Wendell Popejoy Jr.

Once again this is a case that I saw on the show Fear Thy Neighbor. While I mentioned in my previous post how the show can be quite bias, and that is true, I also believe that at least in this case they gave more factual information about things than a jury would later see. I say this because much of what they showed in the episode were video and audio recordings of things that occurred prior to the murder of Sheila Bonge.

On December 27, 2017 the family of fifty-nine year old Sheila Bonge contacted authorities in Nunica Michigan, some twenty-five miles west of Grand Rapids. They were unable to get a hold of Sheila and that was unusual. For the next two days a search was made for Sheila. Her body would be found on the 28^th, naked, down a hill behind the home of her neighbor, Wendell Popejoy Jr.

Police were familiar with the area, particularly Sheila and several of her neighbors. Between 2014 and 2017 they had been called to the area more than fifty times on calls about neighbor disputes. There had been five requests for restraining orders presented to the courts but they had all been denied by judges. It was also said that prosecutors “chose at least twice” not to bring charges against anyone when apparently they could have.

Sheila's boyfriend was a long haul trucker and had bought the the one story home on an acre parcel in 2005. He was gone most of the time so Sheila lived there alone for the most part. Wendell Popejoy and his girlfriend Rhonda Clark moved into the adjoining parcel in 2009. The two households shared a driveway area. It was said that Sheila, Wendell and Rhonda got along fairly well the first few years as neighbors. Everyone agrees that the relationship went sour after Mark and Beth Meurer bought surrounding property in 2012.

The Meurer's bought their property and began obviously using it. The Meurer's property was described as the standard one acre property, as others owned, as well as an easement that has been described as “surrounding” both Sheila and Wendell's homes. Until this point Sheila had used that area claiming that it was part of her property but legally and technically it was not. It appears that the Meurers at least tried in the beginning to be nice about letting Sheila know it was their property and it was established that they were correct. The problem was that Sheila did not like this decision and refused to stop using the area. This fight continued for the next five years to the point that finally Mark and Beth Meurer were forced to sue Sheila “to assert ownership” of the easement.

It appears that most, if not all of the neighbors, including Wendell and Rhonda, had agreed with the Meurers and Sheila perceived that as a slight against her, which made her more angry. She began lashing out at everyone. Some neighbors had cameras on their properties but many also began eventually recording Sheila as she had rants outside in the neighborhood. But, it appears by all accounts that while the issue with the easement was obviously a problem, that was not the only problem with Sheila that may have contributed to her behavior towards others.

Many of Sheila's family and friends had described her as a blunt person who told people how she felt and saw things without remorse. I have often stated that I often do the same and I consider it to be one of my best qualities. If I am asked something by someone they can feel rest assured that I am going to be honest with them. Not that I cannot get angry and yell when I do so I do not consider those times to be necessarily something that goes hand in hand with being blunt. I have the ability to be blunt and honest and still be respectful. Maybe Sheila had that ability too around her family and those friends that still associated with her but the audio recordings that I heard and the videos I saw revealed that Sheila did not have this ability, at least when it came to her neighbors.

In addition to this, not all of Sheila's contact with law enforcement were calls to the neighborhood. She had what was described as “a few run ins with the law for misdemeanor marijuana and alcohol offenses.” One of those was a charge of driving while intoxicated in December of 2014. Wendell Popejoy even wrote the prosecutor saying that Sheila was “mean, nasty, and socially unacceptable” and asked that she be severely punished for her crime. Sheila ended up pleading guilty to a reduced charge and it does not sound like she did any serious time. However, their contact with her dealing with the neighborhood issues were extensive. As I stated earlier between 2014 and 2017 there had been more than fifty calls to law enforcement. They had responded to calls pertaining to verbal threats, parking issues, trespassing and even things to do with “errant farm animals,” among other things. Police officers would often describe Sheila's behavior in details such as “extremely hostile,” “irrational and hard to understand,” and “seething with anger.” In one incident in 2015 an officer wrote “Not sure she remembers why she called 911” and this apparently was not the only time this had happened. The prosecutor would later say that Sheila made several 911 calls and then would refuse to cooperate. In March of 2016 she reportedly told a police officer to “fuck off and get the fuck off my property.” There were rumors or speculations that drug and/or alcohol could have been involved to which caused these behaviors from her.

Then there were the incidences where Sheila and the neighbors sought help from the courts. In May of 2014 a judge denied a restraining order to Sheila against the Meurers saying that it was a “property dispute.” The following year the same judge denied one for Beth Meurer against Sheila who claimed Sheila had threatened her. In September of 2017 a different judge once again denied a restraining order, this time from the Meurers against Sheila. Allegedly the Meurers had cited more than fifty incidents of “alleged harassment.” The judge they found “insufficient evidence of immediate irreparable harm.” There were apparently at least two other instances where restraining orders were requested (there were allegedly 5 all together) involving parties of this neighborhood but they too were denied. My research also stated that the prosecutor chose “at least twice not to bring charges” but I am unsure what this was about. It was implied that the charges would have been against Sheila, but not what the possible charges were. There were allegations that she had “repeatedly harassed multiple neighbors by name- calling, yelling, 'flipping the bird,' trespassing, snow blowing snow onto her neighbors driveways” and her driving on the grass of other properties.

