'Gruesome' slaying of 3 in Iona apartment shocks loved ones
Mother, her two daughters and dog among those killed.
The 911 call came in around 4:00 Sunday morning. The caller wanted to report three dead bodies.
"They are in there," Patrick Carlopoli told Lee County deputies when they arrived at the apartment at 15224 Iona Lakes Drive a bit later.
The visible blood splatter on his clothes and body was a clue for what investigators would find inside.
The scene deputies found was gruesome and complicated, Sheriff Mike Scott said at a Monday morning news conference.
Deputies found the bodies of Tammy Modlin, 37, Montana Modlin, 16, and Jeanne Carlopoli, 3, and the family dog.
The Modlins were on a bed with a firearm between them, and the 3-year-old and Milo, the Chihuahua-Jack Russell mix, nearby, dead from a sharp object.
The 27-year-old Carlopoli was charged with one felony count of homicide, two felony counts of conspiracy to homicide and two felony charges of aggravated child abuse.
Carlopoli told deputies he shot his wife, though the pair weren't married, Scott said. Jeanne was the daughter of Carlopoli and Tammy Modlin, but the teenage Modlin was from another relationship.
Investigators now have to determine who killed Montana Modlin and Jeanne.
The sheriff described the crime as "unthinkable, unpreventable, and unpredictable."
"He (Carlopoli) phoned us and told us a few things to use in our investigation," Scott said. "There is a lot to process. There are gunshots, there are knife wounds."
The sheriff answered few questions about the crime citing the ongoing investigation.
'Gruesome' slaying of 3 in Iona apartment shocks loved ones
Public records and social media accounts show that both adults had connections to Ormond Beach in Volusia County.
Carlopoli met Modlin after “bumping into her” several times in Florida, according to his brother-in-law Zachary Rohweder.
Carlopoli moved to Florida after having a falling-out with his family in Las Vegas, Rohweder said.
“I guess there was a family issue, so he decided to leave Vegas,” he said.
Noah Carlopoli, 18-year-old brother of Patrick Carlopoli, said his brother met Tammy Modlin while staying at a hotel in Orlando. A year later, his brother started tutoring Montana Modlin in math, he said.
“I guess it’s all history from there,” he said.
Carlopoli was in school with dreams of becoming a mechanical engineer. Noah Carlopoli said Modlin and his brother moved to Fort Myers in the middle of last year, maybe July or August, because his brother transferred schools. Noah Carlopoli said he didn't know what school.
Carlopoli said his brother was working as a waiter at an Outback Steakhouse and Modlin was on disability. An Outback manager confirmed that he worked at a local Outback but said all comments would have to come from corporate headquarters.
Noah Carlopoli said he lived with the couple in Ormond Beach for a few months where he and Montana Modlin attended Seabreeze High School in Daytona Beach together.
“They have been having off-and-on problems for a while now," he said. "It’s like she changed him and tried to control him. It wasn’t going good for him at all. If he never met her, I think he would be safe right now."
Modlin's family members couldn't be reached for comment Monday.
Noah Carlopoli said he found out about the deaths from a news article his mother sent him.
He spoke to his brother a couple days before the incident and he asked about their mother.
“Me and him are about as close as two brothers can get,” he said.
Rohweder, who has never met his brother-in-law, said that the last time his wife interacted with Carlopoli was when she texted him trying to reconnect a couple months ago.
“He called her a psycho,” Rohweder said.
An American history teacher at a Volusia middle school said Monday that Montana Modlin was a student of his when the girl was in eighth grade in 2013.
When a reporter at The News-Press told Joseph Vetter that his former student was killed, he said: "Wow. I remember her vividly."
Modlin made a collage of important moments in early American history in September 2013, he said. She won an honorable mention.
“She had amazing artistic talent,” he said.
Vetter said the girl was new to the David C. Hinson Middle School when she started his class.
“I remember her smiling face ... that’s hard to deal with,” he said.
Carlopoli had his first appearance hearing Monday, where a judge decided he would be held in Lee County Jail without bond.
Michelle Glady, spokeswoman with the Florida Department of Children and Families, said Monday that the agency has had no prior involvement with either parent-child pair.
Maria Torres, property manager for the Iona Lakes Apartment complex, said she could not say much about the situation including when the family moved in until the sheriff's office had finished the investigation.
"We're still in the middle of everything. As soon as all the investigation is done we can move," she said.
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