The four deceased were identified as Glenda Terwillinger, 63, Michael Watson, 36, Constance Terwillinger, 35, and Kiara Terwillinger, 15, police said.
A Florida father was arrested for allegedly killing four people inside his home, including his 15-year-old daughter, after a child still inside the house managed to video call an adult and tell them what was happening, officials said.
Police responding to a call from a man they identified as Michael Beisheim, who said his girlfriend's young sons had called him to say their parents were dead, discovered two women, a man and a teen girl dead inside a Cocoa home on Wednesday, according to an affidavit for an arrest warrant filed by the Brevard County Sheriff's office.
Beisheim said he discovered the victims when he went to the home to get the two young children, who Brevard County Sheriff Ivey said during a press conference are just 6 and 9. After getting the children out of the home Beisheim said he called 911, the affidavit says.
The victims were identified as the surviving children's older sister, 15-year-old Kiara Terwillinger, all three children's grandmother, 63-year-old Glenda Terwillinger, all three children's mother, 35-year-old Constance Terwillinger, and the boys' father, 36-year-old Michael Watson, the Brevard County Sheriff’s office said. All four had been shot, some several times, officials said.
Investigators identified Domenico Gigante, 36, as the biological father of Kiara. Officials said Beisheim told them Gigante was trying to reconnect with his daughter, but Kiara had refused to have a relationship with her dad.
After arriving at Gigante's home, agents with the Brevard County Sheriff's office's Gangs and Major Epidemic of Violence Enforcement Response (GAMEOVER) task force said, in the affidavit, they "observed" Gigante throw items in the trash. The agents then notified Gigante and his roommate, Bruce McKane, of Kiara's death. They asked the men to accompany them to a government building, where the agents would be able to provide more information, and after the men went inside the house to get their keys, McKane came back out and told the agents he "had concerns" about Gigante, the affidavit alleges.
The agents said McKane told them he asked Gigante, "Did you do this?"
McKane then said that Gigante replied that he shot his daughter three times, according to the affidavit.
McKane said that the day before, Gigante was frustrated with "his situation with his biological daughter and her family," the affidavit says.
Agents said McKane told them that Gigante said, "I guess I'm going to go over there and kill them all."
McKane provided agents with Ring surveillance footage that showed Gigante entering his pick-up truck with a firearm in his hand before leaving their home, the affidavit claims. Surveillance footage officials said was obtained from several homes near the victims' house also showed a vehicle that officials said matched Gigante's truck near and then in the victims' driveway. Audio from the cameras in the area also allegedly captured gunshots and a female screaming before footage shows vehicle lights leaving the victims' driveway, the affidavit says.
Gigante is believed to have broken into the victims' home and fatally shot the victims, the sheriff's office said.
Gigante has a past of violence and had been arrested several times before for domestic violence, battery, aggravated assault and animal cruelty, Ivey said.
Gigante has been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and is being held at the Brevard County Jail Complex on no bail, according to jail records. His next court date is scheduled for March 30.
