Olivia Piccolo found her two children and their father dead from gunshot wounds when she arrived to pick them up for a scheduled custody visit.
Piccolo, 29, went to the Cocoa, Florida home of her ex-partner Joseph Dingwall, 37, on Wednesday afternoon to collect daughter Aira, 5, and son Remy, 7, for her custody day, Cocoa Police Chief Evander Collier IV said at a press conference. The door was standing partially open when she arrived. She entered and discovered all three bodies.
“The door was partially ajar and she went inside and found all three deceased,” Collier said.
Officials wrote in an email to The Post that Dingwall was “believed to be responsible for the children’s deaths.” The case is being investigated as a suspected murder-suicide.
About twelve hours before Piccolo’s discovery, neighbor Marcos Garcia heard gunfire from the direction of Dingwall’s home. “Two gunshots. Two clear gunshots, and it was 12.20 a.m., midnight,” Garcia told WESH 2 News. Garcia did not contact police at the time. Dingwall was later caught on Garcia’s doorbell camera pacing outside his home with a flashlight shortly after the shots were heard.
Police records show Dingwall’s residence had generated eleven prior calls for various “medical and suspicious activities,” officials said.
A GoFundMe campaign established by a family friend to cover funeral costs and support Piccolo had raised more than $15,000 by Friday morning. The page offered portraits of the two children whose lives were cut short.
Remy was remembered as a “strong, kind, and intelligent young boy who loved his video games, music, and friends” who “excelled at anything he put his mind to” and “was a fierce protector of his little sister and his mother.”
Aira was described as a “bright, courageous, and compassionate little girl who loved her squishy dumplings, all animals, and everything pink, just like her mama.”
“She was only five years old, with so much growing, learning, loving, and living still ahead of her,” the fundraising page stated.
The site emphasized Piccolo’s devotion to her children. “Anyone who knew Olivia, even for a short amount of time, knew about her children. You couldn’t know Olivia without knowing how much Remy and Aria meant to her,” it continued.
“They were her entire world. Her life revolved around them, and every part of her heart belonged to being their mother.”
Cocoa Mayor Michael C. Blake reportedly asked the community to rally around Piccolo. “We ask that you continue to hold them up in prayer, show support and love because tough times don’t always last, tough people do,” he said.
Police have not publicly disclosed a motive for the killings.