My Journey Down the Rabbit Hole

Disclaimer: My views are not those of an attorney, legal expert or any other classically trained professional. I am simply a wife and a mom. The scrutiny used in analyzing some of the situations in this case, is the same is the same investigation or examination I use on my kids. The same questions apply. Is this plausible? Is there another explanation? Why did events happen like this? What procedures or anomalies were there in this investigation? Is it possible someone is covering their own tracks?

As bizarre as many facts may seem, I cannot make this shit up. This case, my life, everything, came together in such a way, it is difficult for me to admit it all was happenstance. Had I not been so reckless when I was younger and grieving, none of this would be happening today. Had Pat never married the sister of a good friend, my life would never have been impacted by this double murder. There are a hundred scenarios that would have changed the knowledge I had of "this life", I would not have felt connected to this dead couple. My own life, prior to this, was insane enough, especially as interpreted by my young eyes. I suppose that background made me the most likely person to believe some of the outlandish assertions by Patrick as to what happened. But my family dysfunction is another story for another day.

So back to the story....I watched all the evidence recklessly disclosed to the media. It was amazing to me that before anyone went on trial, all the transcripts, interviews, police reports etc were made public with little to no redaction. For example, an article in NorthEscambia.com published on August 18, 2009, approximately 39 days after the murders. The article is titled:

Here are a couple comments from the above article:

How is that ethical? The people in the community reading these documents are the potential jury pool. According to Dr. Edward Bronson, a media expert hired by the defense, these are the numbers just in the Pensacola News Journal mentioning Patrick Gonzalez Jr. by name from 2007-2010:

This is one of the most important analysis. Officials say things in the media that are not true. While none of the false statements were mentioned in court, they still marinated in the minds of the jury pool.

Several of these articles were picked up by the Associated Press. This was a national story. Nancy Grace, Larry King and Oprah Winfrey, among others, were most vocal about this case.

Another fun fact from Bronson’s report is that Patrick is seldom referred to as “the alleged mastermind” or the “alleged shooter”. References to him were definitive. He “was” the ringleader, mastermind, shooter. That little omission leads people to believe there is no room for error. HE IS GUILTY.

This video was played on the national news via CNN on July 14, 2009—5 days after the murders. The biggest takeaway from this video is the melodramatic picture below and the absolute, definitive statement:

This picture was blown up and in the lobby of the Escambia County Sheriff's office & another one was in Morgan's office.

What the actual fuck?? How is that possible? There is no way an inexperienced sheriff’s office , led by a newly elected sheriff with no practical investigation background handle such a high profile case could have investigated this case completely, eliminating all other suspects. Billings had numerous enemies from his buy here-pay here lot alone. Then you must look at some other people he was in business with at the strip club he owned (not listed under his name) for years. According to a source who was frequently at this club, it was essentially a brothel. In fact, that is corroborated by the news that the club burned down. The fire department determined the cause of the fire was “mattresses igniting on the upper floor of the club”.

Mattresses? How is that not a red flag? Seriously??? How does anyone not see that so very clearly??

None of this could possibly have been eliminated in 5 days from the murder. But this is not the only angle not investigated. There is so much more. This man ran a brothel and a buy here pay here lot. There are so many enemies he must have made, but none of that was investigated. How the hell did any legal professional not bring this point up? There are 7 people charged and 7 attorneys. How does this happen??