Olivia Piccolo, a 29-year-old mother from Merritt Island, Florida, was supposed to pick up her five-and seven-year-old children from their father, Joseph Dingwall’s, Cocoa-situated home on Wednesday, October 7, as per their custody arrangement.
When she arrived, she tried contacting him several times to coordinate the exchange, but her attempts went unanswered.
She then approached her ex-husband’s front door to ring the bell, only to find it ajar.
What she discovered inside prompted a 911 call and led Mayor Michael C. Blake to ask the community to keep the family in their thoughts.
“We ask you to continue to hold them in prayer, show support and love because tough times don’t always last, tough people do,” he said.
29-year-old mother Olivia Piccolo faced a parent’s worst nightmare during a custody pickup
Siblings Aria and Remy Dingwall were found deceased inside their father’s home, according to the Cocoa Police Department.
Joseph, for his part, was also found unresponsive.
Police believe he was “responsible for the children’s deaths,” and the evidence at the scene indicated he used a firearm to first take their lives and then his own.
According to WESH 2, a local news network affiliated with ABC, a neighbor named Marcos Garcia told authorities that they heard “two clear g**shots” around midnight at the residence.
WFTV, another local news outlet, obtained surveillance footage from a neighbor’s house from around that time showing a man leaving the residence and pacing in circles before going back inside.
It remains unclear if the man was Joseph.
Police said they had been called to the home close to a dozen times in the past
Cocoa Police Chief Evander Collier IV said in an October 8 press briefing that dispatch reports for the address since 2021 show 11 calls for service, ranging from medical help to suspicious activity.
He added that the preliminary investigation did not return further details on the calls.
One of the 911 calls, however, listed “s**cide” as the cause, he confirmed, without confirming whether the report was directly related to Joseph or another resident.
The kids’ grandmother, Cheryl Trimmer, also spoke with the press amid the investigation.
She said she had no idea why Joseph did what he is believed to have done, as they had gone for a movie on Friday night.
“He loved his children… He was a wonderful person. They got along pretty good. I just feel numb,” she added.
Two fundraisers have been set up to support Olivia Piccolo and help her honor her children
A page for GiveSendGo described Piccolo as someone “facing not only overwhelming grief but also the financial burdens that come with such a sudden and tragic loss.”
“There are funeral and memorial expenses to consider, immediate financial needs and the reality that she will need significant time away from work to grieve, heal and begin navigating life after losing her precious children,” the page explained.
In a GoFundMe set up for Piccolo, meanwhile, the family remembered Remy as a “strong, kind and intelligent young boy who loved his video games, music and friends.”
“He was in the gifted program at school and excelled at anything he put his mind to,” the page added.
Aria, on the other hand, was described as “bright, courageous and compassionate little girl who loved her squishy dumplings, all animals, and everything pink, just like her mama.”
Ultimately, the grieving family said Remy and Aria were not just siblings but “best friends” who should have had “the chance to grow up together, make each other laugh, annoy each other, protect each other and one day look back on their childhood with a lifetime of memories.”
This was not the first recent case of a parent harming their own child.
A Houston mother took her daughter’s life amid a bitter custody dispute last month
Cibelle and Aaron were married between 2020 and 2024.
On September 29, 2026, the mother lost the primary caregiving rights to four-year-old Vivian to the father and responded by taking the girl’s life with a firearm.
She had also attempted to end her life with the same weapon but had a pulse when police responded to the scene.
She was taken to the hospital where she received 48 hours of medical care before her demise.
The court had placed numerous restrictions on Cibelle’s contact with Vivian during the final custody hearing.
Among them were that she could only spend time with her daughter under the supervision of a local organization that provided safe visitation and child exchanges for families navigating high-conflict relationships, domestic violence, or substance dependency, and not speak in her mother tongue, Portuguese.
Cibelle’s actions sparked support for the court’s ruling, with a netizen writing, “the judge sensed the kind of betrayal she was capable of making.”
“The system failed these kids,” another user said about Aria and Remy
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