Miami 'Zombie' Eats Homeless Man's Face Suspectedly High on Bath Salts

Huffington Post- A newly released surveillance video from atop a Miami Herald parking garage shows the entire violent attack Saturday during which a naked man chewed off most of a homeless victim's face.




The video, uncensored though partially obscured and from a distance, shows 31-year-old Rudy Eugene in the last moments of his life: striking Ronald Poppo, 65, removing Poppo's pants, and brutalizing his face in broad daylight for nearly 18 minutes as traffic rolled past on the busy MacArthur Causeway.



Eugene was shot and killed by Miami Police officer Jose Rivera as he loomed over Poppo's bleeding body, but the video helps piece together the moments leading up to the gruesome attack and suggests the two men met by chance on the MacArthur's Biscayne Boulevard off-ramp, in the shadow of the Miami Metromover.



CBS Miami reports in a timeline of his last hours that Eugene, who spent Friday night with a girlfriend in Miami Gardens, drove to South Beach Saturday morning to check out Memorial Day weekend festivities and was unable to start his car to make a return trip. Abandoning his purple sedan, which was later towed, police say he at some point set off on foot across the causeway:

"It was a hot day, with temperatures in the 90's, and a long walk. Either late that morning, or early that afternoon, police sources said, Eugene began his trek back to Miami. As he walked across the causeway, they said he started stripping, leaving his clothes on the walkway and in the road.



Cops found his drivers license and clothes strewn from the beach to the mainland."

Footage released by the Herald picks up a fully naked Eugene just before 2 p.m. as he walked down the exit ramp on the other side of the bridge. Pausing in a shady spot, he reels or spins slightly as a bicyclist whizzes by, then is mostly lost to sight as he bends over the homeless Poppo where he sat or lay on the ground.


About two minutes, later, however, Eugene rolls Poppo into the middle of the sidewalk. He appears to strip away some of the older man's clothing and then savage his face as Poppo futilely resists. Several minutes later, Eugene again drags Poppo farther down the sidewalk and continues to attack him before another cyclist rolls slowly by and a white car pauses on the off-ramp, just on the other side of a short wall separating the roadway from the bike path.


Gruesome photos circulating the web would later confirm most of Poppo's face, including his nose, eyes, and mouth, was ripped away, in what Miami's Fraternal Order of Police vice president Sgt. Javier Ortiz told the Associated Press was of the "goriest scenes I've ever been to." Poppo remains in critical condition.




"He had his face eaten down to his goatee. The forehead was just bone. No nose, no mouth," said Sgt. Armando Aguilar, Miami FOP president. "In my opinion, he just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."



The Herald reports at least five passersby called police:

"According to Miami police, the first call of a disturbance came from a passing motorist who reported seeing Eugene stripping off his clothes and acting erratically. That call was routed to the Florida Highway Patrol — it’s unclear why — and then transferred to the Miami police. Police have not disclosed the time of the first call.



A Road Ranger called to the scene also called 911 and used a loudspeaker to call for the naked attacker to cease. As the attack dragged on, two other motorists called police, as did another cyclist, Larry Vega, who later told reporters that Eugene “just stood, his head up like that, with pieces of flesh in his mouth. And he growled.” '

The surveillance video shows at least two more cyclists pass before Officer Rivera drives up the off-ramp, about 18 minutes into the attack. Rivera can be seen approaching the scene at a normal pace before pulling his gun and quickly stepping into a shooting stance. Vega later told news outlets that when Rivera yelled at Eugene to back away, the naked man merely raised his head "with pieces of flesh in his mouth," growled, and began chewing again.




Rivera reportedly then shot Eugene once, but Eugene still continued to attack Poppo's face, prompting the officer to shoot multiple times until he was dead.



"The guy, he was like a zombie, blood dripping, it was intense," the New York Daily News quotes Vega as saying. "The closest thing I've seen to it? 'The Walking Dead'."



Though police theorize Eugene was prompted to attack Poppo by drug-induced psychosis -- possibly caused by a new drug called "bath salts" -- the Herald reports no drugs or paraphernalia were found at the scene. Toxicology reports are expected to take several weeks.

--------------------------------------------------------------

How could ANY drug drive a person to do that to another person's face?  Then again, I don't believe Dr. Lector was on anything. ;)  But seriously, I now want to throw up. Holy shit. 

(Click HERE for graphic picture)

(Video of assault here!)

This Day In History

May 17 1924
Two youths discover a human skull on the banks of the Leine in Hanover, Germany. And although two more skulls are found a month later, police ignore it until a sackful of bones turn up on the riverbank. Dragging the Leine yields another 500 bones, belonging to about 27 victims. Eventually, police arrest Fritz Haarmann for the crimes. He would lure runaway boys back to his apartment, where they would be raped, killed, and cut into steaks. Then the unlicensed butcher would sell the meat as beef on the black market. All told, he killed between 40 and 50 boys.

May 17 1965
Magazine The Nation publishes Hunter S. Thompson's first-hand experiences with the Hell's Angels motorcycle club. The bikers would eventually stomp Thompson when they demanded payment for his time spent. A year later, Random House published his book Hells Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs.

