Inset: Aria (left) and Remy Dingwall (GoFundMe). Background: Surveillance footage reportedly showing Joseph Dingwall (circled in red) outside his home before the murder-suicide (WESH).
A Florida man shot his two young children dead before turning the gun on himself, leaving the children's mother to find them all.
The Cocoa Police Department held a press conference on Thursday to confirm the identities of 7-year-old Remy Dingwall and 5-year-old Aria Dingwall, who were found dead by their mother, Olivia Piccolo, on Wednesday at their father's home in Cocoa, Florida. Police said the children's father, 37-year-old Joseph Dingwall, killed Remy and Aria and then himself in a murder-suicide. During the press conference, Cocoa Police Chief Evander Collier IV said Piccolo tried to call Dingwall but was unable to reach him.
Piccolo went to Dingwall's home to pick up her children as part of her custody arrangement with Dingwall, and when she got to the home, the door was ajar.
After finding Dingwall and her children dead inside at 12:43 p.m. on Wednesday, Piccolo called 911.
Local NBC affiliate WESH spoke to Marcos Garcia, a neighbor who lives across from Dingwall. He told the network that he heard "two shots" at 12:20 a.m., saying the sound came from across the street. Garcia's surveillance cameras captured what police believe is Dingwall walking around the front of his house with a flashlight. WESH obtained the video, which showed a time stamp of around 12:20 a.m.
Collier said during the press conference that no calls were placed reporting the gunshots.
When asked about a possible motive for the murders, Collier said the investigation was ongoing. Collier said that there had been "about 11 calls" to Dingwall's home since 2021, including calls concerning "suspicious" activity, but he did not go into detail.
In a GoFundMe page started by a family friend, Remy and Aria were described as "siblings, best friends, and each other's little world." Another friend started a fundraiser on GiveSendGo to raise money for the children's funeral expenses as well as financial support for Piccolo.