Warning: This story discusses animal abuse.
A Texas man has been arrested for allegedly torturing and killing dogs in various hotel rooms after buying the animals on Facebook.
Tyler Hastings Berry, 27, was arrested on Monday over the grim deaths and was scheduled to face a court in Austin on Friday. He is facing animal cruelty charges after a dead pit bull mix was found in his hotel room at Doubletree Suites in Austin on June 28, 2021.
According to an affidavit obtained by local news outlet KVUE, the dog was found by cleaners the day after Berry checked out, along with numerous hypodermic needles and drug paraphernalia.
A veterinarian determined the dog may have been "strangled or partially drowned" one or two days before 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," the affidavit says.
The Austin Police Department recognised Berry's name from a similar incident on June 5 when a "wet deceased puppy" was allegedly found in his room after he checked out from a different hotel.
No charges were filed for this because the puppy's body was thrown away by hotel staff.
But Berry also faces charges over a third incident on August 2 where two dead puppies were found by staff in another hotel room in Austin he had stayed in.
A necropsy determined that both puppies were severely emaciated and hadn't eaten in at least two to three days.
The affidavit says Berry was arrested on August 8 when he attempted to return to Doubletree Suites for another stay.
His girlfriend, who was with him at the time, told police officers that Berry would get dogs off Facebook, "but then they would disappear".
"Berry told her that he gave them away or that they ran away, but that his stories about the dogs were always 'fuzzy'," police said.
Berry is charged with two misdemeanour 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.
