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Did you know we have a newsletter for the Unforgotten? It's totally free and you can sign up@unforgottenpod.com we're also on Facebook and Instagram and those are great ways to stay in touch. But the newsletter is cool because it's an email that we send straight to your inbox every time we have a new episode. You get to go behind the scenes with the series creators. We also share photos and case files when we have them if you want. We also have a premium version of the newsletter. It's pretty cool because it lets you listen early and ad free. So I hope you'll head on over to unforgottenpod.com and sign up for our newsletter today. Whether you sign up for the free version or the premium version, you're the reason that the Unforgotten is able to shine a light on these unsolved crimes and other cases of injustice that are so important to a lot of people. We just thank you for listening and we thank you for your support. Again, that's unforgottenpod.com, hey, I'm Wes Ferguson, executive producer of the Unforgotten. Every season of the Unforgotten is a deep dive into an unresolved case, like a murder or a lot of murders or some miscarriage of justice. These are stories that matter to us, and with your support, we shine a light on them. Here's a sneak peek at season two, unnatural Causes. Just in case you missed it, think.
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About a loved one you've lost, maybe a grandmother or your father or a beloved aunt. You believe the end was peaceful and painless. You've planned the funeral, made sure the estate was settled. You've moved belongings into storage or sold them or said final goodbyes on the curb. Now imagine you get a call as much as two years later, police want you to come to the station. They say what you were told about the death was wrong. They want to add your loved one's name to a list of murder victims. That's the terrible reality that at least two dozen families are facing today. My name is Charlie Scudder. I'm a journalist who's been covering this case for five years. Together, we'll do what the police, medical examiners, senior living facilities, and more either failed or refused to do. String together evidence that points to systemic flaws in how we care for our older loved ones. You'll hear about a man who used the cracks in that system to become the worst serial killer in Dallas history. This is unnatural causes Season two of the Unforgotten. Listen wherever you get your podcasts.
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Welcome into a bonus episode of the Unforgotten Finding Dolores Wolf, season three. Your co hosts here, Adam Rittenberg and Kyle Bonagara. And today we had an opportunity to speak with, really, one of the first voices that was heard in the entire podcast series. That is of Kenny Hart, the Benicia, California police detective who's now retired from his role, who became an incredibly important figure in this case and established a really interesting relationship with the Wolf and Rocha families that still goes on to this day. Kyle and we recorded this with Kenny on October 20th, which is a very significant date. It was exactly five years after, you know, he made that call to Paul Wolf to tell him that they had identified Dolores remains, you know, after 41 years, that she had been missing since she disappeared from Woodland. So we wanted to talk with Kenny about that date and really what has meant for him. And we found out a lot about, you know, his life and just why this has been really a case unlike any other in his career in law enforcement.
D
Yeah, it's interesting when I think about, you know, him making that call to Paul five years ago. You know, I also think about the interaction he had with getting the confirmation.
E
Right.
D
He called back over to the lab and said, hey, like, can I talk to the scientist who did the analysis to confirm the DNA? I just want to be, you know, 100% sure and have an understanding of, like, how accurate this type of diagnosis is. Because he said he was going to change a family's life forever. But the truth is he also changed his own life forever, too. Right. He brought closure to a family, but also brought a lot of really important people into his life. Kenny's now very close with a lot of people from the family, from the wolves, from the roaches, and people that he talks with regularly. We're talking sometimes daily. You know, he had a lot of people connect to this case at his wedding after the a confirmation. And so it kind of dovetails really nicely that something good, a lot of, you know, good relationships have formed as a result of his job piecing this all together.
C
Yeah. I think one thing he talks about with us is how he really does believe that Dolores was able to bring him to this family. And, you know, it really enrich his life, especially at the end of his career. You know, you do wonder if this would have happened much earlier when he was, you know, had a zillion cases on his plate. It felt like this was a case that he could really Dive into not long before he ended up retiring. But it's something that still very much motivates him, the idea of giving a family closure, the idea of giving someone their name back. And he kind of goes into how he still intends to do some work in that space. So really enjoyed getting to know Kenny. I know you have. We've gotten a chance to see him a couple of times since our very first interview with him back in 2020, and we look forward to sharing more of his story. And so, without further ado, here is our conversation with Kenny Hart. Kenny, we're so thrilled that you joined us today. You were the first voice that people heard on the series and one of the last voices as well. So someone who really brought this story to life. We wanted to record this with you on October 20th, which is obviously a really significant day exactly five years ago. I wanted to kind of take you back to that day and what it was like and kind of how you always feel on October 20th, how much your life has changed, you know, based on what happened on October 20, 2020.