May 17 1974
During a gun battle with members of the Symbionese Liberation Army, the LAPD fires tear gas into their Watts hideout. The canisters ignite a fire which soon consumes the house. Three other SLA members, including kidnapped heiress Patty Hearst, watch the events unfold on TV in their motel room down the street from Disneyland.

May 17 1980
A three-day race riot breaks out after an all-white jury acquits four white Miami police officers of killing Arthur McDuffie, a black insurance salesman. The cops had beaten him with their flashlights and billyclubs, and he died in the hospital. 18 fatalities and more than $100 million in property damage are the final result.

Car Stolen With Child Inside

So relieved that it turned out that the little girl wasn't hurt!
MIAMI-DADE, Fla. -- Police are searching for a man who stole a car with a 3-year-old girl inside on Monday morning.

According to investigators, Joaquin Lassus was preparing to take his 3-year-old granddaughter, Kayla Lassus, to school. He put Kayla in the car and went back into his home to get a water bottle.

When Lassus came back outside, his car and Kayla were gone.

Police found Lassus' yellow Pontiac Aztek with Kayla inside two blocks away, near Northwest 100th Street and 31st Avenue. Investigators said they believe the car thief must have realized there was a child inside and abandoned the vehicle.

Kayla, who was not harmed, told police the thief was a man.

"I love her with all my heart, and the feeling of thinking that she's not going to be there, I wouldn't want anybody to go through that feeling again. So I really hope that they catch this person so that he gets off the streets and isn't able to do what he did to me this morning to anybody else," said Kayla's mother, Candice Suarez.

Police have not released a description of the car thief. Anyone with information is asked to call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS (8477).

Burned Body in Trash Identified as Playboy Model

(CNN) -- Paula Sladewski, a 26-year-old who once modeled for Playboy, was identified Wednesday by Miami police as the person found dead and "burned beyond recognition" in a trash bin on Sunday.
Now, police are asking for the public's help to put her killer behind bars. Whoever the murderer is, police said, they are nothing short of a "monster."

"It's so horrific. They'd have to be a monster. It's a dastardly act," North Miami police spokesman Lt. Neal Cuevas told CNN. "It's the most heinous thing that a person can do to another person."

Sladewski's body was found Sunday night after firefighters extinguished flames coming from a large trash bin near a propane business.

When they put out the fire, they saw a body. But there was barely any way to identify it.

"It was just total, total, disfigurement," Cuevas told CNN. "You couldn't even tell that it was a woman or a man or even what race."

Cuevas, who was in the area when the call came in, said the trash bin and body were still smoldering when he arrived. Police were able to identify the body through dental records late Tuesday night, he said.

Police are trying to figure out how a model from Michigan, who appeared in a 2003 Playboy video, ended up burned beyond recognition inside the trash bin -- and who put her there.

"This was a brutal, horrible, disgusting murder, and this monster or these monsters need to be brought to justice," Cuevas said.

The only timeline police have comes from Sladewski's boyfriend, who was vacationing with her. Because he was the last one to see her, police are considering him a person of interest, but he has not been named as a suspect.

Police said they would consider whoever was the last known person to see her alive a person of interest. Right now, they have no suspects, Cuevas said.

The boyfriend is "devastated and traumatized" by news of the death, said his attorney, Marc Beginin.

"He desperately wants this crime solved and anybody involved brought to justice," Beginin said.

The boyfriend, whom police did not identify, reported Sladewski missing to police and also tried to find her by calling hospitals and jails, interviewing people and hiring a private investigator, Beginin said. The boyfriend also has met with investigators for 12 hours, the attorney said.

"The Miami police are pursuing all leads and doing their jobs. However, ultimately, he doesn't need to be a person of interest," he said.

The couple arrived in Miami on Thursday to ring in the new year by watching Lady Gaga perform, police said.

Cuevas told CNN that Sladewski's boyfriend said they went to Club Space on Saturday and remained until about 7 a.m. Sunday, when they got into an argument.

When he was thrown out of the club after the altercation, Sladewski decided to stay, her boyfriend told police.

That was the last time her boyfriend saw her, according to police. Cuevas said when Sladewski did not return to their hotel by Monday, her boyfriend called police and filed a missing person report.

Sladewski's sister, Kelly Farris, was battling back tears at a news conference Wednesday night. She said her sister had been dating the man for about two years, and he had called her Monday to say she was missing.

Farris said she had last seen her sister, who lived in Michigan and California, at Christmas.

"She loved life, she was full of life," Farris said, beginning to sob. "She went on a lot of vacations. She was a great person."

Farris said her family was devastated by the news of Sladewski's death, especially given the nature of how she was found.

"I couldn't imagine anything like this happening, you know," Farris said. "We can't even give her an open casket. We can't even see her again."

Farris pleaded with anyone who saw her sister at the club or afterward to contact police.

"She did not deserve to die in this way," she said.

And until her sister's killer is found, Farris said she can't imagine what she will do.

"I can't see myself going back to work," Farris said. "I can't see myself living a normal life until I know whoever did this pays for it."

Woman Sets Herself on Fire in West Dade Mall, Keeps Walking!

She pulled a Michael J!!


Miami Herald- As horrified shoppers watched, a woman doused her body with a fire accelerant, set herself ablaze and then silently walked through a crowded Miami-Dade mall and out the door.

