1 00:00:05,755 --> 00:00:09,759 - [Narrator] Friday the 25th of June, 1982, 2 00:00:10,677 --> 00:00:12,721 a young woman fails to show up for work 3 00:00:13,722 --> 00:00:16,558 and her lifeless body is discovered in her hotel room. 4 00:00:18,852 --> 00:00:22,564 - She's about to start a new job as food services director 5 00:00:22,564 --> 00:00:25,025 at a hospital in Council Bluffs. 6 00:00:25,942 --> 00:00:28,611 - Lee died from a single knife wound to the heart, 7 00:00:28,611 --> 00:00:31,239 inflicted from the front, and may have been dead up 8 00:00:31,239 --> 00:00:34,159 to 12 hours before her body was discovered. 9 00:00:35,201 --> 00:00:36,536 - [Narrator] The motels proximity 10 00:00:36,536 --> 00:00:39,748 to two busy interstate highways presented a problem 11 00:00:39,748 --> 00:00:41,165 for investigators. 12 00:00:42,333 --> 00:00:44,627 - By the time the officer showed up on the scene, 13 00:00:44,627 --> 00:00:47,589 the suspect could have been theoretically anywhere 14 00:00:47,589 --> 00:00:49,424 on the country by that point. 15 00:00:50,508 --> 00:00:52,510 - More than two weeks after the murder, 16 00:00:52,510 --> 00:00:57,057 police still have no motive, no witnesses and no suspects. 17 00:00:58,141 --> 00:01:01,269 - [Narrator] The Rotatori murder case was growing colder 18 00:01:01,269 --> 00:01:02,312 by the day. 19 00:01:03,813 --> 00:01:06,691 - Our goal is to try to bring justice 20 00:01:06,691 --> 00:01:08,485 to the loved ones of this victim. 21 00:01:09,402 --> 00:01:11,488 - [Narrator] It would be another unsolved murder, 22 00:01:11,488 --> 00:01:14,616 1550 miles away that would hold 23 00:01:14,616 --> 00:01:18,369 the key almost 40 years later to discovering 24 00:01:18,369 --> 00:01:21,081 who killed Lee Rotatori. 25 00:01:24,793 --> 00:01:28,462 - The unsolved ones, we have to stand up. 26 00:01:28,462 --> 00:01:32,425 - And approach these cases in a way outside the box. 27 00:01:32,425 --> 00:01:34,719 - Let the world know is those out there 28 00:01:35,637 --> 00:01:37,222 that did commit a murder, there are people 29 00:01:37,222 --> 00:01:38,348 that are coming after you. 30 00:01:38,348 --> 00:01:40,683 - There's just a lot of good people trying to do 31 00:01:40,683 --> 00:01:41,392 the right thing. 32 00:01:41,392 --> 00:01:42,644 - Because it's something 33 00:01:42,644 --> 00:01:43,937 that you have to be passionate about. 34 00:01:43,937 --> 00:01:46,563 - Solve this and bring some peace to the family, 35 00:01:46,563 --> 00:01:48,691 at least just doing my job. 36 00:01:56,116 --> 00:01:57,909 - [Narrator] When Lee Rotatori fails to show up 37 00:01:57,909 --> 00:02:03,164 for work on Friday, June 25th, 1982, her employer calls 38 00:02:04,207 --> 00:02:07,669 the front desk of the motel that she's staying at. 39 00:02:07,669 --> 00:02:08,962 - She's about to start a new job 40 00:02:08,962 --> 00:02:13,299 as food services director at a hospital in Council Bluffs, 41 00:02:13,299 --> 00:02:15,885 a city on the banks of the Missouri River. 42 00:02:18,012 --> 00:02:21,224 - Lee just arrived from Michigan and checks into the motel. 43 00:02:22,267 --> 00:02:24,435 This is prior to beginning a week of orientation 44 00:02:24,435 --> 00:02:25,687 at the hospital. 45 00:02:26,813 --> 00:02:29,607 - [Narrator] But sometime in the early hours of Friday, 46 00:02:29,607 --> 00:02:35,071 June 25th, (camera shuttering) 32 year old, Lee Rotatori 47 00:02:35,780 --> 00:02:38,449 is stabbed to death in her motel room. 48 00:02:39,325 --> 00:02:41,911 Police are alerted after her body is discovered 49 00:02:41,911 --> 00:02:45,206 by motel staff at 12:27 p.m. 50 00:02:54,924 --> 00:02:58,261 The police have no murder weapon and no suspects. 51 00:03:00,889 --> 00:03:03,016 By the time Lee's body was found, 52 00:03:03,016 --> 00:03:05,810 the killer could have been a thousand miles away. 53 00:03:06,978 --> 00:03:09,564 - The interstate system literally runs right past 54 00:03:09,564 --> 00:03:11,941 the hotel where this took place. 55 00:03:11,941 --> 00:03:14,903 So by the time the officer showed up on the scene, 56 00:03:14,903 --> 00:03:17,906 the suspect could have been theoretically anywhere 57 00:03:17,906 --> 00:03:21,492 in the country by that point, so your suspect pool 58 00:03:21,492 --> 00:03:23,536 is pretty broad at the time. 59 00:03:25,872 --> 00:03:28,541 - [Narrator] Three weeks earlier, Lee visits Council Bluffs 60 00:03:28,541 --> 00:03:30,168 for a look around. 61 00:03:30,168 --> 00:03:33,338 She likes what she sees and decides to accept the post 62 00:03:33,338 --> 00:03:37,175 of food service director at Jennie Edmundson Hospital. 63 00:03:40,094 --> 00:03:42,597 - She had come here approximately a week before to start 64 00:03:42,597 --> 00:03:43,806 the new job. 65 00:03:43,806 --> 00:03:45,642 Her husband stayed behind in Michigan 66 00:03:45,642 --> 00:03:48,394 to tidy up some loose ends. 67 00:03:48,394 --> 00:03:52,232 They were working on transporting their mobile home 68 00:03:52,232 --> 00:03:54,776 from Michigan to Council Bluffs. 69 00:03:58,279 --> 00:04:00,198 - [Narrator] Lee begins her orientation training 70 00:04:00,198 --> 00:04:04,494 at Jenny Edmundson Hospital on Monday, June 21st. 71 00:04:06,037 --> 00:04:07,830 On Thursday the 24th, 72 00:04:07,830 --> 00:04:09,958 she's invited by some of her new colleagues 73 00:04:09,958 --> 00:04:13,044 to spend a few hours boating on Lake Manawa 74 00:04:13,044 --> 00:04:15,129 in the southern part of the city. 75 00:04:17,339 --> 00:04:19,509 The group disperses a dusk. 76 00:04:20,260 --> 00:04:23,178 It's close to the longest day of the year, 77 00:04:23,178 --> 00:04:26,266 so sunset is relatively late in the evening. 78 00:04:27,100 --> 00:04:28,935 - On the way back to the motel, 79 00:04:28,935 --> 00:04:31,938 Lee stops at Manawa McDonald's and picks up food 80 00:04:31,938 --> 00:04:33,773 to take back to her room. 81 00:04:33,773 --> 00:04:37,026 As it turns out, the employees at the restaurant 82 00:04:37,026 --> 00:04:40,279 are probably the last ones to see her alive. 83 00:04:45,034 --> 00:04:47,996 - [Narrator] Council Bluffs police captain, Eldon Jones, 84 00:04:47,996 --> 00:04:50,832 head of the Criminal Investigation Unit states 85 00:04:50,832 --> 00:04:53,126 that Lee's body was found on the bed, 86 00:04:53,126 --> 00:04:55,962 face up and dressed in sleepwear. 87 00:04:57,213 --> 00:04:59,924 She was registered alone at the motel, 88 00:05:00,883 --> 00:05:03,428 her car was in the motels parking lot. 89 00:05:06,222 --> 00:05:08,683 - Lee died from a single knife wound to the heart, 90 00:05:08,683 --> 00:05:11,060 inflicted from the front, and may have been dead up 91 00:05:11,060 --> 00:05:14,105 to 12 hours before her body was discovered. 92 00:05:15,606 --> 00:05:17,317 - The county medical examiner says, 93 00:05:17,317 --> 00:05:20,069 the murder could have been sexually motivated, 94 00:05:20,945 --> 00:05:22,779 but Captain Jones says there's no evidence 95 00:05:22,779 --> 00:05:26,409 to point to that and a further autopsy will be needed. 96 00:05:28,827 --> 00:05:31,414 - [Narrator] In fact, the police were sitting on substantial 97 00:05:31,414 --> 00:05:35,460 evidence that supported the medical examiner's remark. 98 00:05:36,502 --> 00:05:40,089 - Her hands had been bound behind her back, 99 00:05:40,089 --> 00:05:43,384 adhesive residue had been found on her eyes 100 00:05:43,384 --> 00:05:47,305 and mouths indicating they had been taped. 