Frances Bloomfield
Frances Bloomfield
57 YOA
38 Wakefield Court
Iowa City, IA
Johnson County
September 22, 1997
Frances Bloomfield, 57, was reported missing from her Iowa City home on Monday, September 22, 1997, by her husband, John Bloomfield, who had just returned home from a business conference in France. John Bloomfield — a researcher at the University of Iowa’s Center for Computer-Aided Design — made a 911 call at 6:32 a.m. telling Iowa City police his wife was missing and that there were several areas in the home spotted and pooled with blood.
Also missing was Frances’ red 1994 Honda Accord with Iowa Sesquicentennial license plate number SO51154.
Around 5 p.m. that same day, Bloomfield’s body was found in a ditch along a highway about a half-mile south of Rockford, Ill. Her hands and feet had been tied with rope and she’d been wrapped in two large black trash bags secured with duct tape. Cause of death was strangulation by ligature — a cord or similar device — and investigators believed she’d been killed in her 38 Wakefield Court home. Detectives found bloodstains in the house and on the floor of the home’s attached garage.
According to a Cedar Rapids Gazette article dated September 26, 1997, Bloomfield was found dressed in faded blue jeans and a sweater over a shirt. She wore two rings on her left ring finger, two necklaces, and hoop earrings, said Winnebago County (Ill.) Sheriff Richard Meyers.
Winnebago County coroner Sue Fiduccia said Bloomfield had been dead about two days, and that she’d found nothing indicating the Iowa City woman had been sexually assaulted. Fiduccia said there were other signs of trauma to Bloomfield’s body, but declined to discuss specifics. Toxicology tests revealed no drugs or chemicals in Bloomfield’s system.
Courtesy photo Cedar Rapids GazetteAuthorities couldn’t pinpoint exactly how long Bloomfield’s body lay in the ditch, but Meyers said it couldn’t have been very long; it had rained on Sunday, he said, and there was no evidence of rain on the garbage bags containing Bloomfield’s body.
Tom Reichert, who lived a quarter mile from where the body was found, said he’d driven by the site around 3:30 p.m. that Monday but hadn’t seen anything in the ditch. He said he believes the body was placed there sometime between 3:30 and 5 p.m.
Meyers said an unidentified motorist — who asked not to be identified — said he found the found the body when he stopped to check his engine.
Reichert told the Gazette that Simpson Road is close to Highway 20, a major thoroughfare between Dubuque and Rockford. Highway 20 turns into Interstate 90 and leads into Chicago. The body, Reichert said, was found about halfway along an eight-tenths-of-a-mile stretch where there are no houses.
Neighbors told officials they last saw Bloomfield outside her home Saturday afternoon, Sept. 20 between 5:30 and 6 p.m. The Bloomfields had moved from Minneapolis to Iowa City in 1995 after John left his position with the Honeywell Corp. and accepted a position with the University of Iowa. English natives, the couple had lived in the U.S. since 1972.
According to a Daily Iowan story published Nov. 25, 1997, a search warrant on Bloomfield’s home turned up several evidentiary items, including:
Other items seized included 30 pairs of pantyhose, 15 duct tape samples, plastic bags, linens, and a book titled “How to Get Out of Debt and Stay Out of Debt.”
The Daily Iowan’s Steven Cook wrote:
Locations of stains found by police in the home included an upstairs bedroom, a wall at the bottom of the stairs and two stains in the garage. Also, a “drag mark” with a stain was found in an upstairs hallway.
John Bloomfield filed expense vouchers with Univ. of Iowa stating he was in France from Sept. 13 through Sept. 19, and said that on September 21 he’d traveled to Albuquerque, New Mexico, for another conference but returned home early because of a family emergency.
According to the search warrant, however, Frances Bloomfield had made arrangements for John to call her Sept. 20 when he returned from his trip to France. John Bloomfield allegedly told police that when he couldn’t reach his wife, he’d rented a car from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport and returned home.
