A 60-year-old man was just taken into custody by the authorities on suspicion of killing a 24-year-old college student over 39 years ago.
Russell Lee reported his fiancée, Terry Dolowy, missing from LaCrosse County on February 14, 1985, according to a joint news release from the sheriff’s departments of Vernon County and LaCrosse County.
She apparently didn’t have a car, left her purse at home, and her dog vanished.
When Vernon County sheriff’s deputies arrived to a culvert on Mohawk Valley Road a few days later, on February 18, 1985, they discovered Dolowy’s body on fire. Authorities found that she had been burned alive after being severed head-first.
The victim’s dog or head were not found by the investigators.
An autopsy was conducted the next day, according to Monroe County District Attorney Kevin Croninger, who made this announcement at a press conference published by the Vernon County Sheriff’s Department on September 24. Semen was allegedly discovered on Dolowy’s body, but no match was discovered.
Authorities from Vernon and LaCrosse counties say that detectives gathered a paint chip they think came from a repainted car and discovered it in a sheet that had been applied to Dolowy.
Read Also: Heartbreaking Incident: 12-Year-Old Dies After Tree Falls at Local Nature Reserve
The car was never found, though. According to authorities, “It is thought that the paint was possibly from the trunk of a vehicle that the body was transported in.”
Michael Popp has emerged as the main suspect, according to Croninger, thanks to developments in forensic science and DNA testing.
According to reports, he was 21 years old when the incident happened. Truck driver Popp was arrested and lodged in the Vernon County Jail. He is accused with first-degree murder.
At the time of her death, Dolowy was a finance major at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse and a bar manager.
Leave a Reply