101 00:05:47,305 --> 00:05:51,309 There was evidence she had been sexually assaulted. 102 00:05:52,810 --> 00:05:54,145 - The police have had good reason 103 00:05:54,145 --> 00:05:56,898 for not wanting to disclose a sexual assault, 104 00:05:56,898 --> 00:06:00,651 but it also could have just been the practice of the times. 105 00:06:00,651 --> 00:06:03,696 40 years ago, things were not disclosed to the degree 106 00:06:03,696 --> 00:06:04,988 that they are today. 107 00:06:05,698 --> 00:06:07,200 Back then, there was a sense 108 00:06:07,200 --> 00:06:10,077 that keeping certain details out of the news would spare 109 00:06:10,077 --> 00:06:11,621 the family some anguish. 110 00:06:12,747 --> 00:06:16,041 - [Narrator] Although Lee's room had not been overturned, 111 00:06:16,834 --> 00:06:18,378 there were some items missing. 112 00:06:19,545 --> 00:06:21,755 - The officers at the time didn't know what was missing 113 00:06:21,755 --> 00:06:25,218 from the room, but after interviewing with Lee's husband, 114 00:06:25,218 --> 00:06:28,971 he reported that her wedding ring, engagement ring, 115 00:06:28,971 --> 00:06:32,141 there was a sapphire ring, her watch, 116 00:06:32,141 --> 00:06:35,978 including some credit cards were all missing from the room. 117 00:06:35,978 --> 00:06:37,772 Was that the intention of the person 118 00:06:37,772 --> 00:06:38,981 that came into her room, 119 00:06:38,981 --> 00:06:41,025 was it to rob her and steal her bag, 120 00:06:41,025 --> 00:06:43,111 or was it something else? 121 00:06:43,111 --> 00:06:45,113 And in looking over all of the evidence, 122 00:06:45,113 --> 00:06:49,075 to me it appears more that the theft of the items were more 123 00:06:49,075 --> 00:06:53,121 of an afterthought or a smoke screen to maybe try 124 00:06:53,121 --> 00:06:57,416 to cover up what was really going on there. 125 00:07:00,378 --> 00:07:02,755 - [Narrator] On Tuesday, June 29th, 126 00:07:02,755 --> 00:07:05,675 the Michigan State Police in Grand Haven joined 127 00:07:05,675 --> 00:07:08,052 the investigation into Lee's death 128 00:07:08,052 --> 00:07:10,430 and begin checking into her background. 129 00:07:11,681 --> 00:07:14,725 - Lee joined Service Master in 1980 130 00:07:14,725 --> 00:07:18,104 when her first assignment was a hospital in Michigan. 131 00:07:18,104 --> 00:07:20,857 They would later place her at Jennie Edmundson Hospital 132 00:07:20,857 --> 00:07:22,358 in Council Bluffs. 133 00:07:23,234 --> 00:07:26,362 - [Narrator] At the age of 21, while still an undergraduate, 134 00:07:26,362 --> 00:07:31,784 Lee marries Anthony Rotatori on November 14th, 1970 135 00:07:32,452 --> 00:07:34,203 in Olmsted, Minnesota. 136 00:07:34,996 --> 00:07:37,498 They have a son, Michael. 137 00:07:38,624 --> 00:07:41,127 - Throughout the 70's, Lee works in Wisconsin 138 00:07:41,127 --> 00:07:44,672 as a dietician, she later gets her master's degree 139 00:07:44,672 --> 00:07:47,383 at the University of Wisconsin Monomoy. 140 00:07:49,177 --> 00:07:52,346 - [Narrator] But the Rotatori's marriage ends September, 141 00:07:52,346 --> 00:07:56,392 1977 when Lee and Anthony divorced in Rockford, Illinois. 142 00:07:58,102 --> 00:08:02,523 A little less than a year later on August 15th, 1978, 143 00:08:02,523 --> 00:08:06,486 Lee marries Jerry Nemke in Madison, Wisconsin. 144 00:08:07,487 --> 00:08:11,616 - Jerry Stanley Nemke and Lee marry in 1978, 145 00:08:11,616 --> 00:08:16,037 they divorced the next year and then remarry in 1981. 146 00:08:16,037 --> 00:08:17,872 She keeps her maiden name Rotatori 147 00:08:17,872 --> 00:08:21,334 for professional reasons, and for her son who lives 148 00:08:21,334 --> 00:08:23,294 with his father in Chicago. 149 00:08:25,046 --> 00:08:28,090 - [Narrator] In October of 1980 when Lee 150 00:08:28,090 --> 00:08:32,053 is working at Hackley Hospital in nearby Muskegon, 151 00:08:32,053 --> 00:08:36,474 she and Jerry move into a mobile home in Crockery Estates, 152 00:08:36,474 --> 00:08:38,851 a mobile home park in Nunica. 153 00:08:40,311 --> 00:08:42,647 - It was a happy time for Lee, she owned a horse 154 00:08:42,647 --> 00:08:44,899 which she stabled with friends nearby. 155 00:08:45,857 --> 00:08:48,653 - [Narrator] Lee had a dog there and owned a couple of pigs, 156 00:08:48,653 --> 00:08:52,532 some turkeys and chickens, and also had a part of the garden 157 00:08:52,532 --> 00:08:53,533 at their farm. 158 00:08:54,283 --> 00:08:58,412 - In June of 1982 when Lee takes the job in Council Bluffs, 159 00:08:58,412 --> 00:09:01,832 the plan is for Jerry to pull up stakes in Nunica 160 00:09:01,832 --> 00:09:05,545 and move the mobile home 600 miles west to Iowa. 161 00:09:07,380 --> 00:09:10,508 - [Narrator] On Friday, July 1st, Lee's family holds 162 00:09:10,508 --> 00:09:13,803 a memorial for her in Rochester, Minnesota 163 00:09:13,803 --> 00:09:16,597 where Lee's younger sister Ann was still living. 164 00:09:17,682 --> 00:09:22,395 On July 2nd, authorities announce a $2,000 reward 165 00:09:22,395 --> 00:09:25,773 for information leading to the arrest and indictment 166 00:09:25,773 --> 00:09:28,818 of the person or persons responsible 167 00:09:28,818 --> 00:09:31,779 for the murder of Lee Rotatori. 168 00:09:31,779 --> 00:09:34,949 By the 4th of July it totals $3,000, 169 00:09:34,949 --> 00:09:38,244 but still hadn't led to a suspect or motive. 170 00:09:38,244 --> 00:09:41,414 - This could be very useful to an investigation, 171 00:09:41,414 --> 00:09:44,542 making an appeal to the public by offering a reward opens 172 00:09:44,542 --> 00:09:46,961 the possibility that someone may come forward 173 00:09:46,961 --> 00:09:48,254 with information. 174 00:09:49,213 --> 00:09:50,131 - Generally, in a case like this, 175 00:09:50,131 --> 00:09:52,800 you always try to look at family first, 176 00:09:52,800 --> 00:09:55,261 friends and associates after that and then you start looking 177 00:09:55,261 --> 00:09:59,140 for unknowns or outside your scope of friends group 178 00:09:59,140 --> 00:10:01,183 for potential suspects. 179 00:10:01,183 --> 00:10:03,769 Well, Lee came here from Michigan, 180 00:10:03,769 --> 00:10:07,189 she had only been here a week, she didn't have family here, 181 00:10:07,189 --> 00:10:08,774 she didn't have really friends here, 182 00:10:08,774 --> 00:10:11,027 she just had met a couple of coworkers 183 00:10:11,027 --> 00:10:13,613 that she had been spending a little bit of time with, 184 00:10:13,613 --> 00:10:17,617 so the suspect pool was ginormous. 185 00:10:18,367 --> 00:10:20,410 - More than two weeks after the murder, 186 00:10:20,410 --> 00:10:25,041 police still have no motive, no witnesses, and no suspects. 187 00:10:26,667 --> 00:10:29,462 (upbeat music) 188 00:10:37,845 --> 00:10:41,349 - [Narrator] Shortly after arriving in Council Bluffs, Iowa 189 00:10:41,349 --> 00:10:46,145 to start a new job, 32 year old Lee Rotatori 190 00:10:47,229 --> 00:10:49,649 is discovered dead in her motel room. 191 00:10:51,150 --> 00:10:54,403 Detectives find no weapon at the scene. 192 00:10:54,403 --> 00:10:58,324 The room is orderly with no sign of a struggle, 193 00:10:58,324 --> 00:11:00,409 no evidence of a forced entry 194 00:11:00,409 --> 00:11:04,622 and with no evidence of a robbery, the police are perplexed. 195 00:11:05,748 --> 00:11:07,416 - Lee was not a victim of circumstance, 196 00:11:07,416 --> 00:11:09,543 I mean this wasn't just something that happened, 197 00:11:09,543 --> 00:11:14,799 a robbery gone bad and that she was killed because of that. 198 00:11:15,966 --> 00:11:19,345 To me, the evidence more points to this was planned, 199 00:11:19,345 --> 00:11:21,138 not only planned, but well planned. 