The Unforgotten — Season 3: Finding Dolores Wulff

Episode 8: "Making Sense of It All"
Date: September 22, 2025
Hosted by: Kyle Bonagura & Adam Rittenberg (Free Range Productions)

Overview

This episode of The Unforgotten brings together the threads of the 41-year-old mystery surrounding the disappearance of Dolores Wulff. After decades of uncertainty, her remains were finally identified, sparking closure, confusion, deep frustration, and reflection for those involved. The episode unpacks the aftermath of that discovery, explores the systemic obstacles that delayed justice, and probes the emotional responses of family, law enforcement, and the ever-growing ranks of web-based sleuths who ultimately helped solve the case.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. News of Identification & Family Reactions

• The Announcement: The Benicia Police Department’s public statement in October 2020 that Jane Doe #16 was finally confirmed as Dolores Wulff brought long-awaited answers but also reopened old wounds.
  • "More than four decades after she went missing, the remains of a woodland woman have finally been found." — Adam Rittenberg [02:41]
• Mixed Emotions: Relief and closure intertwined with anger and regret at lost time and missed opportunities.
  • "Because I know how it affected so many family and friends... raw emotions are brought back for so many of those people. It felt good." — Tony Rocha [04:19]
  • Some family members, like Matt Rocha Jr., felt anger upon learning the remains had been discovered just six weeks after Dolores vanished, but not identified for four decades.
    • "God damn it, that's sort of pissing me off now. ... We could have freaking got this thing all done with 40 years ago." — Tony Rocha [07:04]

2. Law Enforcement: Frustrations & Missed Opportunities

• Systemic Hindrances:
  • Failed interagency communication, record purges, and lack of centralized DNA technology in 1979 contributed to decades of uncertainty.
  • Detective Ron Heileman, who originally worked the case, repeatedly reached out to other agencies about unidentified remains, but the critical report sat unnoticed.
    • "But somehow the report got taken away from the department, and it just sat there." — Debbie Baker [10:20]
• The Limits of 1979 Forensics:
  • Kenny Hart reflects on the technical difficulties of positive ID at the time.
    • "There would have been really nothing to make 100% confirmation on until years later..." — Kenny Hart [11:37]
• Legal Reflections:
  • Former DA Rick Gilbert admits, after 45 years, he would have prosecuted Carl Wulff had Dolores’ body been identified at the time:
    • "If I had that to do over again... I'd probably gone forward... after the operation failed." — Tony Rocha (Gilbert) [14:37]

3. Media, Communication, & the Era’s ‘What Ifs’

• No media coverage in Benicia about the body’s discovery — despite detailed crime blotters covering trivial incidents — likely stunted investigations and public awareness:
  • "This was definitely the type of incident the newspaper would have covered. ..." — Kyle Bonagura [16:54]

4. How the News Affected the Wulff & Extended Family

• Richard Wulff's Response: Carl’s brother was devastated, writing to Dolores’ children about the pain of waiting decades for closure.
  • "I have a sick feeling as Pat and I read the story of finding Dolores body... Why did we have to wait 40 years?" — Richard Wulff (read by Debbie Baker) [21:44]
• Tony Rocha & Debbie Baker: Years of family fundraising and searching led to feelings of anger at “the system.”
  • "Our anger was with, you know, the system...she was found 30 some odd miles from her house 48 days later." — Tony Rocha [23:48]

5. Suspicions, Theories & The State of the Remains

• Family members and investigators speculate about the loss of Dolores’ head and arms — deliberate action by the perpetrator (possibly Carl) vs. natural decomposition or environmental factors.
  • "He said he could do it and would never get caught. And now I realize what he was actually saying was they won't be able to identify her." — Janet (Dolores' sister-in-law), paraphrased by Kyle Bonagura and Debbie Baker [25:11-25:22]
• Geographic expertise: The remote waterways near the Sacramento River, understood by Carl, are explored as likely dump sites.
  • "He probably placed her somewhere where he thought she would stay..." — Kyle Bonagura [28:05]

