Two Charged With Leaving Body In Sussex County Doghouse

SUSSEX COUNTY, NJ — Two Sussex County men are facing charges for leaving a dead Hopatcong resident's body in a doghouse under the deck of an Andover Township home. Local police are currently waiting for their extradition from Delaware to New Jersey.

The Andover Township Police Department charged resident Brian Cheda-Hackembruch, 25, and Newton resident Matthew R. Thomas, 27, on Tuesday of "disturbing or desecrating human remains," after a multi-agency investigation among several police departments and the Sussex County Prosecutor’s Office.

The odyssey began around noon on July 3 when an Andover Township resident told police they found a body in their doghouse, said authorities.

Officers and a detective went to the home and called in the prosecutor's office, Morris County Medical Examiner’s Office and New Jersey State Police Crime Scene Unit. After police arrived, Andover Police said dispatchers got a call from Cheda-Hackembruch and Thomas reporting the body in the doghouse.

Cheda-Hackembruch's and Thomas' call to police sparked an unsuccessful search until a tip came into the prosecutor's office that the duo were in Delaware, police said.

According to Delaware’s Department of Correction, the two were checked in to a Delaware correctional facility early Tuesday morning.

How did the body wind up in Andover Township from Hopatcong? Andover Township Police say after the unidentified person reportedly died from "a medical emergency," Cheda-Hackembruch and Thomas moved them into the trunk of their own vehicle, which they then had towed to Andover Township, before physically placing the body in the doghouse.

Andover Township police, who have been jointly investigating with both Hopatcong and Newton Police Departments, say there could be further charges as they look more into the Hopatcong resident's death.

See related Patch stories below from 2019 about Cheda-Hackembruch.

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