[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[tape rewinding]
♪ ♪
- They were very loving people.
They wanted to share all their love
With as many children as they could.
- You've got these two individuals
Killed execution style.
♪ ♪
- It's shocking that someone would be shot
Right in front of their own kids in their own home.
♪ ♪
- They had 16 cameras, and they were all working.
- You see 'em kick in the front door,
Back door at the same time.
- It just doesn't make sense,
Because they got what they wanted,
So why kill them?
- The camera really tells the tale.
- It was almost silence
When we're watching it and seeing it.
We--we couldn't believe what we were watching.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
[soft music]
- Summer 2009, pensacola, florida,
Byrd and melanie billings are enjoying life
With the big loving family they've made for themselves.
- They had a couple of their own children,
And they adopted many children.
They just wanted to have a large family,
Whatever way they could swing it.
- I believe they are the modern-life
Brady bunch, honestly.
They adopted a lot of special needs kids,
And they loved them a lot.
If they could, they would adopt every child in the world.
♪ ♪
- Before the billings became
Pensacola's modern-day brady bunch,
They were just bud and melanie.
- Bud was a fixture in the used car business.
♪ ♪
- So bud is this hard-charging businessman.
He's an entrepreneur.
He had many businesses.
He had a lot of money,
And he wanted a large family--
The bigger the better.
♪ ♪
Then he meets melanie, who is the softer side of him.
- Bud used to own a club in town.
Melanie was a waitress there,
And they madly fell in love.
He eventually sold the club
And got heavier in the used car business,
Which is where bud really was making his money.
[soft music]
- With bud's career on the rise,
The couple decide to marry in 1993.
- Melanie was great.
She kind of smoothed off the edges of bud.
♪ ♪
He deeply loved her.
- Bud and melanie have two children apiece
From previous marriages,
But they're not done yet.
- He wanted to take care of children,
And it was, like, in his soul, so adoptions ensued,
And bud and melanie actually ended up with 13 children.
- Melanie developed a passion for helping these kids,
And these kids were very much a part of their lives.
♪ ♪
- They just were very loving people, honestly.
♪ ♪
They just wanted to share all their love
With as many children as they could.
♪ ♪
- You have money, and you are adopting
These special needs children,
And that gains a lot of attention
Because of, you know, it's a good deed, obviously,
But also, it's kind of unusual.
[upbeat music]
♪ ♪
- By 2009, the billings have 9 children in their home,
Ranging in age from 4 to 11.
Their two oldest children from previous marriages,
Melanie's daughter, ashley, and bud's son, justin,
Are grown but live in the area.
They decide to share the story of their big loving family
With their community.
- Our daily newspaper did a big profile
On the billings family.
There were some wonderful pictures of bud and melanie
And all this-- this litter of--of kids,
Some, you know, laying and some in their laps,
And all ages and sizes.
And the whole story was just about
How big their hearts were.
♪ ♪
This photo was the last photo of the family.
And just--you know, you can't look at that picture
And not feel something for this family.
♪ ♪
[ominous music]
♪ ♪
- At 7:00 p.M. On July 9, 2009,
The billings are home.
Most of their children are in bed.
♪ ♪
- Bud is with one of their kids,
Watching television.
♪ ♪
His wife is in the kitchen.
It was one of those kitchens that had sort of a counter
That she could look into the living room area.
So she's cleaning dishes.
They're watching tv.
♪ ♪
- Bud and melanie billings have no idea that
These seemingly mundane chores
Will be their final moments together.
♪ ♪
- Their eldest daughter, ashley, calls the house
To see how the family is doing.
♪ ♪
It's, like, 7:30 at night.
One of the children answers the phone,
And the child is crying.
♪ ♪
- The billings had a nurse that helped part time at the home.
Her name was April spencer.
- Worried that she can't get her parents
To come to the phone, ashley calls April
And asks her to go to the billings house
And check on bud and melanie and their children.
♪ ♪
[phone ringing]
[line clicks]
[siren wailing]
- Home security video reveals a key clue
To the billings' killers...
- The first thing that comes to mind
When you see that red van is,
We're gonna be able to find that.
- And find a tangled web of conspirators.
- They're all in complete black.
They look like ninjas.
- She's very successful,
And somehow, she's involved with these ninja characters.
