The man and woman who were discovered dead in a luxury high-rise apartment in Fort Lauderdale have been identified, and police are investigating their deaths as a murder-suicide.
Just after 1:30 p.m. Sept. 5, Fort Lauderdale Police officers found Justin James Gelato, 38, and Danielle Carrero, 39, inside the Pearl Flagler Village building in the 400 block of Northeast Third Avenue, Fort Lauderdale Police confirmed to the South Florida Sun Sentinel on Friday.
The preliminary investigation shows “the female was the homicide victim,” while the man died by suicide, Detective Kerri Hagerty said in an email. The two were living together, but detectives are still investigating “the exact nature of their relationship,” Hagerty said.
Fort Lauderdale Police have not provided additional information about the circumstances of the murder or the suicide.
Carrero and Gelato had been in a relationship for about a year-and-a-half, which had become volatile within the past six months, Carrero’s mother Janet Carrero told the Sun Sentinel on Friday.
In April, Carrero called police for help after Gelato allegedly pulled out a gun during an argument at the home in Hollywood where they were living at the time and threatened to “blow [her] head off,” according to a probable cause affidavit.
The woman’s name is redacted in court records, however Janet Carrero identified her daughter as the victim.
On May 7, Gelato was arrested on a warrant stemming from the April 25 call on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and battery after a traffic stop in Hollywood, court records show. During the traffic stop and arrest, Hollywood officers found a loaded handgun, crack cocaine and fentanyl in a backpack inside the car, according to a probable cause affidavit in that case.
Hollywood Police announced Justin Gelato was arrested on a felony warrant on May 7, 2026. (Hollywood Police Department Facebook screenshot)
The victim in the case submitted an affidavit on May 19 requesting Gelato not be prosecuted, stating that she wanted to have contact with him and that he did not threaten her with a gun, court records show. Prosecutors dropped the domestic violence charges against Gelato in July.
Carrero was the mother of two children and a sister of multiple siblings. She grew up in Davie and attended Archbishop McCarthy High School in Southwest Ranches and Broward College. Janet Carrero told the Sun Sentinel her daughter began struggling with drug addiction in her mid-20s.
“I was her best friend because I was 19 when I had her,” Janet Carrero said. “So we kind of grew up together. She was an amazing person. She really was.”
After staying in several Airbnbs, Gelato and Carrero were temporarily living at the Fort Lauderdale apartment through an arrangement with someone Gelato knew, according to Janet Carrero.
Their deaths were discovered after the apartment’s owner called 911 on Sept. 5, according to a redacted call released to the Sun Sentinel. The man, who identified himself to the 911 operator as the property owner, said the people staying at the apartment had “overstayed their welcome” and weren’t answering him.
The man told the operator he entered the unit after going to the leasing office, and though the call is redacted, he could be heard saying he found something inside a bedroom. At one point during the call, the operator asked the caller if he was able to get to “the patient.”
The apartment owner did not respond to a reporter’s voicemails.