E
Well, it's definitely that one phone call sure changed a lot of things in my life. Like you mentioned, I was getting ready to go on vacation and on October 20th. And, you know, and I got that message and then I called Paul, and that set a whole pathway of emotions for, you know, the family and I and everything like that. And I always look at October 20th as the day that I gain new friends and family. A few years ago, I hit Paul up at one of the times we got together, and I just kind of pulled him off to the side from the family. I go, hey, is my presence here kind of like constantly ripping off a band aid? And he just kept reassuring me, no, everyone wants you there. And there's normally when, you know, someone gives you bad news or good news, depending on how you're taking it, that reminder is not always something that. It's constantly, you know, agitating feelings and wounds and things like that. But that wasn't the case at all. And, you know, to this day, I still hear from him and talk to him and everyone in the family. Yeah, Anna, I hear probably almost every other day. I mean, I get the little, hey, baby brother. And I swear I heard my wife talk more than I do with her.
D
You know, it's funny you mentioned Anna because she told us the story about how, you know, when she first heard you were going to be speaking at the Celebration of Life, she wasn't in favor of it. Right. But then met you the night before at the smaller event. And that changed immediately. You know, tell us about your relationship with Ann and how that evolved for you guys to be so close over these last five years.
E
Well, I don't remember what Paul said prior to that. He had kind of not really warned me, but he said, hey, you know, she. She's got mixed emotions about this and she's not really open for you speaking. And I was like, well, I don't want to talk unless everyone's on board with this. Because it was initially, I believe it was Tom and his wife Sherry had reached out to me and asked me to do it. And then I reach out to Paul and he assured me Carl was all for it. So I had three out of the four want me to do it. So I said, well, here's the thing is, you know, I'll come to the family reunion and if Anna isn't, you know, on board at that point, why don't we just not have me do it? And they reluctantly kind of said, okay, but I think they just pretty much were gonna have me do it regardless. But, but, but yeah, Ann and I met just seconds later. I think that stirred like a four hour conversation between the two of us talking about our history and the music career. And we had a lot of the same people that we knew through the music industry and things like that, because that was my prior life before police work.
C
Oh, we didn't know that. Kenny, you got it. Tell us about your music career.
E
I played in a few bands and then I went to sound engineering school. I did some stuff like that. And then all the hair band stuff. I'll kind of leave it at that. And nothing I had to worry about in a background. When I became a police officer, it set probably 50 of my coworkers on a quest, because that was prior to Internet, to find photos. And I don't know how they found photos, but some of them found photos when. Back when I had hair, the 80s haircuts and, you know, the skinny tight jeans and stuff you really don't want your kids seeing. So Anna and I had a good laugh. We talked a lot about, you know, love for music and things like that. And then, like I said, her and my wife have become, you know, very close. And October 20th is the day that I think my wife thinks that she can go out and buy more shoes because she says I embellished, saying 200 pairs, but I need to, you know, get an audit of her shoe collection.
C
I'm like picturing you as like a Gene Simmons, you know, Face paint and all this stuff. So we'll have to find those pictures. We'll go on our own, our own quest here.
E
If you want, I'll send you some fun photos for offline. Laughs My wife tends to show a lot of pictures. I think her favorite picture is me and Richie Sambora backstage somewhere. And she's always loving the show that because I had the curly hair, you know, the long hair, and I definitely don't look like I do now. You know, 30 years as a cop really ages you, and that's the thing I wanted.
C
You were a cop for 30 years and you worked a lot of cases and you dealt with a lot of families. And I'm wondering why your relationship, in your mind, evolved the way it had with the Rocha and Wilf families. Maybe unlike it had, as you said, with any others, that you keep a barrier up or, you know, you might have to in that role. Why do you think this happened?
