Police Make Arrest In Three-Decade Cold Case In Which Woman Was Raped, Murdered

Police believe they have solved a cold case in which a Wisconsin woman was killed 34 years after the crime took place, Radar has learned.

Gene C. Meyer, 66, of Washington state, was charged in connection to the killing of Betty Rolf in 1988. According to court records, DNA led police to Meyer being the killer despite being nearly 2,000 miles away.

However, Meyer did previously live in Valders, Wisconsin. He is charged with first-degree murder, first-degree sexual assault and use of a dangerous weapon. “Shock. Definitely some shock,” Rolf’s granddaughter, Sue Srnka, said. “We didn’t know if this person was deceased or this person had other crimes. We just didn’t know.”

According to reports, Rolf's body was found near a railroad crossing and bridge on West Spence Street in Grand Chute, Wisconsin on Nov. 7, 1988. Police determined that she had been sexually assaulted and strangled.

Sheila Wurm, Rolf's daughter, said that her mother was walking to work the day of the murder. She worked at the Country Aire [banquet hall]. She never made it there. See, it had snowed out that morning. My mother had a fear of snow. She did not drive. My mother was a driver, but she walked everywhere she went. But she wasn’t going to work that way, and my brother usually gave her a ride but wasn’t going in that day that early. So she decided to walk, and she never made it there.”

DNA technology ultimately became a key in what police believe has solved the case. At the time, DNA testing wasn't available, so police were at a standstill in the case for several decades.

However, in 2001, officials were able to recover DNA from a sperm cell fraction to put together a DNA profile of the male involved in the murder. In 2019, officials were able to narrow the DNA sample down to Meyer and his brother, who provided a sample and came out clean. That left Meyer as the lone suspect.