Investigators tried to piece together John Bloomfield’s actual whereabouts on specific dates while processing a crime scene that indeed took them east of Iowa; Frances Bloomfield’s car was found November 25 in a New Jersey airport parking lot, more than 1,000 miles away from the Iowa crime scene.
Though its license plates were missing, officials confirmed the vehicle belonged to Bloomfield by the vehicle identification processed through the National Crime Information Center computer network.
Iowa City police Sgt. Jim Steffen told the DI that finding the vehicle was the most important part of the investigation.
Bill Cahill, spokesperson for the New Jersey Port Authority, said Iowa police were conducting forensic tests on the vehicle.
A Gazette article dated Dec. 12, 1997, said Iowa City investigators took floor mats, a piece of plastic, hairs and a few other items from Frances Bloomfield’s car. According to the Gazette:
Investigators took the piece of plastic from the rear floor area as well, though documents do not indicate if it is the same kind of plastic in which Bloomfield was wrapped.
Hairs were seized from the console area of the vehicle and a card with instructions to use the car’s defogger was taken from the glove box. Investigators made prints of the tire tread and also lifted a white substance, unidentified in documents, from above the driver’s door.
The spare tire cover was taken from the trunk, according to the search warrant, and investigators vacuumed the front, rear and trunk areas of the car looking for evidence.
Courtesy the Daily Iowan, Sept. 22, 1998
One year after Bloomfield’s murder, investigators said the case remained open but there was a possibility it may never be solved.
“At this time the statistics are against us in solving the case, but that doesn’t mean we will stop investigating,” said Dan Sellers, Iowa City Police Department investigations commander, in a Daily Iowan story published September 22, 1998. Sellers said the department was reviewing the case file to ensure nothing was overlooked.
John Bloomfield was questioned as to his whereabouts during the time of his wife’s murder — specifically the amount of time it took to drive from Chicago (where he arrived from Paris) to his Iowa City home.
“He is a suspect, but so is everyone else that we have spoken with in the past year,” Sellers told the Daily Iowan. “He has not been ruled out, but he hasn’t been charged with anything, either.”
John Bloomfield’s attorney, Leon Spies, said his client had been extremely cooperative with police.
In May 1999, the company that provided a $100,000 life insurance benefit to Frances Bloomfield asked the Johnson County District Court for permission to deposit the insurance proceeds with a court designee rather than directly with Bloomfield’s family and estate.
In a Gazette article dated May 11, 1999, Unum Life Insurance Co. of North America, based in Maine, stated it would subject itself to multiple and conflicting claims if it paid Frances Bloomfield’s primary beneficiary, John Bloomfield. In its petition, Unum named John Bloomfield, the Bloomfields’ sons Stuart and James, and Frances Bloomfield’s estate, and asked that it be allowed to deposit the $100,000 with the clerk of court or with another court designee and be released from further obligation under the insurance policy.
In a petition filed May 10, 2001 in Johnson County District Court, Guardian Life stated that Bloomfield’s sons were her natural heirs. The petition also stated that John Bloomfield had filed for bankruptcy in a U.S. district court in Massachusetts.
While living in Minneapolis, Frances spent 15 years coordinating production at Courage Center, a greeting card manufacturer that helped rehabilitate people seriously injured in accidents. She did not work outside the home in Iowa City.
Memorial services were held simultaneously in Minneapolis and England on Thursday, October 2, 1997, with interment in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis.
According to a Gazette article published October 3 by writer Harvey T. Rockwood, the Minneapolis memorial service included music by the Beatles, W.H. Auden poetry, and music from the film soundtrack “Out of Africa.”
In addition to her husband and many friends from the Minneapolis area, Frances was survived by her two adult sons, Stuart and James, who lived outside of Iowa.
Anyone with information regarding Frances Bloomfield’s unsolved murder is asked to contact the Iowa City Police Department at 319-356-5280.
Sounds like the husband did It.