff, but mostly about crimes much bigger than bigamy. >> when we could finally tell it from beginning to end, it will be a head scratcher. >> the main question everybody is asking in the community is, why? why would they target this family in such a concerted effort? why train 30 days in advance? why do all this just to steal a

safe that authorities say had nothing in it? nobody buys that in the community. >> reporter: it's a charming place in its way, pensacola, with its filigreed iron work, its unique pedigree, oldest european settlement in the continental u.s. there's a sweetness about the place and its unaffected and friendly people. and then this evil thing. not a word to throw about lightly, "evil" but that's what it was. and out slithered a many headed hydra is what the sheriff called it. >> you cut that head off and it sprouts two and that's what has occurred throughout this case. >> reporter: throughout this case residents said the heads of the hydra seemed to sprout not just from the unholy alliance of alleged killers but perhaps from the activities of bud billings. one place the investigators looked was the billings background and business

associations. who might want them dead? >> everybody's talking about it and everybody has a theory. >> reporter: at a pensacola gentleman's club whose owner used to work for bud there's a sign that pays tribute to the billings. it turns out two decades ago bud was also part owner of a strip club, though the club and his connections to the business, are long gone. >> none of that in and of itself is illegal but that is what the community is saying is that this has to be a concerted effort. everyone is figuring it's got something to do with mr. billings' business interests. >> reporter: that they had enemies? >> he might have made some enemies. >> reporter: enemies, maybe, but ashley says her father was an honest and fair man. nothing in his business dealings was illegal or unsavory. in fact, in recent years bud turned over his used car lots and financing company to ashley and her husband. >> the business dealings, everything is legit. those accusations just astonish me. if they were doing something

wrong, i'd kind of have knowledge of it. i believe everybody has a past. i have a past. i'm sure you have a past. >> reporter: in fact, bud billings did retire from day-to-day operations the better to care for his big family, but investigative journalist rick outzen, publisher of "the pensacola independent news" who has broken several ex-cluesives in this case says bud kept a hand in auto sales. >> he actually made his money at this point over the last few years financing used car lots. he would finance the inventory, alt cars they had on the lot. >> reporter: outzen has been reporting for weeks the murders were a contract hit and stem from bad blood in billings' used car finance deals. >> what we are seeing, that there's a relationship that this hit is tied to people owing billings money and either not wanting to pay it anymore or unable to pay it anymore. >> reporter: could it be? here's the prosecutor in the

case, state attorney bill eddins. >> it's always been my position that this was primarily a home invasion robbery and that that was a primary motive. however, as i've indicated before, our office will review and examine and consider all other possibilities. >> reporter: ashley says her dad was simply a consultant to the business, which she now runs, but maybe hidden somewhere in that stew of car lot financing numbers, outzen and others believe, lies a clue, a name, perhaps, that may finally solve the puzzle behind the murder of these devoted parents. and sure enough, within an hour of the murders, one name has come up again and again, that of henry "cab" tice. does the name tice mean anything to you? >> it does. >> reporter: who is he? >> henry or cab tice is a well known wholesaler and retailer of

used cars in this market. he bought a dealership from bud billings. we know that patrick gonzalez jr. who's the alleged shooter of bud and melanie billings worked for cab tice right around '99-2000. >> reporter: tice's connections to gonzalez jr. and bud billings began the suspicions and they grew. he was arrested thursday night, grand theft, named a person of interest in the billings murders, and now he's talking -- to us. you want to share a photo nd

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>> reporter: since the murders of bud and melanie billings the questions haven't stopped. why the billings? who might have wanted them dead? consider the information now bubbling to the surface. sources close to the investigation have told "dateline" that back on the night of the murders there was a second safe in the billings house and that it possibly contained large amounts of cash and that the robbers may have taken the wrong safe. so was this a botched robbery attempt that turned into murder? sheriff david morgan has always hinted there would be more, much more to this investigation, and thursday night he announced still another person of interest in the billings murders. >> tonight the escambia county sheriff's office interviewed mr. henry "cab" tice in relation to the ongoing investigation to bud and melanie billings and their

