MIAMI, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Prosecutors in Miami say they have dropped charges against a man suspected of killing a string of cats after finding they were killed by dogs.
Prosecutors dropped charges against Tyler Weinman, 19, after finding bite marks under the fur of eight of the cats he was suspected of killing, The Miami Herald reported.
Police, relying on opinions of Miami-Dade's Animal Services department, built a circumstantial case against the teen, but had no hard evidence.
"They peeled back underneath the skin and found puncture wounds and that was the end of the case," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle. "This is a classic case of scientific evidence trumping a circumstantial case."
Weinman's defense attorney said he learned the county had seized two large wild dogs the day the teen was arrested, probably explaining why the cat killings ceased.
Weinman was charged with killing 19 cats in South Miami-Dade in June 2009, and faced several burglary and cruelty to animal felonies.
Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge John W. Thornton Jr. signed an order Wednesday releasing him from house arrest.
