Jury selection starts today for a man accused of killing a Native American woman in Sioux City more than 40 years ago.
Police arrested 63-year-old Thomas Popp in Washington state in January of 2025 and charged him with first-degree murder in the 1983 death of 18-year-old Terri McCauley. McCauley’s nephew Josh Taylor says he wants people to remember his aunt as more than a crime victim.
“The more important aspect of this case is remembering Terry as a daughter, a sister, and a loved one. Kind of forget about those aspects. We’re quick to jump to she’s another statistic of missing murdered indigenous relatives,” Taylor says. Eighteen-year-old Terri McCauley disappeared in 1983 after a night out with friends and her body was found in a wooded area ten days later.
Taylor says the family has waited a long time for this day. “My family for years prayed and then essentially lost hope because nothing happened, kind of getting to a point where, you know, I’m excited for them, but also heartbroken because I know what lies ahead is gonna be tough, very disheartening to experience,” he says.
A social media campaign helped give attention to McCauley’s case. Her family also started Red Sky Nation to highlight the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives (MMIR) crisis. “When we started kind of an awareness campaign for Terry, we kind of asked ourselves, how can we help other than just Terry?,” he says. “The awareness aspect, the social media aspect, creating those relationships with the county attorney’s office, the Sioux City Police Department, Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office, creating those relationships and essentially building that bond and getting a seat at the table.”
The organization has helped others locally and in other states across the region. The trial is expected to take around two week.
(By Sheila Brummer, Iowa Public Radio)