An Unlikely Hero

Some would say Officer Doug Sahlberg and his partner, Molly, were more like a devoted married couple than a police team. He claims to have spent nearly every waking hour with her, but his wife, Judy, says she didn't mind.

"She was so devoted to him, it was amazing," Judy Sahlberg said. "She just thought Doug was the man!"

Molly was not just Sahlberg's partner, she was also a part of his and Judy's family. So when the 5-year-old yellow Labrador died unexpectedly in January 2005, the Sahlbergs were grief-stricken and left to wonder what happened to their beloved pet.

On Top Of Her Game

Molly was a cadaver and man-tracking dog for the K-9 unit of the Richmond Hill Police Department near Savannah, Georgia. Doug trained her himself from the time she was a hyperactive puppy.

"She was out of control," he remembers. "I really didn't know what I had gotten into at first."

But Molly soon proved her mettle and over the course of her career, helped nab dozens of suspects and recover dead bodies. She and Doug were very well-known in the area and were even called to assist law enforcement in counties all over Georgia.

One of her most significant discoveries was finding the bodies of rural Georgia couple Jewel and Mildred Cleveland who police suspect were killed by Mildred's son, Jason Howard. Molly was able to find the bodies--which were wrapped in tarps and buried in a grave nearly six feet deep--in about thirty minutes. Police had been looking for the couple for several months, but Doug says the search would have been fruitless without Molly.

"I brought her in there and she just went crazy," he remembered. "If she wasn't there we wouldn't have found anything."

Judy agreed.

"That dog was on her game," Judy said. "It was a tragedy losing her because she was so good at what she did."

But her professionalism and extraordinary skills may have also led to her demise.

Molly and Doug were part of the first K-9 tracking and recovery teams at Ground Zero after the 9/11 terror attacks on the World Trade Center in New York. The pair went to New York on September 12, 2001, and spent 12 grueling days working on the site. Molly was able to locate more than 1,000 body parts, aiding in the identification process for New York police and victims' families.

Doug says that when Molly returned home after her time at Ground Zero, she was depressed and withdrawn for more than a month.

"It was really weird," Judy remembered. Doug added that he was also baffled by her post-9/11 behavior.

"I would never thought that she would be so affected," he said.

But her emotional state was not the only thing affected by Ground Zero. Although they didn't know it at the time, Molly's body was being ravaged by a toxic mix of metals she had breathed in during her time in New York.

When Molly suddenly fell ill in late January 2005, the Sahlbergs thought it was nothing more than a minor illness. But their veterinarian soon realized that her condition was much more serious.

Molly died just five days after first getting sick, leaving her family confused and heartbroken. A necropsy revealed that Molly's veins and arteries were deteriorating as a result of toxic levels of zinc and other metals inside her body. Her lower extremities were especially affected and she eventually hemorrhaged out. She died on January 31, 2005 and a memorial service was held in her honor a few days later.

Doug and Judy both say that losing Molly was like losing a child and that they and their three daughters were devastated. While they only had a few short years with her, Doug says their bond was deep and profound.

Doug found it hard to expound on their connection, but had an easy answer for the good fortune he experienced having Molly as a partner.

"Some things are just meant to be," he explained.