SALEM COUNTY — A Salem County Sheriff’s Office sergeant was criminally charged on July 8, 2026, in connection with the deaths of two police dogs who died after being left unattended in a non-running vehicle for seven hours on May 29, 2026. The incident has prompted multiple animal cruelty charges and led to the sergeant’s placement on unpaid leave pending the outcome of the case.

Cody Henderson, a sergeant in the Salem County Sheriff’s Office and head of its K-9 unit, faces a total of eight criminal charges stemming from the deaths of Rip, a four-year-old Belgian Malinois, and Boomer, a six-year-old Springer Spaniel. Prosecutors allege Henderson left the dogs unattended in his police vehicle from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on May 29, 2026, while the vehicle was parked at the Salem City County Courthouse Complex. During that period, the vehicle was not running, its windows were closed with no proper ventilation provided, and its emergency alert system was not activated.

According to investigators, surveillance footage and key fob logs showed Henderson remained inside the courthouse for the entire seven-hour window and did not check on the dogs. Investigators also stated that indoor kennels were available but not used. Though the police vehicle was awaiting repair for an air conditioning malfunction, authorities said neither a vehicle malfunction nor the K-9 heat alarm device contributed to the dogs’ deaths. The high temperature in Salem County that day reached 81 degrees Fahrenheit.

Henderson discovered the dogs dead in his vehicle around 3:30 p.m. and transported them to an animal hospital in Delaware. A necropsy performed by the New Jersey Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory determined the dogs likely died from hyperthermia or heat stroke. Based on those findings, Henderson was charged with two counts each of inflicting unnecessary cruelty on a living animal, failing to provide necessary care to a living animal, unlawfully restraining an animal in a manner that exposed it to adverse environmental conditions for more than 30 minutes, and purposely, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury to a living animal by failing to provide necessary care.

Henderson has been placed on unpaid leave from the Salem County Sheriff’s Office pending the outcome of the case and is scheduled to appear in Salem County Court on July 30, 2026. He joined the sheriff’s office in 2009, returned in 2017 after a brief stint elsewhere, and graduated from a police K-9 training program in 2022. Rip, who was trained to detect narcotics, joined the unit in 2023, while Boomer, trained in bomb detection, had been with the office since 2021.

Why It Matters

The deaths of Rip and Boomer represent a rare and serious incident involving law enforcement K-9s, animals that serve critical public safety functions. Their loss has operational consequences for the sheriff’s office and raises questions about protocols for K-9 care during assignments. Henderson’s role as the K-9 unit supervisor places him in direct responsibility for the dogs’ welfare, making the allegations particularly significant within the agency.