E
I think it just put me in a place, you know, when it started out, and I found out that day that back when I initially got the case that the detective, Dennis Adams, had passed away just hours before I get the case, there was all these weird little things that were popping up. You know, the psychic that was working at the coroner's office, just all this stuff that had come down the line. And I don't know why, but I actually, I think Dolores is kind of putting this all together for a reason. I, you know, whether I needed them more or vice versa. But, you know, Paul and I, we're about four to six months apart in age, so I'm in between Tom and Paul in age. Paul and I had a, you know, connection, although I had to disclose I was a Pittsburgh Steelers fan up front because I know he worked at the 49ers for a while, but I was a huge Terry Bradshaw fan back in the day. I'm aging myself a little bit. You know, we had a laugh and it just. Things came real easy for Paul and I to kind of, you know, stay in contact and make our own friendship out of it. And then, you know, obviously I got really close with Tom and Sherry and, and then Anna and then love Carl, too. Carl's. He's the quiet one, but he's very warm and embrace of when you see him. And as you guys know, you've met him. So I, I don't know why this family. I mean, their friends. Daryl. I talked to Daryl a lot still, as you know, he likes to talk. So Daryl and I are going to try to catch up and go to one of Paul's games. But it just. The stars aligned for some reason and we got close and that was, you know, all I can think why this kind of was a different thing than normal for me when I've had news that I've delivered to families. And the other thing is, is that this had other people involved in, you know, I had a skull that we didn't know about, had a missing person that I didn't, you know, wasn't involved with it. But I had to solve that one. J.C. toliver's case, which isn't solved. I mean it's one that is prompted me to make a decision about post retirement. And I put an application with the DOE network. I'd like to be a volunteer and kind of work some of their stuff because I'm still interested in finding out what happened to Patty Toliver. And there was so much going on with this case. I think it just, it teed me up to being very open as well as when the news was delivered. There was a lot of people and you know, this family isn't the most submissive, quiet family. They're very open and they want answers and they want, you know, they have questions. So it prompted a lot of conversations. And in those conversations we became close. I mean, I became really close with Elizabeth too. I mean, Tony Rocha I hadn't met until later down, you know, as time went on. He's real big in the animal rescue, which I have shepherds that, that are my sidekicks. So just a lot of things with the family and I have in common.
A
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E
I just like makeup that looks natural. And one thing that's nice about Jones Road is that it actually achieve that.
A
Yeah, they enhance instead of covering up.
E
I really like the colors.
D
They're natural.
E
I appreciated the miracle balm making me look a little bit more awake and vibrant while still just looking like me, which I know is your preference. You like you and I look like me.
A
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E
Oh. Does that mean I can use the code?
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D
Yeah, the DO network piece is interesting, right? And you had told us about this recently as well. You know, what about their mission, do you think kind of aligns with what you want to do here now that you're, you know, officially retired from the.
E
Police department is kind of what started me wanting to become in law enforcement. I've always been intrigued with mysteries, but then as I got a little bit more sophisticated and not just being a little kid and what that meant was I really, in the, you know, soul of my heart, believe that we need to do everything possible to bring, you know, people back to their loved ones and not just shelf old cold cases, which unfortunately, due to budget restraints and staffing restraints, that happens a lot. And the DOE Network is, you know, I really believe in what they're doing and, you know, the volunteers, they actually can work however many hours they want to work on those kind of cases and help bring people back home. And that's what I really feel that I want to do. And that's why, like that challenge coin I gave you guys, I really wanted to challenge my staff to, after I'm gone, to continue working cold cases.
C
You know, it was kind of touched upon in the podcast, especially when, you know, Daryl was talking to some of your colleagues at your wedding, that you were kind of the right man for this. And I'm wondering, what is it about maybe your Personality or just how you approach cases, that maybe everybody has their strengths and weaknesses in their jobs. But what was it about you and what kind of interested you that kind of drew you to this? Because this was, I mean, as you described, something that took over your life for months and months. And it wasn't just a 9 to 5 or in the office type situation that you were working on this case.