murder. >> reporter: henry "cab" tice. tice was a business associate of bud billings and a close friend, a father figure to alleged shooter leonard patrick gonzalez jr. more than two weeks ago we found cab tice at this used car dealership. he promised an interview and then suddenly skipped town. in an e-mail he wrote, my lawyer told me we would decide our course of action next week but'd vise ebut'd -- but he advised that i leave. i'll get in touch with you when i return. we hadn't heard back but traced the e-mail to an internet connection in south america, colombia to be specific. the pensacola rumor circuit buzzed with whispers that cab tice may have been involved. local blogs started using his name, then local television. then a wire service picked up the name and even "newsweek" magazine. and then this past thursday, surprise, cab tice returned to pensacola of his own accord from

colombia. he was arrested, questioned for three hours, charged with grand theft for allegedly writing $17,000 in bad checks to worldco, the billings finance company, but then he was released on $5,000 bail. but a bigger surprise? he kept his promise to sit down with us for his first public comment about the murders. >> i'm innocent. i haven't done anything. >> reporter: he didn't have to do this but he volunteered to answer any and all questions, to fight back. the name cab tice keeps coming up. that you're the guy who somehow is behind all of this. >> i think it's guilt by association in that i knew bud billings well. and i knew pat gonzalez well. >> reporter: in fact, tice says, the last person he would want to see dead was melanie billings. >> the first time i ever met melanie, i met mother teresa because she had the same spirit, she had everything. she was wonderful. i loved her. >> reporter: as for bud?

>> bud and i were friends for years until our business relationship fell apart and our friendship fell apart. >> reporter: the animosity between the two became well known. in fact, investigators sought out tice the very night of the murders and tice told them it must have been a robbery. >> bud told all of his associates that he had more cash than he could ever spend in a lifetime. it was well known in pensacola. >> reporter: he told you this? >> he told me. he told every business associate he had. >> reporter: where'd he keep it? >> well, we all assumed when he built his 7500 square foot house he kept it there. and they went in to kill any witnesses that could testify against them or witness against them. >> reporter: tice said the alleged triggerman gonzalez jr. also knew billings might have cash around because gonzalez asked bud for a $7,000 loan. >> for his martial arts studio. >> reporter: now, bud's daughter says no such loan occurred. >> ashley doesn't know because

there wasn't a check written. it was a cash loan and paid out of the brief case so ashley can't find it. >> reporter: the brief case full of money which patrick would have known about also. >> yes, sir. >> reporter: how much money did he carry around in cash? >> bud normally carried $20,000 in cash in his brief case. >> reporter: cash? billings had lots of money. in fact, he financed tice's used car lot, but the business failed, and tice bounced checks to bud, who complained to the sheriff, and then tice sent a letter to the feds. you claim he was cheating the irs? >> yes, sir. >> reporter: ashley markham said she's heard nothing about any irs investigation into her father's affairs. tice admits his troubles with billings left him in such bad straits that he ended up borrowing $20,000 unwittingly, he says, from the mexican mafia. and that's led to speculation that the mob was involved in billings' murder. >> do you believe the mexican mafia was in on the killing? >> no, sir. the investigators asked me if i

thought bud billings had dealings with the mexican mafia. bud billings would never borrow money from the mexican mafia. >> reporter: then there's tice's relationship, the father-son thing he calls it, with the alleged triggerman leonard patrick gonzalez jr. tice admits gonzalez came to see him the very afternoon of the murders. he admits he phoned gonzalez right about the time the murders were going down. >> reporter: you phoned him at 7:15 that evening. >> yes, sir. a friend of mine -- >> reporter: see why that might seem suspicious? it's pretty bizarre, isn't it? >> well, it's not bizarre when you realize i had no knowledge of anything that was going on. as far as i had been told that's when the robbery was occurring. >> reporter: in fact, says tice, he now realizes that when gonzalez tried to borrow a van from him before the murders -- >> reporter: was he setting you up? >> i think when he came to the lot he was trying to get a van from me to set me up. >> reporter: a setup? tice says gonzalez might have used the van to tie him to the

murder. was that the plan? who knows? >> i would never be a part of anything that would be so horrible as this. i would never want bud billings killed and i would never want melanie killed. and i would never want those children to experience and see what they experienced and saw that night. no, sir. i am innocent of these charges. >> reporte do you not think i know the first person, because bud and i were estranged in a business relationship, the first person the police are going to come to is me, which they did, that night. so i have no motive.

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