IA IA - Jodi Huisentruit, 27, Anchorwoman, Mason City, 27 June 1995 #2

[Dotta]

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[dotr]

New person of interest revealed in 1995 vanishing of beloved Iowa news anchor: documentary

A new person of interest has been revealed in the baffling cold case of Iowa news anchor Jodi Huisentruit, who vanished from her home on a summer morning over 30 years ago.

nypost.com

''Millerbernd has denied any involvement in the suspected abduction, and been “very cooperative” with investigators, the documentary noted.''
6
Brad Millerbernd and Huisentruit’s friend Patty Niemeyer. The couple divorced days before the crime.Hulu
6
On the 10th anniversary of Huisentruit’s disappearance, Niemeyer told filmmakers that her ex-husband called her after years without contact.Hulu

 

[summergirl1]

The Find Jodi facebook page has a recent update to the 30 Facts about her case, correcting some information like where the partial palm print was found. It wasn't found on her car, but instead on a light pole. Also, no beer cans were found in her apartment. They were found in an apartment complex dumpster. It sounds like maybe those things possibly don't even have anything to do with her case, especially the beer cans? I assume the light pole that had the partial palm print was right by her car.

 

[Richard]

The 1995 disappearance of a TV anchor, now the focus of an ABC News Studios series​

Video at link below.

LINK:

MSN

 

[dotr]

• By Brian Fancher / July 21, 2025 rbbm.
• Organization responds to new docuseries about Jodi Huisentruit
  ''However, the FindJodi.com website is reporting that this was not the first time Jodi’s friend had come forward. The woman also had shared her suspicions in conversation with FindJodi’s co-founder Gary Peterson 18 years ago. Peterson’s notes from June 2007 indicate that the friend told him she had previously reported her concerns to Mason City Police.''
  
  ''.........''No DNA has been obtained from the crime scene or Jodi’s apartment, but they do have some items they plan to test for DNA.''

 

[summergirl1]

3D rendering provides visualization of purported white van in Jodi's case • Find Jodi Huisentruit

It's not known for certain if a white van was involved in the abduction of Jodi Huisentruit from the parking lot of her apartment complex in the early morning hours of June 27, 1995, but the white van has nonetheless become perhaps the most widely-known detail in the case.

findjodi.com

 

[TwinkieDefense]

July 25, 2025 article

https://www.ozarksfirst.com/news/disappearance-jodi-huisentruit-docuseries/

[…]

“His history showed that he lived there in Mason City, Iowa. So I Google searched once again, Google search women abducted and missing from there. She pops up, slight resemblance to Rene, the blond hair and everything.” Sheriff Degase said. “So I contacted the authorities there and gave them the information. I said, ‘Hey, I really don’t have anything other than this. You know, I believe the guy is a serial killer. He’s killed one in my county, he killed one in Wisconsin Rapids, and now we’re seeing that he has some connection to Mason City, Iowa.'”

[…]

 

[Richard]

July 25, 2025 article

https://www.ozarksfirst.com/news/disappearance-jodi-huisentruit-docuseries/

[…]

“His history showed that he lived there in Mason City, Iowa. So I Google searched once again, Google search women abducted and missing from there. She pops up, slight resemblance to Rene, the blond hair and everything.” Sheriff Degase said. “So I contacted the authorities there and gave them the information. I said, ‘Hey, I really don’t have anything other than this. You know, I believe the guy is a serial killer. He’s killed one in my county, he killed one in Wisconsin Rapids, and now we’re seeing that he has some connection to Mason City, Iowa.'”

[…]

The person he refers to is Christopher Revak.

 

[bearfossils]

The Find Jodi facebook page has a recent update to the 30 Facts about her case, correcting some information like where the partial palm print was found. It wasn't found on her car, but instead on a light pole. Also, no beer cans were found in her apartment. They were found in an apartment complex dumpster. It sounds like maybe those things possibly don't even have anything to do with her case, especially the beer cans? I assume the light pole that had the partial palm print was right by her car.

