Man likely massacred missing family of 4 after human remains found on his property: Sheriff

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Pasco county missing family murder

Rory Atwood, left, is facing a murder charge after human remains were found on his Pasco County, Florida, property. They are believed to belong to a missing family of four: Phillip Mancini, right, and Rain Mancini and their children 6-year-old Karma Zilliot and 5-year-old Phillip Zilliot III, middle. (Pasco County Sheriff’s Office)

A missing family of four including kids ages 5 and 6 are feared dead after Florida cops found human remains on the property of a man now facing a murder charge.

Rory Atwood, 25, is facing a first-degree murder charge. The human remains have yet to be identified, but Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said at a Saturday press conference that deputies believe they belong to the missing family, identified as Rain Mancini, 26, and Phillip Zilliot II, 25, and their children 6-year-old Karma Zilliot and 5-year-old Phillip Zilliot III.

“Those two poor little children,” Nocco said. “We believe that they may be on the property deceased, but we do not know that definitively.”

The investigation is still developing, but deputies believe the family was at Atwood’s home Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Atwood’s daughter and a friend of Mancini’s were there as well, Nocco said. The adults were drinking when an argument ensued, Nocco said. Deputies are still piecing together what happened, but Atwood allegedly called a friend at around 2 a.m.

“He said he shot somebody and was frantic,” Nocco said.

But no one contacted the sheriff’s office for another 12 hours, according to Nocco. By then it was third- or fourth-hand information about the incident, he said. Atwood allowed deputies to search his property, about 10 acres of rural land on Nottingham Trail in the town Hudson in western Pasco County, on Thursday evening, but they did not find anything suspicious.

Deputies got ahold of Mancini’s mother who said she didn’t know where her daughter was, last spoke to her on Wednesday and hadn’t heard from her since. The family was then reported missing, deputies said. Mancini and her family used to live on the Atwood property and deputies received information that they were there Wednesday night, according to Nocco.

With that information deputies again searched Atwood’s property on Friday night, this time with cadaver dogs and aerial units. They found the human remains. Citing an open investigation, Nocco didn’t provide further details about the remains. A medical examiner will identify them, he said. Detectives were able to make the arrest for first-degree murder of John Doe based on Atwood’s statements.

Because the family has not been confirmed dead yet, the missing persons investigation is still open, Nocco said. Anyone with information can call the Pasco Sheriff’s Non-Emergency Line at 727-847-8102, option 7, or report tips online at PascoSheriff.com/tips.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

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