Wisconsin authorities have made a major breakthrough in the unsolved murder of a student whose body was found decapitated and burned on the side of the road in 1985.
Authorities announced Tuesday that they have arrested Michael Popp, 60, and charged him with first-degree murder in connection with the death of Terry Dolowy, 24, nearly 40 years after the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse senior was mysteriously killed.
Dolowy and his white poodle had disappeared on Valentine’s Day 1985, leaving the front door of their home ajar. WXOW reports. Just four days later, Dolowy’s body was found decapitated and burned in a roadside drain. The poodle was never found.
Police now say Popp, who was 21 at the time, knew Dolowy and lived near the Barre Mills home she shared with her fiancé, Russell Lee.
Michael Popp, 60, has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder in the 1985 death of 24-year-old Terry Dolowy.
He had even told police in March 1985 that he, his girlfriend, Dolowy and Lee attended snooker tournaments together and were often partners. according to the La Crosse Tribune newspaper.
Vernon County deputies continued to work the Dolowy murder case for years, on and off.
There was finally a breakthrough in September 2022, when investigating genealogists identified Popp as a person of interest and authorities were able to obtain a search warrant to obtain a DNA sample from him.
They were later able to determine that Popp’s DNA sample matched the genetic material found in Dolowy’s autopsy.
When presented with evidence in March 2023, Popp allegedly admitted that he and Dolowy “maybe had a little bit of an affair” for six to eight months.
He said he lied when he said they were just casual acquaintances because “it’s a pretty serious case” and “he didn’t want to be associated with it,” according to a complaint obtained by the La Crosse Tribune.
Popp continued to deny killing the student and said he is not a violent person.
Dolowy and his poodle mysteriously disappeared on Valentine’s Day 1985, leaving the front door of their home ajar. Just four days later, Dolowy’s body was found decapitated and burned in a roadside culvert. The poodle was never found.
But when police previously interviewed Popp’s ex-girlfriend, who broke up with him in 1986 and filed a warrant against him for physical abuse, she was asked whether Popp could have committed Dolowy’s murder.
She reportedly replied: “Mike is able to do something like that because he has so many different personalities.”
Still, the ex-girlfriend said she did not believe he was involved in Dolowy’s death.
However, the complaint also says a witness told police in 2004 that he remembered seeing a vehicle arrive at Dolowy’s home at about 4.30am on the day she disappeared.
The witness said he saw two men force Dolowy into a Chevy Impala or Caprice.
Popp’s girlfriend at the time owned a vehicle matching that description and often let him drive it, according to the criminal complaint.
Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson denied that this was a cold case when he announced Popp’s arrest and the charges against him on Tuesday.
“Some may refer to this as a cold case,” Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson said at a news conference Tuesday. “I totally disagree.”
‘Terry’s case has never been on hold, but has been very actively paused throughout all these years.’
“We did it,” he added, announcing Popp’s arrest and the charges against him.
“I am very grateful to the men and women in law enforcement who carried the torch.”
A judge set Popp’s bail at $1 million after Monroe County District Attorney Kevin Croninger, acting as special prosecutor, requested bail be set at $2 million.
Popp had originally been arrested in Monroe County for an unrelated incident but was taken to the Vernon County Jail on Monday to face first-degree murder charges, Torgerson and other authorities said.
He also faces charges of stalking, domestic abuse and drug possession in Monroe County.
At a hearing later Tuesday, Monroe County District Attorney Kevin Croninger, acting as special prosecutor, asked a judge to set Popp’s bail at $2 million, describing the allegations against him as “particularly gruesome” and noting that he worked as a truck driver and therefore had the means to flee.
Popp, who did not have an attorney present at the hearing, objected to the high bail amount, at one point saying, “I didn’t do it.”
He later argued that the criminal complaint “said she was killed at 4:30 in the morning, I’m still milking cows at 5,” according to the La Crosse Tribune.
A judge ultimately set his bail at $1 million and he will remain in the Vernon County Jail.
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