200 00:11:21,138 --> 00:11:24,225 So it's not like somebody came in and broke the door down 201 00:11:24,225 --> 00:11:26,018 and forced his way into the room. 202 00:11:27,019 --> 00:11:30,690 Lee was tied up, her arms were bound behind her back, 203 00:11:31,524 --> 00:11:34,694 her mouth was taped and her eyes were taped, 204 00:11:35,528 --> 00:11:39,198 she was sexually assaulted and then murdered. 205 00:11:39,198 --> 00:11:44,160 It was a well placed one stab wound directly to the heart 206 00:11:44,160 --> 00:11:46,580 through two chambers of her heart. 207 00:11:46,580 --> 00:11:50,251 The subject then took the time to remove 208 00:11:50,251 --> 00:11:52,253 the ligatures around her wrist, 209 00:11:52,253 --> 00:11:53,713 removed the tape from her mouth, 210 00:11:53,713 --> 00:11:57,174 remove the tape from her eyes, collect the knife. 211 00:11:57,174 --> 00:11:59,635 He took all the evidence with him. 212 00:12:01,511 --> 00:12:04,181 The suspect came with everything he needed to commit 213 00:12:04,181 --> 00:12:07,434 the crime of murder and he left with everything 214 00:12:07,434 --> 00:12:09,937 that he used to commit the crime of murder. 215 00:12:12,940 --> 00:12:17,403 - During the postmortem, a sexual assault kit was done. 216 00:12:18,529 --> 00:12:23,743 The use of DNA in criminal cases was brand new at the time. 217 00:12:25,077 --> 00:12:27,455 Police realized they were in possession 218 00:12:27,455 --> 00:12:32,626 of critical evidence, but the technology around analyzing 219 00:12:32,626 --> 00:12:34,754 it just wasn't there yet. 220 00:12:35,546 --> 00:12:37,590 - That was the key to everything, without the DNA 221 00:12:37,590 --> 00:12:39,925 that was collected at that time during the autopsy, 222 00:12:39,925 --> 00:12:41,969 this case would still be cold today. 223 00:12:43,636 --> 00:12:45,097 - [Narrator] A little less than three months 224 00:12:45,097 --> 00:12:48,392 before Lee's death, there had been another fatal stabbing 225 00:12:48,392 --> 00:12:50,770 of a young woman in Council Bluffs. 226 00:12:51,645 --> 00:12:54,648 In the early hours on the morning of April 9th, 227 00:12:54,648 --> 00:12:58,444 21 year old Linda Mayfield was stabbed to death 228 00:12:58,444 --> 00:13:01,155 in the parking lot of the Starlight Motel 229 00:13:01,155 --> 00:13:03,699 at 3320 West Broadway. 230 00:13:04,617 --> 00:13:06,785 - The area tracks people from across the river after 231 00:13:06,785 --> 00:13:09,497 the bars in Omaha closed for the night. 232 00:13:10,456 --> 00:13:13,501 - Linda Mayfield suffered several stab wounds to her face, 233 00:13:13,501 --> 00:13:16,587 chest, stomach, hand and foot. 234 00:13:16,587 --> 00:13:19,423 She died shortly after an ambulance took her 235 00:13:19,423 --> 00:13:20,800 to Mercy Hospital. 236 00:13:22,218 --> 00:13:24,178 - By the end of the year, Linda Mayfield 237 00:13:24,178 --> 00:13:27,723 and Lee Rotatori's homicides are still unsolved. 238 00:13:27,723 --> 00:13:32,019 Two of three unsolved murders in Council Bluffs in 1982, 239 00:13:32,019 --> 00:13:34,188 a place where police prided themselves 240 00:13:34,188 --> 00:13:35,815 on clearing their crimes. 241 00:13:36,857 --> 00:13:40,069 - [Narrator] Council Bluffs police Chief Eldon Jones 242 00:13:40,069 --> 00:13:43,447 is still hopeful eight months after Mayfield's murder, 243 00:13:43,447 --> 00:13:45,574 that the police will catch a killer. 244 00:13:45,574 --> 00:13:48,953 He's not as optimistic about the Rotatori case. 245 00:13:50,037 --> 00:13:53,791 Katie Pattee is the crime lab manager and property manager 246 00:13:53,791 --> 00:13:56,126 for the Council Bluffs Police Department. 247 00:13:57,586 --> 00:14:00,548 - We service the community in Council Bluffs, 248 00:14:00,548 --> 00:14:03,759 and sometimes we do assist surrounding agencies. 249 00:14:03,759 --> 00:14:06,636 We work anything from small crimes like burglaries, 250 00:14:06,636 --> 00:14:09,431 criminal mischief, property damage, accidents, 251 00:14:09,431 --> 00:14:11,642 all the way up to obviously cases like homicides, 252 00:14:11,642 --> 00:14:14,854 cold cases, crimes against person, things like that. 253 00:14:16,105 --> 00:14:17,606 To my knowledge, we have all of the evidence 254 00:14:17,606 --> 00:14:18,816 that was collected back then, 255 00:14:18,816 --> 00:14:20,442 we have a lot of her clothing and things like that. 256 00:14:20,442 --> 00:14:22,778 She'd been staying in the hotel for a little while, 257 00:14:22,778 --> 00:14:25,781 so we have all of that stuff too. 258 00:14:25,781 --> 00:14:28,450 (camera shuttering) 259 00:14:28,450 --> 00:14:30,244 We did have some fingerprints 260 00:14:30,244 --> 00:14:32,037 that were lifted from the scene. 261 00:14:32,037 --> 00:14:34,832 As much as we talk about advancements in technology, 262 00:14:34,832 --> 00:14:37,918 law enforcement has always been an innovative field. 263 00:14:37,918 --> 00:14:39,920 And while a lot of things have changed, 264 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:41,630 I think a lot of things have been similar 265 00:14:41,630 --> 00:14:43,757 and stayed the same, but those guys did a great job 266 00:14:43,757 --> 00:14:46,802 in their processing, in their documentation of the scene, 267 00:14:46,802 --> 00:14:47,887 evidence collection. 268 00:14:49,096 --> 00:14:52,266 - [Narrator] On the floor, there is green foam, 269 00:14:53,225 --> 00:14:55,728 the kind that a florist would use. 270 00:14:57,438 --> 00:14:58,689 - Kind of like when you walked in... 271 00:14:58,689 --> 00:15:01,609 Almost in the walkway, the entryway to the room, 272 00:15:01,609 --> 00:15:04,236 it's like hundreds of little bitty pieces, 273 00:15:04,236 --> 00:15:06,322 look like the foam that you stick flowers in 274 00:15:06,322 --> 00:15:07,781 when you receive a flower delivery. 275 00:15:07,781 --> 00:15:09,158 So that's definitely interesting, 276 00:15:09,158 --> 00:15:12,578 I've never been to a scene where I've found floral foam, 277 00:15:13,454 --> 00:15:16,790 just an odd piece of evidence for sure. 278 00:15:17,666 --> 00:15:19,251 - [Narrator] The green foam was also found 279 00:15:19,251 --> 00:15:20,961 in the upstairs hallway. 280 00:15:21,837 --> 00:15:24,423 - Almost every case we work, we have video, 281 00:15:24,423 --> 00:15:27,927 video surveillance of some sort, but in the 80's, 282 00:15:28,719 --> 00:15:30,095 that wasn't a key piece of evidence. 283 00:15:30,095 --> 00:15:32,723 But now for sure, we would've shown this guy walking down 284 00:15:32,723 --> 00:15:35,684 the hallway and walking into a room or dropping floral foam, 285 00:15:35,684 --> 00:15:37,811 or gotten a license plate off of a vehicle 286 00:15:37,811 --> 00:15:40,606 in the parking lot and that technology just wasn't available 287 00:15:40,606 --> 00:15:41,523 back then. 288 00:15:41,523 --> 00:15:43,943 So, maybe back then if we had had that, 289 00:15:43,943 --> 00:15:45,444 they would've caught him right away, 290 00:15:45,444 --> 00:15:47,821 but that just didn't happen, so. 291 00:15:48,948 --> 00:15:52,201 - [Narrator] The Rotatori murder case was growing colder 292 00:15:52,201 --> 00:15:53,202 by the day. 293 00:15:54,453 --> 00:15:56,538 Four months after Lee Rotatori 294 00:15:56,538 --> 00:15:59,375 is murdered in a Council Bluffs motel room, 295 00:15:59,375 --> 00:16:02,211 the decomposing body of a man is found 296 00:16:02,211 --> 00:16:06,715 in an isolated wooded area, 550 miles away. 297 00:16:07,883 --> 00:16:11,470 But it will be four decades until investigators are able 298 00:16:11,470 --> 00:16:13,973 to uncover the connection between them. 299 00:16:17,101 --> 00:16:19,937 (intense music) 300 00:16:28,654 --> 00:16:33,534 On June 25th, 1982, 32 year old Lee Rotatori is stabbed 301 00:16:34,451 --> 00:16:37,746 to death in a motel room in Council Bluffs, Iowa. 302 00:16:39,456 --> 00:16:42,292 Police have no suspects, no witnesses, 303 00:16:42,292 --> 00:16:45,254 no motive in the murder of the young nutritionists 304 00:16:45,254 --> 00:16:47,589 who had arrived from Michigan a week earlier 305 00:16:47,589 --> 00:16:51,010 to take up a new post at Jenny Edmundson Hospital. 