E
Well, again, I think things were just perfectly aligned because at the time, you know, like I said, Covid had hit. A lot of my staff went home. You know, in 2020, I believe I'm remembering my timing right. People were kind of start filtering back in limited access to the pd. But, you know, just one of those things that I had a fairly young staff, and they were trying to get caught up on their assigned cases, and I didn't want to dump something like this because I was going to have very high expectations of, I don't want to hear, no, I can't, it's not going to work. I don't want to hear any negative, nothing, but we're bringing her home. And that was the attitude I had. So I thought, I don't have the workload that my other staff has currently, so I want to do it. And as a supervisor, you tend to not get to play comp very often and you supervise their cases. So I chose to keep it and use it, you know, kind of show them how, you know, to exhume a body or to, you know, some of the thought processes behind how you approach a case that's been this old. And because there's not a lot of leads, especially when I'm. Every time I turn around, somebody's not with us anymore. As a witness, I was having difficulties, and I later found out they had a lot going. But, like, even talking to anybody at Yolo county initially, it was weeks before I was able to, you know, connect with somebody. Sanisa county. That was even a little difficult because of timeframe, you know, with COVID and everything else, not everybody had their fully staffed, sitting around the phone. So there was a lot of challenges in that regard. But I just think that it was the perfect timing and the fact that I was. I just don't take no for an answer. And I. I want to bring people home and kind of solve these things and kind of goes back to, you know, when I was a little kid loving the Jack the Ripper stories. And I grew up in Los Angeles when there was, you know, serial killers all over the place. And then I moved to Northern California, and here we got, you know, Green river up north, and then Zodiac, and there's quite a few serial killers operating in the Bay Area as well during the 70s. And I just thought, you know, it's really important for us to bring people home. And so that's kind of the approach I was going to take it. And I was open to working this on a couch at night. You know, my wife, I think at the time this happened, she was a captain at Martinez pd It was before she became a police chief at another agency. So she was also kind of interested. You know, it was kind of nice to be able to bounce ideas back and forth. And she kind of supported me and the idea because we had a long standing rule that after 7 o', clock, we don't talk shop. Maybe you can come home and vent while we're making dinner, but we don't talk shop and we don't bring work home unless we get, you know, being. I was in investigations, getting the call outs all the time, it's a little different. But Dolores kind of put that on the back shelf for us, that it was, no, we were going to work. I was pretty much toast when I read all the stories with Paul and his mom. And then Slick and how Slick took in the kids and, you know, how Carl Senior wasn't being prosecuted, basically because there was no body found. And then that prompted me, well, how did we get the body? And nobody made a communication. You know, I've shared this a little bit with the family, but a lot of this really had to do with jurisdictions. You know, the body was technically found in the waterways off of the coast of Benicia, which was the county jurisdiction. It wasn't even Benita. We just were the closest ones with a boat. We brought Jane Doe 16 in. Then the coroner's office came. And I'm. I can only assume because I wasn't able to talk to anyone from that time frame that they just assumed Solano county was handling notifications. And I'm guessing Solano probably thought Benicia was, and I'm guessing that's how the ball got dropped. But, you know, nowadays that would never happen because even with the skull, which was ended up being Tommy Ross, a professional jazz singer, I knew going into working that that was not even my jurisdiction. But I requested to this sheriff's office, I said, hey, it's kind of tied to a case. Can I work this for you guys? And they were like, yeah, we've got a lot going on right now. Go ahead. So I worked Tommy Ross Smith or Jane Doe 3 from 1983 is. What was her name at that time. I worked that case even though it was Solano Counties. But back in the 70s, that would have never happened. I mean, the biggest problem with the Zodiac was, is all the agencies didn't talk within each other. Everyone wanted to solve their own case. Everyone kept information close. Nowadays, we can't wait to share information because having multiple agencies work on cases, you know, the solvability is much higher and much faster. And, you know, everyone has the same goal as bringing people home to their loved ones. So the communication now doesn't happen as bad as it did. I mean, obviously, Carl's daughter, you know, she made the connection before I even knew anything about this case. You know, she still would have had to have law enforcement support to go exhume the body, get the DNA, all that. But, you know, kudos to her and for solace. And from day one, I've always said, Ron, he actually solved the case. You know, it was just proven it. I even told him, I go, when we met for lunch that day, I said that you. You actually saw this case. I just had technology on my side to help put the pieces together and kind of close it, but he actually brought it home. It just. Just couldn't get over the finish line with it.
