Today, I want to take a second to reflect on this rabbit hole I have jumped into. I entered into this with intrigue & curiosity. I have never known anyone that was on national television, until July 2009. I was floored because it was just so surreal. Who sees an acquaintance on tv as a “mastermind” or “murderer”? It took my breath away. But then I thought about what I knew of Patrick. I knew him from working at Village Inn and through Katie Herkel who was became his first wife. I knew they had a daughter who was the spitting image of Patrick. I knew Patrick to be con-man full of hot air. He claimed this and claimed that. To be honest, I never believed anything he said. He was charismatic & he is a natural leader. I knew that his marriage to Katie went South and obviously it was a difficult divorce because of Bella. That’s it–until 2009 when I see him on television.
I watched all the news and read all the papers. I watched his trial–the entire 3 days of it. It sounds legitimate. The semblance of evidence was waved around. Sheriff Morgan made absolute statements there were no “alleged” or “suspects”; there was “certainty”, “conspiracy” & “murderers”. There were DEA & FBI involvement; then there wasn’t. Then Cab Tice was the ultimate mastermind, which never changed but Patrick became the “ring leader”. Ninja garb. Home Invasion.
Patrick is a professional mixed martial art master. I knew this through Katie. Why would he shoot someone it would be easier for someone with his skill set to use his obvious advantage? Why would someone bust into this compound to get money when knocking over the old guy with a $100,000 in a briefcase as he got out of his car at work or at any time when he was alone? Why bust through a house that they knew had cameras? Everyone of the suspects said that was supposed to be disarmed, implicating someone close to the family. Why would they go to this trouble to do this? This was not a robbery. This was a hit and a huge event that needn’t be that big. The man was 73 years old. He wasn’t in any condition to fight off a one on one attack.
Why would anyone do this anyway? Who is the person who gains the most? That’s Criminology 101. The family got the entirety of the estate. Why weren’t they ever looked at? It just didn’t make sense. None of it. This was supposed to be a “humdinger” according to Sheriff Morgan with a great deal of elements, but then it came down to a simple home invasion robbery. What? Simple? Robbery? None of this makes sense. Cab Tice was about to be prosecuted for stealing from Billings. Why wasn’t he looked at? He wasn’t even questioned until after Patrick was arrested. Justin Billings said within moments of the horrific murder of his parents without a shred of emotion that a man named Walter told him this was a hit by Colorado gang. What? A gang? A 73 year old man? What the hell is going on?
Conjuring Justice 
This is a very good point. Many of the items you mention, occurred to me also. I’ve known Patrick and his mother for the better part of 20 years. The first thing I said to myself was “could Patrick ever kill someone?”…..I answered to myself “yes, but only to protect himself
or his family!” Then I learned that the murder was done with a gun and I said unequivocally that it just couldn’t be Pat.because of the gun. He would not have needed a weapon, he was a weapon. Then the idea that Patrick would kill someone for money??? UNHEARD of. He was at my home many, many times. I never had so much as a dollar missing and at times we had large sums of money at our home. The farce that was created and then allowed to continue is certainly a travesty. I certainly hope and pray that all the conspirators that worked so hard to put Pat in jail, has to suffer some justice!!! How could a man be convicted of a crime with absolutely no evidence. This was also done in another case. The case of Ryan Ferguson (in Missouri). After 10 years he was finally released….. I pray this happens for Patrick as well but I pray it doesn’t take 10 years again!
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