with their new cat, Miss Prissy, Sunday, June 14, 2009 in Miami. The Shads got Miss Prissy after their small cat was killed in a disturbing string of deaths that has horrified residents and shaken animal lovers in two Miami-area communities. Tyler Hayes Weinman, 18, a South Florida teenager was arrested early Sunday and accused of killing and mutilating the cats of his neighbors. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter) AP FLJC101 STF Cats Mutilated 1:09 p.m. ET, 6/19/09
Tyler Weinman: Portrait of An Accused Serial Cat Killer:
http://www.miamibeach411.com/news/index.php?/news/comments/serial-cat-killer/
Sad and sick about the cats. This young adult has been trained up the way Democrats want him to go.
http://www.plannedgrandparenthood.org/html/directory.html
Accused South Miami-Dade cat killer Tyler Weinman was released from jail Wednesday as police await forensic analysis on 'cutting tools' found in his father's
BY LUISA YANEZ AND DAVID OVALLE
Tyler Weinman, the teen accused of mutilating and killing 19 cats across South Miami-Dade, was released from jail Wednesday to await a trial as friends and family continued to proclaim his innocence.
Weinman had been jailed pending a court-ordered psychiatric evaluation. After reviewing a doctor's findings that Weinman posed no "risk of harming himself or others," Miami-Dade Circuit Judge John Thornton allowed him released on $249,500 bond.
Weinman, 18, faces arraignment July 6. He is charged with 19 counts of felony animal cruelty, 19 counts of improperly disposing of an animal body and four counts of burglary.
The judge placed him under house arrest. Weinman will be monitored via an electronic ankle bracelet and receive psychiatric counseling twice a week.
His father, dentist Douglas Weinman, told reporters outside the courthouse that his son was not the cat killer.
"We are cat owners ourselves," he said. "We certainly sympathize with the grief of the other pet owners. We are sympathetic with them, but it is not our son."
Also Wednesday, lawyers for The Miami Herald and CBS filed a motion asking Thornton to unseal Weinman's arrest affidavit, a document that typically is made public but has been kept secret in this case as police investigate other potential suspects.
Prosecutors have allowed Weinman's defense attorney to view, but not keep, the affidavit, which outlines the evidence against the teen.
So far, police and prosecutors have released little information about how they pinpointed Weinman, who was arrested at a friend's house early Sunday morning.
A law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said Weinman emerged as a suspect just days after the first cat was found slain on May 10.
"Many tips were received; many mentioned Weinman," said the source, who asked not to be named.
Still, much of the evidence in the case so far appears to be circumstantial.
A former teacher at Palmetto High, which Weinman attended, has said that he dissected cats during anatomy class. But authorities never caught Weinman in the act of killing a cat.
The teen was spotted carrying out seemingly "suspicious activities -- he was out on his skateboard at 2 a.m., wearing dark clothes and carrying a back pack," the source said.
Miami-Dade police have said Weinman was under surveillance for several weeks. WFOR-CBS4, citing unnamed sources, reported Wednesday that detectives received court permission to use an electronic tracking device on Weinman's car to see if the teen was in the area when some of the dead cats were found.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Daryl Trawick signed search warrants for the homes of Weinman's mother and father, where the teen was splitting his time, according to prosecutors. Police seized various "cutting tools" from the father's home, the source said.
Forensic technicians will now test the tools for animal blood and possible DNA evidence to determine whether they provide a link to the cat killings.
Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Michael Von Zamft declined to discuss how authorities have linked Weinman to the crimes, but he said there is enough evidence to "move forward on this case right away."
Once the pending lab work is completed, he said, "We believe the results of the other tests will make our case stronger."
The law enforcement source said that police had already identified Weinman as a suspect when they stopped him for running a red light in Cutler Bay at 6:40 p.m. May 15. They questioned him about the cat killings at that time.
According to an arrest report, during that traffic stop Miami-Dade Officers Ruben Moya and Thomas Molina spied a clear plastic container of suspected marijuana.
Weinman also acknowledged he was driving with a suspended license, the report said. He was charged with marijuana possession and driving with a suspended license, and signed a notice promising to appear in court.
After that, the cat killings stopped in Cutler Bay, where Weinman's mother lives. But several more cats were killed in Palmetto Bay, where his father lives.
The slender teen appeared in court Wednesday wearing a red jumpsuit designated for high-profile inmates. He smirked and nodded to his father and stepmother sitting in the courtroom.
One of his lawyers, Michael Walsh, said after the hearing that police have no evidence and rushed to arrest Weinman because of intense public outcry.
"He's an innocent man," Walsh said.
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/top-stories/story/1102485.html