Pictured above from left to right U/S AJ Cumming, S/O Cody Henderson C/O Andrew Hecksher and U/S John Cuzzupe along with Boomer in the middle.
SALEM — Earlier this afternoon, the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office announced that Salem County Sheriff’s Officer Cody L. Henderson, 41, was charged with recklessly causing the deaths of K-9s Rip and Boomer along with animal cruelty and several other charges. They are as follows:
Henderson was charged Tuesday with two third-degree counts of purposefully, knowingly or recklessly causing bodily injury to a living animal by failing to provide necessary care, resulting in death.
Henderson has been charged with two counts each of the following:
- Infliction of unnecessary cruelty upon a living animal by leaving the living animal unattended in a vehicle under inhumane conditions
- As a person charged with the care of a living animal, failure to provide the living animal with necessary care
- Unlawful cruel restraint of a dog in a manner that exposes the dog to adverse environmental conditions for more than 30 minutes
The dogs died on May 29, 2026, after Henderson left them unattended inside an overheating police vehicle all day. Henderson found them dead in the vehicle later in the afternoon. The prosecutor’s office said the following information which is crucial to the case:
- The car was not left running
- The windows remained closed
- No emergency alert system was activated
- The indoor kennels were not used which exist in the bottom portion of the courthouse according to other local emergency staff.
Henderson transported the dogs to a Delaware Animal Hospital but by that time it was far too late. The investigation revealed the canines were left inside the K-9 SUV without proper environmental controls between 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.
Following the tragic incident, the Salem County Prosecutor’s Office took up this case deciding not to transfer the investigation outside of the county.
Henderson was placed on paid leave at first but after a hearing, the County had placed him on not paid administrative leave.
Rip was a nearly 3 year old Belgian Malinois that was born In Hungary, Rip traveled a long way to become a Sheriff’s Officer in Salem County. The dog started his K-9 academy training in September of 2023 by his handler, Sheriff’s Officer Cody Henderson.
Boomer was a springer spaniel and has served admirably just like Rip.
Prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law. He should never be allowed to be around animals ever again. Nor should he be allowed to serve in-law capacity.
Prayers for those precious babies. RIP AND BOOMER. May God keep them safe now! 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏💙💙💙💙💙💙
This is disgusting! He should lose his job and never be allowed to have animals again!
I don’t understand how this could happen. He went in the office and just left them in the car. WTF. Did know one notice 2 canine officers were unaccounted for? I would assume the dogs like the officers are on duty and should be accounted for? Or is it practice to leave the canines in the car during the day but leave it running! Sounds and looks like They need to review their polices and procedures. Sickening!!
Pleasantly surprised, Kudo’s SCPO for doing the right thing by those K9’s and not trying to 86 the investigation to the state or show a lack of integrity. The sad fact is since it’s creation in 2018 the AG’s “Office for Public Integrity and Accountability” is where a lot of cases go to die. Case in point “K9 Ember” how can a prosecutors office in Salem County, one of, if not the smallest prosecutors offices in the state with limited resources perform a comprehensive investigation and review into an almost exact if not similar event and complete it in around six weeks concluding a determination and the filing of criminal charges and yet the state still hasn’t completed their investigation and review of the K9 Ember case in almost four years? That’s either gross incompetence or neglect or an intentional act of foot dragging. The appearance of a double standard or impropriety is just as bad as an actual double standard or impropriety. Reasonable expectation the K9 Ember case is an anomaly that does not easily fit into the general pattern of a criminal investigation.
Boomer was my dog Buddy. My mom and I were so happy that Buddy aka Boomer got a job doing what he loved. He wasn’t a house dog he was a working dog. This breaks my heart that his Handler could be this irresponsible 😡😡😡😡 He needs to lose his job and never be able to work with animals again. 💔
He should have to reimburse the county for the cost of training new k-9s. And honestly he should only be allowed to do in office work from now on. He can’t be trusted out in the field anymore.