Cold case trial begins for man accused in sexual assault, murder of Appleton's Betty Rolf in 1988

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APPLETON – The 1988 homicide of Betty Rolf has remained an unsolved mystery in the Fox Valley for over 35 years.

As the trial for a man accused of sexually assaulting and killing Rolf commenced Tuesday, prosecutors say that mystery will finally be solved.

Defense attorneys say they disagree.

Gene Meyer, 68, faces one charge of first-degree murder and one charge of first-degree sexual assault with use of a dangerous weapon.

The trial is scheduled to last two weeks. Jury selection took place all day Monday, and opening statements and the prosecution's first five witnesses testified Tuesday.

Outagamie County DA opening statement

During the prosecution's opening statement, Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis said Rolf's family has waited for 12,972 days — or 35 years, six months and seven days — to get to this moment.

Rolf was a beloved mother and grandmother who lived a quiet life in Appleton when she was brutally sexually assaulted and murdered the morning of Nov. 6, 1988, during her walk to work, Tempelis said.

Rolf worked multiple jobs, including doing laundry at Country Aire Banquet Room, 2311 W. Spencer St., in the town of Grand Chute. She enjoyed walking, and often chose to walk to work than drive — particularly in the winter, because she feared the dangers of black ice. Her home in the 1300 block of West Spencer Street was less than a mile away.

It was as she crossed the bridge on Spencer Street over the railroad tracks that snowy morning, Tempelis said, that Meyer "ripped" her from the street and dragged her beneath the bridge near the railroad tracks, out of view from anyone who might have passed by.

While specifics on how the assault unfolded are unknown, Tempelis said the evidence at trial will show Meyer sexually assaulted Rolf, physically assaulted her and strangled her, either leaving after she died or leaving her to die.

Rolf's body was found the following morning after her family called police. She was found partially clothed, lying behind a concrete abutment by the railroad tracks. She had been strangled by her purse straps. Some contents of Rolf's opened purse were strewn around, including $30 and a document she planned to send to The Post-Crescent about her and her husband's upcoming anniversary, Tempelis said.

Tempelis said Meyer then fled Wisconsin, and lived in Washington for most of the following 3½ decades, until a familial DNA search in 2022 narrowed him down as the primary suspect.

Opening statement by Gene Meyer's attorney

Defense attorney Ian Mevis argued in his opening statements that Rolf was actually killed by her husband.

"The state wants you to believe that they have solved the mystery. ... They want you to think that they have an answer to the question 'who killed Betty Rolf?'" Mevis said. "You'll be left with very few answers. In fact, you'll be left with more questions."

The DNA evidence, Mevis said, only shows that Meyer and Rolf had sexual contact at some point in the days or weeks before her murder. There's no way to prove through DNA evidence that sexual contact was non-consensual.

Rolf's husband had been abusive to his wife throughout their marriage, particularly when he drank. He was also unfaithful — something that was widely known, both by his own family and the community, Mevis said.

Mevis reminded the jury what he explained in detail during the jury selection process Monday — that the defense has no burden to prove Meyer's innocence. The burden lies solely on the prosecution to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Meyer was Rolf's killer.

Prosecution begins case

Among the prosecution's witnesses to testify Tuesday were two of Rolf's children, who were 28 and 32 at the time of their mother's death.

Both of them testified that their father became "mean" when he drank, and was verbally abusive to their mother. They both said they had never seen their father hit their mother, but remembered their mother having injuries on her face at times when they were young.

Rolf's son testified that he asked their father before his death in 1999 if he was responsible for Rolf's murder.

However, Rolf's son and daughter who testified Tuesday both said they do not believe their father was responsible for killing their mother.

Other testimony discussed Rolf's autopsy.

The forensic pathologist who conducted Rolf's autopsy has since died, but a forensic pathologist who studied under him, Dr. Robert Corliss, took to the witness stand to answer questions about Rolf's injuries in detail.

The autopsy found Rolf died of blunt force trauma to her head and strangulation. Rolf also had abrasions on other parts around her body, Corliss testified, some consistent with lying on a bed of rocks and brush.

The jury was shown relevant photographs of Rolf's injuries taken during the autopsy.

Corliss said the autopsy did not find evidence of injuries associated with sexual assault, but the lack of injuries does not mean a sexual assault did not occur.

If the jury finds Meyer guilty of killing Rolf, he faces life in prison. On the sexual assault charge alone, Rolf faces a maximum of 60 years in prison.

DNA sample led to arrest

Over the last 35 years, investigators revisited Rolf's homicide case on multiple occasions, as advances in technology allowed for more tests to be conducted.

Still, there were few leads for finding Rolf's killer until the Outagamie County Sheriff's Office began to revisit the cold case in 2019.

In 2022, a familial DNA test narrowed the suspects down to two people: Meyer and his brother. Police interviewed Meyer's brother, who said he believed Meyer was dead. The brother provided a DNA sample, which ruled him out as a suspect.

Investigators determined that in the '80s, Meyer had lived at an address about a mile from where Rolf's body was found and had also worked for a time at a nearby canning factory.

They tracked Meyer to Washington, where he was living on land belonging to someone else, in a trailer with no electricity or running water, Tempelis said during opening statements.

FBI agents obtained a DNA sample from the handle of Meyer's truck. An analysis determined there was a one-in-a- quadrillion chance that Meyer was not the contributor of the male DNA found on Rolf, Tempelis said.

In December 2022, Meyer was arrested in Washington. He was then extradited to Wisconsin and charged in Outagamie County Circuit Court in February 2023.

A trial was previously scheduled to begin in April, but was pushed back due to Meyer receiving treatment for health issues.

RELATED: Trial begins Monday for man accused in cold case sexual assault and murder of Betty Rolf

Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @ArseneauKelli.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Cold case trial begins for man accused of 1988 murder of Betty Rolf