CAMBRIDGE, Md. - Maryland prosecutors say they have found no evidence warranting criminal charges in the overheating death of Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office K9 Ender earlier this summer.
As WBOC previously reported, the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office announced the death of K9 Ender in June of 2025. At the time, the Sheriff’s Office did not specify a cause of death but said the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office was handling an independent investigation.
Ender, a 5-year-old German Shepherd, was donated to the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office in May 2022 by the Throw Away Dogs Project. The nonprofit specializes in training misunderstood dogs as law enforcement K9s and placing them with agencies across the country.
Months after Ender’s death, WBOC spoke with founder of Throw Away Dogs Project Carol Skaziak, who said Ender had died in a hot patrol vehicle. Skaziak voiced her frustration with how she said Ender’s death was handled and said the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office had violated their contract with the Throw Away Dogs Project. According to Skaziak, donated K9s are required to undergo an autopsy following a death. Ender, according to Skaziak, was taken directly to a crematory and Skaziak was not informed until days later.
At the time, the investigation into Ender’s death was still underway.
On Sept. 10, Dorchester County State’s Attorney Amanda Leonard confirmed to WBOC the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office had completed its investigation and submitted the findings to Leonard’s office. Leonard said she then requested an independent review of the findings from Worcester County State’s Attorney Kris Heiser to avoid any conflict of interest or appearance of bias.
“Yesterday, I was informed by Worcester County State’s Attorney Kris Heiser that her review has been completed,” Leonard told WBOC on Wednesday. “She has declined to pursue prosecution, concluding that there is insufficient evidence to support any criminal charges against the K9 handler. As such, the matter is now closed from a criminal investigative standpoint.”
WBOC reached out to Heiser as well, who sent us a copy of a letter she submitted to the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office outlining the investigation and her conclusions.
Heiser writes that the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Deputy assigned as Ender’s handler used a patrol vehicle with a safety system known as a “Hot-N-Pop,” a device designed to sound an alarm, activate the cruiser’s emergency lights and sirens, roll down the rear windows of a patrol vehicle, and activate an exhaust fan when the vehicle’s interior exceeds 90 degrees Fahrenheit. The deputy had not reported any issues with his vehicle’s Hot-N-Pop device, according to Heiser’s report.
The deputy’s patrol vehicle did have issues with the air conditioning in early June, however, according to Heiser. The deputy brought the cruiser to a mechanic after the AC stopped working, Heiser’s letter reads, and the mechanic then reportedly added freon. The deputy drove the vehicle for three weeks without reporting any additional problems with the AC, according to the report.
Heiser goes on to say that on June 25, 2025, the deputy and K9 Ender were off duty when the deputy was parked in front of his home at about 2 p.m. The deputy then left Ender in the vehicle with the engine running, the windows closed, and the air conditioning on, according to the State’s Attorney. Heiser’s report says the deputy then went inside his home and slept.
Just before 6 p.m., the deputy reportedly contacted his superiors, saying he had found Ender dead in the patrol vehicle around 5 p.m. Heiser writes that fellow police arrived to find the deputy distraught and the patrol vehicle turned off, the rear windows rolled down, and the front air conditioning set to low. Heiser notes the outside temperature reached 100 degrees on June 25.
As Skaziak had previously claimed, State’s Attorney Heiser’s report confirms Ender was taken directly to a funeral home for cremation in the same police vehicle. During the drive, a lieutenant noted the air conditioning was blowing hot air instead of cold, Heiser writes. The Hot-N-Pop system reportedly also activated as temperatures in the vehicle climbed.
Heiser says the ensuing investigation revealed the air conditioning issues the deputy experienced earlier in June required more work than the mechanic had supplied when freon was added. Investigators say the AC required a new condenser, and that the freon was only a temporary fix.
In addition, the Worcester County State’s Attorney says the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office conducted testing of the Hot-N-Pop system, concluding that the device did work but may not have been the recommended unit for the deputy’s specific patrol car model. As a result, the system could have been ineffective in removing hot air from the patrol car.
State’s Attorney Heiser notes that more standardized and regular maintenance protocols may have enabled full repair of the AC unit, but that the deputy was not responsible for those protocols and that he did attempt to fix the unit by seeking help from a mechanic.
“None of these equipment issues existed due to [the deputy’s] actions or inaction, nor was he responsible for the detailed inspection or maintenance of his patrol vehicle or the K9-specific equipment installed within it,” Heiser writes in her report. “[The deputy] had not experienced any problems with the air conditioning for at least 2 weeks prior to the K9 Ender’s death. Finally, there is no evidence to suggest [the deputy] knew or should have known that the Hot-N-Pop equipment was installed incorrectly or what effect, if any, that improper installation was likely to have in combination with any air conditioning malfunctions.”
Heiser, like the Wicomico County Sheriff’s Office, concluded there was no evidence to warrant criminal negligence charges against the deputy in Ender’s death.
WBOC reached out to Carol Skaziak with the Throw Away Dogs Project who had not yet been notified of the investigation’s findings. Skaziak called the investigators’ conclusions “devastating.”
“I didn’t want to see anyone be charged criminally or go to jail,” Skaziak said. “I guess what I wanted the most was accountability for what happened to him,” Skaziak said. “These findings from the State’s Attorney’s Office are quite disheartening.”
Skaziak says the reports leave some questions unanswered.
“Why was Ender put in the patrol car and it states in the investigation that the handler went to sleep,” Skaziak asked. “There was a time that he left the dog and a time that he actually went back. Hours upon hours. [Ender] was put in a vehicle where the air conditioning was broken three weeks prior. He was off duty and he was left in the car while the [deputy] went to sleep. How could you not find that to be a problem?”
Skaziak goes on to say the investigation’s report holds no one accountable, even though she says there are multiple instances of wrongdoing listed in the State’s Attorney’s findings. When asked what her next steps were, Skaziak told WBOC she would continue pushing for answers and had even heard from Dorchester County community members who offered their support. Skaziak says she is still seeking an explanation for the Sheriff’s Office’s alleged contract violations.
“The Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office has not heard the last of me,” Skaziak said. “We are just getting started.”
Skaziak says the Throw Away Dogs Project will not work with the Dorchester County Sheriff’s Office again.
WBOC reached out to Dorchester County Sheriff James Phillips but did not receive an immediate response Wednesday.
