Man reunited with mother’s ashes and truck stolen in Rohnert Park

After Bill Nave’s blue Ford F350 truck was stolen, he didn’t think he’d see the pickup again. That hit harder because inside the cab were his mother’s ashes.

He had been preparing to scatter her remains outside the Golden Gate and was toting them inside a backpack for days.

“She grew up in Indiana, but fell in love with San Francisco,” Nave, 45, of Novato said of his mother, Dede DeFelice, who died at 69 in 2015.

Also inside the backpack were the ashes of her late Chihuahua, Belle. Nearby were those of his own German shepherd, Whitey. All were to be scattered in the Pacific Ocean outside the city.

The truck had been parked outside the apartment of his friend’s Rohnert Park apartment, where he awoke Monday morning after staying over, walked outside and discovered the blue 2003 pickup gone.

He was crushed. That morning, Sept. 11, he filed a report with the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety.

He also contacted media outlets, including The Press Democrat, hoping to spread the word.

On Thursday, he was walking the streets of the Rohnert Park neighborhood where his truck was stolen, looking for any clues, including surveillance cameras that would have caught the caper.

He got a phone call from a man who said his kids were playing baseball at a city park when they discovered a backpack and a suitcase. Inside the suitcase, the man found Nave’s contact information. The man drove the backpack to Nave and inside, it turned out, were his mother’s ashes and those of her dog.

“That was so awesome,” he said. “I was content to never see the truck again, knowing that I got my mom back.”

On Sunday, he got another phone call, this time from a Rohnert Park police officer. The department had found his truck at another apartment complex in the city. He came up to get it that day and found it was missing some tools, a stereo that didn’t work, and an amplifier that had been beneath the back seat. Otherwise, it was largely fine.

“I’m ecstatic to have my truck back,” said Nave, who owns a hauling business.

“I would never have thought I’d see the truck back again, but when I got the ashes, it kind of gave me a little bit of faith in people.”

Still missing are his dog Whitey’s ashes, which were in a separate container stowed outside the backpack. Anyone who might have come across the ashes or have information on their disappearance can call the Rohnert Park Department of Public Safety and leave an anonymous tip.

No arrests have been made in the case, Nave said. Rohnert Park police officials did make available further details about the case Tuesday.

On the whole, Nave is content.

“Everybody’s excited,” he said. “My family, my friends are all happy. I put a thank you on Facebook to the Rohnert Park police and to The Press Democrat.”

As soon as possible, he said, he plans to lay his mother to rest outside the city she loved.