D
Yeah, it seems like he solved the case from a, you know, this is the person who's responsible perspective. And then you were the person who were able to confirm the identification of Dolores remains. And that is, everyone has a.
E
This right.
D
Ron was obviously very important for the family for a long time and his dedication early on. And maybe you're the closer, if we use a baseball analogy, to come in and close the door at the end for the official part of that.
E
Well, I'd like to say technology closed it. I may have just helped facilitate things, but I don't like taking credit for it because really, I had the advantage of technology. Ron would have completely had this wrapped up had he had the same tools that available that I had, you know, at the time.
D
Sure, yeah. If you want to be modest about it, we can. We can let you be modest here. But certainly there was a. Someone had to decide to go forward with it. Right. And like, we've talked about this before in that, like, to devote resources to a case that's this old, where the chances of solving, you know, probably pretty low in the grand scheme of things like, that was a decision that you made to proceed. And, you know, not everyone probably would have made the same call, so. So you definitely deserve some Credit from that point as well. But I do want to go back to. You mentioned Holly also made the connection on her own before you got involved. There's another woman who also was working with the don't who submitted a match to the DO network who also made the same connection. And then there was just some communication breakdowns or staffing, whatever the issue might have been. It didn't kind of get forwarded in the way it probably should have. That it happened twice with Dolores case, you know, makes me think, hey, if it's happened twice here that we know about, there's probably other cases right across the country that are probably some similar things have happened. If you do get linked up with the DO network, like, how much do you think your police background will help in kind of making you more of an authority if you do submit those matches, do you think that'll be key for kind of getting people to move on possible matches?
E
Well, the way I understand the way the process works and again, I've only applied with them and they're not taking volunteers on right now. But I have talked to, I believe it's the director and she's aware of your podcast. And it was just funny because I applied the day before the one from the DOE network spoke on your podcast. So it was kind of a timing issue. But it's my understanding that, you know, if I'm volunteer and I make a connection, it goes to a second set eyes who will look at it and confirm my beliefs and then it gets pushed out to the agency. So I don't know how much I'm going to really push on that. It's just something I'm very well aware of, you know, and it was something, I'm assuming it was simple, that when Holly made the connection, I believe it was routed and it was routed to the proper jurisdiction, which would have been the coroner's office. But I don't know where it landed at that point. It never made its way to Venetia because I even went back early on when Holly and I first met. Believe Holly and I met at the family reunion before the celebration. Like we talked about it. I was one of get together, we talked about. I could not find any information had ever made its way to Venetia. I'm not saying it didn't. I just, you know, sometimes it falls on, you know, deaf ears or somebody that's not really understanding what they're saying, they just kind of hang up. I don't know.
D
So I think Holly reached out to. She reached out to Namus directly. And then it was the other woman, Stacy Sherman, who was, you know, submitted the match through the DOE network. When she made the connection it was routed to Solano County Sheriffs and Yolo County Sheriffs. I don't think it was actually directly sent to Benicia. So you wouldn't like theoretically wouldn't have had access to those.