306 00:16:52,761 --> 00:16:56,724 The motels proximity to two busy interstate highways 307 00:16:56,724 --> 00:16:58,851 presented a problem for investigators 308 00:16:58,851 --> 00:17:01,520 since the killer could have long been gone 309 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:03,856 by the time police arrived at the scene. 310 00:17:05,773 --> 00:17:09,737 Lee's husband remained at their home in Nunica while she got 311 00:17:09,737 --> 00:17:12,239 her feet on the ground in Council Bluffs. 312 00:17:13,198 --> 00:17:16,869 Lee had married Jerry Nemke in 1978, 313 00:17:16,869 --> 00:17:18,579 they divorced the following year 314 00:17:18,579 --> 00:17:21,040 and then remarried at the end of 1981. 315 00:17:22,124 --> 00:17:24,292 - But Jerry Nemke had a past 316 00:17:27,379 --> 00:17:31,967 In May, 1960 when he was 17 years old, Nemke was picked up 317 00:17:31,967 --> 00:17:35,846 in Chicago by police for questioning in the slain 318 00:17:35,846 --> 00:17:39,433 of three Chicago area women and the fatal beating 319 00:17:39,433 --> 00:17:43,479 of a young Chicago waitress by the name of Marilyn Duncan 320 00:17:43,479 --> 00:17:44,730 On April 29th. 321 00:17:45,814 --> 00:17:47,900 - He was a fugitive from a youth camp 322 00:17:47,900 --> 00:17:51,570 and was driving a stolen car when he met Duncan, 323 00:17:51,570 --> 00:17:54,073 and reportedly went out on a date that night. 324 00:17:55,532 --> 00:17:56,657 - [Narrator] Nemke was accused 325 00:17:56,657 --> 00:17:58,744 of bludgeoning her before leaving her bleeding 326 00:17:58,744 --> 00:18:02,498 and unconscious behind a Chicago factory, 327 00:18:02,498 --> 00:18:04,166 she died two days later. 328 00:18:05,167 --> 00:18:07,836 Could he be responsible for Lee's death? 329 00:18:09,630 --> 00:18:11,507 - She's raped and then beaten to death 330 00:18:11,507 --> 00:18:14,510 which heightens your sense of, oh my God, 331 00:18:14,510 --> 00:18:17,429 what are the odds of that to begin with. 332 00:18:18,555 --> 00:18:20,808 - [Narrator] But Lee's husband was a long way away 333 00:18:20,808 --> 00:18:22,351 on the night of her murder. 334 00:18:23,227 --> 00:18:25,395 - He was a 10 hour drive away. 335 00:18:25,395 --> 00:18:26,480 In reading through the reports, 336 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:28,607 his alibi was rock solid. 337 00:18:29,858 --> 00:18:32,152 - [Narrator] Nemke had been sentenced to death 338 00:18:32,152 --> 00:18:34,530 for the murder of Marilyn Duncan, 339 00:18:34,530 --> 00:18:38,407 but less than two years later in January, 1962, 340 00:18:38,407 --> 00:18:41,703 the Illinois Supreme Court overturned the conviction 341 00:18:41,703 --> 00:18:43,580 on the grounds the preliminary hearing 342 00:18:43,580 --> 00:18:45,791 had not been properly conducted. 343 00:18:45,791 --> 00:18:49,336 - There's a second trial, he's found guilty again 344 00:18:49,336 --> 00:18:52,089 and sentenced to 75 years in prison, 345 00:18:52,089 --> 00:18:53,965 but then he is released in 1978, 346 00:18:53,965 --> 00:18:59,138 and he attends Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. 347 00:19:00,472 --> 00:19:03,392 - [Narrator] Nemke's violent past remains a flag 348 00:19:03,392 --> 00:19:04,935 for Steve Andrews. 349 00:19:05,853 --> 00:19:08,647 Four months after Lee Rotatori's death, 350 00:19:08,647 --> 00:19:11,275 another grizzly murder is in the news. 351 00:19:11,275 --> 00:19:15,737 On October 30th, human remains are found in a shallow grave, 352 00:19:15,737 --> 00:19:20,159 in an isolated wooded area outside Cobden, Illinois, 353 00:19:21,451 --> 00:19:24,163 it takes two weeks to identify the body. 354 00:19:25,080 --> 00:19:28,750 Thomas Freeman had been shot four times in the chest 355 00:19:28,750 --> 00:19:31,962 sometime during July or August. 356 00:19:33,547 --> 00:19:37,509 - Four months outdoors in the summer heat would make 357 00:19:37,509 --> 00:19:42,388 the victim's body in an advanced state of decomposition, 358 00:19:42,388 --> 00:19:45,851 making identification difficult. 359 00:19:45,851 --> 00:19:48,228 Dental records are typically the place 360 00:19:48,228 --> 00:19:52,107 to start if there is no identification found 361 00:19:52,107 --> 00:19:53,358 with the remains. 362 00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:58,655 - [Narrator] 35 Year old Freeman was from West Frankfurt 363 00:19:58,655 --> 00:20:00,365 in southern Illinois. 364 00:20:00,365 --> 00:20:01,407 He was believed 365 00:20:01,407 --> 00:20:04,119 to be a transient living in different locations. 366 00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:07,705 As with Lee's case, police are stymied as to the motive 367 00:20:07,705 --> 00:20:10,626 for his murder and have no suspects. 368 00:20:17,132 --> 00:20:22,346 It's now 2001 investigators decide to resubmit DNA taken 369 00:20:23,347 --> 00:20:24,723 into evidence from Lee's postmortem 370 00:20:24,723 --> 00:20:28,477 to the State of Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Lab 371 00:20:28,477 --> 00:20:30,229 for forensic analysis. 372 00:20:32,105 --> 00:20:34,816 But when the DNA profile was entered into state 373 00:20:34,816 --> 00:20:38,612 and federal databases no matches were returned. 374 00:20:38,612 --> 00:20:42,699 It would be periodically rechecked through the years 2001 375 00:20:42,699 --> 00:20:46,244 through 2011, but without any results. 376 00:20:47,371 --> 00:20:52,417 In 2011, detective Steve Andrews is assigned to Lee's case. 377 00:20:54,044 --> 00:20:55,963 - My sergeant came to me one day 378 00:20:55,963 --> 00:20:58,257 and plopped these case files on my desk 379 00:20:58,257 --> 00:21:00,259 and said, hey, you're kind of a go-getter, 380 00:21:00,259 --> 00:21:02,469 why don't you look into this and see what you can do. 381 00:21:02,469 --> 00:21:04,096 There's been some advances in DNA 382 00:21:04,096 --> 00:21:07,140 and I know there's some DNA involved in this case, 383 00:21:08,016 --> 00:21:09,935 why don't you see what you can do with this. 384 00:21:09,935 --> 00:21:13,105 It's overwhelming quite frankly when you first get this pile 385 00:21:13,105 --> 00:21:18,318 of paperwork and boxes and reports basically dumped on you. 386 00:21:18,986 --> 00:21:20,404 I just started reading, 387 00:21:20,404 --> 00:21:23,073 I started at the front of the case file 388 00:21:23,073 --> 00:21:25,617 and I started reading all the cases, 389 00:21:25,617 --> 00:21:27,744 started reading all the reports. 