Emotionally charged courtroom as Gene Meyer murder trial gets underway
APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV) – In what was once a decades-long cold case, it did not take long for tears to flow in the murder trial of Gene Meyer, charged with first-degree murder and first-degree sexual assault of 60-year-old Betty Rolf from 35 years ago.
“[That’s] my mom and dad,” Rolf’s daughter Sheila Rolf Wurm said through tears. “On their wedding day.”
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It was the first of what likely be dozens of exhibits used in the case that has been open since 1988. According to investigators, Rolf was killed on her walk to work and died of injuries caused by blunt force trauma to her head and strangulation.
Her body was found along Spencer St. partially unclothed and with her broken purse strap around her neck. Meyer, now 68 years old, was 32 at the time of the crime.
With opening statements over, we have a better glimpse of what the prosecution and defense will be arguing.
“12,972 days. 35 years, six months, and seven days since Betty’s children and grandchildren have wondered who sexually assaulted and killed their mother or grandmother?” Outagamie County district attorney Melinda Tempelis said. “We do know two things: she was brutally raped and she was brutally assaulted.”
According to the criminal complaint, Meyer was linked to Wolf through DNA testing after the case was reopened in 2019 with advancements in testing. Tempelis says there is a one-in-quadrillion chance that the male DNA in Wolf’s body matches Meyer’s DNA profile.
“The [state] wants you to think that they have an answer to the question, ‘Who killed Betty Rolf?’” Meyer’s defense attorney, Ian Mevis, told the jury. “You’ll be left with very few answers. In fact, you’ll be left with more questions.”
Meyer was found living in a trailer on someone else’s property in Olympia, Washington, where Tempelis claims the Valders native fled after murdering Rolf.
“Gene Meyer left Wisconsin and went out west,” she said. “Gene Meyer is the contributor of that DNA.”
But the defense argued that just because DNA is found and resulted from sexual contact, it does not make that sexual contact a crime, much less prove that a homicide was committed.
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“It shows that they had sexual contact at some point in time,” Mevis said. “Maybe within a week or so of Betty’s death.”
The trial is expected to go through the end of next week at the latest. The murder charge carries a life sentence if Meyer is convicted, and he could face up to 60 years in prison if convicted of the sexual assault charge.
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