Man charged with murder nearly 40 years after student’s decapitated body was found

A Wisconsin man was recently charged with murder, nearly 40 years after a college student was found decapitated.

Michael Raymond Popp, of Tomah, was arrested Monday on first-degree murder charges in the 1985 killing of Terry Dolowy. He faces life in prison if convicted of the murder.

Dolowy was a 24-year-old senior at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She was from River Forest, Illinois. Her decapitated and burned body was found in a culvert on the side of a road in Vernon County, five days after she disappeared from her La Crosse County home on February 14, 1985.

Prosecutors said Popp, who was 21 at the time of the killing, knew Dolowy. He lived near Dolowy’s home in Barre Mills, where she lived with her fiancé Russell Lee, at the time of her murder, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday in Vernon County Circuit Court.

The complaint says Popp told law enforcement in March 1985 that he, his girlfriend, Dolowy and Lee participated in pool tournaments together, adding that they were often pool partners.

In January 2023, a loophole was opened in the case. DNA samples taken from Popp matched evidence found during Dolowy’s autopsy, the complaint says.

Popp initially described Dolowy as just an acquaintance. However, when authorities presented him with the DNA evidence in March 2023, he said he and Dolowy “maybe had a little affair” for six to eight months, according to the complaint.

The murder suspect said he previously lied because “it’s a pretty serious matter” and he “didn’t want to be associated with it,” the complaint says.

Popp denied killing Dolowy, telling law enforcement he was not a violent person, according to the complaint.

When Popp’s ex-girlfriend was questioned by police in 1987, she was asked whether Popp could have committed Dolowy’s murder, The Cross Tribune reported.

She reportedly replied, “Mike is capable of doing something like that because he has a lot of different personalities.” However, she said she didn’t believe he was involved, according to The Cross Tribune.

Popp’s girlfriend broke up with him in 1986 when she filed a court injunction against him for physical abuse, The Cross Tribune reported.

The suspect, now 60, is being held in the Vernon County Jail on $1 million cash bail. He had not yet retained an attorney as of Wednesday morning, the Vernon County Clerk’s Office told The Associated Press.

“We were successful,” Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson said Tuesday in announcing the arrest and charges. “I am very grateful to the men and women of law enforcement who carried the torch.”

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.