Records: Ties between Okaloosa suspects in Billings murders go back years

[FLORIDA J]

(Robbyn Brooks / NW FL Daily News) - The ties between the four Okaloosa County men implicated in the murders of Byrd and Melanie Billings in Escambia County on July 9 can be traced back much earlier, according to records released by the state attorney’s office.

The records contain discovery exhibits and investigative requests and reports linking the men through evidence and witness statements.

Witnesses have told lawmen that two of the suspects, Gary Sumner and Donnie Ray Stallworth, might have been involved in a string of robberies in 2005 and may have taken part in an unsolved homicide Sept. 12, 2005.

The state attorney’s records say some crimes in Okaloosa bear a striking resemblance to the Billings’ murders, which occurred in their home in Beulah while several of their children were present.

A rash of home-invasion robberies, including some that weren’t reported, plagued Okaloosa in 2005, according to the reports. Suspects targeted narcotics violators who were believed to have large amounts of cash. Witnesses described those committing the crimes as black men wearing dark clothing and ski masks, and said they were armed with shotguns, handguns and rifles, according to an investigative request from the state attorney’s office to the Air Force.

During one robbery, Mexican national Luis Magana-Gonzalez was shot to death inside his home at the Bella Vista Apartments on Monahan Drive in Fort Walton Beach. With his final words, Magana-Gonzalez identified his assailants as two black men. Evidence collected at the scene included a Tau-rus 9mm handgun, black ski masks and gloves. DNA and partial finger prints were recovered, but Magana-Gonzalez’s murder remains unsolved.

Investigators traced the gun that was dropped at the scene from an Air Force officer who sold it before he deployed to another airman who investigators believe may have been in the same squadron with Stallworth and whom Stallworth and Sumner knew through Walter Johnson, the target of a drug-trafficking investigation.

Magana-Gonzalez was dealing narcotics when he was killed, and he and Johnson used the same cocaine supplier, the investigative request states.

The request also notes that it is still unclear whether the Billingses’ murders and Magana-Gonzalez’ death are linked. The request to the Air Force is for military records of those involved to confirm whether the men in witness statements were stationed together at Hurlburt Field and whether there are other links that can be drawn.

Johnson was sentenced to 30 years in prison for cocaine trafficking in 2006 and closed his business, Creative Audio Solutions. That’s when Sumner started his own company, 5th Dimension, a custom automobile paint shop on Duvall Street in Fort Walton Beach.

Witnesses placed the other two Okaloosa suspects — Fredrick Thornton Jr. and Rakeem Florence — at 5th Dimension beginning in 2007. Thornton lived across the street from the business.

Witnesses also used nick-names to identify most of the suspects. Sumner went by “G” or “The Mayor,” Stallworth was called “D-Stalls” and Florence was “Little Dude.”

Lawmen also have connected the Okaloosa suspects to the person referred to as the “mastermind” behind the Billings’ murders, Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr.

Charles Jacopetti, who owns the 5th Dimension property, told lawmen that Gonzalez and a woman approached him in late June about joining the lease with Sumner. Gonzalez said he had interest in customizing motorcycles.

Although Gonzalez later said he was not interested in the property, Sumner did pay overdue rent once with a check from Providence Properties LLC that was signed by “Pamela Long,” the lone woman implicated in the Billingses’ murders.

Sumner said Gonzalez contacted in late June about a $30,000 paint job for an older Bentley automobile. At the time of his arrest, Sumner only admitted knowing Gonzalez by his first name and said he thought he was a martial arts instructor.

He said he met Gonzalez at the Walmart in Gulf Breeze on July 9 — the day of the murders — because he was excited about the money the job would bring.

Witnesses interviewed during the investigation said they didn’t believe Sumner’s story about the Bentley because he would have spoken openly about a job that big. Sumner’s business partner said he didn’t know enough about the paint and body portion of the business to have struck a deal by himself. Sumner’s business partner also said 5th Dimension was in financial trouble.

On July 11 — two days after the slayings — one of the witnesses interviewed said that Sumner told him about an incident July 10 when he was returning to Fort Walton Beach from Panama City with his girlfriend. Sumner said he was surrounded by several vehicles with their headlights off and he was forced to pull over. Sumner told the witness a group of men swarmed his vehicle, took $40,000 in cash from him and left. The witness told investigators that he thought the story was odd and believed that Sumner was trying to establish an alibi.

One witness, who admitted to once being involved with the Southside Chicago street gang the Insane Popes, said Gonzalez had approached him about participating in a home-invasion robbery that would involve an elderly drug dealer who was a multi-millionaire. Gonzalez described a big vault-style safe and said there might be some children present. Gonzalez told the witness the drug dealer was involved with the Mexican Mafia. The witness said he declined Gonzalez’s offer and couldn’t be certain the man mentioned was Byrd Billings.

The same witness who told investigators of the home-invasion scheme said he was at 5th Dimension about two weeks before the murders, but was asked to wait outside. The witness said Gonzalez, Sumner, Florence and several other black men were there. The witness told investigators Sumner also used the paint shop as a front to traffic in steroids.

Sumner, Stallworth, Thornton and Florence are being held without bond in the Escambia County Jail with Gonzalez, his father Leonard Gonzalez Sr. and Pamela Long.