Major breakthrough in unsolved murder of Wisconsin student found decapitated on side of the road

Authorities in Wisconsin 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.

Officials announced on Tuesday 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 her white poodle had disappeared on Valentine's Day 1985, and the door to their house was left ajar, WXOW reports. Just four days later, Dolowy's body was found decapitated and burned in a roadside culvert. The poodle was never found.

Police now say Popp, who was 21 years old at the time, knew Dolowy and lived near the Barre Mills home she shared with her fiancée, Russell Lee.

He had even told law enforcement in March 1985 that he, his girlfriend, Dolowy and Lee would attend pool tournaments together and were often partners, according to the La Crosse Tribune.

Officers in Vernon County continued to work on Dolowy's murder case for years, on and off.

There was finally a breakthrough in September 2022, when investigative genealogists identified Popp as a person of interest and authorities were able to obtain a search warrant to get a DNA sample from him. 

They were then able to determine that Popp's DNA sample matched genetic material that was found in Dolowy's autopsy.

When presented with the evidence in March 2023, Popp allegedly admitted that he and Dolowy 'maybe had a little affair' for six to eight months.

He said he had lied that they were only casual acquaintances because 'it's a pretty serious case' and he did not 'want to be associated with it,' according to a complaint obtained by the La Crosse Tribune.

Popp went on to deny killing the student, saying he is not a violent person. 

But when police previously interviewed Popp's ex-girlfriend, who broke up with him in 1986 and filed a court injunction against him for physical abuse, she was asked whether Popp could have committed Dolowy's murder.

She reportedly replied: 'Mike is capable of doing something like this because he has a lot of different personalities.'

Still, the ex-girlfriend said she did not believe he was involved in Dolowy's death.

Yet the complaint also says a witness told police in 2004 he recalled seeing a vehicle drive up to Dolowy's house at around 4.30am on the day of her disappearance.

The witness said he saw two men who 'muscled' 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.

'Some may refer to this as a cold case,' Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson said at a news conference on Tuesday. 'I fervently disagree.

'Terry's case has never been cold but has been very actively paused over these many years.'

'We got it done,' he added as he announced Popp's arrest and the charges against him. 

'I am so grateful to the men and women of law enforcement who carried the torch.' 

Popp had originally been arrested in Monroe County for an unrelated incident, but was moved to the Vernon County Jail on Monday to face charges of first-degree murder, Torgerson and other authorities said. 

He is also facing charges of stalking, domestic abuse and drug possession in Monroe County. 

At a hearing later on Tuesday, Monroe County District Attorney Kevin Croninger - who was acting as a special prosecutor - asked a judge to set Popp's bail at $2million, describing the allegations against him 'particularly gruesome' and noting that he worked as a truck driver, and therefore had the means to flee.

Popp, who did not have a lawyer present at the hearing, objected to the high bail amount and at one point said, 'I didn't do it.'

He later argued that the criminal complaint 'said she was killed at 4.30am, I'm still milking cows at 5,' according to the La Crosse Tribune.

In the end, a judge set his bail at $1million as he remains at the Vernon County Jail.