390 00:21:27,744 --> 00:21:29,913 I started reading about what all the other previous 391 00:21:29,913 --> 00:21:32,249 detectives have done in the case, just to get familiar 392 00:21:32,249 --> 00:21:36,378 with the time, and the facts, and the dates and the names, 393 00:21:36,378 --> 00:21:40,007 and all the effort that went into the case back then. 394 00:21:41,133 --> 00:21:44,469 - [Narrator] In 2018, council Bluffs crime lab manager, 395 00:21:44,469 --> 00:21:48,807 Katie Pattee joins Steve Andrews on the Rotatori case. 396 00:21:49,891 --> 00:21:53,729 - DNA's come a long, long ways in the last even five years, 397 00:21:53,729 --> 00:21:56,523 but especially in the last 40 years. 398 00:21:56,523 --> 00:21:58,859 We knew that we had a male DNA profile 399 00:21:58,859 --> 00:22:01,236 from the sexual assault kit. 400 00:22:02,195 --> 00:22:05,198 That profile still had not been identified despite the fact 401 00:22:05,198 --> 00:22:08,243 that it had been entered into the state criminal justice 402 00:22:08,243 --> 00:22:11,955 system with which would search against convicted offenders. 403 00:22:11,955 --> 00:22:14,916 So we wanted to research and try another route 404 00:22:14,916 --> 00:22:18,337 if we could try to identify this unknown male. 405 00:22:19,546 --> 00:22:22,049 - [Narrator] The same year Katie joins the Team, 406 00:22:22,049 --> 00:22:25,802 Council Bluffs police Captain, Todd Weddum sees a television 407 00:22:25,802 --> 00:22:28,430 program about the Golden State Killer. 408 00:22:29,431 --> 00:22:32,434 - Joseph DeAngelo Jr. committed a string of murders 409 00:22:32,434 --> 00:22:36,646 and other crimes in California between 1973 and 1986, 410 00:22:36,646 --> 00:22:38,231 and it was eventually brought down 411 00:22:38,231 --> 00:22:41,359 with the aid of forensic genealogy. 412 00:22:43,111 --> 00:22:46,156 - And we started talking about it and he's like, 413 00:22:46,156 --> 00:22:48,407 hey, if they can do that, we can do it, right? 414 00:22:48,407 --> 00:22:51,744 And I'm like, absolutely, this is a perfect case for that. 415 00:22:53,080 --> 00:22:57,042 - [Narrator] In April of 2019, Katie sends a DNA sample 416 00:22:57,042 --> 00:23:01,421 to Parabon NanoLabs, the company based in Reston, Virginia 417 00:23:01,421 --> 00:23:05,008 that works with law enforcement on DNA forensics 418 00:23:05,008 --> 00:23:08,011 and on technologies for the medical industry. 419 00:23:08,929 --> 00:23:10,472 - When the captain released the funding 420 00:23:10,472 --> 00:23:14,851 to send our sample in to get started on this, 421 00:23:14,851 --> 00:23:17,145 again that jumpstarted the whole investigation 422 00:23:17,145 --> 00:23:21,441 and literally that's when this investigation took off. 423 00:23:22,484 --> 00:23:25,821 - Parabon concludes Lee's killer is a male 424 00:23:25,821 --> 00:23:29,157 of Northern European descent. 425 00:23:29,157 --> 00:23:33,078 In other words, a very large pool. 426 00:23:34,204 --> 00:23:37,249 - [Narrator] The lab compares that profile against DNA 427 00:23:37,249 --> 00:23:39,792 that has been submitted to family tree companies 428 00:23:39,792 --> 00:23:42,462 like ancestry.com and 23andMe 429 00:23:43,338 --> 00:23:45,424 in which the clients allow law enforcement 430 00:23:45,424 --> 00:23:47,467 to review their DNA profiles. 431 00:23:48,301 --> 00:23:49,511 - And then they get a match, 432 00:23:49,511 --> 00:23:52,388 but it's with a sixth to an eighth cousin 433 00:23:52,388 --> 00:23:55,142 which leads Parabon to tell investigators their chances 434 00:23:55,142 --> 00:23:58,436 of finding a suspect are slim to none. 435 00:23:59,771 --> 00:24:04,151 - I was like, okay so we have a chance not a good chance, 436 00:24:04,151 --> 00:24:07,404 we have a slim chance, but at least we have a chance. 437 00:24:08,196 --> 00:24:10,490 - [Narrator] Parabon reassures the investigators 438 00:24:10,490 --> 00:24:13,243 that people submit new kits every day. 439 00:24:13,243 --> 00:24:16,371 It's possible one just might eventually come in 440 00:24:16,371 --> 00:24:18,330 that will move things forward. 441 00:24:18,330 --> 00:24:22,169 For Council Bluffs investigators, it becomes a waiting game. 442 00:24:23,170 --> 00:24:24,629 - There wasn't a lot we could do there for a while, 443 00:24:24,629 --> 00:24:26,715 it was just waiting for that right person 444 00:24:26,715 --> 00:24:28,675 to submit their known DNA profile. 445 00:24:28,675 --> 00:24:32,095 We contacted several people that we wanted them to submit 446 00:24:32,095 --> 00:24:34,848 because we thought that maybe they would be somehow related 447 00:24:34,848 --> 00:24:35,599 or involved. 448 00:24:36,516 --> 00:24:37,893 A lot of it was just a waiting game 449 00:24:37,893 --> 00:24:40,520 which is also difficult, you know you've put all this time 450 00:24:40,520 --> 00:24:43,315 into it and you're hoping that when you submit it, 451 00:24:43,315 --> 00:24:45,150 a week later you'll get a phone call 452 00:24:45,150 --> 00:24:46,359 and like, hey, we know who it is. 453 00:24:46,359 --> 00:24:48,987 But that wasn't the case, it definitely took months 454 00:24:48,987 --> 00:24:50,989 to get to the point where we actually were able 455 00:24:50,989 --> 00:24:52,491 to figure out who it was. 456 00:24:53,950 --> 00:24:58,288 - [Narrator] Then in March, 2020, police captain Todd Weddum 457 00:24:58,288 --> 00:25:01,208 opens the email that will change everything. 458 00:25:01,208 --> 00:25:04,711 It's from a 20 year old college student in Pennsylvania 459 00:25:04,711 --> 00:25:07,255 who is an interest in genealogy. 460 00:25:09,215 --> 00:25:12,969 Could he be key to help solve this cold case 461 00:25:12,969 --> 00:25:16,681 and bring justice to the murder of Lee Rotatori? 462 00:25:18,850 --> 00:25:21,520 (intense music) 463 00:25:28,984 --> 00:25:33,323 Council Bluffs Police turn to a new company in 2019, hoping 464 00:25:33,323 --> 00:25:36,743 the latest in DNA forensic techniques might help them 465 00:25:36,743 --> 00:25:39,538 identify Lee Rotatori's killer. 466 00:25:41,205 --> 00:25:43,291 Comparing that profile against DNA submitted 467 00:25:43,291 --> 00:25:47,796 to family tree companies, ancestry.com and 23andMe, 468 00:25:47,796 --> 00:25:49,172 the lab discovers a match 469 00:25:49,172 --> 00:25:51,550 for the DNA profile police sent them, 470 00:25:52,342 --> 00:25:54,886 but only in the range of a sixth to eighth cousin 471 00:25:54,886 --> 00:25:56,096 of the suspect. 472 00:25:57,305 --> 00:25:59,599 - Now it's a waiting game as investigators hope 473 00:25:59,599 --> 00:26:03,311 that as more people research their genealogy, 474 00:26:03,311 --> 00:26:07,190 and submit their DNA to genealogy databases, 475 00:26:07,190 --> 00:26:10,569 that they will get closer to finding the identity 476 00:26:10,569 --> 00:26:11,570 of Lee's killer. 477 00:26:13,446 --> 00:26:16,782 - Right about this exact same time in our process, 478 00:26:16,782 --> 00:26:22,038 we get out of the blue a cold email. 479 00:26:23,164 --> 00:26:24,499 - [Narrator] Eric Schubert, a 20 year old junior history 480 00:26:24,499 --> 00:26:28,587 major at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania. 481 00:26:29,796 --> 00:26:33,174 - Eric emails Council Bluffs police chief, Todd Weddum 482 00:26:33,174 --> 00:26:35,677 in March, 2020 and ask him if he can help 483 00:26:35,677 --> 00:26:37,470 with any of their cold cases. 