Olivia Piccolo has spoken out against the ex who killed their two children in a murder-suicide.
Piccolo, 29, found her daughter Aria, 5, and son Remy, 7, dead at Joseph Dingwall’s home in Cocoa, Florida, during what was supposed to be a routine custody exchange. Dingwall, 37, died by suicide after shooting the children, according to police.
“You were supposed to be their protector,” Piccolo wrote of Dingwall in an online post. “Their provider. One of their safe places. I’m so angry.”
The grieving mother continued on the platform, “But my anger will never ever outweigh my love for my children. From the minute I found out I was going to be a mom, my whole entire life changed.”
She addressed her children directly in the post, promising, “I will always love you and I promise you will be remembered for who you both are not by what happened,” Piccolo added, “I swear I’ll love you forever and ever and I will let every person in this world know how amazing each of you are.”
The Florida mom has also shared that she “would do anything” to have her two young kids “running around, destroying things, making huge messes,” She said she won’t be removing the pink “lipstick mess” from the walls that Aria made last week.
“I don’t have much to say right at this moment but I want everyone to know Remy and Aria deserved so much more and how proud I was to be their mother,” Piccolo wrote.
A fundraiser described Remy as a “strong, kind and intelligent young boy who loved his video games, music and friends,” while Aria was hailed as someone who was “bright, courageous, and compassionate.”
Neighbors reported hearing “two clear gunshots” at midnight on Wednesday, roughly 12 hours before the father and his two children were discovered dead. It remains unclear whether those shots originated from inside the property.
Cheryl Trimmer, Dingwall’s grandmother, struggled to reconcile the violence with the man she knew. “I don’t know why he would do this… I know we just went to the movies on Friday night,” Trimmer told Florida Today. “I just feel numb. He loved his children… Joseph, he was a wonderful person. They got along pretty good,” she said of her grandson.
The motive and circumstances behind the suspected murder-suicide still remain unclear.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.