Police: Online activity led us to alleged cat killer
Miami-Dade police believe that a dog-loving class clown who joined the "Catch the Cat Killer!" Facebook group may be the alleged cat killer himself, according to a report in the Miami Herald.
The Miami-Dade cat killer had been terrorizing neighborhoods, especially the towns of Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay, since May 10, when the first two carcasses were found, mutilated in a such a way as to cause maximum horror for whoever discovered them.
(Credit:
CC Higgy STPFC/Flickr)
The man police arrested on suspicion of the crimes, 18-year-old Tyler Hayes Weinman, is known as a "dog-loving class clown and a swim class instructor," according to the Herald.
The police told the paper that they arrested Weinman after taking a close look at his Facebook and MySpace postings. While not revealing more about the specific postings, police noted that Weinman had joined the Facebook group "Catch the Cat Killer!"
The group, with over 1,600 members, has since become a closed group. Organizer Brittany Barton said in a posting on the group's page that she had been forced to restrict activity.
"I will be opening up the comment wall and discussion board only once a week so that I can keep some control over the 'disturbing comments' that some people have made. And no, I cannot delete EVERYTHING that some of you may not want to read- I simply don't have the time," she wrote.
She appears to have been shaken by the sheer venom that was expressed on the group's wall. And she cautioned members to allow due process to occur before leaping to judgment.
"This is a very stressful situation to us all, but wait for the judge to bang the gavel before you go around saying things you may regret," she said.
Weinman has been charged with 19 counts of felony animal cruelty, 19 counts of improperly disposing of an animal body, and 4 counts of burglary, the Miami Herald reports.
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
People fail to realize that if cats did not go out and hunt, we would be overrun with vermin - rats and mice.
We are already overrun with vermin- hes called TYLER WEINMAN!
Where is PETA now? where is the outcry? Lets see if they treat
this little spoiled brat the same way they treated Michael Vick!
Faulty ...
Faultyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy ......................
- by Gabey8 June 20, 2009 8:14 PM PDT
- The culprit is a Ted Bundy/Jeffrey Dahmer in the making. I hope they've caught the right person and keep him off the street for many years. The odds are in favor of a person who's capable of tormenting animals to escalate to killing and maiming human beings.
- Reply to this comment
-
(6 Comments)Anyone who thinks, "Who cares? It's only cats" should remember that the culprit did these things and then left the bodies in a way to cause maximum suffering to the cats AND TO THEIR OWNERS. So even someone who thinks that only humans matter should remember that humans suffered from his actions, too.
I'm so glad that the suspect is over 18, and can be charged as an adult. Too bad that crimes involving extreme animal cruelty can't result in a life sentence without parole, because I think that's what would protect society best (people and pets alike). Maybe the maximum sentence on each crime he's charged with, served consecutively, will keep society at large safe from the sadistic sociopath for as long as legally possible.