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With dog on rampage, they escape by window

Their pit bullterrier was never violent before, a family says. Then he killed their puppy.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published November 14, 2006

NEW PORT RICHEY - Best friends from the start, Froto was just a pit bullterrier puppy when Donnie Williams first laid eyes on him in Ohio. When he brought him back to Florida, the dog was family.

Until Froto turned on the family early Monday.

The 4-year-old pit bullterrier viciously killed the family's other pet pit bull, a 4-month-old female puppy named Diamond, and kept Williams, his girlfriend and 3-year-old son trapped in the master bedroom.

"I don't know what made him snap," Williams said. "But when he did, there was just no coming back for him."

They called 911 and escaped out the bedroom window. Authorities kept Froto trapped inside the blood-stained house until his capture.

Froto was euthanized that afternoon by Pasco County Animal Services.

"I loved that dog with all my heart," said Williams, 29. "He's my best friend. But I care about the kid and the old lady more than the dog."

He had left his native Clearwater and was working at an Ohio tattoo parlor when a customer mentioned he had a puppy to give away. Froto had already been named after Frodo from Lord of the Rings.

"I had to have him," Williams said. "Ever since, he's been absolutely wonderful."

Froto was never violent before, Williams said, and was never neglected or beaten. Animal Control Officer John Douglass said Froto didn't bear any telltale scars of past violence.

But Williams and his girlfriend, Bridget Royal, wanted 3-year-old Donavan to have his own dog to grow up with. They moved back to Florida recently, and found Diamond in the newspaper for $200.

All three were asleep in the bedroom with the dogs when growling and barking awoke dad at 1:30 a.m.

Froto had his jaws clamped onto the back of Diamond's neck. The 60-pound dog flung the 25-pound puppy from side to side. Williams couldn't save her.

"When I got closer," he said, "he just kept shaking her harder and harder."

After 10 minutes Diamond was dead. Williams backed Froto out of the bedroom and into the hallway, shut the door and called for help.

The family escaped, but Froto was kept trapped inside the Veterans Village home for an hour. He continued to mutilate Diamond's corpse.

When a Pasco sheriff's deputy banged on the sliding glass door with his flashlight, Froto walked into view from the hallway.

"There was blood all over him," Williams said.

The couple spent Monday cleaning the carpet and walls. They're also looking for a new dog for Donavan, and a way to tell the crying boy - before his fourth birthday on Sunday - that Diamond won't be coming back.

"He's almost 4 years old. I can't exactly tell him Diamond's dead, you know," Williams said. "I can just tell him that Diamond got sick and went to doggie heaven."

Jamal Thalji can be reached at thalji@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6236.

[Last modified November 14, 2006, 07:16:26]