VIROQUA, Wis. – Nearly 40 years after the body of 24-year-old Terry Dolowy’s body was found decapitated and burned along Mohawk Valley Road in northern Vernon County, investigators believe they have finally found the person who killed her and dumped her body there. On Tuesday, Monroe County District Attorney Kevin Croninger, who had been appointed special prosecutor in the case, filed homicide charges in Vernon County Court against 60-year-old Michael Raymond Popp of Tomah.
The criminal complaint in the case shows that Popp knew Dolowy and her boyfriend and may have had a relationship with her. Investigators from Vernon and La Crosse counties even interviewed Popp, and his girlfriend, about Dolowy’s death about month after her body was found, but it is unclear of he was ever a suspect back then, even though there was some evidence that pointed to his involvement. Popp is currently employed as a truck driver and lives in Tomah.
The circumstances surrounding Dolowy’s disappearance from the Bostwick Valley Mobile Park in little, unincorporated Barre Mills, and discovery of her body a few days later gripped the whole region in 1985, and has been the subject of speculation since then. Investigators reported at the time that Dolowy’s white poodle was also missing, and the door to her home was ajar. Her personal items were found inside the trailer. Her body was found four days later in a culvert on Mohawk Valley Road in Vernon County.
Dolowy was originally from River Forest, Illinois and was a senior at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. She lived with her fiancé at the time of her death. According to the Wisconsin Dept. of Justice, she was last seen at her home when she returned around 12:30 – 1 a.m. from her work at Piggy’s Restaurant in downtown La Crosse. At the time investigators questioned Dolowy’s boyfriend, Russel Lee extensively, but he was never named as a suspect or charged in the case.
Timeline of how investigators used DNA to connect Popp
According to the criminal complaint in February of 1985 an autopsy was conducted and a vaginal smear from that autopsy was kept under the possession of the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory and the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office.
On June 1, 2022, the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory developed an STR (shorttandem repeat) profile was developed from semen identified from the vaginal smear taken from Dolowy. This STR profile was submitted for further analysis through Investigative Genealogy (IG).
On September 23, 2022, it was determined the person of interest, Michael R. Popp, was a match by the Investigative Genealogy testing of the original vaginal smear that was obtained from the autopsy conducted on February 19, 1985.
In January 2023, DNA taken of Michael Raymond Popp was tested by the Wisconsin State Crime Lab and was confirmed to be a match to the smear taken during the autopsy.
Using previous records
According to the criminal complaint following the DNA match, Vernon County Detective Bjerkos began combing through historic records and reports in the case.
Bjerkos reports in the criminal complaint files this week that Michael Popp was interviewed by Undersheriff Jerry Fredrickson with the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office and Investigator Gary Westley with the La Crosse County Sheriff’s Office on March 11, 1985. A summary of the report indicated Michael and his girlfriend at the time, were acquaintances with Dolowy and her boyfriend, Russell Lee. They all went to pool tournaments together and were often partners in the tournaments. It was also disclosed Popp had been to Dolowy’s and Lee’s trailer 10 to 15 times in the past. It was also learned through the investigative report that he lived a short distance from the Bostwick Valley Trailer Court at the time of Doloway’s abduction.
Detective Bjerkos, further reported a second report was discovered in the case file. Investigator Mike Weissenberger with the La Crosse County Sheriff’s Office interviewed Popp’s girlfriend, who was residing at the Pinecrest Court in La Crosse, on October 20, 1987. She indicated she owned a 1975 Chevrolet Impala four-door, blue in color. Rhonda said during her relationship with Michael Popp, he would commonly drive her vehicle. She stated she and Michael broke up on March 31, 1986 when she filed a court injunction against him for physical abuse.
Investigator Weissenberger asked her if she knew Dolowy and Lee, and she said yes. She said she didn’t know Dolowy very well, but she played pool with her. She said she knew Lee through pool and through Michael Popp. Investigator Weissenberger asked her if she thought Michael could be involved in Dolowy’s death. She stated, “Mike is capable of doing something like this because he has a lot of different personalities,” but she didn’t think he could be involved.