``It was a big fireball,'' said John Torres, a shopper who grabbed a fire extinguisher. ``It was movie-style stuntman stuff.''

The 43-year-old woman suffered third-degree burns over three-quarters of her body, and was in critical condition late Thursday, authorities said. When rescue workers arrived, she was conscious and talking to them, Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt. Arnold Piedrahita said.

Police did not release the woman's name.

The scene unfolded just after 3 p.m. in the Mall of the Americas, 7795 W. Flagler St., just south of the Dolphin Expressway and west of the Palmetto Expressway.

The woman had been inside the Savage Boutique. Witnesses said she left two dozen red and white roses on the counter. Then, she doused herself with a flammable liquid -- authorities could not say what it was -- and set herself on fire.

Some onlookers screamed. Others tried to put out the blaze.

The flames shot several feet into the air and encircled the woman, witnesses said. At least a few shoppers, thinking the fire was a hoax, snapped photos of the woman and the efforts to help her.

Jose Morales, 24, was shopping for earrings for his wife at a kiosk in the mall. When he heard the shoppers' screams, he turned around and saw the woman engulfed in bright yellow flames.

He could feel the heat.

``She was completely on fire,'' Morales said. ``She wasn't screaming or saying a word. She wasn't running. She was just walking.''

Morales called 911.

Moments later, an unidentified person tried to extinguish the fire by pushing the woman to the ground.

When the woman didn't fall, Santiago Castro, who manages a travel agency in the mall, grabbed a fire extinguisher, pointed it at the woman and pressed the handle. It discharged, but it didn't douse the flames.

``She looked like a human torch, on fire from head to toe,'' Castro said.

The woman then opened an exit door and walked out to the parking lot, witnesses said. Torres, the other man who tried to help, followed with a fire extinguisher and was eventually able to put out the fire.

After the flames were out, the woman continued to walk around in a trance-like state. Her hair and clothing had been burned off. Morales said the woman's skin was charred and bubbling.

``She wasn't making eye contact with anyone,'' he said. ``It was like she was in her own world.''

She was rushed to the Ryder Trauma Center in a medical helicopter. Her injuries were ``life-threatening,'' said Miami-Dade Detective Roy Rutland, a police spokesman.

The Miami-Dade Police Department's arson unit was investigating Thursday night.

The three people who tried to help the woman were treated at the scene for minor injuries, fire rescue officials said.

Committing suicide by fire is known as self-immolation. The act is often associated with political protest, though that is not always the case.

In June, a man in Brandon, Fla., tried to kill himself by lighting himself on fire. The 67-year old-man was taken to a Tampa hospital for treatment. He survived.

Police Identify Body Dumped In SW Dade

SOUTHWEST MIAMI-DADE (CBS4) ― It was a horrible image that witness Leonel Perez says he'll never be able to shake: the body of a man being pushed from a cargo van as Perez and his wife and two young children watched in horror.

It happened just after 6 Sunday night. And now Miami-Dade Police have identified the victim.

Police say he is 35-year-old Fidel Ruiz Moreno and he's been arrested before for a series of infractions. Records show Moreno was arrested on March 21, 2007, for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest without violence. But charges were later dropped. And on Feb. 10, 2009, he was also arrested for sellling marijuana.

Police don't know why he was killed or why his body was dumped from the van Sunday night. They do not have a good description of the suspect that can be released. They are asking for the public's help in finding the driver of the van who dumped Moreno's body on the side of the road in southwest Miami-Dade.

Perez was driving behind a white cargo van with a black grill Sunday evening with his wife Jillian Martinez and their young children when they saw a man in the cargo van dump Moreno's body on Quail Roost Drive near SW 135th Avenue.

The couple attempted to help Moreno, but soon realized reviving him would be impossible since his body was riddled with bullets and his skull appeared cracked.

"I've never been part of this before. So it messes with your head, but it's part of life I guess," said Perez. "The van just sped off, he threw the body out and sped off. He was just laying there not moving. Yeah he was unconscious," Perez said. "He had a real bad fracture to his cranium to the top of his head. A bunch of bullet wounds yeah I guess he got shot. It was horrible. I feel sorry for that family."

Their six- and four-year-old kids will likely have plenty of questions of what they witnessed.

"We're gonna have to be very careful how we answer that. Just to know that there's bad people out there and they need to be careful," Perez said.

Perez added that the cargo van's door kept flapping and he could not see the license plate.

Anyone with information on the van or the man driving it is asked to call Miami-Dade Crimestoppers at (305) 471-TIPS.

CBS4 reporter Tiffani Helberg contributed to this report

Police Release Clue in Dismembered Body Mystery

MIAMI (WSVN) -- Police have released a new clue into the disappearance of a man whose body parts turned up across South Florida.

Investigators released surveillance video of a mid 1990s, gold Honda Accord believed to have 21-year-old Omar Laparra inside the vehicle. It was last seen leaving a Mexican nightclub on Southwest Eighth Street and Fifth Avenue early in the morning, on May 30. "It was parked next to where the victim was last seen," explained Miami Police Homicide Unit Detective Orlando Silva.

The victim's dismembered body was later found in plastic bags at several different locations in Miami-Dade County. A bag filled with his bloody clothes was discovered on the shore of Pompano Beach in Broward County. The family made a plea as body parts continued to appear along the shore, near Downtown Miami. "We don't know what happened to him," said his sister, speaking in Spanish at the Guatemalan consulate in Miami.

