Betty Rolf's family wants justice after a suspect's arrest in her 34-year-old murder
APPLETON - While Betty Rolf's family knew investigators were taking a fresh look into Rolf's 1988 murder, her daughter, Sheila Wurm, wasn't expecting anything to come from it.
So when she and her relatives learned that the investigation finally led to the arrest of a suspect 34 years later, Wurm said they were "surprised and shocked."
"Thank God for DNA (testing)," Wurm said. "Otherwise, we would have never got him, and he would have gotten away with it."
"Everyone's just happy he's been caught," said Rolf's granddaughter, Sue Srnka.
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Betty Rolf was killed in 1988, but it took 34 years and DNA testing to find a suspect
Rolf was last seen alive on Nov. 6, 1988, walking from her home to her workplace in a snowstorm. Her body was found the next morning near a railroad underpass in Grand Chute. An autopsy revealed that she had been strangled and received blunt-force trauma to the head.
While investigators eventually created a DNA profile of the murder suspect based on a swab taken at the crime scene, it was years before they could give that profile a name.
In early 2019, investigators began conducting a search based on familial DNA, hoping to find people whose DNA was closely related to the sample, according to the criminal complaint. Their search led to Gene C. Meyer, who investigators say used to live in Appleton and now lives an hour south of Tacoma, Wash.
Meyer's DNA was found to be a match for the swab taken 34 years ago. That, combined with testimony from unidentified relatives of his, led to Meyer's arrest on Dec. 6.
Years of uncertainty took emotional toll on Rolf's family, daughter says
According to previous reporting by The Post-Crescent, authorities said DNA testing had ruled out everyone connected to Rolf. But a constant feeling of danger hung over Rolf's family for decades.
Wurm described fearing for her children and grandchildren, wondering whether her mother's murderer still lived nearby.
"We've had to sit and wonder about this every day of our life" for 34 years, she said. "We thought (the killer) was going to be somebody we knew."
After she learned about the arrest, she said she no longer feels she has to "look over my shoulders anymore."
Now she wants accountability.
"He took everything from us," she said. "My mom did not deserve this and this never should have happened ... especially not in such a cruel way like that. She was an innocent person.
"I want to be at court every time (Meyer) is there. ... Now they can put him where he belongs."
Said Srnka: "We're grateful ... that there's going to be justice. Nothing will ever bring (Rolf) back, but knowing that (her killer's) going to be held accountable is very important to us."
Meyer is being held at the Pierce County Jail in Tacoma, Wash., and awaits extradition to Wisconsin. He faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree sexual assault with a weapon. If convicted, he faces a possible sentence of life plus 20 years in prison.
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Rebecca Loroff is a breaking and trending news reporter for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Contact her at 920-907-7801 or rloroff@gannett.com.
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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Betty Rolf's family wants justice after arrest in her murder
