Linda Mayfield (Courtesy Council Bluffs Police Department)

Linda Mayfield

Homicide

Pottawattamie County in Iowa
 
Council Bluffs in
Pottawattamie County

 
On April 9, 1982 at 2:18 a.m., officers were called to the Starlite Motel at 3320 West Broadway in Council Bluffs, Iowa, regarding a disturbance involving a man with a knife. When officers arrived at the scene, Linda Mayfield, 21, was found lying face down by the north office door.

The responding officer said the victim had several stab wounds to her face, chest, stomach, hand and foot.

Mayfield was transported to Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs by ambulance and died in surgery at 4:00 a.m.

A witness in the case — a friend of Linda’s — stated the offender was a Caucasian male, 26-28 years of age, 5’7 to 5’10, clean shaven, and wearing a blue jean jacket, light blue pullover shirt that had an emblem on it and blue jeans.

Courtesy photo Google Street View

Linda Mayfield was stabbed numerous times at the Starlite Motel in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in April 1982. Linda died during surgery two hours later.

The offender was also said to have lots of body hair that came up over his shirt collar.

The witness remembered the offender’s first name as “Chris.”

At this time the offender’s full identity is unknown and the case remains unsolved.

A Similar Murder

Less than three months after Mayfield’s murder, another young woman was also stabbed to death in a Council Bluffs motel.

On June 25, 1982 at 12:27 p.m., Council Bluffs Police officers were sent to investigate the death of a female in Room 106 of the Best Western Motel at 2216 27th Avenue. The victim was identified as 32-year-old Lee Rotatori.

Rotatori’s murder also remains unsolved.

About Linda Mayfield

Linda Mayfield was born August 8, 1960, in Nebraska.

She died April 9, 1982 at Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs.

Linda Mayfield (Courtesy Council Bluffs Police Department)

Information Needed

If you have any information regarding either of these women’s unsolved murders, please contact the Council Bluffs Police Department Criminal Investigation Division at (712) 328-4765 or Crime Stoppers at (712) 328-7867.

Sources:

• Council Bluffs Police Department
• “Cold Case: The unsolved murder of Linda Mayfield,” by Derek Sullivan, Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil and Dickinson County News, Wednesday, September 23, 2015
• “Cold Case: The Unsolved Murder of Linda Mayfield,” by Derek Sullivan, The Daily Nonpareil / The Calmar Courier, Tuesday, September 15, 2015
• “Leads and tips fade in 1982 murder of Council Bluffs woman,” by Derek Sullivan, Council Bluffs Daily Nonpareil / Mason City Globe Gazette, September 9, 2015
• “Who killed Linda Mayfield?” by Derek Sullivan, Council Bluffs Nonpareil / Times-Republican, September 6, 2015
• “Cold Case: The unsolved murder of Linda Mayfield,” by Derek Sullivan, nonpareilonline.com, Part of the GONE COLD: EXPLORING IOWA’S UNSOLVED MURDERS series, Sunday, August 2, 2015
• Find a Grave Memorial for Linda Mayfield
• “United States Social Security Death Index,” index, FamilySearch.org, Linda Mayfield, Apr 1982; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).