US5 min(s) read
Published 12:07 29 Jun 2026 GMT
It was first reported 31 years ago that KIMT morning news anchor Jodi Huisentruit went missing while on her way to work in Mason City, Iowa.
The US reporter vanished in June 1995, with her personal belongings found near her vehicle and across the parking lot, with police believing she was abducted.
But to this day, nobody is sure about what really happened to the reporter.
Authorities were given tips over the years, investigating persons of interest, but a suspect was never named in the case, and Huisentruit was never found.
Six years on from her disappearance, in 2001, she was declared legally dead at 32, but the case remains active.
Jeff Brinkley, police chief of Mason City, admitted to NewsNation in a June 2025 interview that "the case is absolutely solvable."
On June 27, 1995, Huisentruit appeared to be late for work, as news producers at KIMT recalled calling her at around 4AM, as she hadn't shown up on time.
She picked up the phone, saying that she had overslept and would be there soon.
The reporter lived alone in an apartment in Mason City, around a mile away from her job, according to CNN, but her colleagues were worried when she still hadn't shown up by 6AM.
A producer had to fill in for her on the day's morning show, with KIMT staff soon notifying police of the situation.
When police arrived at her apartment complex, they found evidence that there was an altercation when the reporter was trying to get into her car.
Huisentruit's car keys were bent and on the floor near her vehicle, while personal items such as earrings, high heels, a blow dryer, and hair spray were spread across the parking lot.
There was also an unidentified partial palm print found on her car.
Foul play wasn't suspected at first, but this evidence suggested otherwise.
A Mason City Police Department officer explained in a Hulu trailer for docuseries Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit: “Things went from we're just looking for somebody missing to we're looking for somebody that was abducted.”
But apart from these items, authorities didn't find other substantial clues at the scene of her disappearance - it was reported that her building had no security cameras.
Earlier this month, a private investigator named Steve Ridge claimed that he found a potential suspect after an unidentified woman came forward with new information about a former boyfriend.
Speaking to KTTC, he said: “Essentially, it's a woman, who I surfaced, who had a relationship with a suspect in the case almost immediately after Jodi went missing,” adding that she had evidence to support the claim.
“In a moment of exasperation or anger, he was slamming the steering wheel and saying, ‘I didn't do it. I didn't do it,' but he finally said, ‘I did it,'” the P.I claimed.
Ridge then passed his findings to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation and pledged a $100,000 reward for information leading to the reporter's remains.
The news reporter had indicated that she was concerned for her well-being in the months leading up to her disappearance.
She had filed a police report detailing that a “suspicious subject” was “following her, driving a small white newer pickup” in October 1994.
ABC News also reported that she started taking self-defense classes, and the day before she vanished, Huisentruit played in a charity golf tournament at the Mason City Country Club.
Two of her team members said she wanted to change phone numbers after receiving harassing calls.
John Vansice, a friend of Huisentruit's whom she saw the night before her disappearance, was the most predominant lead in the case.
He told police that Huisentruit had visited his house the night before she disappeared to watch videos from a birthday party he helped organize for her.
CBS News reported that a judge unsealed a portion of a 2017 search warrant into Vansice's vehicle movements in April 2025.
They also monitored other vehicles owned by Vansice, with police publicly admitting that no useful information came from the search.
Tragically, the news reporter has never been found, nor has her abductor or killer been identified.
In the years since her disappearance, journalists and former police officers have formed an organization named FindJodi.com, hoping that they can keep attention on her case, searching for new information on her disappearance.
The group said in a statement via CBS News on the 30th anniversary of Huisentruit's disappearance in June 2025: “Don't make Jodi Huisentruit's family and friends wait another year for you to come forward,” telling the abductor that "they need answers and justice."
The Mason City police and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation continue to look into Huisentruit's disappearance.
