The Pensacola area made national headlines this monthwhen local law enforcement ended the alleged crime spree of a pair of accused kidnappers U.S. Marshals dubbed the "modern-day Bonnie and Clyde."
Still, that story may not even crack the top 10 most unusual and memorable cases to take place in the area.
'Bonnie & Clyde' crime spree ends in Milton; man dead
One of Pensacola's finest arrested one of America's most wanted, the infamous serial killer Ted Bundy, on Cervantes Street exactly 38 years ago Monday. Pensacola is also the city where law enforcement officers captured Old West outlaw John Hardin, a desperadofabled to have shot a man for snoring.
It's a place where aformer county commissioner under investigation for corruption reportedlycommitted suicide under his homeby drinking antifreeze from a Heineken bottle, a doctor was investigated for keeping human remains in a storage unitand a man allegedly killed his mother and two brothers in a ritual tied to the Blue Moon.
John Molchan, an assistant state attorney with roughly 30 years of experience and seven death penalty cases under his belt, said for some reason Florida is a magnetfor the unusual.
"It's kind of the getaway state," he said. "It's kind of like California,'Where dreams come true.' Unfortunately, sometimes the dreams turn into nightmares in this neck of the woods."
In a state and city where bizarre is often the norm, the followingfive crime stories still manage to stand out:
The Black Widow
Car bombs are usually a tool of militants and mafiosos, but prosecutors said a Gulf Breeze woman used one in an attempt to blow up her boyfriend outsidea downtown Pensacola restaurant in 1983.
The explosive murder attemptalone would make the case ofJudias Buenoano sensational, but by the end of the ensuing investigation attorneys tiedBuenoano to the murder of a previous husband, a Colorado boyfriend and her own 19-year-oldson.
Before the car bombing, Buenoano's boyfriend John Gentry startedexperiencing nausea and vomiting whenshe began giving him a daily "vitamin C" pill. Chemistsdetermined the pills containedparaformaldehyde, a potent toxin, and investigators eventually learned that Buenoano hadtaken out a $510,000 insurance policy on hislife.
The case prompted officials to exhume the body ofAir Force Sgt. James Goodyear, a former spouse of Buenoano's who died of a strange illness a few months after returning from Vietnam in 1971.Forensic pathologists found evidence ofchronic arsenic exposure in his system, as well as in the body of another of Buenoano's deceased boyfriends, Bobby Joe Morris.
Buenoano was also charged and convictedin the 1980 death of herson, Michael Goodyear. Michael suffered paraplegia and wore leg braces, and prosecutors said Buenoano took him onto the East River in Milton in a canoe and pushed him overboard.
Buenoano's husband and son carried more than $170,000 in life insurance.
The black widow was ultimately convicted of both of the Goodyears' murders, as well as the attempted murder of Gentry.
She died in the electric chair in 1998, and was the first woman executed in Florida in more than a century.
The death-defying money mogul
Indianapolis-area financial mogulMarcusSchrenker didn't win any good Samaritan awards after conningnumerous friends and family members out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
However, he did win stylepoints for his getaway attempt.
In 2009, Schrenker faked his death byjumpingout a plane mid-flight,parachutingto a waiting getawaymotorcycle and going on the lam for three days. The James Bond-esque stunt made national news, largely because his abandonedaircraft crash landednot far from a Milton home.
Prior to the incident, the financial advisor lived a life of luxury at a lake-side mansion in Indiana. It all came tumbling down when the state began investigating Schrenker for securities fraud, his wife filed for divorce and his clients discovered their money was being funneledinto Schrenker's pockets instead ofa portfolio.
According to prosecutors, Schrenker decided to escape it all by climbing into the co*ckpit and flying from Indiana to Alabama. Somewhere near Birmingham, he faked a distress call, put the plane on autopilot and bailed out.
The aircraft continued another 200 miles before crashing into a swampy area about 75 yards from a house.
Schrenker made his wayto a storage unit where he had stashed a red Yamaha motorcycle. Authorities eventually located him at a campground outside Tallahassee withhiswrist slit, but he survived his wounds.