Police realize the type of car they are looking for might be very common in South Florida, but they think it bears the uncommon distinction of being the vehicle that transported the Guatemalan native and Miami resident in pieces after his murder. It was last seen on surveillance video after it left the El Mexicano restaurant, which also doubled as a nightclub Laparra often frequented. The car made a left at Fifth Avenue and has not been seen since.

Stephanie Suazo, a friend of Laparra's family was one of the last people to see him alive, along with Laparra's brother, who told her that he remembered that car. "His brother says that he remembers a car like that, but he's not sure who was in it," Suazo said.

According to police, the nightclub is a haven for undocumented immigrants, but Detective Silva said he is willing to look the other way for viable clues in catching Laparra's killer or killers. "If you are an illegal alien in this country, I'm not interested in that," he said. "I want information. Please come forward if you do have that information. We won't bother in regards to (your immigration status) at all."

"I hope they find those two people that put that guy in the car and took him away," Suazo said.

If you have any information on where this car may be or other clues that might help investigators close this murder case, call Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers at 305-471-TIPS. Remember, you can always remain anonymous, and you may be eligible for a reward.

Bond Set for Cat Killer

PALMETTO BAY, Fla. -- Wearing a bulletproof vest, the 18-year-old accused of kidnapping and killing more than a dozen cats made his first appearance before a judge in Miami on Monday morning.

Tyler Weinman, 18, was arrested and charged with 19 counts of animal cruelty, four counts of burglary and 19 counts of improper disposing of an animal's body.

Weinman's attorney was not present when the teen appeared before the judge on Monday morning. Another attorney offered to stand in for Weinman's lawyer but the judge instead delayed his bond hearing until the afternoon.

During the second hearing, with Weinman's attorney present, the judge set bond for Weinman at $249,000. She said that he must undergo a psychiatric evaluation before being released on bond. If released, Weinman must wear an electronic monitoring device.

Defense attorney David Macey accused the court of submitting to the lynch-mob mentality for holding the teenager on $249,000 bond.

Investigators claimed they had been watching Weinman for weeks after suspicious postings on his pages on the social networking Web sites Facebook and MySpace.

Local 10 found several online postings on Weinman's MySpace and Facebook pages. He listed himself as one of thousands of people hoping to "Catch the Cat Killer."

Detectives said they believe Weinman is the ringleader in a group that stalked, captured, mutilated and killed neighborhood cats. Police would not further comment on other possible suspects.

"This is an open investigation. We cannot comment on what we do have," said Maj. Julie Miller of Miami-Dade police.

"If he didn't do it, somebody really framed him really good," said Weinman's friend, Alex Falgons.

Falgons said he has known Weinman since middle school and suspects the killing spree had to do with his new stepmother, who recently moved into Weinman's father's home in Palmetto Bay with at least a dozen of her cats.

Weinman's father is a dentist, and his office was closed Monday. His mother is a life coach, according to her Web site. She, too, was not around to comment on her son's arrest.

Weinman is wearing special protective clothing in jail and is on suicide watch, two precautions his attorney called unnecessary.

"My heart and my sympathy goes out to the owners of these pets, but unfortunately it won't provide them any relief that Tyler is in custody. Tyler is innocent," Macey said.

The judge indicated that officials would expedite the psychiatric evaluation and have it done possibly within the next 24 hours. Depending on the outcome, Weinman could be released on bond by Wednesday.

Miami-Dade police said they received their first tip about Weinman several weeks ago and continued gathering evidence. Weinman was arrested early Sunday morning at a party in Coral Gables. Police said a suspected motive remains unclear.

"Our communities of Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay have been on edge for many weeks now because of the horrific and unspeakable slaughterings of many of their beloved feline pets. I sincerely hope that with his arrest, the residents will feel relieved and their cats will be safe once again. It is expected that the vicious crimes that have plagued these communities will not be repeated," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.

"I commend the police officers of the Miami-Dade Police Department and senior trial counsel Michael Von Zamft, who worked tirelessly and exhaustively with our law enforcement partners in order to put an end to these acts of cruelty. My heart goes out to the pet owners who have suffered such a great loss," Fernandez Rundle said.

Police said they are speaking to other people of interest in the case, including people who are in Weinman's circle of trust.

Investigators said Weinman was expelled from Palmetto High School at least two years ago and was arrested on undisclosed charges as a juvenile.

Dr. Sara Pizano of Miami-Dade Animal Services told Local 10's Julie Summers it was specifically the manner in which some cats were killed and the similarities between the cats targeted that led investigators to arrest Weinman.

Weinman’s neighbors were stunned to learn of the arrest.

On Sunday night one homeowner told Local 10, "I didn't think it would be somebody in this neighborhood. I never suspected anybody in this area."

Neighbors said the teen's parents are divorced and that he spends his time between homes belonging to his mother and father.

According to neighbors, Weinman's father lives on the corner of Southwest 82nd Avenue and 182nd Street. The house is a sprawling two-story home. It is well manicured and on the front window there is a sticker the reads, "Cat Finder, In case of a fire please rescue the cat."

