Suspect Arrested 34 Years After Cold Case Murder Of Woman From Wisconsin

Suspect Gene Clarence Meyer was recently arrested in connection with the cold case murder of a woman from Wisconsin back in 1988. Meyer was arrested on December 7 in Washington with pending extradition to Wisconsin, says True Crime Daily.

Betty Rolf, Wisconsin Woman Murdered in 1988

On November 7, 1988, Appleton Police Department responded to a missing person report near West Spencer Street. The call came from a man who reported that his wife, Betty Rolf, 60, did not show up for work. Unfortunately, on the same day, Rolf’s dead body was discovered partially clothed under the bridge of West Spencer Street. According to an autopsy report, Rolf had been sexually assaulted and her death will be ruled as a homicide. The Wisconsin Crime Lab back in 1988 did not have the ability to conduct DNA testing yet. However, upon conducting the test in 2001, human DNA was “recovered from the sperm cell fractions of the vaginal swabs and the rectal swabs”.

In February 2019, investigators conducted a familial DNA search and were able to specify two possible suspects: Gene Meyer, 66, or his brother. Meyer’s brother issued a mismatched DNA sample that eliminated him as the killer. Therefore, Gene Meyer was declared the primary suspect. According to CBS News, Meyer lived about a mile from where Rolf’s dead body was found under the bridge.

Justice Has Been Served

In November, FBI agents tracked Meyer down to Washington. They got a hold of his DNA from the handle of his truck. Meyer’s DNA sample matched the sperm found on the vaginal and rectal swabs from Rolf. On December 7, 2022, 34 years after the murder, Meyer was finally apprehended in Washington. Allegedly, Meyer fled to Washington and currently lives in Eastonville after the killing. Meyer was convicted of both first degrees of intentional homicide and sexual assault with the use of a dangerous weapon in murdering Rolf. He will remain behind bars at a jail in Tacoma, Washington until he is handed over back to Wisconsin, says CBS News.