- So now we're stuck with trying to figure out
All these players and how to prove it.
♪ ♪
- And it doesn't make any sense.
Why would you get yourself involved in this?
[dramatic music]
[siren wailing]
- July 9, 2009, a frantic 911 call
Sends police rushing to the home
Of bud and melanie billings in pensacola, florida.
♪ ♪
- We got dispatch telling us
That we needed to respond to a double murder.
♪ ♪
At that time, we didn't know much about it.
We didn't know if maybe it was a murder-suicide
Or what we had.
[siren wailing]
I pull up, and I see
Probably half of our patrol deputies on scene,
Lights everywhere.
- It was sort of surreal,
Because they're carrying babies and toddlers
And all different type of ages outside.
♪ ♪
Just that--that eeriness
Of how many kids were in that house
And trying to get 'em out.
- There's 8-13 kids that we're dealing with.
♪ ♪
We learn right away
A majority of them were nonverbal.
It was difficult getting anything out of 'em.
[siren wailing]
So after the kids were safe with a nanny...
♪ ♪
We started to walk through the crime scene.
Right away you noticed the door been kicked in,
That it was forced open.
You see some blood right there in the living room.
And then to the far right is the bedroom,
And you see mr. And mrs. Billings on the floor
Inside the bedroom.
[siren wailing]
[tense music]
- Based on the initial forensics noted at the scene,
It quickly becomes clear to detectives
That this is not a murder-suicide.
- You know, you've got these two individuals
Killed almost execution style.
♪ ♪
When you see that, that's when we knew it's definitely--
This is going to be different.
I mean, you know right away that
You're dealing with either robbery or home invasion,
Something of that nature.
[dramatic music]
- When the billings' daughter ashley arrives at the scene,
She points officers to something inside the house
That could help them get some answers.
♪ ♪
- There were cameras all over the place.
They had 16 cameras, and they were all working.
♪ ♪
- The reason they had the video system there
Was to keep an eye on all these special needs kids
That they didn't hurt themselves.
- Detectives rush the video equipment
Back to their tech team at headquarters,
Hopeful it will hold the answers
To what happened in bud and melanie's final moments.
- We had to actually pull the hard drive.
It had to be pulled and brought back
To the sheriff's office to be viewed.
♪ ♪
- Meanwhile, forensics teams continue
Through the night, processing the bloody scene
For physical evidence.
♪ ♪
- There wasn't a lot of evidence
Left by these killers,
Because they really covered their tracks,
Except for the shell casings.
♪ ♪
And then also, there were some shoe prints,
Because one of the doors had been kicked in,
And they found some boot prints outside the house.
♪ ♪
- Investigators send the physical evidence
For processing and return to the sheriff's office,
Where they are at last able to access the video
From the billings' home security system.
- When we finally start viewing the video,
It's clear as day.
You see this red van pull up.
♪ ♪
You see these people jump out.
♪ ♪
- We had five individuals moving across the yard.
But they're all in complete black--
Black shoes, shirts, in mask.
♪ ♪
So they look like ninjas.
- It was almost silence when we were watching it.
We couldn't believe what we were watching.
Then you see them kick in the front door,
Back door at the same time.
♪ ♪
It's not something that we had ever seen.
♪ ♪
- The surveillance footage tells a stunning story
About what happened inside the house.
- You could tell it was obviously planned.
♪ ♪
Military style,
Long guns, hand guns.
♪ ♪
- We see bud immediately puts his hands up.
- And he's trying to talk to these killers
That have come into his home with his kids and his wife.
[ominous music]
- Then you have two other masked men
Come in from down the hallway.
♪ ♪
- So the men that finally rush into the room, they get bud,
And they zip tie him,
And they push him to the floor.
- Within minutes of getting bud on the floor,
One of the guys shoots him twice, one in each leg...
[gunshots]
In the meaty part of the calf.
♪ ♪
Drag him, you know, into the master bedroom.
Drag melanie into the master bedroom.
♪ ♪
- Mr. Billings didn't have video in his bedroom,
So we didn't see them being killed.
[gunshots]
[tense music]
- Investigators rewind the video again and again,
Scouring it for clues,
And they spot something they didn't notice earlier.
We see there's a little boy in the living room.