Weinman’s neighbors said the family has lived in Palmetto Bay for years.

“If it’s that person, it’s really sick and scary. I love to see him off the road,” said neighbor Beverly Sampson.

Circuit Judge Darryl Trawick signed the arrest warrant for Weinman.

Miami-Dade police said that since April, 33 cases involving dead cats have been reported. Eighteen of the cases, which involved a total of 19 dead cats, have been confirmed as animal cruelty, police said. Those cases happened in Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay and Kendall.

Palmetto Bay resident Wayne Edwards transformed his back yard into a playground for his cats. He had 17 of the animals, but he is down to 16 after one was found slain and mutilated in a neighbor's front lawn.

"Why come here in this area and kill innocent cats? They are not doing anybody any harm," Edwards said.

More than 150 residents gathered at a town hall meeting Saturday morning to discuss the cat killings.

"This terrible time has drawn us together as a community, further emphasizing the importance of knowing our neighbors, communicating with each other and always staying vigilant to suspicious activities whenever or wherever they may occur in our village," Palmetto Bay Mayor Eugene P. Flinn Jr. said in the news release.

The reward for information leading to an arrest in the case was up to $12,000.

Reform School Guard, 85, Denies Beating Boys

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- The man with the white hair and Southern twang seemed the consummate gentleman. Handsomely attired in a dark jacket and open-collared burgundy shirt, Troy Tidwell came to answer questions in a civil lawsuit that portrays him as a monster.

Across the table sat one of his accusers, Bryant Middleton. He had finally come face to face with the man who he says has haunted his dreams for the past 50 years.

He claims Tidwell beat him mercilessly with a leather strap when he was 14, when Tidwell was an administrator at a Florida reform school.

Tidwell appears to be the only living person who could be held legally responsible for the alleged beatings at what was then called the Florida School for Boys in Marianna, Florida. He has turned down CNN's repeated requests for an interview.

Tidwell and Middleton were brought together as part of a deposition in a civil lawsuit filed by Middleton and others against Tidwell, another former employee and the state of Florida. Tidwell's lawyer is asking a judge to throw out the civil case in part because so much time has passed. CNN has obtained the transcript and video recording of Tidwell's deposition.

"The longer I looked at him, the less intimidated I became," Middleton said. "I had actually faced my own fears at that moment, and I realized that this man could not, would not, ever hurt me again."

Middleton is 64. Tidwell is 85. Finally, the wayward boy was standing up to the man he claims once was his tormentor.

Middleton and other men who have spoken with CNN remember Tidwell for two reasons. He was brutal, they said, and he had just one arm -- his right. "I just remember the sound of the whip coming through the air as if it were like a snake, hissing," Middleton recalled. "The impact was just unimaginable."

But Tidwell remembers events differently. He said in his deposition that the boys at the school who misbehaved were "spanked," but never beaten. He said spankings were delivered with a half-inch thick leather strap, similar to what you would find in an old barber shop.

Tidwell said in his deposition that he never raised his hand above his head when he spanked a boy, and he never used full force.

"If I gave him maybe six, it would be a minor offense; sometimes eight. And there's a possibility that maybe 10, if it was serious enough," he said.

He denied beating boys, and said he never saw anyone else beat them.

"Never was a boy beat in my presence," he said. "The years that I worked at that school I tried to be as fair as I could to those kids and I would want anybody working with mine in a school like that to be the same," he said.

Middleton and dozens of other men have come forward over the past six months with tales of physical and sexual abuse that they allege took place at the Florida School for Boys in the 1950s and 1960s.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist ordered the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to open an investigation into the allegations. The department hasn't yet issued its final report.

Middleton and other men who spoke with CNN said they were taken to a small white building next to the dining hall and disciplined with corporal punishment. The boys called the building the white house. According to Tidwell, school supervisors called it the "ice cream factory."

Many of the former students say they witnessed boys being beaten inside the nondescript building. Some of those boys were never seen again, they say.

The former students also said they believed some students were buried in a small cemetery on school grounds where 31 graves are marked by white crosses.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement recently found that the reform school cemetery holds no beating victims. Instead, state and reform school records and newspaper accounts indicated that many of the students buried there died in a fire and a flu outbreak that occurred decades before the alleged white house beatings.

The department also found that "none of the former students ... were able to provide any specific firsthand information which would have identified any of these alleged victims or the person's responsible."

Discussing the grave site at a news conference last month, department Commissioner Gerald Bailey said, "There is no evidence to suggest that the school or staff caused or contributed to any of these deaths."

But the department's investigation into the allegations of beatings and abuse continues. It will turn its findings over to the State Attorney, who will decide whether to file criminal charges.

Meanwhile, Tidwell's deposition was taken as part of the civil case. When questioned by the plaintiffs' attorney, Thomas Masterson, Tidwell testified the boys were told to lie face down on a bed:

Q. When you spanked these boys, did you ever hit them 30 or 40 --
A. No.
Q. or more times?
A. Never.
Q. Never happened?
A. I never did.
Q. Did you ever have any of the boys, that when you were through spanking them, were ... bloody from the spanking?
A. No.

Tidwell said spankings could only be ordered by the facility's director. Tidwell was a supervisor, but never a director.