Then came December of 2017. The Meurers' case against Sheila was apparently moving forward. On Christmas Eve Wendell and Rhonda learned that they were being subpoenaed to testify in the property dispute issue. On the morning of December 26^th Sheila was outside using her snowblower, something she was often accused of doing not just very early, or very late, whatever her whim was that day, but also just after a neighbor had done so and she would purposely cover their property. Wendell was looking outside the window and saw Sheila. He put down his coffee, went into his bedroom to get a gun and walked outside. He walked behind Sheila, who was covered in layers of clothing to do the snow, and who could not hear over the noise of the snowblower, and shot her in the back of the head. Wendell then took her body, removed her clothing, placed her on a sled and slid her down a hill behind their houses. He put her clothing in a burn barrel that he later lit.

Later that day one of Sheila's friends came to her house and she was not there. By the following day her friends and family were concerned they could not reach her and contacted the police. Despite there being a search done in the neighborhood it appears that none of the neighbors, including Wendell and his girlfriend Rhonda nor the Meurers helped. On the 28^th Sheila's body was found. Wendell was arrested the following day after he confessed to authorities what he had done and how. He was said to have stated that it was “stupid” but that he did not regret doing it, saying, “I took care of a problem.”

Hearing the story of what Wendell had done and how those around him had reacted made me think of the Ken Rex McElroy case. McElroy was alleged to have been a bully in the town of Skidmore Missouri. The police had been called on several occasions but either they would/could do nothing or even if there was an arrest McElroy seemed to not get much or any time. On July 10, 1981 McElroy and his wife were sitting in his truck in the middle of town when they were ambushed by apparently several members of the town. When it was all over McElroy was dead from multiple gunshot wounds. McElroy's wife would name some of the townspeople she saw but she could not say for sure who fired guns and who did not. As for the town, no one was talking. No one would admit to seeing anything. No one was ever arrested for the murder. As I recall off the top of my head McElroy's wife sued a few people in civil court and won an undisclosed out of court settlement. Hearing the story of Sheila Bonge I felt as if this could have ended up being a McElroy case all over again if everyone had banded together. They too “took care of a problem.”

Wendell Popejoy's trial took place in October of 2018. While it was said that the trial “revealed tension between Bonge and neighbors” it was also stated that the jury was prohibited from seeing or being made aware of many things. The jury had not been given the opportunity to hear or see any of the recordings made. They were also not told about the multiple restraining orders that had been asked for and denied nor were they given the details on the statement about prosecutors failing to file charges “at least twice.” Now, as far as the restraining orders and possibly the charges issue, I agree with that. First, all that I saw concerning the restraining orders were between Sheila and the Meurers. In my opinion those were completely separate issues that did not directly involve Wendell. The same goes for the “charges.” Regardless of who they involved or what they were about it did not change the fact Wendell murdered her and let's be fair, if the charges were things against Sheila it would have likely enraged her and caused more issues between her and others. But, I feel differently about the audio and video recordings.

First, I do recall that some of the recordings had included Wendell and Rhonda but regardless they would have showed the jury Sheila's behaviors. I am not saying this as a victim shaming per se comment or to indicate that she “deserved” what she got but to show how her behaviors manifested and could have caused stress to the neighbors leading up to her murder. Wendell had been charged, and was ultimately convicted of first degree, premeditated murder. While the jury was not given the option for a charge as “low” as manslaughter they were given the option for a slightly lesser charge and I feel as if they deserved to have all of the evidence to make an informed decision.

As it was it took the jury “less than” three hours to deliberate Wendell's fate. In November of 2018 he was given a mandatory sentence of life in prison. After looking at the Michigan Department of Corrections website it appears as if life without parole in Michigan does equal to “natural life” meaning he will never be eligible to leave prison alive. In May of 2020 Wendell's attorney's filed an appeal. They argued that the jury should have been allowed to consider manslaughter but the courts disagreed with that. The court noted “that Popejoy put down his coffee on 12-26-2017, retrieved a gun from his bedroom” and in their opinion equated to “premeditated.”

There were arguments later, just as is often the case when it comes to neighbor disputes, that law enforcement, including judges and prosecutors, did not do enough to diffuse the situation between the neighbors. At one level I disagree. It really did begin as a property dispute between Sheila and Mark and Beth Meurer; law enforcement should not have to deal with those, at least initially. However, when it came to the evidence the Meurers and others had showing Sheila's behavior towards them, even taking officer notes in consideration, I think more could have been done. That being said though, as I stated earlier I wonder if that would have enraged Sheila even more and caused more issues. All in all though Wendell was the last person in the neighborhood who would have been expected to have done this. There was an allegation by Sheila that at some point Wendell's girlfriend Rhonda had fired a gun in her direction although I found little information on that. Wendell seemed to be the quiet one who tried to make peace with everyone for the most part. They always say to look out for the quiet ones.