Netflix viewers with an interest in true crime may want to check out a disturbing case featured in the platform’s new documentary series, involving a woman accused of trying to get rid of a man’s body ‘Jeffrey Dahmer-style’.
Worst Neighbor Ever, which premiered on Netflix on July 1, 2026, includes the case in episode four, titled ‘The Executor’. The episode examines the disappearance of Charles Wilding, a wealthy Sherman Oaks man, and the alleged effort to take control of his property, bank accounts and identity after his death.
The case centered on Caroline Joanne Herrling, also known as Carrie Phenix, who prosecutors said inserted herself into Wilding’s life while claiming to manage his affairs. Herrling later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in March 2024.
In October 2021, LAPD Detective Mark O’Donnell received an anonymous report concerning 70-year-old Charles Wilding, a wealthy man who had no children or close heirs.
The caller said they feared Wilding had died and that somebody else had taken over his identity in order to access his money and property.
As detectives began digging into the claim, their attention soon turned to a woman with a close connection to the case.
Herrling, who worked as a litigation consultant, had been telling people she was managing Wilding’s affairs while he was supposedly abroad visiting friends.
But when investigators were unable to verify that explanation through the contacts she supplied, O’Donnell’s inquiry shifted toward Herrling herself. What followed, according to prosecutors, exposed a financial fraud scheme and a horrifying attempt to dispose of a body.
The US Attorney’s Office said Herrling committed identity theft against Wilding after he died inside his home, and that she later dismembered his body in an effort to conceal the wider fraud.
Herrling, from the San Fernando Valley, was eventually sentenced to 240 months in federal prison. Authorities said she used forged power-of-attorney paperwork as part of a $3.9 million scam and operated under the alias Carrie Phenix.
Court filings also said Herrling and other co-conspirators, including Matthew Jason Kroth, targeted more than just Wilding. Investigators alleged they searched affluent areas for vulnerable residents by identifying neglected homes in expensive neighborhoods.
Signs they reportedly looked for included swimming pools full of algae and overgrown gardens, indicators that an elderly wealthy resident might be living there without being able to maintain the property.
According to prosecutors, Herrling and others selected Wilding’s home in 2020, entered it unlawfully, and at some stage Wilding died.
Authorities said the group then remained in control of the property, leaving his body inside while they stole from his estate and drained his finances.
Investigators alleged that Herrling relied on forged power-of-attorney documents to present herself as someone authorized to act for Wilding while taking his money.
During the investigation, police said Herrling claimed she was a trustee established by Wilding’s mother, despite the fact that Wilding’s mother had already died.
Prosecutors also said the scheme escalated into an attempt to hide the body so that no one would learn Wilding had died, allowing the spending to continue unchecked.
That is where they deployed Jeffrey Dahmer-style tactics, such as attempting to dissolve his body in chemicals, which Dahmer successfully did to several victims during his reign of terror in the 80s.
When that failed, the Department of Justice said the body was cut apart, packed into vacuum-sealed bags, transported to the Bay Area, and discarded in the San Francisco Bay.
Investigators also alleged that Herrling stood to acquire another $1.7 million through the same fake paperwork after she found a document naming Wilding as executor and beneficiary of another person’s will.
Authorities said she later defrauded a third victim as well, selling that person’s home while posing as them.
Herrling ultimately pleaded guilty in March 2023 to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
She was also ordered to pay $3,887,051 in restitution.
Wilding’s death remains unresolved in one key respect: investigators were never able to determine the precise cause. Neighbors in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, reportedly had little idea anything was wrong, as Wilding was known to keep to himself.
During the autumn of 2021, Herrling appeared at the property and told neighbors that Wilding was staying with friends in Carpinteria, in Santa Barbara County, while renovations were being carried out at his house.
After three months passed without anyone seeing him, concerned neighbors asked the LAPD to conduct a welfare check.
Herrling repeated the same explanation to officers and provided a landline number, but police found it did not work. Adult Protective Services was also looking into the situation separately.
A caseworker later told police they believed they had spoken to Wilding, leading APS to end its investigation.
The case changed direction after the LAPD received an anonymous tip alleging that Wilding was dead and that his death was being concealed so others could profit from it.
Police said the investigation that followed uncovered forged paperwork and evidence that someone had been impersonating Wilding over the phone.
Federal search warrants were then obtained for Herrling’s apartment on Beverly Glen Boulevard and her home in West Hills.
According to investigators, those searches turned up stolen and fake driver’s licenses, passports, and birth certificates. Officers also seized psilocybin mushrooms, heroin, methamphetamine, and 16 firearms.
Not long afterward, co-conspirator Matthew Jason Kroth admitted to breaking into Wilding’s property, discovering him dead, and stealing from him.
Kroth also said he had initially noticed the home because it appeared neglected. He admitted entering while Wilding was still alive and pretending he was carrying out a welfare check to explain his presence, before returning months later and finding Wilding dead.
Herrling pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Kroth pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine.
Sentencing documents later revealed further details of the body disposal attempt. Prosecutors said Herrling and her associates first tried to dissolve Wilding’s remains in acid, then dismembered the body, sealed the parts in vacuum bags, and disposed of them in the San Francisco Bay. His remains were never recovered.
Herrling received a 20-year prison sentence and was ordered to pay $3.88 million in restitution.
Kroth was sentenced to 200 months in prison and ordered to pay $1.95 million in restitution.
The broader case has continued to unfold beyond the original Herrling plea. In February 2026, Kroth was sentenced in federal court for his role in the scheme, and prosecutors said another co-conspirator, James Rhys Kantor, later pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy and admitted helping forge trust documents tied to the Wilding estate.
For investigators, the most chilling detail remained the same: prosecutors said the conspirators treated a dead man’s home as a source of inventory, cash and identity documents, while trying to ensure no one discovered he had died.