A Brevard County man accused of gunning down his teenage daughter and three other family members inside a Cocoa home in 2023 pleaded guilty this week to all four counts of premeditated first-degree murder, waiving his right to an attorney and to a jury trial in the process. Domenico Gigante, now 40, told the court he would not contest whatever sentence follows, leaving a circuit judge alone to decide whether he lives or dies.
According to WKMG, Gigante pleaded guilty to one count of armed burglary inflicting death along with the four murder counts, admitting he killed his 15-year-old daughter, Kiara Terwillegar, her mother, her stepfather, and her grandmother during the 2023 shooting in the Canaveral Groves area. Gigante shot Kiara three times, including once in the head, and a prosecutor told the court that at least one of the wounds “would’ve caused her to die instantly,” per the same report. Speaking in court, Gigante told the judge, “I know that this crime was committed and it was cold, calculated and cruel.”
The victims were identified as Kiara, 15; her mother, 35-year-old Constance Marie Terwillegar; her stepfather, 36-year-old Michael Andrew Watson; and her grandmother, 63-year-old Glenda May Terwillegar. All four were found shot to death inside the home on Alan Shepard Avenue. Two other children were also inside the house at the time of the shooting but were not hurt, according to investigators.
A Break-In Fueled by a Strained Relationship
Investigators reported that the killings stemmed from Gigante’s strained relationship with his daughter. Per arrest affidavits cited by The321Review, Gigante had grown enraged after Kiara repeatedly rejected his attempts to reconnect, and family members had argued with him at the home the afternoon before the shooting. He drove from his Rockledge home around 1 a.m. on March 1, 2023, to attack while the residents were sleeping, according to arrest affidavits described by True Crime Daily, with Kiara and her grandmother shot inside their bedrooms while Constance and Watson were found together on the living room floor.
One of the two surviving children used a mobile video call around 1 a.m. to alert a relative that her mother was injured, Sheriff Wayne Ivey reported at the time. The relative drove to the scene while staying on the phone with the child, then called 911 at 1:55 a.m., according to WFTV. Deputies arrested Gigante roughly 12 hours later at his Rockledge home, about 15 miles south of the crime scene, and observed him discarding items into trash bags outside the residence as they moved in.
A Documented History of Violence
Brevard County Sheriff’s Office records show Gigante had a documented history of violent charges dating back to 2005, including domestic violence and battery that year, animal cruelty in 2008, and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in 2012, according to Boston 25 News. Sheriff Ivey publicly stated after the arrest that Gigante’s record should have kept him off the streets. The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office designated the killings the deadliest mass homicide incident in the county in more than a decade, wiping out three generations of one family.
Investigators also reported that Gigante indicated during a recorded call that he had planned to claim insanity. That plan did not materialize; in court this week, Gigante instead accepted full responsibility for the shootings. “I won’t be changing my mind, and I understand. I just want to do what’s right,” he told the judge, adding that he is ready to accept the consequences, including the possibility of death, as detailed by WKMG.
Death Penalty Notice and a Shifting Legal Landscape
State Attorney Phil Archer filed a formal Notice of Intent to Seek the Death Penalty against Gigante on all four murder counts on April 6, 2023, following a grand jury indictment, per the Center for Judicial Excellence. That same month, Governor Ron DeSantis signed legislation allowing judges to impose death sentences based on a non-unanimous 8-4 jury recommendation, the lowest such threshold in the nation, a standard the Florida Supreme Court upheld as constitutional in December 2025, as reported by WUSF.
Gigante’s guilty plea and jury waiver sidestep that framework entirely. Less than a month earlier, on July 30, he had appeared before Circuit Judge Laura Moody for a Faretta hearing after filing a written request to represent himself in the case, a proceeding Florida law requires to assess a defendant’s competency to waive legal counsel. By waiving his right to a jury trial for the penalty phase at his August court appearance, Gigante left the entire sentencing decision to Judge Moody, bypassing jury involvement altogether.
What Comes Next
Gigante told the court he would thank God for mercy if given four life terms, and would thank God for justice if given the death penalty. He said he understood the state has nothing left to prove because, in his words, the crime was true. A status hearing is expected on October 7 to set a date for the penalty phase, where Judge Moody alone will determine whether Gigante spends the rest of his life in prison or is sentenced to death.
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