Byrd Billing’s Sister Says The Murder Doesn’t Seem Real

Florida Jackson "It's like somebody has hit me in the stomach" said Judy Sisson. "It's still not real. I know it in my head but my heart hasn't connected yet."

by Nicholas Beadle, The Jackson (Tenn.) Sun

Published: Tue, July 14, 2009 - 6:25 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, July 14, 2009 - 7:25 pm CST

JACKSON, TENN. -- Five days after the call from her nephew, Judy Sisson was still trying to catch her breath today.

Her younger brother Byrd Billings, whom she calls Buddy, and his wife, Melanie, were shot to death in a home invasion in Beulah on Thursday.

"It's like somebody has hit me in the stomach," said Sisson, who lives in Jackson, Tenn. "It's still not real. I know it in my head, but my heart hasn't connected yet."

Authorities have detained seven suspects, and law enforcement officials said today that robbery was the motive.

Sisson, 70, said the couple and some of their children had visited with her and her husband in Jackson last year.

"He was one of the kindest people you would ever meet -- him and his wife both," she said. "You could just walk in their house and feel loved. That was the kind of people they were."

Sisson said she and her brother were originally from Longtown, Miss. Their parents eventually moved to Memphis. Byrd lived with her and husband in Jackson when he was a teenager, she added. Byrd and a previous wife later lived near Sisson and her husband until he moved to Greenville, Miss., in the late 1970s.

He later moved to Florida after he and his first wife separated, she said.

Byrd and Melanie Billings adopted children with disabilities. Sisson's son Chris has Down syndrome, and Melanie's biological daughter Nikki was diagnosed with autism and cerebral palsy.

"They were people that had a lot to give," Sisson said. "(Melanie) had told me that because my husband and I were older that if anything had ever happened to us, not to worry about our son Chris 'cause he would be taken care of. She just wanted me to know that Chris would be OK."

The killings have made national headlines because of the number of children the couple had and the precision and brutality of the attack.

Sisson said she was getting ready to go to sleep Thursday night when she got a call from her nephew Justin, one of Byrd's adopted sons.

"Really, all he told me is that there had been a home invasion and that Melanie and Bud were both dead," Sisson said. "Most of what I know I've seen on the news."

Sisson said seeing details about the attack unravel on television has seemed like "watching a bad movie," but what has happened likely will become more palpable as she travels to Florida Wednesday.

She said she is hopeful that somehow a positive meaning can be divined from what happened to her brother.

"Something good comes from everything that happens," Sisson said. "I'm hoping the good will show up soon."

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