Florida authorities have made an arrest after finding four members of a family, including a teenage girl, dead in a Brevard County home early Wednesday.
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey identified the dead as Glenda Mae Terwilliger, 63; Michael Andrew Watson, 36; Constance Marie Terwilliger, 35; and Kiarra Terwilliger, 15.
Two younger children, ages 6 and 9, were in the home and “thankfully unharmed,” Ivey said.
Early Wednesday evening, Ivey said deputies had arrested Dominico Claude Gigante, 36, and charged him with four counts of murder. Gigante is the biological father of the slain teen and was previously in a relationship with Constance Terwilliger, he said.
The sheriff said Gigante “is an extremely violent individual with an extremely violent past” dating back to at least 2005 and “should not have been on the streets to harm this family.”
Earlier, Ivey said one of the young children had called another person on FaceTime to tell them something had happened.
“The small child told the reportee what had taken place, what they had seen at the house,” he said.
That person raced to the house, keeping the child on FaceTime, and called 911, Ivey said.
Investigators have not said how the family died. Ivey said the bodies were be taken to the medical examiner’s office for autopsies.
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[Featured image: Domenico Gigante is taken into custody/Brevard County Sheriff’s Office]