Asbury Park Man Indicted On Charges He Killed Girlfriend's Poodle

ASBURY PARK, NJ — This week, an Asbury Park man was indicted by a Monmouth County grand jury following an accusation that he killed his girlfriend’s poodle last year.

Nicholas C. Winter, 36, is charged with third-degree animal cruelty resulting in death, Monmouth County Prosecutor Raymond Santiago announced Friday.

Shortly before 4 a.m. on Saturday, June 4, 2022, Asbury Park Police responded to a home on the 1400 block of Locust Drive for a call from a woman that her boyfriend had killed her dog.

Inside the residence, responding officers located the deceased dog, a 12-year-old male named “Bentley.” The victim’s other dog, a 14-year-old female named “Sophia,” was reported missing, but found in the area several hours later.

An investigation led by Asbury Park Police Detective Anthony Houlis and Lt. Michael Magliozzo of the Monmouth County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals determined that Winter had earlier repeatedly texted his girlfriend, threatening the welfare of her dogs, while she was at work.

A necropsy performed on Bentley determined that the dog died due to blunt-force trauma to the head, neck and body that ultimately resulted in a fatal traumatic brain injury.

Winter was arrested and charged later in June 2022.

If he is convicted, he is facing up to five years in prison.

This case may remind readers of this infamous 2018 criminal case where a Long Branch man left his girlfriend's pit bull puppy trapped in a cage as the water rose in Highlands. Similarly, he did this after the couple had an argument.

The dog was only saved when a local Highlands woman out for an early-morning walk heard whimpering and rescued the dog; the tide was rising and the water was already up around its legs and body. Aaron Davis, 36, of Long Branch, later admitted to the crime; he was sentenced to one year in prison by Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Marc LeMieux.

Read that 2018 story: Dog In A Cage Trapped On Beach As Tide Rose In Highlands