SHEBOYGAN, WI (WHBL) - Sheboygan County has another person facing a first-degree reckless homicide charge after a heroin overdose. County prosecutors charged 27-year-old Daniel Wulff of Cedar Grove Thursday following an investigation into the death of 23-year-old Dustin Richart that occurred in late July.
The criminal complaint details how the Plymouth Police Department concluded Wulff was the person who allegedly helped to get the heroin that Richart fatally overdosed on. The investigation began when police were called to a residence on South Pleasant View Road in Plymouth July 28. There they found Richart dead in a bedroom.
An officer talked to a person who lived at the residence, who reportedly said Richart had spent the past two weeks there with him and his girlfriend after Richart got out of rehab for an addiction to heroin and pills. He added the day before his death Richart went out with his cousin, Wulff, for the afternoon and evening. He said the two returned around midnight, went into Richart’s bedroom for a few minutes and then Wulff left. The next morning he entered the bedroom to grab some fishing equipment and noticed Richart was unresponsive and cold to the touch.
As police investigated the cause of death, they eventually determined it was due to a heroin overdose. Helping officers reach this conclusion was the finding of a baggie on Richart’s bed that a field test determined to have an opiate residue. An autopsy done on Richart determined the cause of death to be due to poly substance toxicity and having a high level of morphine in the body. These are the typical signs a body exhibits when a heroin overdose occurs.
The complaint continues to state officers interviewed Wulff in early August about the events leading up to Richart’s death. Wulff reportedly said he picked up Richart at a cook-out at a farm. The two then traveled to several places across the county before he returned Richart to his room in Plymouth around midnight. Wulff reportedly admit he was a heroin user and would get the drug in the Milwaukee area, but did not say that's what happened July 27.
Officers were able to get a search warrant for Wulff’s cellphone and reportedly found a series of messages written by Wulff to Richart and a third person that suggested some sort of sale going on, but no exact words saying what was discussed.
Investigators reportedly got their big break in early September, when two inmates at the Sheboygan County Detention Center told them that Wulff, who was serving time there on a different matter, told them about the events that occurred the day before Richart’s death. One inmate said they heard Wulff say he and Richart traveled to Milwaukee to purchase 50-dollars worth of heroin. The other inmate said Wulff allegedly admitted to arranging the sale of heroin that Richart took, but denied selling it.
The complaint includes more possible evidence of Wulff's involvement. It includes DNA evidence taken from items in Richart’s room, which found Wulff’s DNA on several of those items as well. That included the baggie that contained the heroin residue. Also in the criminal complaint was an interview with the third person part of the cellphone conversation between Wulff and Richart. He reportedly told investigators he would go with Wulff to Milwaukee to purchase heroin.
Wulff now faces up to forty years in prison if found guilty of the reckless homicide charge.