Aria Dingwall was a bright, courageous, and compassionate five-year-old girl who loved her squishy dumpling toys, all animals, and everything pink. She and her seven-year-old brother, Remy, were best friends and each other's world. Their mother, Olivia Piccolo, said her children were her entire world and that every part of her heart belonged to being their mother.
Remy was known as a strong, kind, and intelligent boy who was in the gifted program at school and excelled at anything he put his mind to. Friends and family remembered him as a fierce protector of his little sister and his mother.
The lives of Aria and her brother were cut tragically short on Wednesday, October 7, 2026. That afternoon, their mother arrived at the home of their father, 37-year-old Joseph Dingwall, on Sorrento Drive in Cocoa, Florida, for a scheduled custody exchange. After being unable to reach him, she noticed the door was partially ajar and went inside. There, she made the horrific discovery of Aria, Remy, and Joseph Dingwall, all deceased from gunshot wounds. She immediately called 911.
The Cocoa Police Department responded to the home in the Lakeside Palms subdivision shortly after noon. The preliminary investigation and evidence at the scene led detectives to conclude that Joseph Dingwall was responsible for the children's deaths in a murder-suicide. Investigators learned that a neighbor had heard two clear gunshots at approximately 12:20 a.m. that morning but did not report them. Surveillance video from the neighbor's home captured a man, believed to be Joseph Dingwall, stepping outside the residence around that time, pacing with a flashlight before going back inside.
In the days following the tragedy, Olivia Piccolo expressed her profound grief and anger. "You were supposed to be their protector," she wrote of Dingwall in a social media post. "Their provider. One of their safe places. I'm so angry. But my anger will never ever outweigh my love for my children." She vowed that her children would be remembered for who they were, not by what happened. In another post, she shared the pain of finding their clothes in the laundry and seeing the pink lipstick marks Aria had left on a wall, a mess she said she would never remove.
Cocoa Police Chief Evander Collier IV stated that police had been called to the residence about 11 times since 2021 for various reasons, including "medical and suspicious type activities," but did not provide further details on the nature of those calls. The motive for the killings remains unclear to investigators.
The community rallied around the grieving mother and her family. Two separate online fundraisers were established by friends to help Olivia Piccolo with funeral and memorial expenses, as well as immediate living costs, allowing her time and space to grieve without financial pressure. One fundraiser described how anyone who knew Olivia knew her life revolved around her children. Cocoa Mayor Michael C. Blake asked the community to hold the family up in prayer and show them support and love.
The case is considered closed by the Cocoa Police Department due to the death of the primary suspect, Joseph Dingwall. As of October 2026, the investigation had concluded it was a murder-suicide.
