Dave Morris Sun news Memories of the 1959 suspicious death of 17-year-old Lisbon resident Marlene Padfield remain hazy at best for a Cedar Rapids doctor who was a part of the investigation. Dr. Percy Harris, now 82, of Cedar Rapids, was the deputy coroner in 1959 and examined her partially clothed body at the site where it was found outdoors three miles west of Mount Vernon. He said he remembers little about the day she was discovered, other than that it was west of Mount Vernon. Every now and then, something comes up about her, he said, referring to interest in the cold case. The last person who tried to do a documentary about (the case) couldnt find anything. Although the files on the case have been described by the Linn County Sheriffs Department as voluminous, their contents are considered confidential since the 51-year-old unsolved case is considered an ongoing investigation. Although several suspects were interviewed at the time, authorities couldnt come up with specific enough evidence to link a suspect to the crime. Little was reported around the time of Marlene Padfields death or since about her father, Hammond Padfield. He died within two years of his daughters death and they are buried near each other at Cedar Memorial Park cemetery in Cedar Rapids. Clair Whitman of Lisbon rode to work with Hammond Padfield for five or six months when both were employed in Cedar Rapids. Whitman was an electrician at the Sixth Street Power Station for what was then the Iowa Electric Light and Power Co. (now Alliant Energy). Padfield worked at the Wilson packing plant. Whitman was charged $1 per day for the rides. We lived near them, three houses from them, Whitman told the Sun this week. Even so, the families werent close. I knew where they lived, down the street from me on the same side of the street. Whitman said he couldnt recall much about Padfield, but remembered him as a common guy, more on the quiet order. Their rides together ended when Whitman began working different shifts. When asked for more details about the events of more than 51 years ago, Whitman added, Now its hard to remember.

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