Seven-year-old Remy Dingwall was a strong, kind, and intelligent young boy known for his big heart. He was a student in the gifted program at his school and had a passion for video games and music. Those who knew him said he excelled at anything he put his mind to. Remy was remembered as a fierce protector of his five-year-old sister, Aria, and their mother, Olivia Piccolo. The siblings were best friends and considered "each other's little world."
A family friend wrote that anyone who knew their mother knew her children were her entire world and that "every part of her heart belonged to being their mother."
The lives of Remy and his sister were cut short on October 7, 2026, in what Cocoa, Florida, police determined was a murder-suicide. Their mother made the discovery shortly after noon when she went to their father's home at 100 Sorrento Drive for a scheduled custody exchange. It was her day to have custody, and she became concerned when the children missed school and she couldn't reach their father, 37-year-old Joseph Kyle Dingwall. When she arrived at the house, she found the front door partially ajar. Inside, she found Remy, Aria, and their father deceased from gunshot wounds.
The Cocoa Police Department began an investigation, led by Chief Evander Collier IV. Evidence at the scene quickly led detectives to believe that Joseph Dingwall was responsible for the children's deaths before taking his own life. The investigation revealed that a neighbor had heard two clear gunshots at approximately 12:20 a.m. that morning, about 12 hours before the bodies were found, but did not call the police.
A neighbor's surveillance camera captured audio of the gunshots and video footage from around the same time. The video showed a man, whom police later confirmed was Joseph Dingwall, stepping outside the home, pacing in circles in the yard with a flashlight, and then going back inside. Police officials noted that officers had been called to the residence about 11 times for various medical and suspicious activities since 2021.
In the days following the tragedy, Olivia Piccolo expressed her profound grief and anger online. "You were supposed to be their protector," she wrote of their father. "I'm so angry. But my anger will never ever outweigh my love for my children... 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."
The community rallied around the grieving mother and her family. Two separate online fundraisers were established by friends to help with funeral and memorial expenses, as well as immediate living costs, to allow Olivia time and space to grieve without financial pressure. One fundraiser described Remy as "the kind of boy who made the people around him proud, and he had an entire lifetime ahead of him." It remembered Aria as a "bright, courageous, and compassionate little girl who loved her squishy dumplings, all animals, and everything pink, just like her mama."
The case is considered closed by the Cocoa Police Department, as the primary suspect was deceased at the scene. As of October 2026, the investigation had concluded it was a murder-suicide, leaving a mother and a community to mourn the loss of two children whose lives had just begun.
