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Posted on Thursday, 07.30.09

CAT KILLINGS

Police: Suspect in Miami-Dade cat killings wanted deal

The teen accused of mutilating and killing 19 cats in South Miami-Dade offered to tell police `about the cats that I did,' court documents say.

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Read the arrest affidavit

BY DAVID OVALLE

dovalle@MiamiHerald.com

Tyler Weinman, the South Miami-Dade teen accused of slaying 19 cats, offered to tell detectives ``about one or two cats'' if they made criminal charges on ``the rest go away.''

``OK, so let me see if I understand. As long as I tell you about the cats that I did, you can get rid of the others?'' Weinman, 18, asked Miami-Dade detectives in an interview shortly before his June 14 arrest, according to court documents released Wednesday.

But the interview with police was stopped, the documents reveal, when Weinman said he ``would need to get my attorney involved'' -- effectively invoking his right to a lawyer.

Prosecutors believe his words are crucial to their case. But Weinman's lawyer, David Macey, disputed their accuracy.

``The reported statements are either misleading and or false,'' he said. ``The real statement will never be heard because the investigation -- with its unlimited resources -- failed to find a tape recorder. They did not want to record the truth, that Tyler Weinman is innocent.''

The teen is accused of mutilating and killing the cats in Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay between April and June in a spree that terrified pet owners and drew national headlines. More than 30 cat corpses were found in the area.

Prosecutors have said they were looking at at least two other suspects who might have worked with Weinman.

No one else has been charged.

Weinman is charged with 19 counts each of felony animal cruelty and improperly disposing of an animal body, and four counts of burglary.

The case against him is largely circumstantial, but could be bolstered depending on results of blood, hair and DNA lab work done on knives and clothes seized from his parents' houses and cars.

Miami-Dade police say Weinman was found around crime scenes in the middle of the night, had hands-on knowledge of cat dissection and sported scratches consistent with cat claws.

An electronic monitoring device on his car also placed him in the area during one cat killing, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

When the mutilated cat bodies began appearing in late April, detectives quickly homed in on Weinman. He was stopped on May 15 for running a red light. Officers discovered a bag of marijuana, police said.

In his interview with Detectives Dominick Columbro, Raymon Haar and Ramon Llanes that night, he showed off scratches he claimed were from a stray cat he had fed.

He told the police: ``If you drop the marijuana charges, I'll tell you about the cats,'' according to the court documents.

How the interview unfolded from there is not documented in court filings. Weinman was charged with marijuana possession.

Weinman was not interviewed again until June 14, after a warrant had been issued for his arrest.

Columbro was joined by Detective Jon Robert and homicide detective Sal Garafalo.

After agreeing to talk without a lawyer, Weinman was asked what should happen to the cat killer.

``Help out. I don't really like jail,'' he responded, according to the documents. ``Though when it comes to violent things, I think they should . . .''

``Weinman did not finish his sentence,'' the documents state.

Also, Weinman also denied having X-Acto knives in his bedroom, ``but [he] had them in his car,'' according to the records.