A New Rochelle guest has been accused of killing and dismembering his host’s dog and dumping its head, legs and torso across the city, in what police are calling a “shocking” case of animal cruelty.
Benjamin Tyler, 39, of New Milford, Conn., turned himself in at police headquarters Monday after learning there was a warrant for his arrest.
He is charged with aggravated animal cruelty, a crime punishable by up to two years in prison.
According to the criminal complaint by New Rochelle Detective Jon Bulfamante, Tyler strangled and dismembered Bruno, a purebred English bulldog, shortly after 9:30 a.m. on December 6 in an apartment at 360 Huguenot Street. He placed the torso in an orange bucket and the head and two legs in a cardboard box from Zara.
Surveillance footage showed Tyler leaving the building with the bucket and box, the complaint said. Police said the tenant reported the murder that day and that Tyler, who was staying there temporarily, was responsible. According to the complaint, Bulfamante later found the bucket containing the torso in a dumpster on Second Street, a few blocks from the apartment, and the box containing the head and legs in a dumpster around the corner on Union Avenue.
360 Huguenot Street in New Rochelle, where police say Benjamin Tyler of New Milford, Conn., strangled and dismembered an English bulldog named Bruno that belonged to a tenant with whom Tyler was staying.
Bruno’s other two legs were also removed from the torso, but the complaint did not state whether they had been recovered.
Tyler was arraigned in court on Monday and released without bail. His attorney, Stephen Riebling, declined to discuss Tyler or the details of the case, saying he has not yet received evidence and has yet to investigate the allegations.
This article originally appeared in Rockland/Westchester Journal News: New Rochelle NY: Guest charged in ‘shocking’ animal cruelty case
