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Woman Grieves Shocking Loss of Nephew Found Shot to Death in Florida

BERWICK  — “I’m going to miss him so much. I loved him dearly. He was a son to me.” Laura Varner of Berwick recalls getting the most devastating new...

BERWICK  -- “I'm going to miss him so much. I loved him dearly. He was a son to me.”

Laura Varner of Berwick recalls getting the most devastating news Tuesday morning.

Her sister calling from Florida to tell her that their nephew, Nicholas Corvino, 30, originally from Berwick, was found shot to death in his apartment in Kissimmee.

“She says, 'Nicky's dead.' I said, ‘What? What happened?’ She said he was murdered by his roommate.”

That roommate, Scott Waddell, 45, was arrested and charged with murder after sheriff's deputies came to the men's apartment around 11:15 Tuesday morning for reports of a security alarm going off.

Court papers show deputies found Corvino's body in his bedroom with numerous gunshot wounds.

Investigators say some of the 13 rounds fired at Corvino broke windows, triggering the alarm.

“He died instantly. He never knew what happened to him. He was sound asleep,” said Varner.

Investigators say Waddell told them the two had been drinking beer and watching a movie the night before.

Surveillance video shows Waddell waking up at 11:00 Tuesday morning and then going to Corvino's room.

Waddell told investigators he took medication for a mental disability but could handle his alcohol.

“We found out this guy was unstable, mentally. And he woke up and he walked into Nicky's room with a gun, which he never should have had,” said Varner.

Varner says they are a close family.

Her mother and sister, Linda, raised Corvino since he was four, when his parents died in a crash.

“The only consolation I have and the rest of is he’s with his mom and his gram who helped raise him.”

Varner says Corvino had lived in Florida since 2006, and her two sisters, including the one who raised him, moved there a few years earlier.

She says the family plans to hold the funeral in Florida.

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