Make New York Post a Preferred Source A heartbroken Florida mom who found her two kids shot dead by their dad in a shocking murder-suicide said she was shocked and “so angry” that they were taken by the man who was “supposed to be their protector.”
Olivia Piccolo, 29, ripped Joseph Dingwall, 37, just days after she found her daughter, Aria, 5, and son Remy, 7, dead at Dingwall’s home in Cocoa during what was supposed to be a routine custody exchange.
“You were supposed to be their protector,” Piccolo said of her ex, who cops say killed himself after being “responsible for the children’s deaths.”
“Their provider. One of their safe places. I’m so angry,” the grieving mom raged in an online post.
Olivia Piccolo posing with her daughter Aria. Olivia Piccolo / Facebook “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,” Piccolo wrote of her kids.
“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,” she said.
“I will always love you and I promise you will be remembered for who you both are not by what happened,” she told the children.
“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.”
Piccolo has since reminisced on how she “would do anything” to have her two young kids “running around, destroying things, making huge messes.”
Aria Dingwall, 5, and her brother Remy, 7, were found dead Wednesday. Olivia Piccolo / Facebook She said she wouldn’t be removing the pink “lipstick mess” from the walls that Aria made last week.
The motive and circumstances behind the suspected murder-suicide still remain unclear.
“I don’t know why he would do this… I know we just went to the movies on Friday night,” Cheryl Trimmer, Dingwall’s grandmother, told Florida Today.
“I just feel numb. He loved his children… Joseph, he was a wonderful person. They got along pretty good,” Trimmer said, speaking of her grandson.
A fundraiser described Remy as a “strong, kind and intelligent young boy who loved his video games, music and friends,” while Aria was hailed as someone who was “bright, courageous, and compassionate.”
Neighbors said they heard “two clear gunshots” at midnight on Wednesday – some 12 hours before the dad and his two children were found dead, WESH reported.
It’s unclear if the shots came from inside the property.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
If you are struggling with suicidal thoughts, you can dial the 24/7 National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 988 or go to SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
