Their call for help began an investigation that ultimately led Domenico Gigante to admit four murders more than three years later.
CANAVERAL GROVES, Fla. — The first call for help in a four-person family killing came from inside the house, where two young children had survived while four other members of the household were dead. More than three years later, the man investigators identified that morning has admitted responsibility: Domenico C. Gigante pleaded guilty Aug. 27 to murdering his teenage daughter and three others.
The children’s survival is one of the defining facts in a case that has now moved from a murder prosecution to a capital sentencing proceeding. Authorities said the two children, reported at the time as ages 6 and 9, were unharmed after the March 1, 2023, shootings at a home on Alan Shepard Avenue in the Canaveral Groves area of Brevard County. One contacted a relative for help through a video call, according to early law enforcement accounts. The relative then contacted authorities, and deputies were dispatched shortly before 2 a.m.
Inside the home, deputies found 15-year-old Kiarra Terwilliger; her mother, Constance Terwilliger, 35; Kiarra’s maternal grandmother, Glenda Terwilliger, 63; and Michael Watson, 36. All four had been fatally shot. Watson was identified in later reporting as the father of the surviving children. The State Attorney’s Office said the household was a blended family and described Gigante as Kiarra’s biological father and Constance Terwilliger’s former partner. The children who survived have not been a focus of the later court proceedings.
What investigators learned over the next several hours turned an emergency response into a homicide case centered on Gigante. Deputies began examining the victims’ relationships and reviewing surveillance footage from Rockledge, where Gigante lived, and from the neighborhood surrounding the Canaveral Groves home. The recordings allowed investigators to trace a vehicle matching his pickup between the two locations during the narrow period when the shootings occurred, according to the arrest affidavit and subsequent accounts of the investigation.
At 12:57 a.m., surveillance at Gigante’s home showed him leaving in a Dodge pickup while carrying a dark object that investigators believed could be a firearm. Roughly 20 minutes later, a vehicle matching the pickup was recorded entering the driveway on Alan Shepard Avenue. A nearby surveillance system then captured the sound of several gunshots and a woman screaming at about 1:21 a.m. The vehicle was seen leaving minutes later. Surveillance back in Rockledge showed Gigante returning home at about 1:41 a.m.
Investigators also obtained information from Gigante’s roommate that added another dimension to the timeline. According to the arrest affidavit, the roommate said Gigante had been upset about his relationship with Kiarra, who did not want contact with him. Around 11:30 p.m. on the night before the killings, the roommate said Gigante voiced frustration about his daughter and her family and made a threat to kill them. That alleged statement occurred little more than an hour before surveillance showed Gigante leaving his residence.
The roommate became even more important to the investigation after deputies approached the two men later March 1. Authorities said investigators informed Gigante and his roommate that Kiarra was dead and asked them to accompany law enforcement for further questioning. When Gigante went back inside to get his keys, the roommate came outside and expressed concerns about him. According to the affidavit, the roommate said he had directly asked Gigante whether he was responsible, and Gigante admitted shooting his daughter. Deputies took Gigante into custody later that day.
At the time, investigators and prosecutors still faced the task of proving the case in court. A grand jury indicted Gigante on four counts of first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm and one count of armed burglary. The State Attorney’s Office later filed notice that it would seek the death penalty. Prosecutors cited the four separate killings, the killing of Gigante’s own daughter, the burglary and their position that the murders were committed in a calculated and premeditated manner as circumstances supporting that decision.
The case remained unresolved for more than three years. Gigante initially had a public defender and pleaded not guilty. In July 2026, however, he chose to dismiss his appointed lawyer and act as his own attorney. The court allowed him to proceed on his own after addressing his decision to waive counsel. Then, on Aug. 27, Gigante abandoned the not-guilty position entirely. He pleaded guilty to all four murder counts and the armed burglary count before Circuit Judge Laura Moody.
Gigante’s admissions changed the legal posture of the case but did not end it. He also waived his right to a jury trial and his right to have jurors participate in the penalty phase. Prosecutors said they remain committed to seeking the death penalty. That means Moody, rather than a jury, will ultimately determine the punishment. The State Attorney’s Office has said the sentencing hearing is expected in late October or early November. Local reporting has described life imprisonment and death as the outcomes now before the court.
The guilty pleas also mean that jurors will not be asked to evaluate the same trail of evidence that investigators assembled after the children’s call for help. The surveillance recordings, the roommate’s account, the timing of Gigante’s movements and the circumstances inside the home had all been part of the case authorities expected to use against him. Gigante instead told the court that prosecutors did not need to prove the case because he was accepting responsibility. He also said he understood the prosecution would continue seeking the most severe punishment available.
The passage of time has changed Gigante’s legal status from accused defendant to convicted murderer, but it has not altered the basic chronology authorities described from the beginning: two children were left alive in a home where four others had been killed, one child found a way to reach a relative, and that communication brought deputies to the scene. The investigation that followed led to Gigante’s arrest within hours, a grand jury indictment weeks later and, eventually, his guilty pleas in 2026.
As of Oct. 17, the final chapter remains unresolved. Gigante is awaiting the penalty proceeding before Moody, who will decide his sentence without a jury recommendation. Prosecutors continue to seek death, and no final sentencing order had been announced in the sources reviewed for this report.
Author note: Last updated October 17, 2026.