"I didn't like the job spanking boys, but it wasn't my rule," he said. "I just did what I was told to do," he testified, adding, "I know the rule was made in Tallahassee [Florida's capital] and handed down to the boys school."

Tidwell's attorney, Davisson Dunlap, is also representing the state. He refused to comment on the case, referring CNN to his motion to have the charges dismissed.

Middleton said he doesn't accept Tidwell's version of events.

In 1958, Dr. Eugene Byrd, a psychologist who worked at the Florida School for Boys, testified before a U.S. Senate Judiciary subcommittee, which held hearings on solutions to a growing juvenile delinquency problem.

Byrd testified that he observed spankings after receiving numerous complaints from students. He testified the punishment was meted out in a small building, next to the dining hall.

"The blows are very severe," he testified. "They are dealt with a great deal of force with a full arm swing over his head and down, with a strap, a leather strap approximately a half inch thick."

Middleton said his life has come full circle. He Left Marianna and became an Army Ranger, going on long-range reconnaissance patrols in Vietnam. He later became an investment and insurance broker.

But, he said, his mind always comes back to the time spent at the Florida School for Boys, and his memories of Tidwell, who recently looked Middleton in the eye for the first time in 50 years and then told his lawyer, "I just don't remember him."

Police Arrest Suspect In Cat Killings

PALMETTO BAY, Fla. -- Police have arrested the man they say is responsible for a string of cat killings in South Florida.

Tyler Weinman, 18, lives in the area and is now in police custody, police said. He is charged with 19 counts of animal cruelty, four counts of burglary and 19 counts of improper disposing of an animal body.

"Our communities of Palmetto Bay and Cutler Bay have been on edge for many weeks now because of the horrific and unspeakable slaughterings of many of their beloved feline pets. I sincerely hope that with his arrest, the residents will feel relieved and their cats will be safe once again. It is expected that the vicious crimes that have plagued these communities will not be repeated," said Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle.

"I commend the police officers of the Miami-Dade Police Department and senior trial counsel Michael Von Zamft who worked tirelessly and exhaustively with our law enforcement partners in order to put an end to these acts of cruelty. My heart goes out to the pet owners who have suffered such a great loss," Fernandez Rundle said.

On Sunday night one homeowner told Local 10, "I didn't think it would be somebody in this neighborhood. I never suspected anybody in this area."

On Saturday, Miami-Dade police issued arrest warrants for suspects and said they were working to make arrests in the case.

Circuit Judge Darryl Trawick signed the arrest warrant for Weiman.

Miami-Dade police said that since April, 33 cases involving dead cats have been reported. Eighteen of the cases, which involved a total of 19 dead cats, have been confirmed as animal cruelty, police said. Those cases happened in Palmetto Bay, Cutler Bay and Kendall.

Palmetto Bay officials said police plan to serve warrants to multiple suspects, but they did not say how many.

Palmetto Bay resident Wayne Edwards transformed his backyard into a playground for his cats. He had 17 of the animals, but he is down to 16 after one was found slain and mutilated in a neighbor's front lawn.

"Why come here in this area and kill innocent cats? They are not doing anybody any harm," Edwards said.

More than 150 residents gathered at a town hall meeting Saturday morning to discuss the cat killings.

"This terrible time has drawn us together as a community, further emphasizing the importance of knowing our neighbors, communicating with each other and always staying vigilant to suspicious activities whenever or wherever they may occur in our village," Palmetto Bay Mayor Eugene P. Flinn Jr. said in the news release.

The reward for information leading to an arrest in the case was up to $12,000. The investigation continues.

Pet's Death Linked to Miami's Serial Cat Killer

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- He was black and white, the perfect gift for the 6-year-old daughter of Donna and Ronald Gleason. His name was Tommy.

The black and white tuxedo cat was one of a dozen pets that have been killed and mutilated recently by someone in the Miami area, police said.

The Gleasons do not want their daughter's name to be revealed. Donna Gleason asked the child to leave the room before telling CNN the gruesome details of what happened to their cat.

"Part of his skin was missing underneath ... and part of his legs," Gleason said. "He was partially skinned."

Miami-Dade County police say Tommy's demise is part of a string of sadistic feline fatalities that have occurred recently in the Cutler Bay and Palmetto Bay areas of southern Miami-Dade County, south of Miami.

Miami-Dade Police spokesman Bobby Williams said two of the cat carcasses were "posed." He said that anyone capable of such cruelty toward and torture of an animal "is disturbed at some sort of level."

The crimes began May 13. A reward of up to $10,000 has been offered for any information leading to an arrest.

Police have been inundated with dozens of phone calls from people who have discovered dead cats throughout the community. Investigators have determined that most of the cases are not related to the string of cat killings. The number, officially at 15, was initially believed to be much higher.

Ronald Gleason found Tommy lying in their yard May 25. At first, he thought his family's pet had been killed by a dog, but a closer look revealed the cruelty behind his death.

Tommy was a gift for the Gleasons' little girl. She desperately wanted a cat, Donna Gleason said. She searched for a cat that could get along with their dog, but none of the shelter cats they brought home was compatible.

"We prayed that we would find a nice cat that liked our dog, and a few days later, he just showed up at our front door," Donna Gleason said. Tommy was adopting them.

The Gleasons put signs up in the neighborhood, and when no one claimed him, they kept Tommy.

