The news anchor, who was best known for leading KIMT's morning newscast, disappeared while on her way to work in Mason City, Iowa, in June 1995. While police didn't initially think foul play was involved, evidence outside her home -- including her personal belongings tossed across the floor -- led them to believe otherwise.
Though authorities received numerous tips over the years and investigated several persons of interest, no suspect was ever named in Husinetruit's case, and she was never found. In 2001, she was declared legally dead at 32.
Still, over 30 years after Huisentruit's disappearance, her case remains active in hopes of one day bringing closure and justice to her family. "I think that the case is absolutely solvable," Jeff Brinkley, police chief of Mason City, told NewsNation in a June 2025 interview.
Most recently, the three-part Hulu docuseries Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit, which began streaming on July 15, explores the unsolved case in depth, featuring "never-before-seen material and new, groundbreaking information."
So what happened to Jodi Huisentruit? Here's everything to know about the local news anchor's mysterious disappearance.
Huisentruit was on her way to work the morning of June 27, 1995, when she vanished. One of her producers at KIMT called Huisentruit around 4 a.m. to check up on her after she hadn't shown up on time. In response, Huisentruit explained that she had accidentally overslept and was on her way over.
The news anchor lived alone in an apartment complex in Mason City, about a mile away from her job, per CNN. When Huisentruit still hadn't shown up to work by 6 a.m., Kuns filled in for her on the day's morning show, and the staff at KIMT soon called the police to check up on her.
When authorities arrived at her apartment complex, they found evidence suggesting that an altercation had taken place while Huisentruit was trying to enter her car. Her car keys were bent and lying on the ground near the vehicle. Her personal items -- including earrings, high heels, blow dryer and hair spray -- were strewn across the lot. They also found an unidentified partial palm print on her car.
Though police initially didn't suspect foul play, the evidence discovered at the scene of Huisentruit's disappearance quickly pointed toward suspicious circumstances.
"Things went from we're just looking for somebody missing to we're looking for somebody that was abducted," a Mason City Police Department officer said in a trailer for docuseries Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit.
Beyond her personal belongings and the palm print, authorities found no other substantial clues at the scene of Huisentruit's disappearance. Notably, her building had no security cameras, according to CNN.
Prior to going missing, Huisentruit had given indications that she was concerned about her well-being and safety.
In October 1994, about nine months before she vanished, Huisentruit filed a police report saying a "suspicious subject" was "following her, driving a small white newer pickup." As her concerns mounted, she also began taking self-defense classes, per ABC News.
The day before she disappeared, Huisentruit played in a charity golf tournament at the Mason City Country Club. Two of her team members remembered her saying that she was thinking of changing her phone number after receiving harassing phone calls, CNN reported.
While several persons of interest have captured the police's attention over the years, John Vansice -- a friend of Huisentruit's who she saw the night before her disappearance -- was perhaps their most predominant lead.
According to CNN, Vansice 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. He also complied with a court order to provide DNA, fingerprints and palm prints for the FBI's investigation.
In April 2025, a judge unsealed a portion of a 2017 search warrant into Vansice’s vehicle movements, per CBS News.
Investigators had attached GPS mobile tracking devices to a 1999 Honda Civic and a 2013 GMC Pickup Truck owned by Vansice. The data tracked a vehicle traveling from Baxter, Iowa, through Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico, before coming to a stop in Phoenix over a four-day period.
Mason City police have publicly indicated that no useful information came from the search.
Vansice was never charged or named a suspect throughout the investigation into Huisentruit’s case and maintained his innocence until his death on Dec. 6, 2024, KTTC reported.
Though investigators received numerous tips, Huisentruit was never found and her abductor or killer was never identified. She was declared legally dead in 2001 at 32.
A team of journalists and former police officers has since formed an organization named FindJodi.com in hopes of maintaining attention on Huisentruit’s case and pooling information on her disappearance that might help authorities find her.
"Don't make Jodi Huisentruit's family and friends wait another year for you to come forward," the group said in a statement (via CBS News) on the 30th anniversary of Huisentruit's disappearance in June 2025, addressing her abductor. "They need answers and justice."
As of 2025, the Mason City police and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation are still looking into Huisentruit's disappearance.