Henry died on December 17, 2009 when he was dragged from a moving truck that his fiancée was driving after a verbal altercation. An autopsy revealed that Henry had developed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) during his playing career due to repetitive hits to the head. Because CTE can only be diagnosed in an autopsy and Henry was still active in the NFL when he died, Henry represented the first case where an active player had died and could be diagnosed with CTE.