Article on Dottie Caylor

[njf520]

since this case was just on lifetime on july 11, 2005, here is an article about the case. she hasn't been found...

Sister's hope wanes, even as detectives plug on

By Joan Morris

CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Twenty years after Dottie Rusnak Caylor disappeared from her Concord home, the search for her continues. But it appears her family and authorities are no closer to finding her than they were that warm spring day in 1985.

After the Times published a five-part series on Dottie's disappearance in March 2004, the cold case took on new life. Concord police reopened their investigation, and Dottie's sister, Diane Rusnak, filed a civil suit against her brother-in-law, Jule Caylor, seeking to preserve Dottie's share of the marital estate.

But while police continue to work the case, trying to follow a trail of evidence now two decades old, the civil case has stalled pending the outcome of the police investigation. And Dottie, who would have turned 61 years old in January, is still missing, the truth about her disappearance seemingly no closer to the surface than it was when she slipped into oblivion.

• • •

The last reported sighting of Dottie was June 12, 1985, when her husband, Jule Caylor, says he dropped her off at the Pleasant Hill BART station.

Dottie and Jule had had a troubled relationship and marriage, which began as an affair. Jule was married and had a child when he first met Dottie, although Dottie didn't know any of that for several months.

Their marriage was plagued by Jule's infidelity and Dottie's growing insecurities and phobias. While Jule was often gone for weeks at a time, Dottie suffered from agoraphobia -- the fear of open spaces -- that all but imprisoned her in her house.

The betrayals, coupled with one documented case of domestic battering, drove Dottie to transform herself. She began to venture beyond her home. She made friends and joined support groups for women planning life-changing moves. She started talking about her marriage, the emotional abuse she believed she'd suffered, and her plans to divorce Jule.

June 1985 was to be the month that Dottie took her first real step away from Jule. His U.S. Forest Service job in San Francisco had ended and he'd found another position with the agency, based in Utah. He was moving. Dottie was staying.

But on June 12, 1985, Dottie became a missing person.

• • •

The investigation into Dottie's disappearance began five days after Jule said he took her to the BART station. The next day, he said, he had discovered her car parked next to his in the BART parking lot. Her purse was inside.

By the time Jule, at the urging of a neighbor, reported Dottie missing, he had packed all of their belongings, repainted the inside of the house and put the three-bedroom home up for rent. When Diane Rusnak learned her sister was missing, nearly everything Dottie owned was being loaded onto a moving van bound for Utah.

Police questioned Dottie's friends and men she had met through a Christian singles' organization. Even though Dottie had left behind everything she owned, including a $5,000 cashier's check, police found no evidence of foul play in her disappearance.

Jule moved to Utah, where he planned to start a new life with a woman he'd proposed to six months before Dottie disappeared. The relationship dissolved when the woman learned about Dottie.

In the years that followed, no one heard a word from Dottie. Her case was relegated to the cold case files in the Concord Police Department.

Then last year, partly spurred by the Times series, Concord police announced they would take another, closer look at Dottie's disappearance, starting the investigation anew. Detective Kurt Messick, lead investigator in the case, says police have interviewed all the original witnesses -- the ones they could locate and those still alive after all these years -- and have expanded the investigation to other witnesses.

The case remains very much open and active, Messick says.

• • •

In some ways, the past year has been harder on Diane Rusnak than all the others that have stretched between today and the day she learned her only sister was missing.

When Dottie first disappeared, Diane, an artist who lives in West Contra Costa County, held out hope that Dottie had run from an unhappy marriage and would soon resurface.

She kept thinking that Dottie would call. If not today, then tomorrow. And as all the tomorrows merged into 20 years of yesterdays, Diane had held onto the diminished hope that Dottie was safe. That she was happy.

But last year, Diane finally came to accept what those less close to the case had long believed: Dottie was dead.

The realization brought with it a fresh wave of grief and anger. It also led her to push a civil action against Jule to recover and preserve Dottie's estate. She filed a civil lawsuit, asking that Dottie be declared legally dead and that Diane be named executor of the estate. At stake is Dottie's personal property and her share of the Concord home, which Jule has held on to all these years.

Although a judge found evidence that Dottie was dead, the court awaits a finding from the police on the time and manner of her death. Until then, the case sits in limbo.

Diane says she was hopeful, with the renewed attention, that police would finally solve the mystery of Dottie's disappearance. More than a year later, her hopes have waned.

"I assume a lot is going on that I don't know about," Diane says. "I haven't agitated much against the Concord police because I'm trusting them to do everything they can. But as the months go by, I get a strange feeling. When is something going to happen?"

• • •

Jule Caylor, who retired from the U.S. Forest Service last year, continues to live in Utah with the woman he describes as his life partner. They've been together nearly 20 years.

Jule, a Libertarian, attempted a run for the Utah state legislature, but withdrew his candidacy after party members learned police were investigating Dottie's disappearance.

At the time of his retirement, he filed for divorce from Dottie, saying she had deserted their marriage. A judge granted the divorce and awarded all the marital property to Jule, but Diane filed suit and the divorce was set aside. The Utah judge ruled that Dottie was dead at the time Jule sought the divorce, so there was no marriage to dissolve.

Jule declined to be interviewed for this story. Via e-mail, he said he had nothing more to say about Dottie's disappearance that he hadn't already said. He repeated his belief that Dottie is alive and in hiding.

"Assuming she has successfully concealed herself thus far, I think it unlikely she will choose to voluntarily disclose her whereabouts any time soon," Jule wrote. "She said she could disappear, and she did it. There is nothing more I can add that is not well documented."

Police have called Jule a "person of interest" in the case.

