FOX 10 Phoenix reporter Steve Nielsen says a welfare check in Laveen Village, Arizona, spiraled into one of those cases that makes people stop mid-sentence, because it doesn’t sound real until you hear the details.
Nielsen reports police were called to a home near 51st Avenue and Southern after neighbors said they hadn’t seen the homeowner in days, and they believed someone might be inside because there was traffic coming and going.
When officers arrived, Nielsen says they ended up finding a man dead in the backyard and an 18-year-old neighbor inside the home.
Police later identified the victim as David Jimenez, 57, according to Nielsen’s report.
And the suspect, Nielsen reports, is Xzavion Johnson, 18, who police say had been living there for weeks.
A Mother’s 911 Call And A Strange Discovery
Nielsen calls the case “bizarre,” and he’s not exaggerating.
He reports that police say it was Johnson’s mother who called 911 after noticing something felt off in the neighborhood.
Nielsen says she smelled a foul odor and went to Jimenez’s house to check, wondering where her neighbor was.
Then, according to Nielsen, she noticed something that didn’t make sense: mail for her son was addressed to Jimenez’s home.
That’s when, Nielsen reports, she made the call that brought police to the house. Police say they found Johnson inside, Nielsen reports, and they discovered Jimenez’s body in the backyard.
Even before you get to the allegations, that detail hits hard: it wasn’t a dramatic chase that cracked this open, but a parent noticing a smell and a piece of mail that didn’t belong.
In stories like this, the “how did anyone not notice” question always shows up, but Nielsen’s reporting reminds you that sometimes people do notice—it just takes one small clue at the right moment to force the truth into the open.
What Police Say Happened In Late December
Nielsen reports that, according to investigators, Johnson admitted he broke into his neighbor’s home around December 29 intending to steal from Jimenez.
Police say Johnson then shot Jimenez three times, Nielsen reports.
After that, Nielsen says authorities allege Johnson stayed—living inside the home, using the victim’s car, and using the victim’s credit cards, while Jimenez’s body remained in the backyard.
That part is where a lot of people’s brains refuse to cooperate, because it’s not only the violence, it’s the strange “after” that feels colder.
Nielsen tells viewers there are “twists and turns,” and the most jarring twist is the claim that the suspect allegedly moved through daily life as if nothing had happened.
He also reports that when police responded, they believed the home might be occupied and set up containment while they tried to contact whoever was inside.
Nielsen says Johnson eventually came out and was arrested after what police described as an extended barricade situation. That detail matters because it shows this wasn’t just a routine knock at the door. Officers were treating it like a serious, uncertain situation, and they were right to.
Neighbors React: “Weird” And “Brazen”
Nielsen doesn’t just relay what police say – he also captures the neighborhood’s reaction, and it’s mostly shock mixed with disbelief.
He introduces Maritsa Aguilar, who didn’t know Jimenez personally, but still brought candles and flowers because, as she told Nielsen, she wanted to “do something…anything” for a neighbor.
Aguilar tells Nielsen it’s “kind of sad,” explaining that Jimenez lived by himself and that even if people didn’t know him well, they wanted to show up for him anyway.
That small act – candles and flowers for someone you barely knew – says a lot about how communities try to patch a hole after tragedy, even when the hole is too big.
Nielsen also speaks with Paul Garrobo, who says he used to see Jimenez outside, working on his yard.
Garrobo tells Nielsen he hadn’t seen him for a couple of weeks.
And Nielsen adds another unsettling detail: neighbors also hadn’t seen Johnson around for a while either, even though he lived just a few doors down.
Garrobo points out something that feels painfully plausible: the time of year may have made gunshots easier to miss.
He tells Nielsen there were fireworks going off from Christmas into the New Year, so he says you might not have thought a loud pop was a gunshot.
That comment isn’t an excuse—just a reminder of how quickly a neighborhood can mistake a warning sign for normal holiday noise.
Aguilar’s reaction is blunt, and Nielsen lets it land. “It’s weird, it’s creepy,” she tells Nielsen, saying she can’t understand how someone could live in a home while the person they allegedly killed was behind the house.
Garrobo uses a different word with the same meaning.
He tells Nielsen it’s “very strange” and “brazen,” and he can’t wrap his head around the idea of living there afterward.
This is the part of Nielsen’s report where the case stops being only about criminal charges and becomes about human instincts. Most people, even in their worst moments, still have a basic internal alarm that screams “get away from the harm.”
This case, as Nielsen describes it, is terrifying because it suggests that alarm either didn’t exist or didn’t work.
The Court Case And The Hard Questions Left Behind
Nielsen reports that at Johnson’s initial appearance, a judge described what happened as “disturbing” and “very brutal.”
Johnson is now charged with first-degree murder, Nielsen reports, and his bond was set at $1 million cash. Police say they do not believe there are additional suspects, Nielsen reports, though the investigation is ongoing.
If you listen closely to Nielsen’s reporting, you can feel how many layers this case has, even without getting into speculation.
There’s the alleged burglary, the killing, the claim of living in the home afterward, the use of the victim’s car and cards, the long gap in time, and then the mother’s discovery that finally brought police in.
And hovering over all of it is a question that’s hard to ask out loud: what does an 18-year-old have to be thinking to do something like this, and then stay?
That isn’t about sympathy, and it isn’t about making excuses.
It’s about the public trying to understand how a crime can be so direct, and then so eerily routine afterward, like the goal wasn’t only to steal, but to replace someone’s life with your own.
Nielsen’s report also quietly points at another reality: isolation makes everything worse.
Jimenez, as Aguilar told Nielsen, lived by himself, and it seems like it took time for people to realize something was wrong.
That doesn’t mean neighbors failed, because people have jobs and families and their own problems, and you can’t watch every house like a security camera.
But it does show how fragile “normal” can be when someone is alone and the people around them don’t have daily reasons to check in.
If there’s any takeaway worth sitting with, it’s that welfare checks matter. They aren’t just paperwork calls or annoying interruptions; they can be the only thing that breaks a long silence before a case gets even worse.
Nielsen ends with the basic facts – charges, bond, and the shock of the community – but the unease lingers.
A person is dead.
A neighborhood is trying to understand how it happened without noticing sooner.
And an 18-year-old is facing an accusation so serious that the rest of his life will now be measured in court dates, evidence, and the question a case like this always leaves behind: how does something so extreme happen on an ordinary street, and how do you keep it from happening again?
A former park ranger and wildlife conservationist, Lisa’s passion for survival started with her deep connection to nature. Raised on a small farm in northern Wisconsin, she learned how to grow her own food, raise livestock, and live off the land. Lisa is our dedicated Second Amendment news writer and also focuses on homesteading, natural remedies, and survival strategies. Lisa aims to help others live more sustainably and prepare for the unexpected.
