SAN FRANCISCO 1976 Cold Case Solved After 33 Years — The Killer Was the Deacon

Jenny Read cold case: a San Francisco cold case, a 1976 murder solved by DNA after 33 years. The DNA pointed to James Mayfield, a trusted church deacon — an unsolved murder solved. True crime, told for listening. ▶ EVERY CASE — one playlist, built for listening:    • No More Cold Crime   ★ ANOTHER CASE ★ • 41-Year Cold Case Solved: DNA on a Soda Can Caught Him —    • 41-Year Cold Case Solved: DNA on a Soda Ca...   In 1976, sculptor Jenny Read was murdered in her art studio on San Francisco's Potrero Hill. The case went cold for over three decades — until a DNA match led investigators to a name nobody expected: a trusted deacon at a San Francisco church. This is the true story of the Jenny Read cold case — how a 1976 unsolved murder was finally solved in 2009 through DNA testing, and how the man responsible, James Lee Mayfield, spent 33 years hiding in plain sight as a respected member of his community before a courtroom finally confronted him with the truth. CHAPTERS 0:00 Cold Open 0:44 The Sculptor on 15th Street 2:39 May 19th, 1976 4:34 A Case That Stopped Moving 5:28 What Changed 6:38 The Man the System Already Knew 8:56 Thirty-Three Years at the Altar 10:34 The Arrest 11:28 Thirty-Seven Years Later — A Trial 14:40 What Was Left This video is based on public court records, contemporaneous news coverage, and published case documentation. Sources include the San Francisco Examiner, SF Weekly, ABC7 News, SFGate, and California appellate court records (People v. Mayfield, A140801). Subscribe — one cold case, told properly, every Monday and Friday.