Brett Anthony Bellera, the son of former tabloid figure Amy Fisher, has been charged with aggravated cruelty to animals in connection with the death of his pet cat, Reaper. Bellera, 25, and his girlfriend, Jennifer Armenti, 36, face the charges after the cat was discovered deceased in their Fort Lauderdale, Florida, apartment in December 2024.
A forensic necropsy performed by the ASPCA indicated the cat suffered severe pain from "involuntary heat exposure," potentially from microwave radiation, immersion in hot water, or exposure to hot water vapor, according to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. Officials reported the cat was found burned to death.
Bellera, Fisher's eldest son from her marriage to retired NYPD officer Louis Bellera, was already in custody on unrelated robbery and drug charges. His criminal record spans seven years, beginning when he was 18.
A friend of the couple alerted authorities to the cat's death on December 15, 2024, as detailed in arrest affidavits. Armenti initially claimed she found the cat on the bathroom floor and believed it had ingested cleaning products. However, animal care employees later found the animal dead in a laundry basket on the back patio, surrounded by a pool of blood.
Armenti was arrested on Wednesday in Miramar, while Bellera received his charges earlier this month.
Amy Fisher gained notoriety in 1992 when, at age 17, she shot Mary Jo Buttafuoco, the wife of her then-36-year-old lover, Joey Buttafuoco. Mary Jo Buttafuoco survived the attack but sustained permanent facial paralysis. Joey Buttafuoco served four months in jail for statutory rape. Fisher served seven years in prison before her parole in 1999. She and Louis Bellera later moved to Florida, but Fisher told the New York Post in 2017 that they returned to Long Island because her children were being ostracized. She stated that the school psychologist had even suggested her eldest son drop out and pursue a GED due to the social difficulties.
Fisher, now 51, later pursued a career in webcam modeling from her Long Island home. Her ex-husband, Lou Berella, expressed disapproval of her career choice in 2017 but acknowledged their divorce two years prior prevented him from intervening.