Buda man arrested for torturing and killing dogs
Ireland Sargent | Staff Reporter
HAYS COUNTY — A Buda man is in jail for torturing and killing multiple dogs across various Austin hotel rooms, police suggest this has been occurring for many years now.
Tyler Hastings Berry, 27, of Buda is incriminated with numerous animal cruelty charges after police most recently found two dead puppies, hypodermic needles and drug paraphernalia in his Hyatt House hotel room.
A necropsy conducted by Dr. Estep DVM, later discovered that the puppies had gone without food for at least two or three days before they died.
“These puppies were neglected to the point that it caused their deaths,” Estep said. “Both puppies would be alive had the owner provided them with standard animal care.”
During the investigation, police spoke to Elizabeth Masters, Berry’s girlfriend. She stated in the affidavit that he would regularly get new dogs off Facebook, but never knew where they would go.
Masters said the dogs would disappear and Berry advised he would give them away, although his explanation was “fuzzy” every time.
A felony charge is also noted to be in effect due to a previous incident at the DoubleTree Suites at 303 West 15th Street on June 28, 2021. As stated in the police affidavit, officers responded to a 911 call about a dead pit bull found in the bathroom by the hotel cleaning crew.
Staff at the hotel told police that Berry had been staying in the room prior to the discovery and had checked out earlier in the day. After examination by a veterinarian at the Austin Animal Center (ACC), the vet concluded that the animal was likely “strangled or partially drowned.”
“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 police affidavit read.
Berry has been booked three separate times in the Hays County Jail between February 2020 to September 2021; charges vary from criminal mischief to possession of controlled substances.
According to court records, Berry is charged with two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to non-livestock animals concerning the two puppies and third-degree felony cruelty charges for the death of the pit bull.
Jail records show Berry is booked in the Travis County Correctional Complex as of March 14, 2022.
This is an ongoing investigation and Corridor News will provide updates as they are made available.
This deranged pos pig should be caged and beaten regularly I bet he gets away with it the system doesn’t punish these sewer rats much at all
This ínhumane person should go to jail with a term long enough to cause him pain. We need to stop this kind of abuse to animals. He is a pig and needs to be stopped.
He needs the same treatment that he gave the animals. He probably will walk or do minimal time because there are not long punishable laws when it come to nonlivestock animals. We need to be the voices for these animals.
Just goes to show you never know what kinda of diabolical person is standing next to you at the store. People who are so sick like this to our innocent animals move on to humans. I pray he gets justice, pray for the souls of the animals and pray that he repents and sees his shocking behavior. And, I hope he spends the rest of his life behind bars regardless if he repents or not. I hope more people step forward if they observed other behavior of this individual. What a sicko.