USA: Man Killed A Family Of 4, Included A 6yo And 5yo, After An Argument With The Couple Who Was Living With Him. He Admitted To Burning Their Bodies In His Fire Pit After Witness Came Forward.

🚨NO WHITE SUPREMACISTS INVOLVED🚨

FOX 13 Tampa Bay published June 17, 2024: Human remains found amid search for Florida family. Court documents obtained Monday are connecting the dots between a missing family of four in Hudson, human remains found in a fire pit and a man arrested for homicide.

10 Tampa Bay pubilshed June 17, 2024: Pasco murder suspect admitted entire missing family was killed, burned in fire pit, deputies said. The murder suspect in the case of a missing Pasco County family told detectives that the bodies of all four family members were burned in his fire pit, according to an arrest affidavit. The document reveals new details in the missing persons case-turned-death investigation of Rain Mancini, 26; Phillip Zilliot II, 25; Karma Zilliot, 6; and Phillip Zilliot III, 5.

WFLA News Channel 8 published June 15, 2024: Pasco deputies find human remains amid search for missing family. Pasco County deputies found human remains in Hudson Saturday during a search for a missing family, officials said.

10 Tampa Bay published June 19, 2024: Vigil held for missing Pasco County family believed to be dead. A community came together Wednesday night to remember a family now believed to be murdered and burned in a fire pit (on his 10-acre property).

Phillip Zilliot, Rain Mancini and their two children are still considered missing until testing of the remains found confirms what detectives believe to be true.

A friend of the family, Rory Atwood, is in jail and charged with first-degree murder. Stefanie Mancini believes her daughter was killed and burned in that pit along with Phillip, 6-year-old Karma and 5-year-old Phillip "Philly" Zilliot III.

The killer was the childhood friend of the man he had the argument with and then killed the entire family. (emphasis mine)

WFLA8 NBC News, Florida local

Pasco family murders: Witness said he saw bodies before they were burned in pit, document says

written by Nathaniel Rodriguez

Monday June 24, 2024

TAMPA, Florida — Another criminal complaint revealed new testimony from a witness in the disappearance and murders of entire family in Hudson.

On June 15, Rory John Graeme Atwood was arrested on a murder charge in connection to the disappearance of Phillip Zilliot II, 25; Rain Mancini, 26; and their two children, 5-year-old Phillip Zilliot III and 6-year-old Karma Zilliot.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said the arrest came after human remains were found on the property.

While he did not specify on what was found, the affidavit stated that a cadaver dog located skeletal remains with some soft tissue inside a fire pit on Atwood’s property on Nottingham Trail on June 14.

According to the document, F1RST Forensic Science Administrator Austin Polonitza also found human long bone remains and vertebrae on the surface of the burn pit.

Investigators would later sift through the ashes to find more remains, and on June 19, Polonitza confirmed that the skeletons of a man, woman, and two children were removed from the pit.

Initially, Atwood denied knowing where the Zilliot family was but later admitted to knowing they were in the fire pit. The suspect said he killed Phillip Zilliot and Mancini after they attacked him and claimed that they killed their children.

However, detectives spoke to another witness on June 17 who said he was at Atwood’s house on June 13 to bring him a bottle of bleach that he requested.

According to the affidavit, the witness told detectives he found Atwood asleep on a recliner in the house, and when he woke up, Atwood told the witness he killed both Phillip Zilliot II and Mancini “with a 9mm rifle.”

The witness said when he went to the backyard, he saw Mancini’s body wrapped in a rug with her legs sticking out south of the fire pit. He also saw the child’s foot with pink and purple toenail polish sticking out out of a debris pile in the fire pit.

“The witness informed your Affiant he was in fear for his and his family safety due to the defendant knowing where he lived,” the affidavit said. “Therefore he did not initially report his investigations.”

The witness said as he started to leave, Atwood took a gas can from his vehicle. While driving away, the witness saw smoke rising from the tree line behind the home but did not see fire in the pit while he was there.

Three days after this interview, the witness spoke with detectives again. The affidavit said the witness informed authorities that while he was at Atwood’s home, the suspect told him that he found the children an hour after killing their parents.

“The witness stated while he spoke with the defendant, he admitted to locating the children lying in the laundry room with the male juvenile convulsing and the female lying still,” the document said. “The defendant, admitted to the witness, he shot the male juvenile in the head because he ‘felt bad.'”

Investigators determined that Atwood allegedly murdered the family “with a premeditated design” and discarded their bodies and other evidence in the fire pit — all while repeatedly lying to patrol deputies.

While the medical examiner’s office has yet to complete its identification of the human remains, authorities said it is presumed the skeletal remains belong to the Zilliots.

As of this report, Pasco County Corrections records show Atwood has been charged with three counts of premeditated murder so far.