U.S. & World

CUTLER BAY, Fla. (CBS) ― A Cutler Bay teen has been arrested and charged for a slew of brutal cat murders and mutilations in Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay, CBS station WFOR-TV reports.

Tyler Weinman, 18, has been taken into custody and charged with 19 counts of animal cruelty, 19 counts of improper disposal of animal remains and four counts of burglary.

Weinman lives with his mother in 19-thousand block of Ridgeland Drive in the Whispering Pines neighborhood of Cutler Bay where some of the first mutilated bodies were discovered. His father, Douglas, is a dentist in the area. According to Weiman's MySpace page he enjoyed skateboarding and was a member of Palmetto Bay skaters group.

Miami-Dade police Major Julie Miller said Weinman was taken into custody after weeks of investigation and surveillance. He was arrested Saturday evening at a party at a friend's house in Coral Gables. The investigation remains open as detectives try to determine if there were accomplices to the crimes.

Weinman, who attended Miami Palmetto High School, was arrested twice as a juvenile. On May 29th, court records show Weinman was arrested for possession of marijuana.

"I sincerely hope that with his arrest, the residents will feel relieved and their cats will be safe once again," said State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle in statement. "It is expected that the vicious crimes that have plagued these communities will not be repeated."

At a news conference Sunday morning Cutler Bay, city and county leaders expressed their thanks to police for catching the person responsible and reassured the community that the 'reign of terror' was over.

"First of all my heart goes out to those families who have lost their dear kitties cause I understand that pet owners feel very strongly about their little family members when animals bring comfort to our lives. To see them so violated and so mutilated just defies all common sense and is painful for everyone involved. Thankfully for this community the terror has come to an end," said Miami-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorenson whose district includes Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay. "And what of the perpetrator, depraved, demented, twisted; who knows what went into this kid's thought process as these crimes were committed. All that has to be resolved when he has his day in court."

"I am greatly relieved at the arrest in the recent cat killings that have become such a plague in Miami-Dade. While the killings started in Cutler Bay, they spread to Palmetto Bay, to Kendall and through media reports the grief and fear were shared nationally" said Cutler Bay Mayor Paul Vrooman.

As Vrooman thanked the police and the community, he also issued a warning to anyone who may be considering a similar crime.

"I read a blog post this morning from one misguided poster who said he actually supported these acts because cats were a nuisance to him. To anyone who shares that opinion let me make this clear that cruelty is inhuman no matter what form it takes. The cruelty of these crimes were horrific for the animal victims but there were many human victims as well. Lets not forget the children and families who found their pets mutilated, these awful wounds inflicted a human toll."

County Mayor Carlos Alvarez echoed Vrooman's sentiments.

"Cat owners can breathe a sigh of relief today," said Alvarez. "I want to commend the Miami-Dade Police Department for working around the clock to solve these cases and put a suspect behind bars. Animal cruelty in our community will not be tolerated."

Miller said investigators are now checking to see if Weiman is connected to similar crimes in other jurisdictions.

"This terrible time has drawn us together as a community, further emphasizing the importance of knowing our neighbors, communicating with each other, and always staying vigilant to suspicious activities whenever or wherever they may occur in our village," said Palmetto Bay Mayor Eugene Flinn.

On Saturday, residents from affected communities gathered at a meeting and were asked to watch for the person or persons involved with the recent string of mutilated cats found in and around Palmetto and Cutler Bay.

During the Saturday morning meeting, fliers were passed out to citizens telling them to keep cats confined indoors or use cat fencing to keep the cats in your yard. Other suggestions included in the flier were: keeping your lights on or connecting your outside lights to a motion detector, report any suspicious activity to the police, and preserving any potential evidence by simply covering the animal in plastic until police arrive.

Ruby Jenkins attended the meeting after her cat named Vagrant was killed.

"At least I know people are aware and that something is being done. What it did was it took away my security. The day after I just sat in there with the windows closed the blinds closed," said Jenkins.

Alicia Glatzer went through the same heartache more than a month ago when her cat was mutilated.

"I am very frustrated because were 33 cats into this and its just continues to escalate and the attacks are more gruesome then they were before," Glatzer said.

Animal advocates continued to drive the point that the only way to insure everyone's cats were safe was to keep the felines inside.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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