Rolf was last seen sometime during August 1980. He lived with his wife, Nettie Ruth Neslund, who was addressed by her middle name, on Lopez Island in Washington. A photograph of Ruth is posted below this case summary. The Neslunds' marriage was troubled. Both Ruth and Rolf drank heavily and they often had violent physical altercations, with injuries and property damage. The police had been summoned to their home several times to break up fights.

In February 1981, Rolf's friends asked police to check up on his welfare, as they had not heard from him in many months. Investigators went to his residence and spoke to Ruth. She told them Rolf had left her on August 14, 1980. The last time anyone besides Ruth saw him was on August 5. She stated she assumed he had run away with an old girlfriend, Elinor Ekenes. Rolf had two adult sons by Ekenes, although they were never legally married, and they stayed friends after their romance ended. Ruth believed Rolf was having an affair with Ekenes, and speculated they had gone to Norway, where Rolf was born. At first she stated she had traveled to Norway in October 1980 to look for Rolf, but later admitted this was untrue. Ekenes did travel to Norway in 1980, but not with Rolf; she had just gotten married and went to Norway with her husband on their honeymoon.

Authorities were suspicious of Ruth's story and did not believe Rolf had left of his own accord. He left behind all his possessions, including his clothing, jewelry, wristwatch, eyeglasses, cars, money and medication. He never contacted his doctor to ask for his prescription to be renewed. He also did not contact any of his friends or relatives after his disappearance, which is extremely uncharacteristic of him. Rolf mailed Christmas cards to dozens of loved ones every year, but none of his associates got a card from him at Christmas in 1980. He had money in American and Norwegian bank accounts, but did not try to access any of them after August 1980. Only days after his disappearance, Ruth put several of his belongings, including two cars, up for sale. In December 1981, Ruth was declared trustee of Rolf's estate during his absence, over the objections of his sons. She turned their home into a popular bed and breakfast.

Rolf formerly worked as a ship's pilot and was a well-known figure in the Seattle area. He had emigrated to the United States as a teenager and eventually obtained citizenship, though he continued to visit Norway regularly throughout his life and he maintained close contact with his siblings there. Rolf was involved in a serious shipping accident in 1978, while piloting the forty-ton, 550-foot ship Chavez. The Chavez crashed into the support pillars of the West Seattle Bridge. No one was killed in the accident, but the bridge was destroyed. Rolf was permitted to retire without censure afterwards, but the incident tarnished his reputation. His loved ones stated he did not appear to be distressed about the bridge accident and even joked about it. He retired on a pension of $1,800 a month from the Puget Sound Pilots Association.

Shortly before his disappearance, Rolf discovered Ruth, who had power of attorney for him and handled all their finances, had taken nearly $80,000 of his money out of their joint bank accounts and transferred it to accounts which were in her name only. She had also lied to him, saying various loans they had given to friends and acquaintances were still outstanding when they had, in fact, been paid off years ago. Rolf was very angry about the situation and told his friends he planned to revoke Ruth's power of attorney. He also planned to change his will. His current will left his entire estate to Ruth, but he wanted to change it to name his sons as beneficiaries. When he spoke to Ekenes about the will, he said he was afraid Ruth was going to poison him. He asked Ekenes to make sure, if he died, that his body was autopsied.

Police searched the Neslund home for evidence in April 1981, but located little evidence. Some of her relatives contacted investigators, however, and stated they had often heard Ruth threaten to murder Rolf. She usually was intoxicated when she made those statements and none of her family members gave them much credence until Rolf went missing. In 1982, Ruth's brother, Paul Myers, told police that Ruth had confessed Rolf's murder to him. She said her brother, Robert Myers, was at the residence that night, and Robert held Rolf while Ruth shot him twice in the head. Afterwards Robert dismembered his body in the bathtub and he and Ruth burned it in a barrel and dumped the ashes in the manure pile.

Based on Paul's statement, authorities obtained a second search warrant for the Neslund home. Ruth had replaced sections of carpet in the master bedroom; when the new carpet was cut away, bloodstains were visible on the padding and floor underneath. Blood was also found on the ceiling of the bedroom, and in the hallway outside. There was enough blood to determine that whoever's it was had been seriously injured or killed. A blood spatter expert determined that the stain on the ceiling was the result of a gunshot wound. DNA testing did not exist at the time, but investigators were able to determine that the blood was human and Type A. Rolf had Type A blood, and so did Ruth. Several guns were located in the residence. One of them, a .38 caliber Smith and Wesson revolver, was bloodstained.

Ruth was charged with her husband's murder in March 1983. There were many delays and she did not go to trial until October 1985. Prosecutors theorized that when Rolf confronted Ruth about the stolen money, she and her brother Robert shot him to death and got rid of the body. (Robert lived in a nursing home in 1985; he was suffering from severe dementia. He was never tried for his alleged role in the crime.) Several of Ruth's friends and relatives testified that she had made statements about shooting Rolf. The defense suggested Rolf had left of his own accord and might be alive in Norway, or that he had committed suicide because he was despondent about the West Seattle Bridge accident and the end of his career. Ruth's attorney suggested the bloodstains in her home were the result of home improvement accidents, Ruth's many nosebleeds, and the couple's numerous fights.

The jury convicted Ruth of first-degree murder. She was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. She was initially freed on bail while her case was under appeal, but she was ordered to start serving her sentence after she drove while intoxicated and caused an accident, which was a violation of the terms of her release. Ruth died in prison in 1993, at the age of 73, seven years into her sentence. She always maintained her innocence in Rolf's case.

Rolf's body was never located. His case the first time in Washington state history that a defendant was convicted of murder in a case where the victim's body had never been found. The true crime author Ann Rule wrote about his case in her 2006 book, No Regrets: and Other True Cases. It is Volume 11 in her Crime Files series.

Above: Ruth Neslund, circa 1983