| The Miami Herald Jul. 6--In an interview with police, accused cat killer Tyler Weinman eagerly detailed how to dissect cats, even describing the "tearing sound" made when cutting open a feline's flesh, according to an arrest affidavit released Monday. SAVE MONEY ON TRAVEL DEALS Miami-Dade police detectives concluded Weinman fits the bill of a "sociopath." The arrest affidavit, released one month after Weinman's arrest, details a circumstantial case based on the teen's suspicious late-night forays, cat claw scratches on his body and cryptic, disturbing comments about feline dissection. The document reveals for the first time evidence used to arrest Weinman in a case that terrorized pet owners and generated national headlines. The warrant "speaks for itself", said Miami-Dade prosecutor Elijah Levitt. Weinman, however, in initial talks with police did not acknowledge killing any of the dozens of cats found mutilated across South Miami-Dade between April and June, according to the warrant. And no eyewitnesses to the killings were cited in the document. "It's really important to note that there is not one single witness in there that says that Tyler Weinman touched a cat -- not one witness", said David Macey, Weinman's attorney. Weinman, accused of slaying 19 cats in South Miami-Dade, was formally charged Monday during arraignment in Miami-Dade Circuit Court. He has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors made public the 10-page arrest warrant affidavit, which had been sealed because investigators were looking at other possible suspects. No further arrests have been announced. Weinman is charged with 19 counts of felony animal cruelty, 19 counts of improperly disposing of an animal body and four counts of burglary for allegedly returning to homes to dump the cats. Weinman is on house arrest, free on $249,500 bond. His lawyers will return to court Friday to ask a judge to return property seized by police after his arrest. The case against Weinman could strengthen considerably; investigators are awaiting lab results on cutting tools found in searches of Weinman's parents' houses. Police psychological profilers concluded the killer "would be referred to as a sociopath" -- and detectives agreed Weinman fit the description. "I'm not exactly sure where they came up with their conclusion or their junk science but all that's going to be proven faulty", Macey responded. Prosecutors charged Hayes in connection with the mutilations of 19 cats, the first found on April 28 near Weinman's home on the 19400 block of Ridgeland Drive in Cutler Bay. One cat was posed with a slit down the its stomach. Another was missing the top of its mouth. Another was missing genitalia. The scenes were bloodless, meaning the cats were killed elsewhere and dumped at the scenes. Among evidence cited by prosecutors: On May 14 about 2 a.m., officers found him walking along Whispering Pines Road. A witness told police he saw Weinman walking and using his cell phone on the same street about an hour later -- then three hours after that, another cat was found nearby. The next night, a Miami-Dade sergeant found Weinman -- clad in black, wearing a backpack -- skateboarding in Cutler Bay. Weinman laughed when the sergeant suggested he keep his cats indoors. On May 15, officers stopped Weinman when he ran a red light in Cutler Bay. They found a "cutting tool" he apparently threw outside his driver's side window. The tool was impounded. Weinman was arrested for marijuana possession. During that arrest, officers noticed a "prominent red-colored scratch across the right side of Weinman's neck." He claimed it came from feeding a stray cat at his mother's house -- he then eagerly showed detectives another scratch on his back. "The cat climbed down my back", Weinman told Miami-Dade Detective Dominick Columbro. Police attached an electronic tracking device to his car that pinpointed him in the immediate area of one killing reported June 6. A witness also told police that a suspicious black car -- similar to Weinman's -- was seen casing the street as detectives pored over the crime scene. The car sped off. Weinman, at length, described dissecting cats, which he learned during an anatomy class at Palmetto Senior High. To police, he noted "with excitement" that cats for dissection could only be received from Mexico, the warrant said. During his interview, he seemed almost to be toying with investigators. Detective Columbro asked what tools someone would use to kill cats. "I don't know but I'm sure they are very well-hidden", he said. How do you think the cats are captured, he asked. "They either have to be tranquilized or poisoned", Weinman replied. While he did not admit to any cat killings, he did disclose to investigators that he "despises" his father. In media interviews, his father and stepmother have said they own several cats.
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