Osceola County jury convicts man of murdering elderly couple in their home

On Thursday, an Osceola County jury found 41-year-old Federico Gondola guilty of two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm, home invasion with assault with a firearm and robbery with a firearm after he shot and killed a couple in their home in 2018.

On July 14, 2018, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call of “attempted contact” at a home in the 2300 block of Meadow Oak Circle in Kissimmee. When officers arrived on the scene, they found the homeowners, Roosevelt Dixon, 74, and his wife, Janette Dixon, 72, dead in their home office. Autopsies revealed that the suspect killed them both with a gunshot wound to the head.

The following week, Melbourne police contacted the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office to inform them of information from a possible witness to the murder. The witness gave investigators information that indicated he was either present at the scene or had heard the details from someone who was at the scene at the time of the murders. The witness identified Gondola, who investigators knew had contacted Mr. Dixon several times before his murder. Osceola County officers located Gondola and took him into custody.

During the trial, a witness testified that Gondola initially contacted them with a plan to rob the victims, but the witness refused. After the murders occurred, Gondola met with the witness at a 7-Eleven to ask for his help in disposing of the evidence. Surveillance video at the 7-Eleven and a 911 call corroborated the witness’s testimony. Officers also found the murder weapon under a mattress that belonged to Gondola’s girlfriend.

After a six-day trial, a jury found Gondola guilty of two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm, burglary with bodily injury, and robbery with a firearm. The judge sentenced him to life in prison on all counts.