Fresh clues on the notorious 1995 disappearance of TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit will be available within weeks.
A 2017 search warrant related to GPS tracking of vehicles belonging to a ‘person of interest’ in the case are due to be partially unsealed, KTTC reports.
It is hoped the filings may shed some light on the curious case, which has baffled authorities for the last three decades.
Iowa Newscaster Huisentruit, 27, disappeared from the parking lot of her apartment complex in Mason City on the morning of July 27, 1995.
She was on her way to anchor the morning news at KIMT-TV when she suddenly vanished into thin air.
Evidence found at the scene pointed to a possible struggle and abduction, but nobody has ever been charged.
John Vansice, who was 50 at the time and friends with Huisentruit, told police he was the last person to see her alive after the journalist came over to watch a video tape of her surprise birthday party.
He was identified as a ‘person of interest’, but insisted he was not linked to her disappearance.
New documents linked to the mysterious 1995 disappearance of TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit will be unsealed following a court order
A 2017 search warrant related to GPS tracking of vehicles belonging to ‘person of interest’ in the case John Vansice are due to be partially unsealed
Judge James Drew ruled Thursday that a 2017 search warrant related to GPS tracking on two of his vehicles could be partially unsealed, as the documents ‘do not contain information that would compromise the investigation if made public’.
The application for a search warrant, endorsement for a search warrant, search warrant itself and the return of the search warrant are all set to be unsealed, KTT reports.
However, an affidavit by Mason City Police Investigator Terrance Prochaska filed in support of the application will remain sealed.
The 2017 application was lodged to allow investigators to place two tracking devices on Vansice’s 1999 Honda Civic and a 2013 GMC SUV as he prepared to moved from Iowa to Arizona.
Attorneys Nellie O’Mara and Jesse Marzen filed the motion requesting it be fully unsealed, arguing that it would bring closure Vansice’s family. Vansice died in December last year.
He was never declared a suspect and it is hoped the unsealing may help reveal whether there was a potential case against Vansice or if he was completely innocent.
But Judge Drew stopped short of fully unsealing the 2017 application, stating that the nature of the contents mean that its release could jeopardize the investigation.
The affidavit reportedly contains sensitive information about items recovered, scene observations and timings which would only be known by the perpetrator and investigators, the FindJodi organization reports.
That could suggest another possible perpetrator whose identity investigators know and who they do not wish to spook as they continue probing Huisentruit’s disappearance.
Judge Drew noted that there is no statue of limitations for murder in Iowa.
Huisentruit was in the parking lot of her apartment complex in Mason City, Iowa on the morning of July 27, 1995 and on her way to anchor the morning news
Police found Huisentruit’s red high-heeled shoe next to her car before she was abducted
‘The court recognizes this is an extremely high-profile case,’ he said in the ruling.’The high level of public curiosity is understandable. However, what the public would like to know is often very different from what the public needs to know or should know.
‘Mere curiosity is never a sufficient reason for potentially interfering in an ongoing criminal investigation, especially of a major crime,.’
On the morning of her disappearance, the station’s producer called Huisentruit’s apartment and woke her up.
She said she would be there soon for her 6am newscast that would be broadcast live. The station was about a mile away from her home.
Her co-workers grew concerned when hours passed and she did not arrive. They called police requesting a welfare check.
When officers arrived to the Key Apartments in Mason City, Iowa they found red high heels, a blow dryer, earrings and hairspray scattered by her red Mazda Miata.
The believe she was abducted about 20 minutes after leaving her apartment building and next to her car that was parked approximately 12 steps from the entrance of her apartment building.’
Huisentriut pictured anchoring the 6am morning news
Jodi Huisentruit’s apartment in Mason City, Iowa from where she was abducted
During the struggle with her abductor, the key to Jodi’s red 1991 Mazda Miata was slightly bent.
Police said there ‘was evidence of a struggle outside the apartment building.’ They also found a ‘partial palm print’ on the car.
However, there are no eyewitnesses to the abduction and no surveillance cameras to record what happened.
Some neighbors had reported hearing a scream at around 4:30am, but no one called police.
There was very little forensic evidence found at the crime scene, and the case eventually went cold. In 2001, Huisentruit was legally declared dead.
Two years later, friends and former coworkers Josh Benson and Gary Peterson created the non-profit FindJodi, Inc. to keep the her memory alive and help in solving the case.
In 2023, a private investigator claimed to have unearthed evidence that Huisentruit had embarked on a short ‘fling’ with an unnamed man who was staying at a home on Clear Lake.
Jodi disappeared after failing to turn up to her job at a news station in Mason City, Iowa
Jodi Huisentruit was from Long Prairie, Minnesota and described a ‘hometown girl.’ One of the local merchants decorated their store window for Christmas in 1996 with a painting of her
Steve Ridge said that five days before she went missing, Jodi met her date at his lakeside home, where they sat on the back deck, which he managed to get access to in order to document it.
‘The last time she had a date – it’s such a powerful picture…a few days later Jodi was gone,’ he told the Sun.
He revealed that local cops put the mystery man under surveillance after identifying him as a person of interest in the case, ‘even [scooping] up his street-side garbage for examination.’
The investigator is convinced that her fling with this man played an important part in her disappearance.
‘I am certain that his quickly blossoming relationship with Jodi played a central role in her abduction days later,’ Ridge said.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Mason City Police Department at (641) 421-3636, the Iowa DCI Special Agent Ryan Herman at rherman@dps.state.ia.us or contact FindJodi.com.
