PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — As the sun set at Veterans Memorial Park in Hudson, candles flickered for four lives: Rain Mancini, 26; Phillip Zilliot II, 25; and their children, Karma Zilliot, 6, and Phillip Zilliot III, 5.
The family of four hasn’t been seen since last Wednesday.
The four are now presumed to be dead.
“Eh, it’s rough. You know, I mean the kids mainly,” said Richard Paquette. “Who kills kids?”
Paquette did landscaping work with Zilliot II, who he described as a good man and a hard worker.
According to authorities, the family of four was reported missing last week. After searches, human remains were eventually found in a burn pit at the home of a man who’s since been charged with first-degree homicide, Rory Atwood, 25.
“I don’t know,” Paquette said. “I hope they have a special place in hell for him.”
According to court documents, an initial search of Atwood’s home did not reveal anything suspicious, but Atwood then called a friend and asked for help burning trash.
“A friend of Rory — this is around 2 o’clock in the morning — got a call from Rory who was really upset and said he shot somebody and was frantic,” Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said in a previous news conference.
The friend noticed a puddle of blood and could see adult and child bodies over the video phone call, according to court records. Detectives returned to the home on Nottingham Trail in Hudson on June 14.
A Pasco County Sheriff's Office Cadaver dog removed items from a burn pit that appeared to be small skeletal remains, according to court documents.
Records stated Atwood evicted the family on June 1 for failure to pay rent. Records said days later, there was an altercation involving a firearm and a knife.
“They should have got more help,” Paquette said Wednesday.
Paquette said he wishes more people were there to help the family before it was too late.
Even though the four are presumed dead, Sheriff Nocco said his office still considers them missing because the medical examiner is still in the process of identifying the remains that were found.
According to court documents, the suspect, Atwood, first denied killing the family or burning their bodies. He eventually admitted the bodies of all four family members were located in the fire pit on his property.