Neighbor reports suspicious incident
A report was filed on February 24, 1985 by Investigator Weissenberger. It indicated contact was made by Patrol Sergeant Larry Norris with an individual who resided at lot 177 of the Bostwick Valley Trailer Court. Dolowy lived in lot 120, which was approximately three lots down from that individual. Multiple interviews were conducted with that neighbor. He indicated he saw a vehicle arrive at the Dolowy property at approximately 4:30 a.m. on February 14, 1985 and he saw Dolowy get into a vehicle.
Neighbor interviewed again in 2004
A report was compiled by Investigator Sergeant Kurt Papenfuss with the La Crosse County Sheriff’s Office and Captain Jeff Wolf with the La Crosse County Sheriff’s Office. The neighbor explained what he saw in the early morning hours of February 14, 1985. It said, “He went toward Dolowy’s trailer, saw Dolowy very well and two guys accompanying her, who then muscled her into a Chevy Caprese or Impala.” The interview was conducted on August 3, 2004.
Popp interviewed November 3, 2022
Investigators asked Popp numerous questions about what he recalled about his relationship with Dolowy or Lee from around 1985 and he answered that he did not remember much. Popp initially said he could not recall where Dolowy and Lee lived. When investigators referred to a trailer house, and he said the trailer court in Barre Mills. When asked if he could recall the last time he saw Dolowy he started chuckling and said, “I sure don’t.”
The complaint states when Popp was asked if he ever had a relationship with Dolowy outside of Lee and his girlfriend. Popp immediately said, “No.” When asked if he was ever intimate with Dolowy Popp said, “Nope, sure didn’t.” When asked, “So, you never had sex with her?” Popp stated he did not.
Popp interviewed again March 9, 2023
Investigators again asked Popp he had any kind of relationship with Dolowy outside of being around Lee and he again told them he had not. Investigators then confronted Popp about the DNA results, and he replied he “Maybe, I maybe had a little affair” with Dolowy. Investigators asked him how in depth the relationship was, and he said she would come to the farm where he lived occasionally, and ride horses. Popp told investigators that the affair or relationship went on six to eight months. When asked where this usually occurred, he said usually at a motel or a car. When asked him how many times he said not very often, because Lee was around a lot.
When asked why he had lied about his relationship with Dolowy, Popp told investigators he “didn’t wanna get in trouble, I guess”. When asked what he thought he would be in trouble he said, “Well it’s a pretty serious case there. Didn’t wanna be associated with it.” He then went on to say the relationship between him and Dolowy started six months prior to her disappearance and death. He said it started in the fall when she wanted to ride horses, and she came to the farm where Popp lived to ride horse a few times. Popp said he could not recall the last time he had a sexual encounter with Dolowy. Investigators asked him specifically if they had any encounters in February around Valentine’s Day when Dolowy disappeared and he said not that he could recall, because he thought Dolowy and Lee would have been together then. He then said, “I would not think so, I am almost positive.”
Popp also contradicted statements he made in 1985 that he had been to Dolowy and Lee’s trailer 10-15 times, now stating he didn’t even know where they lived. When asked by investigators if he would be willing to take a polygraph test, Popp said he would not.
Investigators then asked Popp to explain how his DNA could be present at the time of the autopsy and questioned him further on any sexual encounters with Dolowy around Valentines Day. Popp initially gave the same answer that he had not, but later said he may have been with Dolowy around Valentines Day but did provide any details. Popp denied he knew had anything to do with Dolowy’s disappearance or death.
At a bond hearing in Vernon County Circuit Court on Tuesday, Special Prosecutor Croninger requested a cash bond of $2 million and Judge Timothy Gaskell set bond at $1 million cash. Popp, who was not represented by an attorney at that hearing tried to engage Croninger in a back and forth about another case he is charged with in Monroe County unrelated to this case, and bout the about the homicide charge. A bit later he said he was “flabbergasted” as to why he was even in court or in custody.
In Monroe County Popp faces charges of stalking, threats to communicate derogatory information, resisting or obstructing an officer, possession of cocaine and THC. Two felonies and three misdemeanors. Croninger said that case had no connection to the Dolowy case. If convicted on the homicide charge in Vernon County, Popp faces the possibility of life in prison.
Please announce any court dates regarding the Dolowy case.