DNA ID Replay; The case of Lee Rotatori

DNA: ID

AbJack Entertainment

Society & Culture, True Crime

4.7 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2025

⏱️ 96 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Episode 169 DNA ID Replay; The case of Lee Rotatori

While Jess is on winter break preparing new episodes of DNA ID for 2026, we are airing some of our favorite one part episodes weekly in what we call 'DNA ID Replay' episodes. These Replay episodes will air every week while on break with the exception of Christmas week.

In this replay episode, we explore the case of Lee Rotatori which originally aired in episode 70.

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.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to DNAID.
0:03.5	Brought to you by Abject Entertainment.
0:05.8	Be sure to check out some of the other great true crime podcasts from this network,
0:10.2	including The Murder in My Family, Missing Persons, Scene of the Crime, Zodiac speaking,
0:16.5	Beyond Bizarre True Crime, Campus Killings, and Killer Communications.
0:22.2	All of these podcasts are available for you to binge on right now, wherever you listen to podcasts.
0:27.6	Subscribe where you're listening to this podcast so you don't miss an episode. The
0:40.3	The The The Thank you. It was 1982.
1:23.9	Police and Council Bluffs, Iowa, received a call to the Best Western Village Inn, located at 2216-27th Avenue at the intersections of I-29 and I-80.
1:35.4	The call came in on June 25th at 1227 p.m. Arriving officers Larry Charleston and Lyle Brown were greeted by the motel manager, who led them to room 106 on report of a possible dead person.
1:49.3	Room 106 was dark except for the small bedside table lamp between the two beds being illuminated and the TV, loudly showing Channel 7.
1:58.9	The officers noted a white female lying on her back on the left hand of the two
2:03.4	beds as they were facing into the room, the westernmost bed. The woman was dead. She wore a pale blue
2:09.8	nightshirt pushed up over her breasts and no pants, but a towel was draped over her waist area.
2:16.3	A single stab wound glared below her left breast.
2:20.0	Blood was smeared on her arm near the pillow and on her torso.
2:23.8	Blood also marred a pillow next to the left side of her body.
2:27.2	One arm was still tucked underneath her, and restraint marks encircled her visible right
2:31.9	wrist.
2:33.0	Her arms had clearly been tied behind her back.
2:38.0	Rescue squad personnel also arrived, as did offers Montaigne and R.L. Miller. Everyone was
2:43.5	herded out of the room, and Officer Miller guarded the door to preserve the scene. They called in the
	...

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