This is news to me. I don’t use Facebook so I’m not familiar with this page, but the fact that a hand/palm print being left on her car has been a long known fact, and I’ve never heard of it being false. In Beth Bednar’s book about the case, Dead Air, she shares a detailed list of some of the major known facts of the case, including:

By the time police arrived at the Key Apartments complex around quarter past seven that morning, it was clearly a crime scene. The attacker was believed to have accosted Jodi as she attempted to insert the key into the door of her car. The police found her car key and it was bent, indicating that some heavy pressure, either from Jodi’s hand or the hand of her attacker, had been applied while it was in the locking mechanism.

After processing the car that day, police noted that the heavy morning moisture had been rubbed off the door and that an outline of her head was on the car’s black fabric roof. Presumably, Jodi’s attacker had pushed her back against the car. It appeared as if her attacker grabbed Jodi from behind and twisted her around, pushing her small frame back against the driver’s door and forcing her head back onto the convertible’s ragtop.

The forensic team also found a partial bloody palm print on the car, and witnesses reported seeing blood or tissue evidence on the driver’s side rearview mirror, which indicated Jodi may have been injured and that she may have fought for her life. In an effort to fend off the attacker, Jodi may have flung out her arms or struck back with some kind of satchel, purse, or briefcase, dropping some of her belongings, including a hair dryer, a can of hair spray, and earrings; police found these, as well as a pair of her red high-heeled shoes, scattered over a significantly wide area of the parking lot.

Is there any source outside of Facebook to verify that the palm print on the car is inaccurate?

 

[PunishThenForgive]

This is news to me. I don’t use Facebook so I’m not familiar with this page, but the fact that a hand/palm print being left on her car has been a long known fact, and I’ve never heard of it being false. In Beth Bednar’s book about the case, Dead Air, she shares a detailed list of some of the major known facts of the case, including:



Is there any source outside of Facebook to verify that the palm print on the car is inaccurate?

The palm print being on the lamp post instead of her car, as previously reported, was discussed in the recent three-part documentary on Hulu and Disney +. Here’s the trailer:

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As stated in this People article about the new docuseries (which dropped this summer, on July 15):

ABC News Studios says in a press release the series also promises "never-before-seen material and new, groundbreaking information" about the case.

 

[bearfossils]

I also have little memory of beer cans being relevant in any way.

It was known that Jodi spent the late evening before with Vansice before heading home, and I’m pretty sure they might have drank together while watching tapes, along with possibly drinking earlier in the day. Why would she then be drinking beer in cans with a stranger, when she had to get up in mere hours to anchor the news? Jodi was late at times, but never absent or negligent in her work.

I always thought LE and others assumed she had a male visitor because her toilet seat was up— but realistically, there could be a number of reasons for that which had nothing to do with her murder. For all we know, Jodi felt a little sick in the morning, put the seat up thinking she would throw up, either did or didn’t, and merely forget to put the seat down while in a rush to get to work on time.

 

[bearfossils]

The palm print being on the lamp post instead of her car, as previously reported, was discussed in the recent three-part documentary on Hulu and Disney +. Here’s the trailer:

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For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

As stated in this People article about the new docuseries (which dropped this summer, on July 15):

Is there a source outside of the documentary or an article about the documentary? I’m aware of it, but haven’t had the chance to watch it yet.

 

[summergirl1]

This is the post the Facebook page referred to: 30 Seconds, 30 Years, 30 Facts: The Unsolved Disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit • Find Jodi Huisentruit

 

[PunishThenForgive]

This is the post the Facebook page referred to: 30 Seconds, 30 Years, 30 Facts: The Unsolved Disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit • Find Jodi Huisentruit

Yes, the link you provided goes to a post on the FindJodi webpage, which, IMO, is the best and most up-to-date source of information about Jodi’s disappearance.