484 00:26:38,138 --> 00:26:41,266 - Call it fate, call it divine intervention, 485 00:26:41,266 --> 00:26:42,684 call it whatever you want. 486 00:26:44,102 --> 00:26:46,354 - [Narrator] Council Bluffs Police vet him 487 00:26:46,354 --> 00:26:48,315 through other agencies he's assisted 488 00:26:48,315 --> 00:26:50,900 and the city's legal department draws up an agreement 489 00:26:50,900 --> 00:26:54,029 with him, Eric gets to work. 490 00:26:56,448 --> 00:26:59,909 - Eric came in outta nowhere, he actually solicited us, 491 00:26:59,909 --> 00:27:02,203 called us and said, hey, I've read a little bit 492 00:27:02,203 --> 00:27:04,497 about this case, I wanna help you guys. 493 00:27:04,497 --> 00:27:06,708 So that kind of came outta nowhere, 494 00:27:06,708 --> 00:27:07,751 we didn't expect it. 495 00:27:08,917 --> 00:27:12,422 - And we sat down with him and shared our information 496 00:27:12,422 --> 00:27:13,757 in our case with him. 497 00:27:13,757 --> 00:27:16,134 From that point, it was interesting 498 00:27:16,134 --> 00:27:18,261 because, again your hopes get up again, 499 00:27:18,261 --> 00:27:20,472 you start to ride that rollercoaster up 500 00:27:20,472 --> 00:27:24,267 and it was literally, oh my God, probably a week, 501 00:27:24,267 --> 00:27:27,270 or so later I get a call from Eric and he says, 502 00:27:27,270 --> 00:27:30,440 hey, I found his great grandparents. 503 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:32,609 He goes, I think we're gonna find him. 504 00:27:32,609 --> 00:27:35,111 I was like, ooh, this huge weight being lifted, 505 00:27:35,111 --> 00:27:37,696 and then I start working that angle, 506 00:27:37,696 --> 00:27:40,742 and I start contacting distant relatives 507 00:27:40,742 --> 00:27:44,454 and requesting DNA samples that I got from family. 508 00:27:44,454 --> 00:27:47,123 They were more than helpful. 509 00:27:47,123 --> 00:27:50,627 Nine times out of 10, the family was like if a family member 510 00:27:50,627 --> 00:27:52,504 of mine did something like this to somebody, 511 00:27:52,504 --> 00:27:55,298 I would want them to take responsibility for what they did 512 00:27:55,298 --> 00:27:58,593 and more than happy to give DNA samples. 513 00:27:59,260 --> 00:28:01,262 If Eric would send me lists of people, 514 00:28:01,262 --> 00:28:03,306 I would send out contact letters. 515 00:28:03,306 --> 00:28:05,183 A lot of them were hard to find, 516 00:28:05,183 --> 00:28:07,560 at this stage in the game 40 years later, 517 00:28:07,560 --> 00:28:09,229 we ran into a lot of problems. 518 00:28:09,229 --> 00:28:12,607 A lot of people are deceased by now, people have moved, 519 00:28:12,607 --> 00:28:13,858 they've changed numbers. 520 00:28:13,858 --> 00:28:17,153 As small as the world is, it's still a very large place, 521 00:28:17,153 --> 00:28:18,821 you just can't find everybody. 522 00:28:18,821 --> 00:28:20,532 I would reach out to those people, 523 00:28:20,532 --> 00:28:23,368 some of them that I would be able to find, 524 00:28:23,368 --> 00:28:26,037 I would get samples back and then we would start 525 00:28:26,037 --> 00:28:27,288 the game over again. 526 00:28:27,288 --> 00:28:29,499 I would send those DNA samples in, 527 00:28:29,499 --> 00:28:32,167 we would get those results, Eric would plug them 528 00:28:32,167 --> 00:28:34,838 into his database of genealogy 529 00:28:34,838 --> 00:28:38,383 and then he would spit out another list of names to me. 530 00:28:38,383 --> 00:28:40,635 He goes, okay, that's good, that got us to here, 531 00:28:40,635 --> 00:28:41,928 now let's try this. 532 00:28:43,680 --> 00:28:47,267 And over the next two years, Eric and I did this. 533 00:28:47,267 --> 00:28:49,018 It gave you hope, it gave you drive, 534 00:28:49,018 --> 00:28:52,063 it gave you a direction, it gave you leads to follow up on 535 00:28:52,063 --> 00:28:53,732 which is what you want. 536 00:28:54,566 --> 00:28:57,360 So I start doing this and we follow these leads. 537 00:29:00,655 --> 00:29:02,991 - [Narrator] Using genealogical research, 538 00:29:02,991 --> 00:29:05,910 they had zeroed in on a man they believe might have been 539 00:29:05,910 --> 00:29:09,247 Lee Rotatori's killer, but there was a surprise 540 00:29:09,247 --> 00:29:10,582 in the store. 541 00:29:10,582 --> 00:29:12,584 The genealogy indicated which family 542 00:29:12,584 --> 00:29:16,004 the man belonged to, but his place within the family 543 00:29:16,004 --> 00:29:17,464 was not clear. 544 00:29:18,465 --> 00:29:20,717 - Eric was able to determine that Nemke was raised 545 00:29:20,717 --> 00:29:23,553 by someone other than his biological father 546 00:29:23,553 --> 00:29:25,597 which is what muddied the waters in terms 547 00:29:25,597 --> 00:29:27,849 of honing in on his true identity. 548 00:29:28,808 --> 00:29:30,685 - Eric called me one day and he goes, 549 00:29:30,685 --> 00:29:33,188 he's not who we think he is. 550 00:29:33,188 --> 00:29:38,693 He's being raised by somebody that's not really his father. 551 00:29:39,152 --> 00:29:40,361 And I'm like, what? 552 00:29:40,361 --> 00:29:43,823 And he is like, on paper our suspect's father 553 00:29:43,823 --> 00:29:47,243 is not really his father, he's an illegitimate child 554 00:29:47,243 --> 00:29:50,663 of somebody and that's why our numbers aren't matching up. 555 00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:53,792 - [Narrator] Then out of the blue, 556 00:29:53,792 --> 00:29:57,128 the waiting game with Parabon pays off. 557 00:29:57,128 --> 00:29:59,464 The lab has flagged a DNA kit 558 00:29:59,464 --> 00:30:02,258 that had been submitted by an unknown man, 559 00:30:02,258 --> 00:30:05,470 one who had never been approached by the investigators. 560 00:30:06,346 --> 00:30:09,015 - The man's profile helps Eric Schubert 561 00:30:09,015 --> 00:30:14,521 and Parabon narrow down this suspect pool to two brothers. 562 00:30:15,855 --> 00:30:21,319 One was too young to have committed the crime in 1982, 563 00:30:21,986 --> 00:30:24,697 the other was Thomas O. Freeman. 564 00:30:26,533 --> 00:30:29,285 - [Narrator] Both Parabon and Schubert called Council 565 00:30:29,285 --> 00:30:32,580 Bluffs Police within an hour of each other with a name. 566 00:30:33,665 --> 00:30:38,628 - We got a email from Parabon and an email from Eric 567 00:30:38,628 --> 00:30:41,840 both saying, I think we found the guy. 568 00:30:42,590 --> 00:30:45,510 We do some research, and lo and behold, 569 00:30:45,510 --> 00:30:49,347 we find out that Thomas Oscar Freeman is deceased, 570 00:30:49,347 --> 00:30:52,725 and not only is he deceased, we find out he was murdered, 571 00:30:52,725 --> 00:30:56,354 approximately two months after Lee's homicide took place. 572 00:30:57,522 --> 00:30:59,065 - [Narrator] Council Bluffs Police need 573 00:30:59,065 --> 00:31:03,194 to prove Freeman's DNA is a match for the DNA found on Lee. 574 00:31:05,321 --> 00:31:07,615 - So the next step is then to try to reach out 575 00:31:07,615 --> 00:31:10,493 to family members to try to get a known DNA sample 576 00:31:10,493 --> 00:31:12,996 to corroborate our findings. 577 00:31:14,247 --> 00:31:18,668 And his brothers were deceased, his parents were deceased. 578 00:31:18,668 --> 00:31:22,213 We found out who his true father was, he was deceased. 579 00:31:22,213 --> 00:31:26,301 We found that Thomas had a daughter who was still alive, 580 00:31:26,301 --> 00:31:28,052 she was living in St. Louis. 581 00:31:29,220 --> 00:31:32,515 The Illinois State Police as part of their investigation 582 00:31:32,515 --> 00:31:36,644 into the homicide of Thomas reached out to her 583 00:31:36,644 --> 00:31:38,605 to get a DNA sample. 