Movement in the case of Terry Dolowy has been made after 40 years of the murder being unsolved. Dolowy and her poodle, Suzie, went missing from her trailer home in Barre Mills on Feb. 14, 1985, after her shift at Piggy’s, a restaurant in downtown La Crosse, WI.
Her body was found five days later in Vernon county. She was decapitated and found burning in a culvert on Mohawk Valley Rd. Both her head and her dog were never recovered.
Dolowy was a 24-year-old student studying at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse at the time of her murder. She was living with her fiancé, Russel Lee.
After being considered a cold case for 40 years, the Vernon County Police Department arrested Micheal Reymond Popp on Sept. 24 and charged him with first-degree homicide.
He is being held in Vernon County Jail and his cash bail is at $1 million. If convicted, Popp will spend the remainder of his life behind bars.
Popp is 60 years old, meaning he was 21 at the time of Dolowy’s murder.
Until his arrest, he has been living in Tomah as a truck driver.
According to the criminal complaint, a search warrant issued to Popp in January 2023 matched DNA evidence from him to the crime, which gave authorities a reason to arrest.
Students at UWL made The Dolowy Files, a documentary about the case just months ago in May 2024 in a class hosted by the communication department.
The semester-long project involved students gathering known facts about the investigation and putting together any key information about what happened to Dolowy.
The documentary includes interviews with John Benden, Dolowy’s manager at Piggy’s, and narration by Ken Kosirowski, a WKBT news anchor, who recently did a story about the murder on Valentine’s Day this year.
“We wanted to create a place for people to get information about this case,” said Anna Lancaster, a student who worked on the documentary.
When the students looked for interviewers for this project, they were disappointed the police did not want to participate.
“Police were hard for us to reach during this, but it is obvious now why, considering how close to the vest they wanted this information kept in order to make an arrest,” Lancaster said.
Until Popp was arrested, the main suspect in the public’s eye was Dolowy’s fiancé. The student film discussed the possibility of Lee’s involvement, stating the facts of the situation.
“We knew Lee was in gambling debt because of pool, so it was always suspected that it had something to do with that, but we didn’t want to assume,” said Olivia Oberheide, the project editor.
The complaint revealed Popp and his girlfriend at the time played pool with Dolowy and Lee, and also revealed Dolowy and Popp had an affair.
“We didn’t want to point fingers at Russel, because we felt that if he did it, he would have been arrested when it happened,” a student who worked on this project said.
For the UWL students involved with the documentary, they are relieved movement on this forty-year-old case has been made.
“We really encourage people to watch this documentary because although there is new evidence about the case, it’s still a story that spreads awareness of what Dolowy and the La Crosse area went through during this time,” Oberheide said.
The arrest can help bring relief to the La Crosse community, offering hope for justice in the long-standing case.
The complaint states Popp has denied killing Dolowy and says he is not a violent person.
Although an arrest has been made, Popp is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Daniel T. Silbaugh • Oct 30, 2024 at 12:14 am
Being close friends with Terry and Russel. In fact Terry introduced me to her mother whom I spent much time with.
1. Russel had nothing to do with or involved anyway in death.
2. I checked for an update periodically over the years.
3. I used Terry Dolowy, physically fit, highly intelligent female as warning to my daughter and other young ladies over the years who put themselves in risky situations.
4. I commend all involved with the case. Hopefully after forty years we have closure.
T Dolowy • Oct 7, 2024 at 11:23 pm
The only person saying there was an “affair” is Popp.
Michael J Wood • Oct 2, 2024 at 6:15 pm
I sat next to Terry in an Investment class and a Management class during the fall semester 1984. I remember being shocked to see her missing photo all over North Hall. So glad it’s (hopefully) been solved!