♪ ♪
This little six, seven, eight-year-old kid
Watching and seeing his family get killed.
It was horrible.
- The child, he was with his dad
When the men broke into the house.
He wasn't in the bedroom, but he actually saw
His dad being shot.
He saw his mom being dragged.
♪ ♪
The gang pretty much just ignored him, you know,
While this was all going on.
And immediately, you know, just kept
Doing what they were doing.
♪ ♪
- I've covered a lot of murders,
And this one is the most shocking
Because it's basically caught on camera,
Memorializing the final moments
Of the billings' lives.
And all the children are there.
It's so unnerving.
And it's just sad, but also,
It's something you can't unsee.
♪ ♪
And then after that, you can see the ninja invaders
Quickly leaving the house.
- You see them getting into the van with an object.
♪ ♪
But it was hard to tell from the video
What they were carrying out of the house.
♪ ♪
- This whole thing happened in less than 10 minutes.
[dramatic music]
- So police are trying to figure out,
Is this just simply a home invasion
And people that want money,
Or why did this go down?
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Home security video has captured chilling details
Of the murders of bud and melanie billings
In front of their children.
Investigators believe the key to understanding what happened
May lie in the unidentified object
The killers are seen fleeing with on the blurry video.
- In the early moments of the investigation,
We were thinking that it was a robbery.
- The video answers a lot of questions,
But not the most important ones.
- So you have this great video of showing exactly
What happened, but you couldn't distinguish
Any type of facial features or anything like that.
And we didn't know what they took.
♪ ♪
- Investigators continue trying to decipher
The clues contained in the home security video.
They need to know exactly what was taken
From the billings home, why,
And most importantly, by whom.
♪ ♪
So they speak to those closest to bud and melanie,
Their oldest children, justin and ashley.
- Typically in a homicide,
They're gonna go first to the people that are closest.
So they're gonna go find out
Where all the family members were,
Get their interviews done quickly.
♪ ♪
[tense music]
- We found out through ashley
There was two different safes in the house.
The small safe was in his bedroom in a bedroom closet.
And there was another safe upstairs.
- And one of those safes is now missing.
♪ ♪
- So when we put the whole thing together,
You see them carrying what we know now
Is the small safe, putting it into the red van,
And you see everybody leaving.
In that safe, ashley had told us
There's, like, birth certificates,
Adoption paperwork,
Stuff of that nature for all these kids.
Some minor jewelry of her mom's, but not a lot.
♪ ♪
- So ashley tells police,
"look, they got away with a safe,
"but the other safe that's in the house
Is the one with the cash."
- There was a lot of money being made
With the used car business.
- So in the safe upstairs, there was, like,
$100,000 to $200,000, something like that,
Worth of cash inside.
[dramatic music]
- They took the wrong one.
♪ ♪
- They had no clue about the second safe,
And I just think it was a little bit of ignorance.
♪ ♪
- Investigators still have no leads
To the identities of the home invaders.
They hope one comes from their most promising clue,
The red van seen on the security video.
- The first thing
That comes to mind when you see that red van
Is we're gonna be able to find that.
- We got that video of the red van put out
On media, I mean, right away.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
- As police work on finding the killers,
The billings family is faced with another urgent task,
Taking care of the children who are now left orphaned.
[somber music]
Ashley, melanie's oldest daughter
From her previous marriage, rises to the challenge.
- She's taking care of all the kids.
- That's a big responsibility,
But those kids need someone that's close to 'em
And that knows what they need.
♪ ♪
- Days pass with no new leads on the red van
Or the identity of its occupants.
The evidence points to a robbery gone bad.
But with a safe full of cash left behind
And the two brazen murders, detectives begin to wonder
If something bigger is at play.
♪ ♪
- In the south, you don't speak ill of the dead
Until they're buried.
So my thought was, okay,
Once we get the funerals over with,
Somebody's gonna come forward.
♪ ♪
And sure enough, my theory turned out to be right.
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
We started hearing that bud was a great friend,
But he never got the wrong side of a business deal.
The stories that we were getting
Were the people that had had used car lots with them--
He would find a successful salesperson,
He would help them finance the cars,
But then when the sales start to fall off,
He didn't hesitate to take the whole lot from 'em.