Schrenker was sentenced to 10 years in prison for securities fraud, and an additional four-year federal prison term for causing the plane crash.
The King Brothers
In 2001, another murder within a localfamily made headlines.
Alex King and Derek King were12 and 13 respectively when theybeat their father,Terry King, to death with an aluminum batas he slept in a recliner inside their Cantonment home. The boys then set the home on fire and fled to the home of a convicted child sex offender whom they had befriended.
At the time, the boys reportedly told investigators they killed their father because they were planning to run away and were worried about being punished. Though the boys claimed they had suffered abuse at the hands of their father, when pressed they described the abuse as mostly spankings and "intense stares."
The children often sought refuge at the home ofRicky Chavis, who according to the Kings allowed them to hang out at his home and smoke marijuana. Following the homicide, hehelped the boyslay low for a few daysand assisted them in hiding evidence. He was ultimately arrested as an accessory to murder.
Though Alex made statements that he had a sexual relationship with Chavis and corrections officers found a "love letter" to the 12-year-old in Chavis' cell, prosecutors never found enough evidence to prosecute any charges of a sexual nature.
Because of their age and indications they had been manipulated by Chavis,Alex and Derek were sentenced to sevenand eightyears incarceration respectively. Theyhave since been released.
Chavis is currently serving a 30-year sentence for false imprisonment of a minor, being an accessory to murder and obstructing an investigation.
The Cormier Brothers
Another local incident that made national news was a killing that seemed made for a TV movie.
Sean Dugas, a former News Journal reporter, was killed by a pair of twin brothers who stole his collection of valuabletrading cards and buried his body in their father's Georgia backyard.
Dugas had been friends with Christopher and WIlliam Cormier for years before the homicide, and group often got together to play the card game "Magic: The Gathering." Dugas' cards werevalued at more than $100,000, and prosecutors said a cash-strapped William hatched the plot to kill Dugas and steal his collection.
Dugas was beaten to death with a hammer, then stuffed into a plastic storage bin. To cover their tracks, the twins rented a U-Haul, loaded up Dugas' body and belongings and told neighbors that they were helping the victim move away.
Sean Dugas remembered ahead of trial in his death
The Cormiers reportedly threw away most of the furniture and sold off parts of the card collection piecemeal to collectors around the south. The brothers then went to their family home in Winder, Georgia, and buried the storage bin in the backyard.
After Dugas was reported missing, investigators went to visit the Cormiers because they were among the last to see the manalive. After noticing freshly disturbed groundon the property, officerseventually got a warrant and found Dugas' remains.
In court, the twins pointed the finger at each other,but evidenceshowed that William had rented the truck and purchased most of the materials used to hide the body and clean up the crime scene.
William was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Christopher was found to be an accessory to murder and sentenced to 15 years.
The 'humdinger'
Leonard Patrick Gonzalez Jr. told his accomplices there was $13 million inside a safe inthe Beulah home ofByrd and MelanieBillings.
Lured by the promise of abig score, five men donned black "ninja garb" and broke into the couple's ruralresidence on July 9, 2009. The Billings shared the home with numerous adopted children with special needs, some of whom were in the home when Gonzalez shot the couple "executed-style."
The intruders did get away with a safe that night, but it contained only documents, children's medicine and costume jewelry. A second safe — which contained about $12.85 million less than Gonzalez estimated —was left in the house untouched.
Gonzalez death sentence upheld in Billings murders
Getaway drivers sped the crew away from the scene anddumped the guns used in the robbery. Eventually the stolen safe was found buried in the backyard of an accessory,Gulf Breeze resident Pamela Long Wiggins.
The case drew coverage from all over the world, withSheriff David Morgan famously callingthe case "a real humdinger."
Eight people ultimately received prison sentences in connection with the case, with Gonzales being handed the death penalty.
In 2015, both Long Wiggins and Gonzalez's father, Leonard Gonzalez Sr., died of health issues while incarcerated.
The Billings' elder daughter is nowraising her adopted siblings.
Billings' murders don't destroy family
