Episode 70 Lee Rotatori
Lee Rotatori
Lee Rotatori’s killer
In June 1982, Lee Rotatori was excited for the new job that meant a move to Council Bluffs, Iowa. But when Lee was found murdered in the Best Western there, police were stumped. The only clue was floral foam on the floor, and there were no suspects. Lee knew only a few people in town, and her husband was over 600 miles away when she was raped and stabbed in Room 106. Her case went cold. When forensic genealogy pointed to a man named Thomas Freeman as her killer, it just added to the mystery. Freeman had been murdered within weeks of Lee, and his killer was unknown. And, he had no connection whatsoever to Council Bluffs, or Lee. But he did have a connection to Carbondale, IL, where he lived 15 miles from Lee’s husband Jerry Nemke – who had a history of his own.