Mom arrived for custody handover to discover ex had killed their daughter, 5, son, 7, and himself

DAILYMAIL.COM • 2m ago

By EMMA RICHTER, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER 21:23 08 Oct 2026, updated 22:51 08 Oct 2026

A Florida mother found her two young children and their father shot dead when she went to pick up the kids during a custody handover, police said.

Olivia Piccolo, 29, called 911 around 12.40pm on Wednesday after she made the grisly discovery at Joseph Dingwall’s home in Cocoa, about 46 miles outside of Orlando, Cocoa Police Department Chief Evander Collier IV said.

Dingwall, the children’s father, was also found dead inside the home that he owned, Fox 35 reported. Police believe he killed his children and then himself.

Their seven-year-old son Remy and five-year-old daughter Aria died in the apparent murder-suicide, authorities said.

Remy was just about to ring in his eighth birthday, according to a GiveSendGo fundraiser.

He and his little sister have been remembered as ‘two very precious and deeply loved children,’ the page read.

Piccolo found the three of them after entering the home through an ajar front door, officials stated.

She told police that she previously tried to get in contact with Dingwall, 37, because it was her day to have the children, but he did not respond.

The circumstances surrounding the deaths remain unknown and an investigation remains ongoing.

A neighbor told WESH 2 that he heard what sounded like gunshots around 12.20am earlier that morning.

‘Two gunshots. Two clear gunshots, and it was 12.20 a.m., midnight,’ Marcos Garcia said, adding that he heard the noises across the street.

It is unclear if what he heard came from the home involved in the case. Collier said that no 911 calls came in around that time.

Police have been called to the home 11 times since 2021 for ‘a variety of calls’, including ‘medical and suspicious activities,’ the chief stated.

When asked to detail the calls, Collier said he did not have that information.

Footage captured from a neighbor’s security camera appeared to capture Dingwall outside the home around the time shots rang out, according to police.

A GoFundMe page has also been launched to help Piccolo raise money so she can lay her children to rest.

‘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.

‘They were her entire world. Her life revolved around them, and every part of her heart belonged to being their mother,’ the fundraiser read.

The Daily Mail contacted the Cocoa Police Department for comment.

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