New Haven Register| Nov. 16, 2023| Josh LaBella, Staff Writer
NORTH BRANFORD — The man accused of stabbing his daughter's dog to death also threatened to kill her boyfriend, police say.
On Wednesday, North Branford Police Deputy Chief James Lovelace said Arnaldo Silva, a 51-year-old resident of the town's Northford neighborhood, was arrested and charged with cruelty to animals and second-degree threatening.
According to his arrest warrant, police were called at 11:21 Monday night for a report of a dispute. Court records say officers were informed that a man had killed a dog while en route to the Woodvale Drive home. The warrant states arriving officers found Silva intoxicated in his bedroom with a broken nose and covered in blood, adding there was a blood trail leading from the living room, down a hallway and into a dog kennel in the bedroom.
Court records say Silva's daughter told police she left to sleep over her boyfriend's house earlier that day, but Silva left a voicemail at 10:45 p.m. telling her that Diesel, her 2-year-old bulldog, was dead. The warrant states she called him back but all he would tell her is that the dog had died before hanging up.
Silva's daughter, her boyfriend and a female friend who met them there drove to the home and found the dog lying motionless in the corner of the living room, the warrant states, adding Silva was drunk on the couch. The couple ran over to the dog to comfort it when Silva told the boyfriend "I'm going to kill you one day" twice, according to court records, before going to his bedroom. The warrant states Silva told responding officers that he did not know how the dog died and that he did not do anything to it. Court records say a different officer found a bloody kitchen knife in the dog kennel as well as a trail of blood leading from the kennel to the dog's body in the living room.
Based on what the officers had observed, the warrant says, police applied for a warrant for Silva's arrest. Lovelace said Silva was taken into custody Wednesday.
Lovelace said the bulldog was transported to the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, where an autopsy will be performed to determine the exact cause of death.