A Texas man has been arrested for allegedly torturing and killing puppies and dogs in various hotel rooms after getting the animals on Facebook.
Tyler Hastings Berry, 27, was scheduled to face an Austin court Friday on animal cruelty charges after he was nabbed earlier this week over the grim slayings, court records show.
He is accused of killing two puppies and dumping their tiny bodies in a trash can inside his Hyatt House hotel room in August last year, according to a police affidavit obtained by KVUE.
The dead puppies were discovered in Berry’s bathroom by hotel cleaners after he had checked out. Hypodermic needles were also found throughout the hotel room, the affidavit said.
An autopsy later found the puppies had gone without food for at least two days before they died.
When officers ran the hotel guest’s name, they found he had two prior cases of animal cruelty against him, including an active warrant for the death of a pit bull.
The remains of the pit bull were uncovered in the bathroom of a DoubleTree Suites in June 2021.
A vet determined the dog had likely been “strangled or partially drowned” in the days leading up to its death.
“During those 24-48 hours, the dog would have been slowly dying and experiencing an unimaginable amount of pain and suffering, until its eventual death,” an affidavit said.
His girlfriend told cops during their investigation that Berry would regularly get new dogs and puppies from Facebook — but they would always vanish.
Berry allegedly told his girlfriend he had given the animals away but his explanation was always “fuzzy,” police said.
He is charged with two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to non-livestock animals in relation to the puppies and third-degree felony cruelty to animals over the pit bull’s death, court records show.