A western Wisconsin man has been charged in the 1985 murder of a college student whose decapitated body was found days after she disappeared, authorities said Tuesday.
Michael Raymond Popp, of Tomah, was arrested Monday on charges of first-degree murder in the death of Terry Dolowy, 24. He was being held in the Vernon County Jail on $1 million cash bail.
Popp, 60, had not retained an attorney as of Wednesday morning, the Vernon County clerk’s office said.
Prosecutors said Popp knew Dolowy, a River Forest, Illinois, native who was a senior at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. At the time of the killing, he lived a short distance from where Dolowy lived in La Crosse County with her fiancé, according to a criminal complaint.
Vernon and La Crosse County authorities previously said Dolowy left her purse at home, was missing her car and her dog was missing. At the time of her disappearance, she was working full-time as a bar manager at an upscale La Crosse restaurant.
Vernon County Sheriff’s Office
Dolowy disappeared on Feb. 14, 1985, from her Barre Mills home. Days later, her decapitated and burned body was found in a culvert on the side of a road in Vernon County. Her head has never been found, authorities said.
Years after the initial investigation, a paint chip was found in a sheet that had wrapped the victim’s body, authorities said. Authorities said at the time that the paint may have come from the trunk of a vehicle in which the body had been transported.
The complaint says Popp told police in March 1985 that he and his girlfriend went to pool tournaments with Dolowy and her fiancé and were often pool partners, the La Crosse Tribune reported.
According to the complaint, DNA samples taken from Popp in January 2023 match material found during Dolowy’s autopsy.
While Popp initially said Dolowy was just a casual acquaintance, when authorities presented him with the DNA evidence linking him to Dolowy in March 2023, he changed his story and said he and Dolowy “may have had a little affair” for six to eight months, the complaint says.
Popp said he lied because “this is a pretty serious matter” and he “didn’t want to be associated with it,” according to the complaint. Popp denied killing Dolowy and told police he was not a violent person, according to the complaint.