And there were stories of him coming in
In the middle of the night, taking all the keys,
Moving all the cars in the lot,
And the guy going back to work to a lot he thought he had
With no cars.
- Might bud billings have crossed the wrong man?
- So there was a question whether this was just purely
To burglarize the billings, or was there some other motive
Behind this--was it a hit,
Was there a revenge motive to this?
♪ ♪
- We appreciate you coming in.
- Well, anything to help.
♪ ♪
- Bud's adult son, justin, sometimes worked with his dad
On his auto lots.
As police interview him about the murders,
He provides some intriguing details
About his father's business dealings.
- And when the police spoke to justin,
He gave them a name, a key to why
This might have all gone down.
- During the interview with justin,
He brings up cab tice.
He said, hey, this is a guy you might want to look at.
Him and my dad have had issues in the past.
And you might want to check him out.
♪ ♪
- Cab tice ran several car dealerships.
He had a flair for liking hawaiian shirts.
He tanned.
- Justin tells investigators that his father had
A business dispute with cab tice,
And bud had accused cab of stealing from him.
- So we start looking into cab tice.
We wind up going out there and making contact with cab.
And he made it clear that he had no use for mr. Billings.
♪ ♪
It kept just getting more interesting in every turn.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Two days after the murders of bud and melanie billings,
Bud's son justin has given police
The name of a potential suspect, cab tice.
♪ ♪
- The story was he and bud had a falling out.
Bud would finance his lot,
And cab would sell cars
And not give bud his share of the money.
If anybody had something against bud billings,
It was cab tice.
- Mr. Billings felt like cab owed him money.
They were not friendly at all.
It was clear.
♪ ♪
So when we start to talk to mr. Tice,
He was very frank.
- Said, "hey, I don't like the guy,
"I have no use for him,
"and I'm gonna be honest with you--
I'm not sad that he's gone."
- Detectives think cab tice could have
A motive to go after bud.
They press him to provide an alibi
For the night of the murders, and he tells them
He was working at a dealership an hour and a half
Outside of pensacola that evening.
- With no evidence that he committed any crime,
Police have no cause to hold cab.
- We let him go, letting him know that
We had to follow up, checking his alibi
And verify everything that he said.
- Despite their initial suspicions,
Detectives are able to corroborate cab's alibi.
[tense music]
♪ ♪
The case seems to be losing momentum,
But then investigators' strategy
Of asking for the public's help
Finding the red van seen at the billings' home
Finally pays off.
- Somebody calls up and says, "hey, I know this van.
I once owned it, and I sold it."
♪ ♪
- And I sold it to patrick gonzalez.
[dramatic music]
[siren wailing]
♪ ♪
Investigators go to the address of mr. Gonzalez
They had found in our computer database.
♪ ♪
- They drive by the house.
They--lo and behold, there's this van
Peeking out behind the trailer.
They go, and it looks like the one that is in the video.
♪ ♪
- I mean, it's just sitting there.
♪ ♪
- So police bring patrick gonzalez
To the police station for questioning.
♪ ♪
- So he tells the investigator that the van doesn't run,
Hasn't moved in a while,
And that it's his son's, gonzalez jr.'s.
♪ ♪
- So police have two suspects,
And they both have the same name.
One is senior, one is junior.
Leonard patrick gonzalez sr.
And then leonard patrick gonzalez jr.
- Detectives continue to press patrick gonzalez sr.
About the red van when suddenly he crumbles.
♪ ♪
- Patrick gonzalez sr. Tells the police that,
"hey, I was just a driver."
He spilled the beans on everything.
- He just basically spills his guts that
It's his son, patrick jr.,
Who masterminded the whole thing,
And it's all his fault.
I was just the getaway driver.
♪ ♪
- He said his son kind of brought him into this,
A father and son kind of escapade.
You know, instead of going fishing,
We're gonna go commit a robbery.
♪ ♪
- He talks about, you know, being told
About this being a drug dealer,
That nobody was gonna care if they robbed this guy.
And he was shocked when he heard
The gunshots go off in the house
And pretty much lays out the whole crime.
- Based on his confession, patrick gonzalez sr.
Is charged with being an accomplice.
- Senior tells us everything that happened,
But he doesn't know all the names of the other guys.
