Family of Slain Fla. Couple Requests for Prayers
The family of a Florida couple known for adopting special needs children is asking for prayers following a deadly break-in last week.
"Our family cannot begin to find the words to express the pain and disbelief that we are in," said Ashley Markham, the 26-year-old daughter of the slain couple, during a news conference Monday morning.
"We're coping as a family and request that everyone continue to pray for our strength and also keep our privacy in mind while we grieve," she added.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Markham's parents, Byrd and Melanie Billings, were killed Thursday evening after a group of around at least seven men broke into their home in Beulah, Fla. While the motives are still being determined and suspects are still being sought, State Attorney Bill Eddins said robbery was the main motive for the crime.
The Billingses, who left behind 14 children, including four adult children, owned several local businesses, including a finance company and a used-car dealership.
A medium-sized safe and other items was reportedly taken from their nine-bedroom home
In her prepared statement Monday, Markham, the biological daughter of Melanie Billings, made little mention of last week's crime other than how "sickening" it is "[t]o know that there are people capable of this type of violence and people with this magnitude of hate in their lives."
She spent nearly the entire time telling the world of how the couple had touched the lives of their children, their community, and even their country.
"They chose a life that many people did not understand," Markham stated, referring to the Billingses' decision to adopt more than a dozen children.
Over the course of their 19-year marriage, the Billingses had adopted 11 children, adding to the two biological children that each of them had from previous marriages and two other children that Byrd Billings had adopted prior to their marriage. Three have since died.
At least six of their adopted children have Down syndrome – something that led a number of the children's biological parents to give them away but also what encouraged the Billingses to adopt them.
"They had a calling to adopt and love children that others did not see as normal. To our mom and dad, their children were perfect – angels that God provided them with to love eternally," said Markham.
And despite the large number, the Billingses reportedly had the ability to provide their children with what they needed, not simply material-wise but also when it came to love.
"Though they had 17 children, love was never scarce. They loved each child as much as a person is cable of loving," Markham stated.
And that love, according to those who knew the Billingses, extended to everyone they met.
"They weren't only generous with their children," said Susan Berry, principal of Escambia Westgate School in Pensacola, which some of the children attended.
At one school function, Byrd Billings left a neatly folded check for the school in Berry's palm after a big hand shake. Berry wouldn't say how much the check was for, but she told The Associated Press that she couldn't believe how big it was.
The Billingses also provided a home for a family that recently lost theirs in foreclosure until they could get back on their feet.
"Our mom and dad only had love in their lives," Markham stated Monday, adding that the surviving family members plans to carry on their work of touching lives.
"We hope people will use our parents as an example to look past race or disability of any person," she added.
In closing, Markham said the family knows that their parents are watching over them now, "reunited with their three angels in heaven."
"They will give us strength to make it through the hard times and their love to make the world a better place just as they always did," she concluded.
A funeral service has been planned for Friday morning at the Blue Angel campus of Liberty Church in Pensacola, with visitation planned for the night before.
The nine youngest Billings children are currently being taken care of at an undisclosed location.
