The cats whose mutilated bodies were found throughout Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay may not have had nine lives, but it looks increasingly like that fortune belongs to 19-year-old Tyler Weinman, the former high school student arrested for the crimes last June.
A police lab report released Friday revealed that no blood was found on the dental cutting tools, box cutters and blade found hidden inside a wall in Weinman's home, nor on samples from his clothing, a visor, and the roof of his car.
The discovery does nothing to help the case for the prosecution, which already lacked DNA evidence after swabs taken from the mouths and paws of 11 dead cats back in February failed to turn up any human material including blood or skin cells.
Weinman is accused of butchering 19 cats in a summer-time spree in the two neighborhoods in which his divorced parents each live last year. Many were left cut into pieces for their owners to find; Miami-Dade police have charged him with 19 counts of animal cruelty and improperly disposing of an animal body, and four counts of burglary.
His attorney, David Macey, says the findings only serve to further exonerate his client. Macey has already asked the judge to take into consideration that a pack of pitbulls was ultimately found to be responsible for a string of Broward County cat deaths that happened around the same time.
But Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office spokesman Ed Griffith says a lack of forensic evidence won't stop the prosecution moving forward.
"Our case is based on other evidence,'' he said, likely referring to scratches on Weinman's body, reports from a tracking device placed on Weinman's car that put him near the scene of some of the cat deaths, and court documents released last July in which Weinman allegedly tried to cut a deal with police.
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Weinman also offered to "tell you about the cats" in exchange for dropped charges after he was found in possession of marijuana last May 15. At the time, a cutting tool found near his car; police believe he threw it out the window when he was pulled over.
The Miami-Dade college hopeful has been under house arrest since June, though the judge has granted him permission to leave home for haircuts, college placement tests, and Thanksgiving dinner.