#13 of the post:

#13 – Very little forensic evidence was found at the crime scene. A partial palm print was obtained from a light pole near Jodi’s car and a strand of hair was also discovered, according to retired MCPD investigator Frank Stearns, in a television interview. Stearns refused to say if a root was attached to the hair. It’s not publicly known if the evidence found was related to Jodi’s disappearance. A witness also approached police stating that he’d seen a white van near Jodi’s car around the time she disappeared.

is addressed in the recent Hulu docuseries whose trailer I shared in my previous post.

Note that the author Beth Bednar is a (former?) team member of FindJodi.com. She wrote her excellent book about Jodi’s disappearance, Dead Air, in 2011, and the recent docuseries updates the case facts known at that time.

IMO

 

[bearfossils]

Yes, the link you provided goes to a post on the FindJodi webpage, which, IMO, is the best and most up-to-date source of information about Jodi’s disappearance.

#13 of the post:



is addressed in the recent Hulu docuseries whose trailer I shared in my previous post.

Note that the author Beth Bednar is a (former?) team member of FindJodi.com. She wrote her excellent book about Jodi’s disappearance, Dead Air, in 2011, and the recent docuseries updates the case facts known at that time.

IMO

I guess that is the basis for my confusion: is that something that they held back until recently? Or merely new information? I lean toward the former knowing that Beth Bednar is, or was at one point, involved.

Does this negate the existence of the palm prints or related evidence on her car? Or is it an addition?

 

[PunishThenForgive]

I guess that is the basis for my confusion: is that something that they held back until recently? Or merely new information? I lean toward the former knowing that Beth Bednar is, or was at one point, involved. Does this negate the existence of the palm prints or related evidence on her car? Or is it an addition?

IIRC, the docuseries claims the palm print location was misreported originally, based on a leak? (Sorry, but I watched the series back in July.)

 

[summergirl1]

Quote from the Facebook post mentioning the beer cans:

"Over the years, as Sgt, Prochaska noted, a lot of misinformation has been reported. Some of the more common inaccuracies we have seen include the color of the truck that followed Jodi In October 1994 (it was white, not black), that there was blood at the crime scene (there was no blood) and that Jodi called her station to report she was running late for work (her producer called Jodi and woke her up.) Sgt. Prochaska also pointed out In the docuseries that no beer cans were found In Jodi's apartment, as sometimes has been reported, but some Coors Light beer cans were located by police In a dumpster outside her building."

 

[PunishThenForgive]

Is there a source outside of the documentary or an article about the documentary? I’m aware of it, but haven’t had the chance to watch it yet.

Well, the docuseries was made by ABC News, so doesn’t it count as a news source?

 

[bearfossils]

Well, the docuseries was made by ABC News, so doesn’t it count as a news source?

I understand; I was curious if there was a news link or other source outside of television. I plan on watching the documentary in the next few days when I have some free time. Thanks for helping me out

 

[jashrema]

I also have little memory of beer cans being relevant in any way.

It was known that Jodi spent the late evening before with Vansice before heading home, and I’m pretty sure they might have drank together while watching tapes, along with possibly drinking earlier in the day. Why would she then be drinking beer in cans with a stranger, when she had to get up in mere hours to anchor the news? Jodi was late at times, but never absent or negligent in her work.

I always thought LE and others assumed she had a male visitor because her toilet seat was up— but realistically, there could be a number of reasons for that which had nothing to do with her murder. For all we know, Jodi felt a little sick in the morning, put the seat up thinking she would throw up, either did or didn’t, and merely forget to put the seat down while in a rush to get to work on time.

But, it has now been proven that all that "spending the evening with John, drinking, and watching video, and leaving around 11pm (per John) was a lie on John's part.
Jodi made a phone call from her apartment to a friend at approx 823PM, The friend wasn't home so she chatted with the friends husband for a few minutes. They also timed it out from the golf event that there was no way that Jodi stopped at Johns to have a few drinks or even watch the video (19 minutes long) and be home in time to make that call.
I still feel like Occam's razor is the answer, and that answer is JOhn. Him being proven a liar by saying Jodi was with him until 11PM and that she was "tipsy" is just a huge red flag to me.