E
I mean, what, I'm not infallible. I mean something could have come and, you know, been put on a sticky note and thrown in my mailbox at work and it stuck to the back of who knows. I mean I, I don't want to say it never made its way to Benicia. I just unaware if somebody ever got talked to at Venetia. And it's really easy to do unless when talking this old of a case, figuring in the 70s I was in elementary school and I just retired. So most of my co workers weren't even born in the 70s. So talking about a 42 year old case, when you're 20 and 30 year olds are at work, they don't have the connection and you know, maybe understanding of what that whole case is or even aware of the case because in fairness, I didn't even know anything about Jane Doe 16 when I first got a call from my friend over at the sheriff's office about it. And unfortunately it accidentally got purged because it was not a homicide. It was taken as an info report because it was a case that we handed off to the coroner's office. So in the late 80s, early 90s when it got purged, it was a little frustrating because I, I did make some changes with policies with our records and in fairness our records people weren't even working there at the time. So nobody really was there during that purge. But we put some safeguards in place that anything like this would never be purged. So you know, hopefully that'll, you know, history won't repeat itself that way. But communication is, is really key. I mean that's, you know, I was able to get those records to who was one of my closest friends. We grew up together in law enforcement. We both grew up in the Solano County Sheriff's Office. As I became the detective sergeant, he became the coroner sergeant. His name is Corey McLean. So when he knew I was looking for records, he went above and beyond and you know, pulled out all the archives and was able to help me rebuild at least a portion of our case file. But I just don't have any notes of what was ever done, any handwritten notes from any of the detectives who were all now passed.
A
Every time I visit my mother in law, she's really nice and she always does our laundry. But she jokes around and she says I have chemicals. It's funny, but it also got me thinking like why do we need all these harsh chemicals in our clothes? This is stuff that can irritate your skin or mess up your hormones or even cause allergic reactions. That's why I switched to Earth Breeze. Their detergent sheets are free from harsh chemicals like optical brighteners, dyes, parabens, phosphates and preservatives. There's no heavy plastic jug, no mess, no harsh chemical residue, just a lightweight pre measured sheet that dissolves in the wash to clean your clothes. And yes, my clothes still come out clean, fresh and soft. If you're looking for a powerful clean without harsh chemicals, try Earth Breeze. It's easy to switch and if you're not completely satisfied, they have an amazing money back guarantee right now. You can try Earth Breeze for up to 40% off plus four free gifts@earthbreeze.com unforgotten that's earthbreeze.com unforgotten for 40% off plus four free gifts hey, I'm Wes Ferguson, executive producer of the Unforgotten. Every season of the Unforgotten is a deep dive into an unresolved case, like a murder, or a lot of murders or some miscarriage of justice. These are stories that matter to us, and with your support, we shine a light on them. Here's a quick sneak peek at season one, the Labor Day Ghost. Just in case you missed it, this is the story of a young mom named Shelly Salter Watkins. Her mysterious death in Corsicana, Texas, and why the quest to deliver justice for Shelley has gone so horrible, horribly wrong for so long.
E
She does not go away. She haunts all of the people involved. They regard it as a cold case, but in fact, it's still hot. They do intimidate me for sure. Don't ruffle too many feathers. You need to be careful there. But also, 30 years later, I'm getting freaking tired now of oh no, you're still hoping and praying that we get some sort of closure. Don't we want to find out who killed Shelley?
A
This is the Unforgotten. Listen, wherever you get your podcasts.
D
You.
C
Know, Kenny, I'm just wondering why these cases? What's their significance when it's so long and you in this case, the prime suspect passed away so couldn't necessarily be brought to justice. But as someone who has been through this and now maybe looking at more. Why are these cases important to you?
E
Well, there's families out there. I don't remember the numbers off the top of my head. I want to say it's something around 17,000 unidentified that haven't been brought home yet. And it only takes one to be important. And, you know, if there's a cousin, an aunt, mom, child, you know, wanting to know what happened to their loved one, even if it's not 40, it could be somebody that has gone missing three months ago that's uploaded in the system. Everyone's important. And, you know, it's kind of like the old military thought. No one gets left behind. It's really. I don't want anybody getting left behind. I can't bring everybody home. But if I can bring one more person home, that's one more family that has a little bit of information. I mean, even the Wolf and Roacha family, they don't know what happened that night. And I don't either. I mean, we can speculate how it went down, but I may have brought up more questions for that family than I did answers. So I'm hoping one day that. And I don't know whether they did or didn't, but I'm hoping someday that the Yolo County Sheriff's office tests the blood found in the trunk against the DNA, even though that won't change anything. That's. I did reach out, you know, when this first came up and asked if they would do it. And I never heard back. So I don't know if it did get done, if it didn't get done in fairness of him. So. But again, that's not going to change anything what happened because, you know, Carl Senior has passed. So there's not like it's going to be something held to answer. But yeah, so the answer your question with a long winded answer is that nobody should be left behind and everyone should be brought home because there's somebody that wants to know and much like Slick, you know, want to be laid to rest next to their loved ones, and that probably touched me more than anything else is when I heard, I think, Paul, tell me that that's what Slick wanted. And you know, my wife and I have visited the grave up, you know, up there before and laid flowers down. And, you know, it's emotional seeing both of them together again because, you know, hearing all the stories, stuff that you guys have shared with me and stuff that family shared with me, you know, I love the story about Slick walking down the hallway and Dolores is in there Primping herself in the bathroom, going, you're so beautiful. You're so beautiful. And then Flick changed it up a little bit and waited for Dolores to walk down the hallway and say the same thing. That whole fun banter between the two of them is those stories that you. That make you think, you know, regardless of how much time was spent on this, it was the right thing to do, you know, no doubt, Kenny, and.
