MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A homicide investigation led Miami-Dade police to bust a cockfighting ring in a rural area on the northwestern edge of the county Sunday, according to an arrest report.
Police arrested a southwest Miami-Dade woman on a charge of attending an animal fighting event.
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According to the report, on Sunday, a Miami-Dade Police Department homicide detective summoned another officer to 18180 NW 129th Ave., a rural property located off a dirt road just south of the Broward County line.
The report doesn’t specify what homicide authorities were investigating or whether their search of the property turned up anything related to a homicide.
Police wrote that the detective led the investigating officer to several roosters in cages with shaved feathers, a large cockfighting ring containing chairs and an exterior viewing platform, all within a makeshift shelter.
“Within the cockfighting ring, I observed dried blood, as well as cockfighting paraphernalia such as spurs and scale(s) within the vicinity of the ring,” the officer wrote.
The officer wrote that on Tuesday, he interviewed 57-year-old Elsa Sastureias, identified as a “waitress” at the property who works for tips.
According to police, Sastureias said she was friends with the owner of the property, but isn’t employed or paid by him.
She told investigators she worked “consistently” at the property since Dec. 8.
An alleged confession was redacted from the report obtained by Local 10 News.
Sastureias was taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where she was being held on a $1,000 bond.
Police did not announce any additional arrests in the case.