6. Intergenerational Effects and Lasting Trauma

• Darryl Ehresman's Dreams: Dolores’ neighbor and family friend describes a recurring dream in which Dolores reappears; after her remains are identified, the dream ends.
  • "Since they found her, I've never had that dream." — Tony Rocha (for Darryl) [30:27]
• Prison Parallels: Darryl, who worked on San Quentin’s death row, draws chilling comparisons between Karl Wulff and Scott Peterson — both narcissistic, both women’s bodies found in the Bay, both missing heads and arms, both with Portuguese "Rocha" family ties.
  • "Scott Peterson was my clerk on death row...He reminded me of Mr. Wolf to a T." — Kyle Bonagura & Tony Rocha [31:34-32:30]
  • "There are so many parallels between the Dolores and Laci Peterson cases..." — Adam Rittenberg [33:02]

7. Citizen Detectives & Digital Solving

• Holly Johnson (Granddaughter):
  • Found Dolores’ likely remains in the NAMUS database in 2019, long before official identification.
    • "I'm like, that's a Portuguese. That's a Portuguese right there. They're hairy." — Holly Johnson [36:01]
    • Her tip, and that of citizen sleuth Stacy Sherman, fell through bureaucratic cracks.
• Stacy Sherman:
  • Amateur sleuth and “pet case” enthusiast traced Dolores through research inspired by the Golden State Killer case and submitted what proved to be a correct match via online resources.
    • "...There's just a massive number of people that are trying to give people their names back..." — Stacy Sherman [40:05]
    • "They could be clearing these cases so much faster...if they would just get the cases loaded well into NAMUS." — Stacy Sherman [44:27]

8. Challenges in Cold Case Resolution & The Value of Advances

• Despite computer databases and DNA, lack of interagency cooperation and outdated practices prolong cases.
  • "Cold cases like Dolores Wolf's often stayed dormant not because people didn't care, but because of limited resources, staffing shortages, and outdated systems." — Kyle Bonagura [44:48]

9. Closure and Family Rituals

• Collecting and burying Dolores' remains became a bittersweet family milestone; multigenerational trauma and relief were interwoven.
  • "We always said that when Aunt Mary died, she went up in heaven and she told God, enough is enough. Bring her home." — Debbie Baker [46:40]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "There was some frustration with some people because of the amount of years and efforts and things and...damn, how could they not have figured that out?" — Tony Rocha [04:41]

• "To the extent there was any worry about the credibility of people saying, I saw her here, that's off the table. We now have somebody who is dead. The circumstances of the finding of her body are consistent with homicide, even though you don't have a necessarily a cause of death." — Rick Gilbert [13:38]

• "Does he ever interact? Carl's the same way. ... I don't ever remember him being part of the family." — Tony Rocha, describing both Carl Wulff and Scott Peterson [32:40-32:56]

• "We brought her here and sat on that shelf and on this bookshelf. It was tough. And then when we went to the cemetery... And they took to have her buried and I just sat through it." — Debbie Baker [45:51]

• "I don't think two years is much different when it's been 40 or whatever it was, you know." — Holly Johnson, on her unanswered tip email not inspiring bitterness [37:39]

Important Timestamps

• 02:12 – News of Dolores’ identification and immediate family reactions
• 04:19-04:41 – Family’s relief and simultaneous frustration at the lost years
• 07:04–07:26 – Matt Rocha’s emotional response
• 10:20 – Detective Heileman on crucial evidence "just sitting" unused
• 14:37 – DA Rick Gilbert’s regrets about not filing charges
• 25:11–25:22 – Janet and others’ suspicions about body dismemberment
• 30:27 – Darryl Ehresman's recurring dream of Dolores ends with her identification
• 31:34–32:56 – Prison officer draws eerie links between Scott Peterson and Carl Wolf
• 36:01, 37:39 – Holly Johnson’s online NAMUS discovery and feelings about closure
• 44:27 – Stacy Sherman on crowdsourced cold case solving
• 45:51, 46:40 – Family rituals finally bring Dolores home

Conclusion

This episode makes sense of a decades-long cold case by piecing together emotional narratives, lost opportunities, community action, and the unique pain of unresolved disappearance. Ultimately, it lifts up the power of familial bonds and the incremental value of new technologies and public engagement in bringing long-awaited closure — while not shying away from the infuriating setbacks and systemic flaws that let cases like Dolores Wulff’s linger for generations.

Next episode: The burial and final tribute for Dolores Wulff.