C
It'S obviously been incredible for us to tell the story, but also to get to know so many of the people that were involved, including you. So we certainly wish you the best in your future investigations with the DOE network. And, you know, thanks again for all your help in helping us share the story, but also talking to us on what's always a special day for you and for the Wolf and the Roacha family.
E
My wife and I think we've done it every year since we. At some point during the evening, either it's a glass of wine or currently I'm drinking coffee. But it's something we will toast, you know, to Dolores every October 20th. You know, just our little, you know, nod to her and thank her for bringing us all together because we were very enriched with having this family be part of ours. And, you know, it's been a blessing through a very tragic event, you know, being having them brought together. I. I really do think, you know, she was a big reason why we were all brought together for some reason. Hopefully I can continue helping people coming home.
C
The Unforgotten is a Free range production. Season 3 Finding Dolores Wolf is written and hosted by Kyle Bonagura and me, Adam Rittenberg. The story is edited and produced by Wes Ferguson, the executive producer at Free Range Audio editing by Aislin Gaddis Audio production and sound design by Austin Sisler with Eastside Studios in Austin, Texas. Special thanks to ESPN.
Podcast: The Unforgotten
Hosts: Adam Rittenberg, Kyle Bonagura
Guest: Detective Kenny Hart (Retired, Benicia Police Department)
Air Date: October 29, 2025
This bonus episode marks the five-year anniversary of the identification of Dolores Wulff's remains, bringing closure to a 41-year-old disappearance. Hosts Adam Rittenberg and Kyle Bonagura interview retired Detective Kenny Hart, who played a pivotal role in solving the case, and reflect with him on transformative relationships, personal impact, and lessons for unresolved cases. The conversation offers a heartfelt look at the human side of cold case investigations, the evolution of law enforcement cooperation, and ongoing efforts to reunite missing persons with their families.
"I always look at October 20th as the day that I gained new friends and family."
— Kenny Hart [06:36]
"Ann and I met just seconds later... That started like a four-hour conversation between the two of us about our history and the music career. A lot of the same people that we knew..."
— Kenny Hart [07:37]
"I definitely don't look like I do now. Thirty years as a cop really ages you..."
— Kenny Hart [09:46]
"I don't know why, but I actually think Dolores is kind of putting this all together for a reason, you know? Whether I needed them more or vice versa..."
— Kenny Hart [10:30]
Jurisdictional challenges:
"Nowadays, we can't wait to share information... having multiple agencies work on cases, the solvability is much higher and much faster."
— Kenny Hart [21:37]
Evolving motivations:
"I may have just helped facilitate things, but I don't like taking credit for it because, really, I had the advantage of technology. Ron would have completely had this wrapped up had he had the same tools..."
— Kenny Hart [22:54]
"No one gets left behind. It's really... I don't want anybody getting left behind... If I can bring one more person home, that's one more family that has a little bit of information."
— Kenny Hart [31:11]
"We will toast, you know, to Dolores every October 20th... and thank her for bringing us all together."
— Kenny Hart [33:49]
For listeners new and old, this episode is a powerful meditation on dedication, interconnectedness, and the continuing quest to bring the forgotten home.