BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – A grand jury Tuesday formally charged a man who’s accused of killing his 15-year-old daughter and three others earlier this month in a Brevard County home.
Domenico Gigante was arrested on March 1 after Glenda May Terwillegar, 63; Michael Andrew Watson, 36; Constance Marie Terwillegar, 35 and Kiara Terwillegar, 15, were found shot to death inside a home on Alan Shepard Avenue in the Canaveral Groves area.
Gigante is now formally charged on first-degree premeditated murder charges and armed burglary while inflicting great bodily harm or death. According to the state attorney’s office, if convicted, Gigante faces the death penalty.
“Even though GIGANTE’s prior convictions could not have produced a prison sentence preventing these horrific crimes, I am aware of the great responsibility placed on my office to use every means possible to protect society from predators and seek justice on behalf of victims. This includes asking a jury to impose the ultimate punishment of putting a criminal defendant to death to ensure that outcome,” State Attorney Phil Archer said in a release.
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office said there were two other children — ages 6 and 9 — in the home, but both were unharmed.
Investigators said that Gigante left his Rockledge home at 1 a.m. and headed to the victims’ house, where he broke in and shot the four victims.
Ivey said that Gigante, the father of Kiara Terwillegar who had a previous relationship with Constance Marie Terwillegar, has a history of violent crime, which includes animal abuse and domestic violence dating back to 2005.
Deputies learned Gigante was struggling to reconnect with her when she refused to have a relationship with him.
After the shooting, Gigante then returned back to his own home, where deputies later arrested him, the sheriff’s office said. When deputies found him, Gigante was back at his home with his roommate. According to an affidavit for an arrest warrant, deputies told the two men about the killings and asked if Gigante would go with the investigators for more questioning.
[RELATED: Man fatally shot daughter, 3 others in Brevard County over strained relationship, affidavit shows]
When Gigante went inside, the roommate told investigators he learned Gigante shot his daughter three times.
The roommate added that Gigante — frustrated with his daughter and her family — had allegedly said, “I guess I’m going to go over (there) and kill them all,” just a couple hours before the shooting.
The state attorney’s office reviewed Gigante’s criminal history and released a statement at the beginning of the review saying in part, “These murders are shocking, and there is an understandable concern surrounding GIGANTE’s prior criminal prosecutions and the sentences imposed. While our office continuously seeks to identify and address any potentiality for defendants to re-offend, we will undertake a review of all GIGANTE’s prior convictions and sanctions, including those under a previous administration, to establish they were reasonable and appropriate.”
Get today’s headlines in minutes with Your Florida Daily: