Grieving mom’s furious outrage at ex after she found her young children’s dead bodies during custody handover: ‘You were supposed to be their protector’

DAILYMAIL.COM • 3h ago

By EMMA RICHTER, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER 18:26 11 Oct 2026, updated 18:34 11 Oct 2026

A grieving mother shared her fury with her children’s father after he allegedly killed them in a suspected murder-suicide.

Olivia Piccolo went to pick up her children, seven-year-old Remy and five-year-old Aria, at their father’s home in Cocoa, Florida, on Wednesday for a custody handover, she told police.

She said she tried to get in touch with their dad, Joseph Dingwall, 37, and went over to the residence after not hearing from him, authorities said.

But when she got there, the front door was ajar, and she found her two beloved children shot to death alongside their dad, according to the Cocoa Police Department.

The circumstances surrounding the deadly shooting remain unknown, but in the days that have followed, Piccolo has gone on to share her immense grief.

In one Facebook post, she appeared to slam Dingwall for failing to protect their kids.

‘I’m still in shock. You were supposed to be their protector. Their provider. One of their safe places. I’m so angry,’ the heartbroken mother said.

‘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.

‘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. I will always love you and I promise you will be remembered for who you both are not by what happened.

‘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.’

In another post, Piccolo described the harsh reality she’s been faced with.

‘Tonight I switched over my laundry that had been sitting in my washer untouched since Tuesday evening…… I saw tiny socks, I saw tiny underwear (pull-ups is what aria called it for a while), I saw husky boys underwear, and I saw so many boys tshirts,’ she wrote.

The post, shared on Saturday evening, continued: ‘I stopped for a second and said I can’t do this. But then something in my [sic] reminded me that I can do it, my children have given me the strength since they were born to keep pushing through, no matter how hard it might be.’

After the police were called to the home, a neighbor said that he heard what sounded like gunshots about 12 hours earlier.

‘Two gunshots. Two clear gunshots, and it was 12.20 a.m., midnight,’ Marcos Garcia told WESH 2, 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 said they had been called to the home 11 times since 2021 for ‘a variety of calls,’ including ‘medical and suspicious activities,’ Cocoa Police Department Chief Evander Collier IV said.

When asked about the details of 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.

An investigation into the fatal incident remains ongoing. The Daily Mail contacted the Cocoa Police Department for comment.

A GiveSendGo fundraiser has since been launched to help Piccolo raise money for her children’s funerals.

According to a friend who started the campaign, Remy was just shy of his eighth birthday.

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

A GoFundMe page was also set up to help raise funds for the family.

‘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.

Remy has been remembered as a ‘fierce protector of his little sister and his mother,’ it continued.

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