584 00:31:38,605 --> 00:31:42,400 And then we piggybacked off of that investigation, 585 00:31:42,400 --> 00:31:45,320 and verified the identity of our suspect 586 00:31:45,320 --> 00:31:46,905 through his daughter's DNA. 587 00:31:48,740 --> 00:31:52,410 - [Narrator] On Friday, February 25th, 2022, 588 00:31:52,410 --> 00:31:55,580 Counsel Bluffs Police captain, Todd Weddum issues a press 589 00:31:55,580 --> 00:31:57,457 release announcing detectives have cleared 590 00:31:57,457 --> 00:32:00,501 the cold case homicide of Lee Rotatori. 591 00:32:03,671 --> 00:32:05,924 They named Thomas Freeman as the source 592 00:32:05,924 --> 00:32:08,927 of the suspect DNA found at the crime scene. 593 00:32:09,928 --> 00:32:12,013 Thomas Oscar Freeman was the trucker 594 00:32:12,013 --> 00:32:14,307 from West Frankfurt, Illinois. 595 00:32:14,307 --> 00:32:16,976 He was 35 at the time of Lee's murder. 596 00:32:17,894 --> 00:32:21,522 Police think he may have killed Lee while passing 597 00:32:21,522 --> 00:32:24,567 through on a hall although his name 598 00:32:24,567 --> 00:32:27,820 is not on the motels register for that night. 599 00:32:32,158 --> 00:32:34,953 (intense music) 600 00:32:54,764 --> 00:32:58,142 But who fired four bullets into Thomas Freeman's chest 601 00:32:58,142 --> 00:32:59,936 in the summer of 1982, 602 00:32:59,936 --> 00:33:02,939 just weeks after Lee Rotatori's murder? 603 00:33:04,148 --> 00:33:05,316 - Council Bluff Detectives 604 00:33:05,316 --> 00:33:08,444 and Illinois State troopers begin working together 605 00:33:08,444 --> 00:33:09,988 on Freeman's homicide. 606 00:33:10,863 --> 00:33:14,200 They don't yet know who shot him, but they do have reason 607 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,411 to believe that his death could be related 608 00:33:16,411 --> 00:33:18,329 to Lee Rotatori's murder. 609 00:33:20,123 --> 00:33:22,625 - Jerry Nemke, when he was released from prison back 610 00:33:22,625 --> 00:33:26,629 in 1978, he moved to Carbondale, Illinois 611 00:33:26,629 --> 00:33:28,673 and went to Southern Illinois University. 612 00:33:28,673 --> 00:33:34,012 Well, Thomas Oscar Freeman was found buried 613 00:33:35,138 --> 00:33:39,100 and dead approximately 15 miles away from that area. 614 00:33:39,892 --> 00:33:43,271 Thomas Oscar Freeman was raised in that area 615 00:33:43,271 --> 00:33:46,691 and had ties to that area, so Jerry Nemke 616 00:33:46,691 --> 00:33:51,029 and Thomas Oscar Freeman both were geographically located 617 00:33:51,029 --> 00:33:54,032 in the same vicinity in that same timeframe. 618 00:33:56,743 --> 00:33:58,953 - [Narrator] Was it possible that Nemke and Freeman 619 00:33:58,953 --> 00:34:02,415 had crossed paths in the late 70's while they were both 620 00:34:02,415 --> 00:34:03,416 in the area? 621 00:34:04,459 --> 00:34:08,087 Early on, Jerry Nemke had been ruled out as a suspect 622 00:34:08,087 --> 00:34:09,255 in Lee's murder. 623 00:34:10,339 --> 00:34:12,842 - And the first thing that I did in this case after reading 624 00:34:12,842 --> 00:34:16,554 the case file was I found her husband at the time, 625 00:34:16,554 --> 00:34:18,473 and I wanted his DNA. 626 00:34:19,849 --> 00:34:22,560 And everything I read in this case led me to believe 627 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:26,606 that he had to be involved in this somehow. 628 00:34:26,606 --> 00:34:31,944 So I found him first and I sent the detectives 629 00:34:32,612 --> 00:34:34,113 from Tampa, Florida out to his house, 630 00:34:34,113 --> 00:34:37,408 they collected his DNA and it was literally two, 631 00:34:37,408 --> 00:34:40,453 almost three years later that I finally got the results 632 00:34:40,453 --> 00:34:41,245 of that test. 633 00:34:42,663 --> 00:34:45,083 - [Narrator] The DNA test came back negative, 634 00:34:46,501 --> 00:34:48,920 proving that Lee's husband is not the assailant 635 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,839 who stabbed her to death in the best Western frontier lodge 636 00:34:51,839 --> 00:34:56,094 motel room on the night of June 25th, 1982. 637 00:34:57,094 --> 00:35:00,139 But as Steve Andrews studied the existing case files, 638 00:35:01,224 --> 00:35:05,561 Nemke's alibi for the 24th and 25th caught his attention. 639 00:35:08,189 --> 00:35:11,025 (intense music) 640 00:35:17,864 --> 00:35:21,619 Jerry Nemke's DNA had proved he was not the one 641 00:35:21,619 --> 00:35:24,831 who murdered his wife in 1982, 642 00:35:25,957 --> 00:35:29,377 yet something didn't sit right with Detective Steve Andrews. 643 00:35:30,253 --> 00:35:33,381 As Steve Andrews studied the existing case files, 644 00:35:34,382 --> 00:35:38,678 Nemke's alibi for the 24th and 25th caught his attention. 645 00:35:39,554 --> 00:35:40,847 - In reading through the reports his alibi 646 00:35:40,847 --> 00:35:46,060 was rock solid, it was over the top solid alibi. 647 00:35:47,018 --> 00:35:50,106 He had worked the previous evening until 10:00 p.m. 648 00:35:50,106 --> 00:35:51,232 at night. 649 00:35:51,232 --> 00:35:53,442 He didn't have to be back to his second job till later 650 00:35:53,442 --> 00:35:54,861 in the next day. 651 00:35:54,861 --> 00:35:57,738 To me, my thoughts is well, if I'm involved in this, 652 00:35:57,738 --> 00:36:01,033 I have to establish some timeframe in between 653 00:36:01,033 --> 00:36:03,119 that where I'm known and seen. 654 00:36:03,911 --> 00:36:07,498 He shows up at Hackley Hospital where Lee 655 00:36:07,498 --> 00:36:11,294 was working previously prior to coming to Council Bluffs 656 00:36:11,294 --> 00:36:15,422 to return a lab coat, apparently out of the clear blue sky 657 00:36:15,422 --> 00:36:17,633 he decided that today, the day that her body 658 00:36:17,633 --> 00:36:20,844 is found before it's found, he needs to show up 659 00:36:20,844 --> 00:36:24,181 and return her lab coat to her previous place of employment. 660 00:36:25,141 --> 00:36:28,060 Shortly after that, then he makes a special trip out 661 00:36:28,060 --> 00:36:31,981 to the stable where Lee's horse is boarded at where again, 662 00:36:31,981 --> 00:36:35,318 he happens to return an item that he tells the lady 663 00:36:35,318 --> 00:36:38,070 that owns the stable that Lee wanted her to have this, 664 00:36:38,070 --> 00:36:41,574 and then talks to her about Lee and has another appearance 665 00:36:41,574 --> 00:36:43,659 with a good close friend of Lee's. 666 00:36:43,659 --> 00:36:46,036 He leaves there and then he goes to his job later 667 00:36:46,036 --> 00:36:49,957 that afternoon where he has an alibi and he's seen there. 668 00:36:51,626 --> 00:36:53,377 He almost went out of his way 669 00:36:53,377 --> 00:36:57,215 to establish his whereabouts as not being here. 670 00:36:58,799 --> 00:37:01,928 - Jerry Nemke's overly elaborate alibi led Andrews 671 00:37:01,928 --> 00:37:05,681 to believe Lee's husband had more involvement in her murder 672 00:37:05,681 --> 00:37:07,516 than investigators ever thought. 673 00:37:08,935 --> 00:37:11,229 - [Narrator] And then there was Jerry's physical proximity 674 00:37:11,229 --> 00:37:14,398 to Freeman at the end of the 70's. 675 00:37:14,398 --> 00:37:17,860 Nemke served his time for killing young Chicago waitress, 676 00:37:17,860 --> 00:37:21,322 Marilyn Duncan at the Menard Correctional Facility 677 00:37:21,322 --> 00:37:23,449 located in southern Illinois. 