Trial begins Monday for man accused in cold case sexual assault and murder of Betty Rolf
APPLETON – More than 35 years since Betty Rolf was killed, a man is going to trial for her death.
Gene Meyer, 68, is charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of first-degree sexual assault with use of a dangerous weapon.
Rolf was 60 years old when she died in 1988. In previous interviews with The Post-Crescent, her family has remembered Rolf as a kind-hearted mother and grandmother who was close with her family.
Meyer's trial begins Monday and is scheduled to last two weeks in Outagamie County Circuit Court. It had previously been scheduled for April but was pushed back due to Meyer's health issues.
If Meyer is convicted of homicide, he faces life in prison. If convicted only of the sexual assault, he faces up to 60 years in prison.
What happened?
On Nov. 7, 1988, shortly before 11 a.m., Rolf's husband contacted police after she had not returned home from work the previous evening.
Rolf worked at Country Aire Banquet Room, 2311 W. Spencer St., in the Town of Grand Chute. She lived not far away, in the 1300 block of West Spencer Street, and often walked to work, according to a criminal complaint.
Investigators determined Rolf left for work before 6 a.m. Nov. 6, on a snowy day. But she never arrived for work.
About 20 minutes after Appleton police officers arrived at Rolf's home and spoke to her husband the morning of Nov. 7, an officer found Rolf's body.
She was beneath the bridge of West Spencer Street, partially clothed, with a purse strap wrapped around her neck. Rolf's body was near the railroad tracks, but behind a concrete wall, hiding her from view of anyone on a train passing by, the complaint says.
An autopsy determined Rolf had suffered blunt trauma to her head and strangulation, and the manner of death was homicide.
How did investigators identify Meyer as a suspect?
In 2001, the Wisconsin Crime Lab conducted DNA testing on swabs taken from Rolf's body in 1988. A male DNA profile was identified, according to the complaint.
Then, in 2019, the Outagamie County Sheriff's Office began taking a fresh look at the cold case.
Investigators conducted a familial DNA search, which uses "specialized software" to search the DNA database and "detect and statistically rank a list of potential candidates ... who may be close biological relatives (parent, child, sibling) to the unknown individual contributing the evidence DNA profile," the complaint says. It also uses "lineage testing to help confirm or refute" if and how the individuals are related.
Through the test, an investigator determined the DNA profile could only belong to two people: Meyer, or 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 Meyer had, in 1986 and 1987, lived at an address about a mile from where Rolf's body was found. They also found Meyer now lived in Washington.
An Outagamie County Sheriff's investigator contacted the FBI office in Olympia, Washington. In 2022, FBI agents notified the investigator that they had taken DNA swabs from the handle of Meyer's truck.
The DNA profile on the truck was a match for the DNA profile from the swabs. Meyer was arrested in December 2022, accused of sexually assaulting and murdering Rolf.
RELATED: Betty Rolf's family wants justice after a suspect's arrest in her 34-year-old murder
Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Trial set for man accused in 1988 sexual assault, murder of Betty Rolf
