() A search warrant in the case of Jodi Huisentruit has been partially unsealed, revealing GPS data obtained by officers.
Huisentruit, a news anchor in Mason City, Iowa, disappeared in 1995. The case remains unsolved, though investigators believe it could still be cracked.
The search warrant reveals that police tracked John Vancise’s car and truck from Iowa to his new home in Arizona in March of 2017. Little else was revealed in the unsealed portion of the warrant.
Person of interest’s family requests warrant to be unsealed
Vancise was considered a person of interest in the case. An acquaintance of Huisentruit’s, he was believed to be the last person to see her alive and was considered a person of interest but never named as a suspect or charged in her case.
Vancise allegedly called the news station to ask if Huisentruit was there before she had been reported missing, which led police to question him. Vancise said at the time that he had cooperated with investigators and was not involved in her disappearance.
Vancise’s family petitioned for the warrant to be unsealed to clear his name after his death in 2024. Huisentruit’s family objected, fearing information in the warrant could compromise the investigation if it were made public.
However, a judge recently ruled that it could be released because no information in the warrant would compromise Huisentruit’s investigation. Judge James Drew said that since there is no statute of limitations for murder, the state’s interest in protecting her case outweighs the public interest in disclosure.
Jealousy could’ve led to Jodi Huisentruit’s disappearance: Investigator
After Huisentruit disappeared, police were focused on two sex offenders in the area, but they eventually ruled them out. This was before Vancise became a person of interest.
In November 2024, Steve Ridge, a licensed private investigator who has worked on her case since 2019, spoke with about potential suspects. He claimed that the suspect list is down to four people.
Ridge said he believes jealousy over a newly discovered secret relationship could’ve led to Huisentruit’s disappearance. He said she had started dating a man from out of state in the days leading up to her disappearance.
According to Ridge, the relationship started two Saturdays before and involved “almost daily contact,” which included golf outings, dinner dates and drinks at the man’s home.
“I think plain and simply, things came to a head given the fact that she had developed this new relationship,” Ridge said. “I believe (this) was ultimately the motive for a confrontation that would have occurred in the parking lot at her Key Apartments.”
Through his investigation, Ridge said he narrowed his list of suspects from 29 to four individuals, though he declined to name them. “I’m 100% certain that I do have Jody’s killer, or at least abductor, on my list,” he revealed.
Jodi Huisentruit reported missing after failing to show up for shift
Huisentruit was reported missing when she failed to show up for her early morning shift as a news anchor. Her belongings, including a key and her red high heels, were found scattered in the parking lot of her apartment complex.
Huisentruit’s producer had been the one to call the police when she didn’t show up for her scheduled show. Police said there were no signs of anything being off in her apartment. They believe Huisentruit was abducted, and her family had her declared dead in 2021, but she has never been found.
Huisentruit had also reportedly mentioned being followed by a man in a white truck one year before her disappearance.
In 2024, police had searched a property in Winsted, Minnesota, in relation to Huisentruit’s disappearance. According to the group FindJodi.com, the search was around land that surrounded a construction site where an apartment complex was being built.
Anyone with information on Huisentruit’s case should contact the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation or the Mason City Police Department in Iowa.
