Jodi Huisentruit disappeared 30 years ago: Timeline

(NewsNation) — News anchor Jodi Huisentruit disappeared 30 years ago and her case remains unsolved despite recent developments. Here’s what is known about her disappearance.

June 26, 1995

Jodi Huisentruit’s last known movements came the day before she disappeared. In the morning, she worked on the morning and noon shows at KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa, as an anchor and producer.

Later in the day, she attended a golf tournament fundraiser, joining her team at a country club for dinner. Two of her golf partners said she told them she’d been getting annoying phone calls and was going to change her phone number.

In the evening, she called a friend and spoke to the friend’s husband, who said she sounded cheerful and didn’t seem worried about anything.

During the investigation, John Vansice, a much older friend of Huisentruit’s, told police she stopped by his house to get a videotape that night.

June 27, 1995

4:00 a.m.: When Huiseintruit didn’t show up at work at her usual 3 a.m. start time, producer Amy Kuns called and woke her up. She said Huisentruit sounded okay on the phone.

5:00 a.m.: Huisentruit still had not arrived for work, so Kuns tried to reach her again and failed.

7:00 a.m.: After Huisentruit was still not at work, a coworker called the police to check on her.

7:16 a.m.: Mason City Police officers showed up to Huisentruit’s apartment and found signs indicating a crime had occurred in the parking lot.

Huisentruit’s car was still in the lot and there were signs of a struggle, including drag marks on the pavement and a bent car key found nearby. Huisentruit’s high heels, blow dryer and earrings were scattered on the ground by the car. Police found a partial palm print on the car.

Inside Huisentruit’s apartment, nothing seemed out of place. In interviews with neighbors, some people said they heard a scream around 4:30 a.m. but didn’t call the police. A man who lived nearby said he saw a light-colored van in the lot but it was never located.

Vansice also showed up at the crime scene that morning, which is when he told officers about Huisentruit’s visit with him.

Police assembled search teams but did not find Huisentruit even as the search expanded.

July 3, 1995

Police call off searches for Huisentruit but continue to work on the case, which is being treated as an abduction.

September 1995

Huisentruit’s family hired private investigators and appeared on national television to try to make progress on the case.

Over the years, police and private investigators conducted more than 1,000 interviews but none led to finding Huisentruit.

May 2001

Huisentruit’s family had her legally declared dead.

Mar. 17, 2017

Police executed a search warrant on Vansice, whom they identified as a person of interest.

October 2024

Police searched a construction site in rural Minnesota after a tip.

November 2024

Private investigator Steve Ridge, who has been working on the case since 2019, said in interviews that Huisentruit had a new boyfriend at the time of her disappearance, who was questioned and cleared by police. Ridge said he believes jealousy played a role in Huisentruit’s disappearance.

Ridge told NewsNation he has narrowed the suspect pool down to four people, though he did not name them.