Charred, Decapitated Remains of Wis. College Student Were Found in 1985. Now Police Think The Killer Lived Nearby

Michael Raymond Popp faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with the 1985 killing of 24-year-old Terry Dolowy

Nearly 40 years after authorities discovered the charred and decapitated body of a missing college student in Wisconsin, an arrest has been made in connection with the woman’s killing.

Michael Raymond Popp, now 60, of Tomah, Wis., was arrested Monday, Sept. 23 and charged with one count of first-degree murder in connection with the killing of 24-year-old Terry Dolowy, Monroe County District Attorney Kevin Croninger and Vernon County Sheriff Roy Torgerson announced at a press conference on Tuesday, Sept. 24.

Authorities said Popp is being held in the Vernon County Jail and faces life in prison if convicted of the murder charge. It’s unclear if he has entered a plea or retained an attorney to speak on his behalf.

Dolowy was a senior at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, studying finance, when she vanished in the early morning hours of Feb. 14, 1985, authorities previously said in a statement. She was reported missing by her fiancé, Russell Lee, whom she lived with at the Bostwick Valley Trailer Court in Barre Mills, Wis., where she had left her purse and car. Her dog was also missing and authorities subsequently opened a missing persons investigation.

At the time of her disappearance, Dolowy worked full time as a bar manager at an upscale restaurant in La Crosse, Wis., known as Piggy’s, per the statement.

Four days later, on Feb. 18, 1985, the Vernon County Sheriff’s Department responded to a location about six miles south of La Crosse after receiving a report of something burning in a culvert. It turned out to be the body of Dolowy, who was found “decapitated and burned with the use of an accelerant,” authorities said. Her head has never been located and decades passed without any arrests.

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According to a criminal complaint filed in Vernon County Circuit Court and reviewed by PEOPLE, authorities said Popp, who would’ve been 21 at the time of the killing, knew Dolowy and lived near the couple. The complaint states that Popp, his girlfriend, Dolowy and Lee all went to pool tournaments together and that he had visited Dolowy and Lee’s trailer on multiple occasions.

It wasn’t until January 2023 that through a search warrant, Popp’s DNA taken from a buccal swab was tested and allegedly matched the seminal fluid collected from Dolowy’s body during an autopsy back in 1985, per the complaint. He was identified as a person of interest in September 2022 after authorities claimed genealogy testing of the evidence taken from Dolowy’s body was a match for Popp.

While speaking with investigators, Popp initially claimed he only saw Dolowy “a few times” and that he “didn’t really know her that well,” the complaint states. But when investigators asked him why his buccal swab DNA was allegedly a match for the seminal fluid found inside Dolowy's body, he responded, “Maybe, I maybe had a little affair,” for six to eight months, according to the complaint.

Asked why he declined to previously share that information, Popp said, “Well it’s a pretty serious case there. Didn’t wanna be associated with it,” per the complaint.

Popp denied killing Dolowy, saying, “No I am not a violent person."

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