Martial Arts Murderer??? And I Knew the Guy…

A few days ago, I was in front of my mac, sipping my morning java and scanning the current news headlines on CNN.com.

I noticed that authorities had acquired surveillance footage of the cadre of individuals, dressed in ninja-like garb, breaking into the house of Byrd and Melanie Billings. As you may recall, the Florida couple was murdered in cold blood, while nine of their seventeen children was in the house.

I was already familiar with the story since it was all over the news, but I couldn’t resist clicking on the link to see the actual surveillance footage of the entry.

Quite honestly, I thought some valuable self-defense lessons would result from taking the time to watch.

Like most news clips, the video contained more than just the footage of the guys breaking in. In fact, a few pictures of the bad guys, who were quickly taken into custody, went flying by the screen.

It was at that moment when I nearly fell out of my chair.

I never forget a face. So I quickly rewound the video and paused it over the mug shots.

After focusing on the face of Leonard Patrick Gonzalez, Jr., I immediately experienced a case of tunnel vision and auditory exclusion. A little more research on Google and I found videos of Patrick teaching martial arts to kids. Positive ID!

(Gulp!)

I never knew the “mastermind behind the killings” as a Leonard. That’s why his name, when first announced, slipped under my radar. During the time I knew him he was a member of the National Association of Professional Martial Artists (NAPMA), of which I was the President. We referred to him as Patrick Gonzalez.

Let me tell you… this guy had a major screw loose!

Patrick used to randomly stop by our office in Clearwater.  At the time, we had more than 2,000 members. We were the world’s largest professional martial arts association and Patrick was just one of many members.

When Patrick would show up at our office, always unannounced, the whole staff used to get creeped out. Especially Melissa Gouley, who was our office manager at the time. She just used to squirm when he was around…and she would always be so relived when he finally left the building.

Patrick had a Jekyl and Hyde personality. We had all sorts of problems with him. He was highly unpredictable.

Once Patrick suddenly appeared at a restaurant I was dining at in Ohio.  I was eating dinner with “the greatest fighter in the history of karate,” Mr. Joe Lewis. Joe is a former movie star (who is doing some movie stunt work in Thailand at the moment) and the former World Heavyweight Karate champion.

Well, upon noticing us, Patrick simply invited himself to sit at our table. He was loud and belligerent. Extremely rude and drunk…again.  I was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with his behavior and I couldn’t seem to get rid of him. Eventually he took food off Mr. Lewis’ plate and ate it.

That was the last straw. I literally had to grab him by the arm and escort him away from our table. He did not resist.

Next day, Patrick was in tears…apologizing up and down. He was as gentle as a lamb, sobbing.  Seemed like the nicest, most apologetic and sincere guy in the world. Yeah, Ted Bundy seemed that way too from what I understand.

Another time, Patrick caused one of our convention speakers to get arrested during a “World Conference” we were hosting in Clearwater Beach.

Me and others were out celebrating the event, when Patrick just showed up as usual. Again, he became drunk and unruly.  I left early, but some of the others stayed behind.

About 3am, the phone in my hotel room began to ring.  Waking from a cold sleep, my fiancé answered the phone and handed it to me. It was one of our convention speakers…calling me from the Clearwater jail.

Allegedly, Patrick talked our speaker into giving him a ride back to the convention hotel from the club. As they were coming over the Clearwater Causeway, Patrick was hanging out of the window of the car, yelling, being a drunk idiot and creating a scene.

This attracted the attention of a cop, who naturally pulled them over. I guess our speaker, who was driving the car, was legally over the limit. Thanks to Patrick our guy ended up with a DUI, a night in jail and a nasty blemish on his record.  Shame!

The problems with Patrick Gonzalez never seemed to end ranging from bounced checks to psychotic phone calls. Eventually, we had to terminate his membership. It was the right thing to do…and he was one of only a few of our thousands of members whose membership was actually cancelled by us.

Long after he was no longer even a member….he phoned us from jail. I can’t even recall why he was locked up. Now it’s my understanding that he had been arrested many times for various offenses.

Pat Gonzalez is one of the few people I’ve ever met in my life who truly scared me on the spot. I’ll never forget the look in his eyes and that scar on the side of his head, as he approached me once…reaching out to grab me.

All I can tell you is that I personally witnessed the demon lurking inside him. I felt it.

In an instant, his eyes changed, the shape of his mouth changed and he rocked from right to left as he approached me….gritting his teeth. I instinctively dropped back into a fighting stance and circled around the guy.

But I’ll tell you this….I’ve never forgotten that moment and you simply couldn’t relate to it unless you’ve experienced it. VERY CREEPY!

So what’s the lesson here?

Well, I guess you could say that you never know whom you are dealing with. I knew that Patrick Gonzalez wasn’t right, but I never imagined he would become a murderer.

So always keep your guard up. And always trust your instincts. Once you see the warning signs, it’s best to get people like Patrick Gonzalez out of your life. As Byrd and Melanie Billings discovered…you may not get a second chance.