Murder of Betty Rolf: Gene C Meyer charged with 1988 slaying of mom who was found dead on way to work

READ MORE

Joseph Augustus Zarelli: Philadelphia's 'Boy in the Box' murdered 65 years ago is identified

JonBenet Ramsey murder: Dad of slain girl, 6, slams Boulder police for not testing DNA in 26-yr-old case

According to the criminal complaint, investigators used a DNA profile from a sample taken during an autopsy of Rolf's body to search a database for close biological relatives of the suspect. Police concluded after that search that Meyer or his brother were the only suspects, WBAY reports. Meyer was arrested Wednesday with the help of the FBI, the sheriff's department in Outagamie County, Wisconsin, announced. He was taken into custody in Washington and is awaiting extradition to Wisconsin.

There is a sense of closure in Rolf's family, who have waited three decades for to know the man behind her killing, “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,” she was quoted in the report. “She was a beautiful lady. Good cook, great artist -- she was a mom,” Rolf’s daughter, Sheila Wurm said.

Sheila recalled the morning her mother was last seen alive, “She was walking to work. 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.” After learning of Meyer’s arrest, the family went to the scene of the crime and placed a cross on the bridge above where her body was found. “She was a beautiful soul,” her daughter said as per the report.

A forensic pathologist discovered signs of ligature strangling, several skin abrasions, and blunt head trauma during the autopsy. Homicide was declared the cause of death. The victim's swabs were taken by the pathologist, but in 1988 the Wisconsin Crime Lab was unable to do DNA analysis.