"It's disturbing to know that this happened right in front of your house, while you're sleeping inside," Donna Gleason said. "I'm not terrified, but I'm not sleeping as well as I used to."

Others in south Miami-Dade County are telling similar stories. A woman whose Siamese mix cat, Caesar, was killed and mutilated didn't want her name published.

"This person killed my cat. He doesn't need to know anything else about me," she said. "I don't know if it's a gang initiation thing or a satanic ritual thing, but to do what he's doing, he has to be extremely sick."

The month-long cat-killing spree has police concerned.

"We're telling people to be aware where their cats are at. Keep your pets inside," said Williams, the police spokesman.

"If anyone looks or acts suspicious, call police," he added. "Have us come out there and check them out. This could be the missing link we're looking for."

For the Gleasons and 11 other cat owners, it's too late. All they can do is break the news gently to a little girl who always wanted a kitty.

"She loved him and played with him every morning. ... She just misses him," Donna Gleason said.

"We told her that Tommy was killed by an animal," she said.

Then she added, "Well, an animal did kill him."

Body Part Found In 4th Location

MIAMI -- Miami police said they believe the discovery of body parts in four different locations might be connected.

The most recent discovery was made in the 600 block of Sabal Palm Road on Thursday afternoon. Miami police said they removed the body part and took it to the medical examiner's office.

The Miami Fire Department confirmed that body parts were found in the water earlier Thursday in the 1000 block of Biscayne Boulevard. Investigators said the body parts appeared to be an arm and a leg.

The first bag of remains was found just before 9 a.m. Wednesday, when a pedestrian spotted it near the water's edge near the Pelican Harbor marina, on the north side of the island off the 79th Street Causeway.

The medical examiner confirmed that the remains belonged to a human being, and some of the body's parts were missing. There is no indication what condition the remains were in or how long they might have been in the water.

On Thursday night, the medical examiner's office identified the victim as 21-year-old Osben Laparra.

Miami police said the second bag of remains was found in water near the 7800 block of Bayshore Court on Wednesday afternoon. Investigators are working to determine whether the remains were related to those discovered that morning.

On Thursday morning, a crew that was cleaning Pompano Beach discovered a bag of bloody clothes.

Police said they believe the five discoveries could be related.

"We believe that there's a very strong possibility that other parts will come forward. We have not recovered the body completely," said Sgt. Confesor Gonzales of the Miami Police Department.

Laparra's family members made a tearful plea Thursday afternoon for help in finding his killer. His 22-year-old sister, Avila Laparra, said her brother had no enemies. He was a hardworking man, a soccer player and a construction worker.

"He didn't mess with anybody. I don't know what reason those people would have to have done that, and in that way," said family friend Stephanie Suazo.

Laparra disappeared on Saturday night. He was last seen at a Mexican bar off Southwest Eighth Street and Fifth Avenue in Miami.

"We know that he goes out on Saturday nights, but he always comes back. If it's at 2 o'clock in the morning, he comes back to his house," Suazo said.

Laparra, a native of Guatemala, lived in the U.S. for seven years. The Guatemalan Consulate announced Thursday it will pay to return his remains to Guatemala for a funeral.

Detectives said they are working a number of leads, but they have not identified any suspects.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Miami Police Department.

Police Investigate Bloody Clothes

MIAMI -- Miami police said they are investigating whether a bag of bloody clothes found on Pompano Beach might be related to body parts that were found Wednesday in Miami.

A pedestrian walking near the John F. Kennedy Causeway on Wednesday morning found human body parts near the water's edge, Miami police said.

Investigators said the remains were found just before 9 a.m. near the Pelican Harbor marina, on the north side of the island off the 79th Street Causeway.

The medical examiner confirmed that the remains belonged to a human being, and some of the body's parts were missing.

On Thursday night, the medical examiner's office identified the victim as 21-year-old Osben Laparra.

There is no indication what condition the remains were in or how long they might have been in the water.

On Thursday morning, a crew that was cleaning Pompano Beach discovered a bag of bloody clothes. A representative of the Miami Police Department said evidence suggested that Thursday's discovery might be related to the case of Laparra's body. Police are investigating.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Miami Police Department.

Serial Cat Killer Hunted In Miami

A reward has been offered for the arrest of serial cat murderer thought to have killed at least 25 pets near Miami.

Three cats were found skinned and gutted on their owners' lawns this week, in the latest in a string of attacks over the last month in Miami-Dade county.

Authorities warned residents to keep their cats indoors at night, but police said they were no closer to catching the culprit. Experts fear that the perpetrator may move on to murdering humans.

"This man is getting bolder and bolder. The cat that was found this morning was skinned from the waist down, and that takes longer and longer. It is very frustrating and it is heart-wrenching," Dee Chess, founder of Friends Forever animal rescue told the Miami Herald.

The latest victim belonged to a Palmetto Bay resident, John Wellons. According to police, his pet's stomach had been sliced from front to rear. Its skinned corpse was found in Wellons' garden.

He last saw his cat alive on Monday at 7pm, police said. On Tuesday morning it was lying dead in his yard. According to residents, the cats' bodies have been left like trophies on their owners' gardens since early May.

