A Riviera Beach woman says she was strangled, beaten with a flat iron and held inside a home for hours before she managed to run into the street screaming for help early on July 28. Police say the same man, 31-year-old Timothy Renardo Alvin Jr., also choked her Yorkshire terrier and tried to drown the dog in a sink.
According to WTVX, the woman told investigators the trouble started shortly after midnight while she and Alvin were drinking and playing a drinking game together. What began as a night in reportedly escalated into an assault that continued off and on through the night, with the woman reporting that the attack kept resuming even after apparent lulls, per police.
Police say Alvin punched the woman repeatedly and struck her with her own cellphone and his fists. At one point, investigators say, he hit her in the head and right ear with a white flat iron, leaving her with severe bruising and swelling to the back and right side of her head and her right ear. When she tried to call 911, police say, Alvin took her phone away, and he is now listed on the arrest form as facing an obstructing justice charge tied to interfering with her ability to reach law enforcement.
Chased Down in the Driveway
The woman told police that when she tried to leave, Alvin chased her, caught her in the driveway, and dragged her back inside the residence — conduct that led investigators to find probable cause for false imprisonment in addition to battery. A nearby neighbor reported seeing what appeared to be Alvin striking the woman while she screamed, according to police. Motion-activated security camera footage reportedly showed the woman and Alvin getting into a vehicle at about 6:33 a.m., though she ultimately ran from the residence screaming for help at around 2:30 a.m., per the timeline described in the affidavit.
Investigators say Alvin also squeezed the woman's neck until she could not breathe and may have briefly lost consciousness. Officers who responded found her with multiple visible injuries. Fire rescue was called to the scene to provide medical assistance, and she was later taken to St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach for further treatment, where medics said she could potentially have a brain bleed, according to the affidavit. St. Mary's operates one of only two state-designated Level I Trauma Centers in Palm Beach County, a facility that treats more than 70,000 emergency and trauma patients annually, according to the Palm Beach Health Network.
Threats Aimed at the Family Dog
Perhaps the most disturbing detail in the case involves the couple's Yorkshire terrier. Police say Alvin threatened to kill both the woman and her dog if she contacted law enforcement, then allegedly choked the small dog by its neck and attempted to drown it in a sink. An officer identified in reports as Hayles said he observed blood spatter on a wall and a hole in the wall that the woman said Alvin had punched, according to police.
Investigators have described the case as domestic in nature and sought a warrant for Alvin's arrest. He now faces charges including aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, felony battery by strangulation, aggravated animal cruelty, and obstructing justice, according to police records.
What the Charges Could Mean
The charges Alvin faces carry significant weight under Florida law. Domestic battery by strangulation is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine, along with mandatory completion of a 29-week Batterers' Intervention Program, and the state classifies it as a Level 6 offense that can never be sealed or expunged, according to the Sammis Law Firm. The allegation that Alvin used a flat iron during the assault elevates the case further — aggravated battery with a deadly weapon is a second-degree felony carrying up to 15 years in prison, 15 years of probation and a $10,000 fine, per legal analysis from Richard Hornsby.
False imprisonment charges do not require long-term confinement or locked doors to apply under Florida law, the Sammis Law Firm notes in a separate explainer, meaning even a brief chase and forced return indoors can satisfy the statute. The animal cruelty allegation is notable in light of Florida's newly enacted Dexter's Law, which took effect in July 2025 and created enhanced sentencing multipliers, barred expungement, and will require public offender registry listings for qualifying convictions starting this year, according to the Brancato Law Firm. Separately, Florida law treats interference with a 911 call during a crime as its own obstruction offense, and prosecutors routinely file such charges when suspects isolate victims from emergency help, per Lindsay Chase Law.
A County Grappling With Domestic Violence
The case adds to a troubling pattern in Palm Beach County, which recorded a domestic violence offense rate of 296.5 per 100,000 residents in 2020, according to county behavioral health reporting. Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse, a local nonprofit, responds to more than 2,500 crisis calls annually and runs a 64-bed emergency shelter designed to take in survivors alongside their pets — a service model built specifically to remove the barrier facing victims whose animals are threatened or harmed by an abuser.
The case is the latest in a string of violent incidents to draw scrutiny toward Riviera Beach in recent months. In a June arson case, neighbors alerted a woman that her house was on fire, leading to an attempted murder arrest. The department itself has also faced internal turmoil, with an officer arrested on DUI and obstruction charges last month after driving the wrong way on a Palm Beach County road, following an earlier DUI arrest of a department major in late 2025.
It remains unclear whether the State Attorney's Office has formally filed charges against Alvin or whether he has had a bond hearing. The current condition of the woman and her Yorkshire terrier following their respective medical evaluations has not been publicly detailed.