678 00:37:25,534 --> 00:37:27,578 - After his release in 1978, 679 00:37:27,578 --> 00:37:31,832 he attended college in Carbondale, about 26 miles outside 680 00:37:31,832 --> 00:37:34,043 West Frankfurt where Freeman lived, 681 00:37:34,043 --> 00:37:38,256 and 15 miles from Cobden where his remains were found. 682 00:37:39,882 --> 00:37:41,801 - He was shot four times in the chest 683 00:37:41,801 --> 00:37:45,972 and buried in a shallow grave within two months after Lee 684 00:37:45,972 --> 00:37:47,014 is killed. 685 00:37:47,014 --> 00:37:49,392 Some people might think that's a coincidence, 686 00:37:49,392 --> 00:37:52,143 I don't believe in coincidences at this point. 687 00:37:53,354 --> 00:37:56,065 Everything I read in this case led me to believe 688 00:37:56,065 --> 00:38:00,111 that he had to be involved in this somehow. 689 00:38:01,404 --> 00:38:02,947 - [Narrator] Around the time Thomas Freeman 690 00:38:02,947 --> 00:38:06,284 was coming into focus as the suspect in Lee's murder, 691 00:38:06,284 --> 00:38:09,203 Steve found his name kept coming to mind. 692 00:38:10,788 --> 00:38:11,872 - And it's like, I know I've heard 693 00:38:11,872 --> 00:38:12,957 that name somewhere in this... 694 00:38:12,957 --> 00:38:15,376 I don't know where I've heard this name at. 695 00:38:15,376 --> 00:38:17,128 So I dig back into the files again 696 00:38:17,128 --> 00:38:22,383 and I reread that in the weeks leading up to June 25th, 1982 697 00:38:23,509 --> 00:38:27,888 when Lee was killed, Jerry had received multiple phone calls 698 00:38:27,888 --> 00:38:30,181 from somebody he identified as Tom, 699 00:38:30,181 --> 00:38:31,892 that he received three phone calls 700 00:38:31,892 --> 00:38:33,143 that Jerry wasn't there for. 701 00:38:33,143 --> 00:38:35,938 And then he called back and two other times, 702 00:38:35,938 --> 00:38:39,108 and actually spoke to Jerry within days, 703 00:38:39,108 --> 00:38:42,194 like on the 23rd before Lee was killed. 704 00:38:42,194 --> 00:38:44,196 The same Tom individual had called back 705 00:38:44,196 --> 00:38:48,659 and actually spoke with Lee's husband on the phone. 706 00:38:48,659 --> 00:38:51,704 And I remembered that from reading those reports, 707 00:38:51,704 --> 00:38:55,750 whether that Tom on the phone is our Tom, 708 00:38:55,750 --> 00:38:59,128 again, I can't prove that one way or another, 709 00:38:59,128 --> 00:39:01,255 but it's just another one of those coincidences 710 00:39:01,255 --> 00:39:04,342 that you have to draw your own conclusions about. 711 00:39:05,926 --> 00:39:08,387 - [Narrator] Nemke died in 2019, 712 00:39:08,387 --> 00:39:11,181 Steve recalled reading in the early case files 713 00:39:11,181 --> 00:39:12,892 that Lee had an insurance policy 714 00:39:12,892 --> 00:39:15,561 with Jerry named as the beneficiary. 715 00:39:17,938 --> 00:39:21,067 - Jerry had recently passed away, 716 00:39:21,067 --> 00:39:25,488 and someone that he knew called me and said, 717 00:39:25,488 --> 00:39:29,241 hey, I had something information I'd like to share with you, 718 00:39:29,241 --> 00:39:31,869 and I'm always looking for information in reference 719 00:39:31,869 --> 00:39:34,163 to this case so I'm like shoot. 720 00:39:34,163 --> 00:39:37,500 And he says, I was home on leave several years ago 721 00:39:37,500 --> 00:39:41,379 and I was out to the bar drinking with a friend of Jerry's, 722 00:39:42,922 --> 00:39:46,425 and he told me that Jerry was all drunk in a bar one night 723 00:39:46,425 --> 00:39:50,721 talking, and he told him that he had hired some guy 724 00:39:50,721 --> 00:39:53,099 that he was in prison with to kill his wife, 725 00:39:53,099 --> 00:39:54,767 so he could collect the insurance money. 726 00:39:54,767 --> 00:39:57,395 And not only that, he said he knew when it was gonna happen, 727 00:39:57,395 --> 00:40:00,773 so he was sure to make sure he established an alibi 728 00:40:00,773 --> 00:40:02,608 for the timeframe of her death. 729 00:40:04,068 --> 00:40:06,445 We know Thomas is deceased, 730 00:40:07,321 --> 00:40:10,408 we also know that Jerry is now deceased. 731 00:40:10,408 --> 00:40:13,536 Those two men may have taken the secret to Lee's homicide 732 00:40:13,536 --> 00:40:14,829 with them to the grave. 733 00:40:17,373 --> 00:40:20,000 - And that was one unfortunate part of this whole case 734 00:40:20,000 --> 00:40:22,253 is we won't ever actually be able to go 735 00:40:22,253 --> 00:40:24,755 and throw him in jail, but at least we know who it is 736 00:40:24,755 --> 00:40:27,049 and I think that is some closure for us. 737 00:40:27,049 --> 00:40:30,428 And obviously he can't victimize another person now, so. 738 00:40:31,971 --> 00:40:34,056 - [Narrator] Steve Andrews is quick to praise 739 00:40:34,056 --> 00:40:37,393 the investigators who preceded him on Lee's case 740 00:40:37,393 --> 00:40:39,854 working diligently over the years. 741 00:40:41,689 --> 00:40:44,150 - The work that they did was unbelievable, 742 00:40:44,150 --> 00:40:46,819 I look back and I read through their reports that they did 743 00:40:46,819 --> 00:40:48,027 and all the work that they did, 744 00:40:48,027 --> 00:40:49,196 all the people they talked to, 745 00:40:49,196 --> 00:40:52,366 the suspects they interviewed, the polygraphs they did, 746 00:40:52,366 --> 00:40:54,118 the witnesses that they interviewed, 747 00:40:54,118 --> 00:40:57,621 the reaching out to other agencies to look 748 00:40:57,621 --> 00:41:02,543 for similar cases with similar MOs, the call records 749 00:41:02,543 --> 00:41:05,337 for what they were at that time that they dug into, 750 00:41:05,337 --> 00:41:10,050 again looking for potential flights coming into town 751 00:41:10,050 --> 00:41:13,137 and leaving that may have brought somebody. 752 00:41:13,137 --> 00:41:15,931 And once they've exhausted every option 753 00:41:15,931 --> 00:41:17,725 that they had available to 'em at the time, 754 00:41:17,725 --> 00:41:19,810 and every one of the leads that they had followed up 755 00:41:19,810 --> 00:41:22,438 to that point led to a dead end. 756 00:41:24,106 --> 00:41:26,150 - [Narrator] And the green florist's foam 757 00:41:26,150 --> 00:41:30,404 at the crime scene, it's origins remain a mystery. 758 00:41:32,114 --> 00:41:36,327 - It was literally the change in technology in the timeframe 759 00:41:36,327 --> 00:41:39,538 of when this case went cold for them until I picked it up 760 00:41:39,538 --> 00:41:42,958 is what made all the difference in the world in this case. 761 00:41:44,168 --> 00:41:47,213 - I think anytime we're dealing with a true victim, 762 00:41:47,213 --> 00:41:49,422 we wanna solve the case if we owe it to them, 763 00:41:49,422 --> 00:41:51,300 especially if it's in a case of a homicide 764 00:41:51,300 --> 00:41:54,553 where we can't talk to them, we can't ask them questions, 765 00:41:55,763 --> 00:41:58,306 our goal is to try to bring justice 766 00:41:58,306 --> 00:42:00,392 to the loved ones of this victim. 767 00:42:02,353 --> 00:42:07,274 - Lee had a life, she had family, she was a daughter, 768 00:42:07,274 --> 00:42:10,069 she was a sister, she was a mother 769 00:42:11,070 --> 00:42:12,696 and it's important for those people. 770 00:42:13,822 --> 00:42:16,992 - [Narrator] In a case that spent 40 years the diligence 771 00:42:16,992 --> 00:42:19,536 and dedication of law enforcement officers, 772 00:42:19,536 --> 00:42:22,998 along with tremendous strides in DNA technology 773 00:42:22,998 --> 00:42:27,002 and the help of a young genealogy genius would finally see 774 00:42:27,002 --> 00:42:31,297 the murder of Lee Rotatori solved. 775 00:42:36,512 --> 00:42:39,348 (intense music)