Jodi Huisentruit’s name still lingers in Mason City, Iowa — a reminder of a crime that has gone unanswered for three decades.
The 27-year-old morning news anchor for KIMT disappeared on June 27, 1995, on her way to work. What began as a routine check-in call from a producer turned into one of Iowa’s most enduring mysteries. Around 4 a.m., a colleague phoned Huisentruit after she failed to arrive for her shift. She answered, explaining she had overslept and was heading in. But when she still hadn’t shown up by 6 a.m., police were called to her apartment complex just a mile from the station.
What they found shifted the case from a welfare check to a suspected abduction. Huisentruit’s belongings — high heels, hair dryer, earrings — were scattered on the pavement. Her car keys were bent on the ground near her vehicle. A partial palm print, never matched to a suspect, was found on her car. The building had no security cameras, and there were no witnesses who could place her in those crucial moments before she vanished.
It wasn’t the first time she had expressed concerns for her safety. In October 1994, she reported to police that a man in a small white pickup had followed her. Friends and coworkers said she had taken self-defense classes and, shortly before her disappearance, spoke of harassing phone calls. The day before she went missing, she played in a charity golf tournament and mentioned possibly changing her phone number.
Over the years, investigators pursued multiple persons of interest, the most prominent being John Vansice, a friend who saw her the night before she disappeared. Vansice told police she had come by his home to watch footage from a recent birthday party he had organized for her. He cooperated with authorities, providing DNA, fingerprints, and palm prints. In 2017, investigators tracked his vehicles’ movements across several states, but police later said no useful information came from that effort. Vansice was never charged and maintained his innocence until his death in December 2024.
Despite thousands of tips, Huisentruit was never found. In 2001, she was declared legally dead at 32. Still, Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley says the case remains active and solvable.
Huisentruit’s story was all but lost to the public consciousness until July of this year when Hulu released a three-part docuseries titled Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit. This new telling of her story gave true crime fans something to chew on, and reinvigorated the case.
Advocates with FindJodi.com, a group formed by journalists and former officers, continue to look for answers in her case. On the 30th anniversary of her disappearance they issued a statement urging those with knowledge to come forward: “Don’t make Jodi Huisentruit’s family and friends wait another year. They need answers and justice.”
As of 2025, the Mason City Police Department and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation remain committed to finding out what happened that summer morning.