So now we're stuck with trying to figure out
All these players and how to prove it.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Police have traced the red van used
In the murders of bud and melanie billings
To patrick gonzalez sr.
He admits to being at the scene but insists
His son is the mastermind behind the deadly robbery.
- So as we start investigating gonzalez jr.,
We learn that he and--him and bud billings were friends
And knew each other.
♪ ♪
- They knew each other in the car business.
Patrick jr. Would work at different car lots.
They would do these big tent sales,
And he'd be one of the army of salespeople
That would do that.
- Because of what they have on patrick jr. From his father,
They bring him in for an interrogation.
♪ ♪
- Investigators do not immediately reveal
What patrick gonzalez's father has told them.
- He denies everything,
And he tells us his dad's mentally crazy,
"don't listen to nothing he says."
- Detectives believe patrick sr.'s story.
Patrick gonzalez jr. Is their prime suspect.
But they have to find proof that he was involved.
We had enough probable cause to keep senior.
We didn't have enough probable cause to keep junior,
So then we gotta keep following up.
We got to get enough evidence to prove his dad's story.
- That includes doing a deep dive
Into patrick jr.'s background.
♪ ♪
- Patrick jr., he had spent some time in prison
With a battery charge, an assault charge,
And he had come out.
He was very proficient in martial arts,
Had done some mma fighting.
Patrick had gone to bud to get money
To help with the studio that he had,
The martial arts studio that he started.
And bud was not interested in investing in his business.
♪ ♪
- Investigators believe they have discovered
A possible explanation
For why the robbery turned so inexplicably deadly.
Could patrick jr. Have been so angry at bud
For not investing in his studio
That he wanted him dead?
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
Police execute a search warrant
At patrick gonzalez sr.'s property
Where the red van was located.
- The search warrant at senior's house
Was incredibly huge.
It helps tie things together.
We wind up getting paint cans
Where they were trying to paint the vehicle
And some burned clothes and stuff like that.
We wound up getting a shoe box from walmart.
- So the shoe box is significant
Because the pattern on the bottom of those boots
Match the pattern of the shoe prints
Found at the billings' house after the double murder.
♪ ♪
- Detectives head to walmart and find surveillance footage
Matching the date and time on a receipt
Found with the shoe boxes,
And on it, they see patrick jr.
With a group of men police believe is the robbery crew.
- Well, all of them are on the video at walmart
Where we see him buying clothing
And shoes for the group that he had recruited.
♪ ♪
- Prosecutors feel they now have enough
To arrest patrick gonzalez jr.
♪ ♪
When they release the walmart video to the public,
Tips help them identify and arrest the other five men.
- They were tied to gonzalez jr.
Through a mechanic shop.
♪ ♪
So he winds up talking them into going into this house
And robbing it because this guy's got
Tons and tons of money in his safe.
- Police arrest wayne coldiron,
Donnie stallworth, gary sumner,
Rakeem florence, and frederick thornton.
But pieces of the puzzle are still missing.
- They arrested a lot of people,
But they didn't have the guns.
They didn't have the safe.
- Detectives continue interrogating their suspects,
Probing for leads to the guns and safe.
And as they do, they hear about
A mysterious woman who may be the key to that information.
[dramatic music]
- Pamela long wiggins, she's blonde,
She's a real estate agent, very successful,
Has a lot of money, and somehow she's involved
With these ninja characters.
- We wind up finding out that she rents
To gonzalez jr. A home in gulf breeze, florida.
He would collect money for her.
If people were giving her a hard time, not paying up,
Kick them out of homes, stuff of that nature.
So that was their connection.
♪ ♪
- Police learn from their suspects
That after the murders,
Patrick gonzalez jr. Met with pamela,
But then she disappeared.
Detectives manage to track pamela down just in time.
♪ ♪
- She was trying to leave.
And winded up locating her in a big yacht or boat
That they had in orange beach, alabama.
♪ ♪
When we get pamela long wiggins
Back to the sheriff's office,
She doesn't want to speak with us without an attorney.
♪ ♪
- But then they get an unexpected visit
From pamela's husband, hugh,
Looking to cut a deal for himself.
- Hugh wiggins was not on our radar at all.
So we're like, this case just gets crazier and crazier.
And he actually spills all the beans.
He sells his wife under the bus.