• • •

The neighborhood where Jule and Dottie lived doesn't look that different from when the couple called it home. Most front yards blaze with the glory of spring flowers. The trees that were small when Dottie last saw them now tower above the houses, their leaves providing a shady canopy.

Many of the people who lived there 20 years ago have moved on, replaced by new homeowners. Only two of the houses on the street are rentals. More children seem to be living there, longtime residents say.

But while Dottie is gone from the neighborhood, she is not forgotten. Those who knew her say they remember. And they wonder. Will they ever learn what happened?

[Goofyman]

She's probably been dead since the first day. There is no doubt in my mind that the husband was involved. He was so cold and distant in the UM interview. When this nonsense happens, you make a plea for them to come home and you almost always cry. The man even had a relationship with a woman before Dottie dissapeared. Incredible they haven't been able to link him.

I mean, think back to that police officer who beat his son to death. He blatantly lied on UM. He was cold, uncaring, and didn't plead much. There's a pattern here...

[yost]

agree..that guy was real creepy...at the end of the story, he sums things up by saying it was hell living with her and he's glad to move on...

[crystaldawn]

Jule Caylor makes my blood boil! I can barely stand to see his interview where he talks about how hard it was living with Dottie and how his life is pretty good now that she's gone!

[Or So It Seems]

Thanks for posting that article.

I agree, she's dead and her husband probably killed her. Too bad he was smart enough not to leave any evidence behind.

[Todd Mueller]

I also would like to thank you for posting that article. This is one of those cases that always bugged me because it seems like it should be so easy to solve.

And I agree that Jule is guilty as sin.

[njf520]

the contra costa times did a large, multi-part article on dottie and the mystery in 2004. then a follow-up in 2005. if you google it you will find it. but, you need to looked at the cached articles as the actual articles are only in the archives and they charge for that.

peace.
njf

[Todd Mueller]

Jule never acted like he even WANTED her found.

Real nice guy, that one. . .

[Goofyman]

Well, even if he wasen't involved, he was free of a life where his wife is afraid to leave her home. Their relationship started as an affair, and ended because of another affair. Well, that and Dottie either being murdered, amnesia, or a runaway.

[jeeps]

I'm missing something. Am I reading this right? That Dottie cheated with Jule while he was married to someone else? Then Jule cheated on Dottie with someone else while he was married to her?

Here's what I'm missing. I find it hard to believe that even one woman would look at him much less three or more. He looks like Marcel Marceau in makeup. I don't get it. And I know looks aren't everything but let's just say that his "caring" personality matches that mug of his.

He must be one heckuva conversationalist!

I just don't get it!

jeeps

[crystaldawn]

I totally agree Jeeps!

I did read in an article that she dated him for months before she found out that he was married but obviously didn't dump him after she found out. I also noticed that it said he proposed to a woman several months before Dottie disappeared, definitely a motive to want her out of the picture.

[mortytbusybody]

Urghhh!!!! Jule Caylor is such a scumbag and an obvious murderer! The least he could have done is shown ONE OUNCE of concern for the woman he must have cared for at one point (that is if he's capable of loving anyone but himself!!!)
He used to work for the U.S. Forestry...I wonder if police ever searched for Dottie's body in the forested areas he patrolled or had access to? I realize that's a lot of ground to cover, but chances are he put her somewhere that he regularly travelled and was therefore comfortable in.

[Goofyman]

If he did murder her, I bet he had access to some major machinery. Wood-chipper, anyone? Just chop her up, throw her in with some wood, and wa la. Hidden body that probably will never be found.

[njf520]

ok, i am probably going to take a lot of heat for saying this but, here goes:

i think jule caylor is an odd man and probably had something to do with his wife's disappearance.i think it is weird that he showed no concern about his wife being missing. ok. having said that, i think it is not quite fair for us to label him "an obvious murderer."

imagine for a moment that you are married to someone and that over the years, the marriage really sours. the marriage gets worse and worse and then your spouse goes missing. does that make you a murderer? does it make you a murderer even if you are glad she is not part of your life?

i don't recall jule saying, "i hope she is dead" or anything like that.

is he weird? yes.
did he seem insensitive? yes.
do i think he was involved? probably
am i ready to call him "an obvious murderer"? uh...no.

peace.

njf

[nohwheregirl]

Originally Posted by njf520

ok, i am probably going to take a lot of heat for saying this but, here goes:

i think jule caylor is an odd man and probably had something to do with his wife's disappearance.i think it is weird that he showed no concern about his wife being missing. ok. having said that, i think it is not quite fair for us to label him "an obvious murderer."

imagine for a moment that you are married to someone and that over the years, the marriage really sours. the marriage gets worse and worse and then your spouse goes missing. does that make you a murderer? does it make you a murderer even if you are glad she is not part of your life?

i don't recall jule saying, "i hope she is dead" or anything like that.

is he weird? yes.
did he seem insensitive? yes.
do i think he was involved? probably
am i ready to call him "an obvious murderer"? uh...no.

peace.

njf

I might buy that whole "he's just eccentric" arguement if it weren't for the rest of the context of the case.

Her friends were all emphatic that a crime had occurred in Dottie's disappearence, but he is the only one *not* looking for her and *not* concerned about her whether she was or was not killed. That tips me off that Jule just might know exactly where Dottie is and feels it's a waste of his time to help look for her.

You might compare it to the Scott Peterson case (which I hate to even bring up because it's been talked about to death - no pun intended - when there are so many other victims that need the publicity too). You could say, "Hey, the guy's a player and a jerk. That doesn't make him a murderer." But Scott was very uninvolved in searching for Lacey in comparison to the rest of her family and seemed to know that she wouldn't be found alive before they even found her body. Scott was counting on the fact that Lacey wouldn't be found, and I think that Jule has been counting on the same thing...except apparently Jule is a lot craftier than Scott.