Fresh search for TV anchor who mysteriously vanished nearly 30 years ago fails to find human remains
It was still dark outside when beloved Iowa TV news anchor Jodi Huisentruit was attacked and abducted as she walked from her apartment to her car in the early hours of June 27, 1995.
The 27-year-old was on her way to anchor the morning news at KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa. But she never made it.
Next June will mark 30 years since Jodi vanished but few details have emerged and what happened to her remains a mystery.
There were speculations about whether the popular news personality had a stalker. But was a stalker the same person who attacked her outside her apartment? Or was it someone she knew?
Any substantial information on the case was scarce – until last month when a tip launched a new search that has given her loved ones hope.
Investigators conducted the search in the rural Minnesota town of Winsted while following up on the undisclosed tip in the case, Mason City police confirmed to The Independent.
“It’s the first public activity in years,” former journalist Caroline Lowe told The Independent.
Lowe is part of the FindJodi team that is dedicated to the Jodi Huisentruit case.
“We look at what we can do as journalists, because we know what gets covered, and we’re diggers – we want to find out what happened to her,” Lowe said.
“It’s also in us to do what we can to keep her visible. She’s one of us. She’s part of our extended family. We owe it to her to help bring her home.”
Several weeks after the search, Lowe received an update from Winsted Police Chief Justin Heldt on Friday and shared it with The Independent.
Heldt confirmed that no human remains were found in the search but instead, farm animal remains were found in the city-owned park that is adjacent to construction at an apartment complex. He added that it is not unusual to find animal bones in a rural area like Winsted.
When Jodi failed to show up for work at 3 a.m. on the morning of June 27, 1995, her producer Amy Kuns called her at home and woke her up.
A groggy Jodi told her producer she would be right in to work, which was about a five-minute drive from her apartment.
