Police say injuries to 11-week-old Dixie did not match a fall.
NAPLES, Fla. — A 24-year-old Naples man was arrested on an aggravated animal cruelty charge after police said a puppy’s death in November was linked to blunt force trauma, not a fall from a second-story stairwell as he initially reported.
Naples police said the case turned on veterinary findings and witness accounts that raised doubts about the man’s explanation of how the 11-week-old dog died. The arrest comes more than a year after the initial 911 call, after a warrant was issued this week and officers took the suspect into custody, police said.
Officers were first sent to the 1500 block of Curlew Avenue in November after a neighbor called 911 to report a dog had fallen from a second-story porch or stair area and was not moving, police said. The puppy, a small dog named Dixie, was pronounced dead at the scene, according to the department. Police said Dixie’s owner, identified as Xavier Reda, told officers the puppy ran out of the back door of his apartment, slipped through an opening in the stairwell and fell from the second floor. Reda described the death as an accident, police said.
Police said the account did not hold up once Dixie was evaluated by a veterinarian. The veterinarian noted injuries that were not consistent with a fall from a great height and instead suggested blunt force trauma, police said. Police listed the injuries as an acute left rib fracture with lung punctures, a healed rib fracture, bruises and hemorrhaging in the skull. The presence of a healed fracture indicated Dixie had been hurt before, police said. Investigators said the findings helped move the case from a suspicious death to a criminal investigation focused on how the puppy was handled inside the apartment.
A police report said Reda lived with his girlfriend and a roommate, and both became suspicious about how Dixie died. The roommate told Reda’s girlfriend that they heard choking sounds involving the puppy, police said. The roommate later reported hearing Dixie whimpering loudly on the day of the incident, then seeing Reda enter the roommate’s room with the dog limp and covered in blood, police said. Officers said the roommate described Reda repeatedly saying it was an accident and returning to the claim that Dixie fell between railings on the stairway. Police said the statements and the injury pattern did not match what a witness said they saw outside.
Naples police said multiple witnesses reported hearing Reda complain about the puppy in the days around the death. Investigators said several people told them Reda said he was sick of the dog and wanted to kill it. One witness told officers there was no blood in the area where Reda claimed Dixie fell, but there was blood inside Reda’s apartment, police said. In a broadcast portion of the report, the puppy’s owner said she later found blood in a bathroom and a trail through the apartment that added to her concerns. The owner said she paid about $1,500 for a necropsy, and police said results supported the conclusion that the injuries were not consistent with a simple fall.
Police said a warrant for Reda’s arrest was issued Tuesday, and officers arrested him Thursday. The department said the charge is aggravated animal cruelty, a felony in Florida when authorities allege an intentional act that results in severe injury or death. Police did not release court dates in the statement, and it was not immediately clear whether Reda had an attorney who could comment on the allegations. The department also did not detail whether additional charges could follow based on the witness statements and the reported injuries.
The case also unfolded alongside other law enforcement contacts involving Reda, according to information included in the report’s broadcast text. Police said they found Reda hiding in an attic on the day Dixie died and arrested him then on warrants for failing to appear in court on separate allegations, including battery and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Police said those allegations involved a 2023 incident in which Reda was accused of pointing a gun at a child’s father-in-law and threatening to kill him. Investigators did not say those matters were directly connected to the puppy’s death, but the details were included in the account of the response that day.
For neighbors and the people who lived in the home, the puppy’s death left a lasting mark. In the broadcast report, the dog’s owner said she did not believe Dixie’s death was caused by a two-story fall and said she believed the explanation was made up. Police said the mix of witness accounts, the blood described inside the apartment and the medical findings eventually led investigators to seek a warrant. The department said it now has evidence the puppy’s death was a crime, though it has not publicly detailed the full investigative file.
Reda remained the sole suspect identified by police as the investigation moved into the court system. Authorities said the next step will be a first appearance and pretrial process in Collier County as prosecutors review evidence and decide how to proceed. Police have not released any additional reports, videos or recordings from the initial response, and they have not said whether more witnesses could be called.
As of Monday, Reda had been arrested on the aggravated animal cruelty charge, and the case remained pending. Police said the warrant was issued Tuesday and served Thursday, following the November call in the Curlew Avenue area.
Author note: Last updated Feb. 9, 2026.