Florida man says he killed 5-year-old boy out of mercy: police

Rory Atwood (left) faces four counts of murder after human remains were found on his property in Pasco County, Florida. 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 (center). (Pasco County Sheriff’s Office)

The Florida man who allegedly slaughtered a family of four and burned their bodies in a pit told a friend he killed the five-year-old boy because he “felt bad” after seeing him “convulsing” in the laundry room.

Rory Atwood, 25, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Rain Mancini, 26, and Phillip Zilliot II, 25, and their children, Karma Zilliot, 6, and Phillip Zilliot III, 5. Officials with the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office believe Atwood killed the family in the early morning hours of June 13 after an argument with the elder Phillip Zilliot at his home on his 10-acre property in Hudson.

A recently filed arrest by probable cause affidavit reveals a June 17 interview with one of Atwood’s friends, who allegedly told officers Atwood asked him to come to his home with a bottle of bleach. The friend said he arrived at his home around 10:30 a.m. on June 13 with the bleach. He said Atwood’s porch appeared to have been washed, and when he went inside, he found Atwood sleeping in a recliner. Atwood allegedly told the friend he killed Mancini and Phillip Zilliot II when they attacked him after killing their children. Atwood claimed he was able to disarm Mancini and the elder Zilliot of a 9mm and then shot them in self-defense.

The boyfriend went to the backyard, where he saw Mancini’s body near the fire pit, wrapped in a blanket with her legs sticking out, the affidavit said.

“The witness looked at the fire pit and noticed a juvenile’s foot sticking out of the rubble with pink and purple nail polish on his toenails,” the affidavit states.

According to police, the friend provided new information in another interview on June 20. He said Atwood allegedly told him he found the two children about two hours after he shot their parents.

“The witness stated while speaking with the defendant that he saw the children lying in the laundry room while the male juvenile was twitching and the female juvenile was lying motionless,” investigators wrote. “The defendant admitted to the witness that he shot the male juvenile in the head because he ‘felt bad.'”

As Law&Crime previously reported, the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office conducted a family welfare check shortly before 2:30 p.m. on June 13 after a woman told officers her brother received a FaceTime call from Atwood that appeared to show the bodies of adults and children. Although officers noticed a smoldering fire pit on Atwood’s property in western Pasco County, they found nothing suspicious during their search, and Atwood denied knowing anything about the family’s whereabouts.

He reportedly said he last saw Mancini and the Zilliots on June 12. Atwood reportedly said the family lived with him for a few months, but he kicked them out on June 1 for nonpayment of rent.

Officials reached Mancini’s mother, who said she did not know where her daughter was, last spoke to her on June 12 and had not heard from her since. The family had been reported missing, officials said.

On June 14, Pasco officials received another call from a friend of Atwood’s who said Atwood admitted to killing Mancini and the Zilliots, the affidavit states. Officials returned to the property with a cadaver dog. Investigators estimated the pit was 10 feet in diameter and steel wires from tires were burned, indicating the fire had gotten very hot, the affidavit states.

The dog searched the fire pit and pulled out what appeared to be a child’s foot, investigators said. Investigators at the scene also pulled out “long bone fragments” and two apparently human vertebrae, police said. They also found that the porch area had been cleaned with chlorine.

Officials believe the family was at Atwood’s home on the night of June 12 and into June 13. Atwood’s daughter and a friend of Mancini’s were also there, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said. The adults were drinking when an argument broke out, Nocco said.

“These two poor little children,” Nocco said at a June 15 news conference. “We believe they may be dead on the property, but we don’t know for sure.”

Investigators also spoke with the mother of Atwood’s daughter, who said she received a “panicked” call from him around 2:30 a.m. on June 13. He dropped the daughter off around 5:30 a.m. Atwood was “not acting like himself,” the girl’s mother told officers.

In an interview with investigators, Atwood initially denied killing or burning Mancini, her husband and the children. But Atwood changed his story, claiming he killed Mancini and Zilliot in self-defense during a struggle in which the victims pointed a gun and a knife at him, the affidavit states. He allegedly said Zilliot set the fire and, after killing him and Mancini, threw them into the already burning pit. However, Atwood had no injuries indicating he was involved in a struggle, officials noted.

As for the children, Atwood claimed their parents killed them. He eventually admitted that all four family members were burned to death in his fireplace, police said.

Atwood is being held in the Pasco County Jail without bail.

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