"Anyone capable of mutilating a cat, let alone 18 cats, is certainly capable of hurting people," Jennifer Hobgood, the Florida director of the Humane Society, told CBS4 News last week as she announced a $2,500 (£1,560) reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

The reward was increased to $3,500 (£2,185) by Crime Stoppers. Tax-deductible donations are being invited to increase the reward amount.

The killings have caused panic among local pet owners, and the Cat Network rescue organisation has offered cat traps to help residents look after strays. People were urged to keep outside lights on or connected to a motion detector.

Cindy Hewitt, of the Humane Society, told the Herald bereaved pet owners were hampering the investigation by removing the bodies from their lawns before calling the police.

"I can appreciate the emotion behind that, but police need to examine the crime scene," she said. "It's just as important with an animal murder as with a human. If you find an animal that may be a victim, don't touch it."

Detective Bobby Williams, of Miami-Dade police, appealed for help, saying: "However small the information might be, it might be something we can use in the investigation."

Probe: School's Graves Hold Fire, Flu Victims

MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- A Florida state investigation has determined that 31 crosses on the grounds of a former reform school mark graves of teens and employees who died in a fire and an influenza outbreak.

One grave even contains the body of a student who was slain by another student, the investigation found.

The five-month investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement rules out claims by a group of reform school survivors that students who were beaten by guards are buried there.

The former students, now in their 60s, call themselves the "white house boys," after a concrete-block building where boys were taken for punishment. They said that they witnessed murders, and that students suddenly disappeared after they suffered severe beatings at the school, in Marianna, Florida, in the 1950s and '60s.

The men believed the graves, marked only by white steel crosses that are rusting with time, were those of the teens who were beaten and killed by reform school workers and administrators.

But authorities found documents that pointed to the fire and the flu outbreak. They said they plan no exhumations.

"This is our conclusion, based on what we know today," said Mark Perez, the chief of investigations for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

"Enough information has been corroborated on who is buried there. We went and identified all of the individuals who perished while in custody," he said.

The FDLE released its results in an 18-page investigative report. It says that no information confirms that any of the administrators or workers at the facility contributed to the deaths of any of the students.

Their investigation into the charges of physical abuse, made by the former reform school students, continues.

However, the investigators concluded that claims by the former students of slayings and disappearances of boys could not be corroborated.

"None of the former students were able to provide any first-hand information which would have identified any of these alleged victims, or the persons responsible for their purported demise," the report states

Roger Kiser is one of the former students who pushed for the investigation. He's written a book on the alleged abuse at the school and says that the FDLE has yet to contact him, despite, he says, witnessing two deaths at the school.

"My personal feeling is that the State of Florida does not want to know the truth. It is just too horrible a tragedy for the general public to learn about," he wrote in an e-mail to CNN.

Florida's governor, Charlie Crist, had ordered an investigation to determine who is buried in the 31 unnamed graves.

The graves are in a secluded area on the property of what was the Florida School for Boys in Marianna, a town near the Georgia border.

The FDLE says that records have determined that the cemetery was known to everyone back in the early 1900s, and the details got lost in time.

"There was enough information available to establish their identities and the cause of death," said Mark Perez of the FDLE.

However, the FDLE has not been able to determine why the graves are not marked with headstones or any other identifiers.

"That's the million-dollar question. We can't find any records why they weren't marked," he said.

But records have determined that the remains are those of boys who died in a fire at the reform school in 1914. Many of these victims were orphans and indigents whose families could not afford to have the bodies shipped home. And so, the FDLE said, they were buried at the school.

Others died in a flu epidemic, in about 1918.

According to the FDLE, among the remains are those of one reform school boy who was slain by another student. Other graves are those of pets.

The deaths were reported extensively in local news coverage, and even in a newsletter that was published, at the reform school, called "The Yellow Jacket."

Casey Anthony's Attorney Wants Trial Moved to Miami

(CNN) -- Accusing local media in the Orlando, Florida, area of a "barrage" of coverage, Casey Anthony's lead defense attorney asked Monday to have her death-penalty case moved from Orlando to Miami, Florida.

"The overwhelming majority of the media's coverage of this case has been negative for the defendant," says a defense motion filed in Orange County Circuit Court. Anthony, 23, is scheduled to go on trial on a first-degree murder charge in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

"The effects of the inflammatory and negative aspect of the media coverage in this case is best witnessed in the violent and harassing protests which have dogged the defendant and her family for many months now," the motion says.

Signed by Anthony's lead lawyer, Jose Baez, the motion says moving the trial far enough away from local media will "not end the coverage," which Baez said has produced thousands of articles and TV news reports, but will "have a chilling effect" on coverage.

Peter Odom, a defense attorney appearing Monday on HLN's Nancy Grace to provide analysis of the case, said, "All the defense has to show is that there's been extensive media coverage. That's a cinch."

"Secondly, that it will be impossible for them to find a fair jury pool," he added, referring to the Orlando area.

Baez cited a number of reasons in his request to the judge to move the case to south Florida, where he says it has been covered far less and there is a "large and diverse jury pool."

Local media in the Orlando area, he argued, have affected Anthony's chances of getting a fair trial not only in Orange County but in much of Central Florida. If the judge rejects his request to move the trial to Miami, Baez said Broward County, about a 45-minute drive north of Miami, is a second choice.