- Hugh had cut an immunity deal
With the state attorney's office.
And he told them where the guns could be found,
Where the safe was.
That was sort of a turning point in this investigation.
- Faced with her husband's betrayal,
Pamela admits to taking the guns and safe.
She tells detectives she got her marching orders
From patrick gonzalez jr.
And I let him talk me into it.
- Pamela wiggins is charged with accessory after the fact.
The rest of the crew are charged with murder
And armed home invasion.
As investigators continue to interrogate them,
They all point the finger at patrick gonzalez jr.
As the man who turned that night deadly.
- Because he's the one who pulls the trigger.
[gunshots]
[dramatic music]
- They explained that when they come in the front door
That it's gonzalez jr. Right away.
♪ ♪
When the first shot goes out, they're shocked.
And they tell us that gonzalez jr.
Shot them both while they were in the bedroom.
♪ ♪
- Gonzalez jr. Told this tale of how
We're going to rob these drug dealers and this bad guy
And there's millions and millions of dollars.
♪ ♪
- It was only supposed to be a robbery,
And they were pissed,
Because that is not what was supposed to happen.
♪ ♪
[dramatic music]
♪ ♪
- Prosecutors in patrick gonzalez jr.'s murder case
Are preparing for what they know will
Be a closely watched trial.
It's one of the most high profile cases
In pensacola's history.
- I think that what was a challenge in this case
Was that you want to make sure that
No stone goes unturned to make sure we obtain justice.
It's a death penalty case.
♪ ♪
- Leonard patrick gonzalez jr.
- Yes, your honor.
- Mr. Gonzalez, you've been arrested
On charges of homicide and home invasion
Robbery with a firearm.
♪ ♪
- In October 2010, the trial
Of patrick gonzalez jr.
For the murders of bud and melanie billings begins.
Prosecutors have plenty of evidence that
He wanted the billings' money.
- I think that gonzalez jr. Believed that
There was a treasure trove at that house.
- But they can't explain why he wanted them dead.
♪ ♪
- So the big question that still hangs in the balance is,
Why were the billings killed?
It just doesn't make sense,
Because they got what they wanted.
They got a safe.
So why kill the parents?
♪ ♪
- It was supposed to be just a simple robbery,
People needing money.
I really am not sure what was in gonzalez's mind.
But I think if you watch the video
And surveillance video when you see it,
As quickly as he shot him when he come in that door,
I think, in my opinion, he had full intentions
Of killing him as soon as he come in that door.
♪ ♪
He comes in the door and shoots him right away.
♪ ♪
- Patrick gonzalez won't provide
Any answers about his motive.
He maintains his innocence and declines to testify.
But the state has another powerful weapon.
As part of a plea deal, two of the crew members,
Rakeem florence and fredrick thornton,
Have agreed to testify
To their involvement in the murders.
- We walked florence and thornton through the video.
♪ ♪
And they would say, "that's me, that's this,
This is this person."
It became alive through them.
So you brought almost a color commentary
Right there from the guys who were inside the house.
I think it worked effectively.
The video was the overwhelming piece of evidence
That sealed the fate of all these folks.
The video cannot be cross-examined.
It puts the people where they're at.
It is the crime.
♪ ♪
- On October 28, 2010, the jury finds
Patrick gonzalez jr. Guilty of murder
And armed home invasion robbery.
♪ ♪
- The judge ultimately, after sentencing hearings,
Sentence him to death.
♪ ♪
- The other members of the deadly crew
All receive heavy prison sentences,
Ranging from 20 years to life.
♪ ♪
Both patrick gonzalez sr. And pamela wiggins
Die behind bars.
[soft music]
♪ ♪
- As a human being, you just have to look
At the senseless nature of it.
Just absolutely senseless violence
That has inexorably changed people's lives
By virtue of just mere greed, senseless greed.
And that's the thing that really saddens you,
'cause you know, in many ways,
All these people were drawn in for greed,
And then a senseless double murder takes place.
Families are torn apart.
Both sides of the equation are forever changed by this.
♪ ♪
- Family was at the center of bud and melanie's life.
Their daughter ashley keeps their legacy alive
By continuing to care for the children
Loved by the couple.
- I just hope that one day that the kids grow up
And they know that melanie and bud did love them.