Michigan Man Admits He Killed Neighbor Over Snowblowing

GRAND HAVEN, MI — A long-running property dispute between two western Michigan next-door neighbors ended in murder the day after Christmas when one of them saw the other using a snowblower to clear a driveway they shared, authorities said this week. Wendell Earl Popejoy, 63, of Crocker Township, admitted he “made the decision” to kill his neighbor, Sheila Bonge, 59, when he saw her clearing the driveway, investigators said.

“Wendell stated that he had made the decision when he saw Sheila to kill her,” Sheriff’s Office Detective Ann Koster said, according to the court transcript of a Dec. 31 hearing after Popejoy’s arrest. “He then grabbed a gun from his home. He went out to the easement where Sheila was blowing the snow. Wendell stated that he went up behind Sheila and shot her in the back of the head and disposed of her body behind his residence.”

Popejoy was arraigned Tuesday in Ottawa County District Court, where he was formally charged with open murder and felony firearm charges in connection with Bonge’s death. Popejoy was ordered held in the county jail without bond. His next court date is Jan. 10.

Bonge’s family last talked to her on Christmas Day, and reported her missing on Dec. 27. Her body was found the next day in the woods behind Popejoy’s house, investigators said. The two lived next door to one another on a gravel road bordered by a cattle farm.

Police had been dispatched at least five times in the past to settle disputes between the feuding neighbors, the Grand Haven Tribune reported. Popejoy had requested a personal protection order against Bonge and her fiance, but it wasn’t granted, the newspaper said. Bonge’s use of the driveway easement also had been contested in a lawsuit.

“It is a unique situation. I can tell you that,” Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office Capt. John Wolffis told WOOD-TV.

“Our department has responded to this location in the past on disputes, I can tell you that. There’s been some disputes reported among neighbors out here,” Wolffis said.

Some neighbors sided with Popejoy, sharing videos with WOOD-TV that reportedly showed Bonge yelling obscenities at her neighbors, making crude gestures and threatening them.

“She wants to start problems with everyone around here,” Bryan Gould, who lives down the street from Bonge and Popejoy, told the television station. He said he tried to “avoid her at all costs” and said she had recently engaged in an angry confrontation with his 81-year-old mother.

In a statement to WOOD-TV, Bonge’s family said:

“At this time we are in shock due to the heinous nature of the crime. We are deeply saddened by the fact that there is nothing we or anyone can do to bring our mother back. She was loved dearly by so many for her sweet and caring nature. She was selfishly and brutally taken from us far too soon. We have no other choice but to put our faith in the justice system. They have been working tirelessly around the clock to bring the person or people responsible to justice. We are praying that she gets the justice she so desperately deserves.”

Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office booking photo