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Investigators in Iowa revealed in February 2022 that they successfully connected the 1982 fatal stabbing of Lee Rotatori to an Illinois truck driver named Thomas O. Freeman, who was discovered buried in a shallow grave months later, using genealogical information.
Rotatori, 32, was fatally stabbed by Thomas O. Freeman in June 1982 at the Best Western Frontier Hotel in Iowa. Authorities claimed that Rotatori, who had recently relocated from Michigan to Iowa for work at the time of the murder, was residing at the hotel. Her dead body was found by the hotel staff. An examination revealed that she was s*xually assaulted and died of a fatal stab wound to the heart.
On Sunday, ID's On the Case With Paula Zahn will explore Lee Rotatori's decades-old case that remains a mystery even after the perpetrator was identified and directly connected to the murder. The upcoming episode will air at 10 pm ET.
The article discusses a few chilling details about the case one must know.
Five essentially chilling details about Lee Rotatori's 1982 murder case
1) Lee Rotatori went for an outing with co-workers a day before she was found dead
Lee Rotatori spent nearly a week residing at the hotel while training for her new position at Council Bluffs' Jennie Edmundson Hospital. Jerry Nemke, Rotatori's husband at the time, stayed in Michigan while she moved to Iowa for work.
Rotatori reportedly spent a day out with her co-workers on June 24, 1982, one day before she was found stabbed to death in the hotel room. She went boating for a few hours with her colleagues. As the group dispersed at night, Rotatori made a quick stop at McDonald's to get some food before heading back to the hotel.
The last people to see her alive were employees at McDonald's and the food she ordered was just for herself. No one from the hotel staff saw her entering her ground-floor room that night.
2) Rotatori was found lifeless on the bed and her belongings were missing
On the afternoon of June 25, 1982, Lee Rotatori's body was discovered in Room 106 at the Best Western Frontier Motor Lodge in Council Bluffs. She was found on the right side of the bed, still in her pajamas, laying on her back in a pool of blood.
She was stabbed once in the heart and had probably been dead for 12 hours when her body was discovered. The police did not discover any evidence of a struggle or forced entry.
However, sources state that a number of Lee Rotatori's personal belongings, including her pocketbook and some jewelry, were reported stolen from her room at the time of her death. Officials, however, believe that robbery was not the motive. Former police captain Eldon Jones reportedly stated that the hotel room was not messy and that it did not seem like "somebody was looking for something."
3) Victim's husband, Jerry Nemke, was a suspect in the 1982 murder case
Jerry Nemke, Lee Rotatori's husband at the time of the murder, who had a lengthy criminal history, was the first person the police considered the killer. In April 1960, Nemke was found guilty of murdering a 16-year-old waitress named Marilyn Duncan after he was sent to Marseilles Youth Camp for vehicle theft.
In May 1960, he admitted to the crime at the age of 17 upon being caught stealing another car. Jerry was later given a death sentence. However, the ruling was reversed less than two years later, and he was found guilty once more in a new trial and sentenced to 75–100 years in jail. After serving only a fraction of his sentence, he married Lee Rotatori in August 1978.
Detectives closely investigated Nemke during his wife's murder investigation. However, he had a strong alibi and was reportedly in Michigan at the time of the crime. He was thus dismissed as a potential culprit.
4) DNA evidence collected from the scene helped in identifying the killer
The absence of contemporary forensic technology prevented the authorities from identifying a suspect at the time, despite the fact that they had found some forensic evidence at Lee Rotatori's murder scene.
As forensic science advanced, evidence gathered from the 1982 murder scene was examined once more in 2001, and the profile of an unidentified male was uncovered. Years later, in 2019, the profile was then sent to Parabon Nanolabs for phenotyping.
In 2021, together with an 18-year-old student, Eric Schubert, it was confirmed that the DNA belonged to Thomas O. Freeman after using a method to establish family ties from genetic data. The alleged killer's daughter provided a DNA sample which soon proved to be a perfect match to the one acquired nearly 40 years ago.
5) Lee Rotatori's killer, Thomas O. Freeman, was found buried in a shallow grave
Even though Lee Rotatori's identified murderer, Thomas O. Freeman, was eventually found, he was never held accountable for the crime given that he died about four months after her body was found in the hotel room.
Sources state that on October 30, 1982, Freeman's remains were uncovered in a shallow grave just outside of Cobden, Illinois, in the woods. Investigators claimed that the man was gunned down and then buried in the grave. Further reports state that his body was buried for about three months before being found.
Freeman's killer was never identified, and it is uncertain if there is a possible connection between the two deaths. Nonetheless, officials claim that connecting both the murders and finding a possible link might help them solve the decades-old mystery.
Lee Rotatori's case is set to air as part of On the Case With Paula Zahn's upcoming episode this Sunday.
