Slain Couple Stashed 100K in Home Safe

Eighth arrest in slaying of Byrd and Melanie Billings

(NEWSER) - An eighth arrest was made yesterday in the killing of a Florida couple with 16 kids, the Pensacola News Journal reports. Pamela Long Wiggins, 47, has been charged as an accessory to the crime. She has been linked to two other suspects—she rents an apartment to the man described as the "organizer" of the military-style assault—but is not believed to have been at the crime scene, ABC notes. Some of the suspects have cited ties to Mexican drug gangs; the FBI and DEA are now involved. More»

Men trained for military-style assault on parents of 17

(NEWSER) - The video surveillance system a wealthy Florida couple installed to keep track of their 13 adopted children has helped catch their murderers, the Pensacola News Journal reports. The seven men in custody trained for up to a month to carry out a military-style invasion on the home of the couple, who adopted children with special needs, police said. An eighth suspect is still at large. More»

(NEWSER) - Police are interrogating two men they say were caught on videotape in the home invasion-murder of a wealthy Florida couple who adopted 12 children, several of them disabled, reports the Pensacola News Journal. Eight of the children of the murdered couple, Byrd and Melanie Billings, were home at the time of the killings, but were unharmed. Investigators tracked down two of three men believed to be the images captured on a surveillance camera in the wealthy couple's Beulah home. More»

4 charged with murder after home invasion

(NEWSER) - A Seattle-area man was murdered in front of his family after putting a diamond ring up for sale on Craigslist. A gang of 3 men and a woman forced their way into Jim Sanders' home after he answered the door to them, hoping to sell the diamond. They tied up Sanders, his wife, and their two sons. He was shot after he broke loose to try and stop the pistol-whipping of his 14-year-old son, ABC News reports. Four suspects have been charged with first-degree murder. More»

Mississippi AG seeks 5 men who didn't meet clemency requirements

(NEWSER) - First, Haley Barbour issued a spate of controversial last-minute pardons ; then, a judge rejected a number of them , calling back five men who'd been released from prison. But the dust still hasn't settled: Those five men, convicted of murder and robbery, are nowhere to be found. The Mississippi attorney general's office is seeking the convicts, all of whom worked in the governor's mansion under Barbour, and none of whom filed pardon-related paperwork on time, the Clarion-Ledger reports. More»