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

[Woofbark]

Wisdom was asking same questions 5 year ago...

Did anyone respond to wisdom way back when? I'm also wondering how DH found out those people were informants?

 

[Tippy Lynn]

Did they make any comment about the photo?

They responded, with something like we’re hoping something is released soon. It was very vague and didn’t really say anything.

 

[User4243]

Ha- yep! That’s what happens when a case drags on so long. Old info reviewed & rehashed. I guess it’s better than going completely cold & silent. I just hope it gets cracked wide open one day- soon!

This case needs a team of true investigative reporters, because the Mason City Police Department has had 24 years and has gotten nowhere.

 

[Betty P]

Accomplice says condemned drug kingpin may know what happened to Jodi Huisentruit – Frozen Truth

Not trying to be a cynic, but what are the odds that this person on death row isn't just coming up with a story to delay his execution? It's been done before.

There seems to be such a network of weird, sleazy people connected to JH and possibly her murder. How did she end up socializing with such a shady group? Was it just for a story or were they her friends? They seem like such an odd lot: a good ole boy farmer with a new tractor mysteriously murdered to a group of people who seemed to be drug users to an alleged drug kingpin who looks like Ralph Malph from "Happy Days". And there's JH hanging out with all of them at a pizza parlor?

Then there's the whole side story about the local sheriff's office, firings, lawsuits, allegations of malfeasance, officers sitting on tips from their brother in law who is a minister and who also knows something about JH's murder? This is a truly bizarre investigation and I'm not sure what to believe.

 

[Tippy Lynn]

This case needs a team of true investigative reporters, because the Mason City Police Department has had 24 years and has gotten nowhere.

I agree. With the right team I think this case could be solved.

 

[Ommmm]

I haven't read alot about this case, but wouldn't they have already considered and ruled out DH given that photo of Jodi and her friends is one of the main public images? I can certainly see similarities between the man in the photo and DH, but surely this would have already been considered by her friends/family and LE? If it is was an obscure previously unknown photo I would think it could be something, but IMO not for an image that is out there so much?

I would think LE would have considered DH whether he hung out with Jodi or not. Perhaps they were unable to rule him in or out.

You would think... but maybe investigators had such tunnel vision with JVS, that they missed (or dismissed?) this connection. Which more than one person has criticized the police for.

 

[Woofbark]

I would think LE would have considered DH whether he hung out with Jodi or not. Perhaps they were unable to rule him in or out.

Since it happened within a proper time frame, is it possible that DH had something to do with the murder of Gerald Best? He lived not far from Jodi H.

 

[tarheelslim]

Yeah, I think that is DH. Right age group, same uncommon glasses, hair color, body frame, etc.
Here is another photo, from findjodi.com, of Jodi with the same guy...
https://www.findjodi.com/we-want-your-images-of-jodi-and-friends/

They are definitely not the same glasses. In both pics of Honken here, he is wearing aviators. The guy hanging out with Jodi is not wearing aviators.

But these wire framed glasses with large lenses were popular at the time, that's why both guys (assuming they're not the same guy?) are wearing them.

 

[JudgeJoe]

Since it happened within a proper time frame, is it possible that DH had something to do with the murder of Gerald Best? He lived not far from Jodi H.

The Gerald Best connection...

https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/gerald-best/

“In September 2011, Gerald Best’s murder case became publicly intertwined with the Jodi Huisentruitmissing persons case after Mason City police officer Maria Ohl came under investigation by internal affairs on allegations of misconduct. Ohl was fired August 4, 2011, for allegedly mishandling information she’d received regarding the KIMT-TV morning anchor’s 1995 disappearance.

Ohl reportedly received information from a street informant regarding police misconduct in the Huisentruit case, which she had recorded, and failed to immediately submit the recording as evidence. Ohl alleged that Lt. Frank Stearns, Lt. Ron Vande Weerd and former DCI agent Bill Basler were involved in Huisentruit’s disappearance, and also alleged Lt. Logan Wernet was involved in a cover-up in connection with Gerald Best’s murder.

Ohl claimed that the Rev. Shane Philpott — pastor of the Christian Fellowship Church — had received a phone call from Donald Milk of Minnesota regarding police misconduct and the cover-up, including the information that Huisentruit was buried near a sawmill near Forest city. Ohl held onto the information for three years before coming forward.

Ohl is the reverend’s sister-in-law.”

This case is sooooooo tangled! So many facets & twists & turns. No wonder it’s still unsolved. They need a clean slate with 100% new team investigating. MO

 

[Betty P]

The Gerald Best connection...

Gerald E. Best | Iowa Cold Cases

“In September 2011, Gerald Best’s murder case became publicly intertwined with the Jodi Huisentruitmissing persons case after Mason City police officer Maria Ohl came under investigation by internal affairs on allegations of misconduct. Ohl was fired August 4, 2011, for allegedly mishandling information she’d received regarding the KIMT-TV morning anchor’s 1995 disappearance.

Ohl reportedly received information from a street informant regarding police misconduct in the Huisentruit case, which she had recorded, and failed to immediately submit the recording as evidence. Ohl alleged that Lt. Frank Stearns, Lt. Ron Vande Weerd and former DCI agent Bill Basler were involved in Huisentruit’s disappearance, and also alleged Lt. Logan Wernet was involved in a cover-up in connection with Gerald Best’s murder.

Ohl claimed that the Rev. Shane Philpott — pastor of the Christian Fellowship Church — had received a phone call from Donald Milk of Minnesota regarding police misconduct and the cover-up, including the information that Huisentruit was buried near a sawmill near Forest city. Ohl held onto the information for three years before coming forward.

Ohl is the reverend’s sister-in-law.”

This case is sooooooo tangled! So many facets & twists & turns. No wonder it’s still unsolved. They need a clean slate with 100% new team investigating. MO

Agree, also need an investigative team unconnected to the current one that's capable of sorting facts from rumors. Someone willing to start from scratch and re-interview a lot of witnesses and tipsters.

Just curious, have there been any jurisdictional issues in this case?

 

[Woofbark]

The Gerald Best connection...

https://iowacoldcases.org/case-summaries/gerald-best/

“In September 2011, Gerald Best’s murder case became publicly intertwined with the Jodi Huisentruitmissing persons case after Mason City police officer Maria Ohl came under investigation by internal affairs on allegations of misconduct. Ohl was fired August 4, 2011, for allegedly mishandling information she’d received regarding the KIMT-TV morning anchor’s 1995 disappearance.

Ohl reportedly received information from a street informant regarding police misconduct in the Huisentruit case, which she had recorded, and failed to immediately submit the recording as evidence. Ohl alleged that Lt. Frank Stearns, Lt. Ron Vande Weerd and former DCI agent Bill Basler were involved in Huisentruit’s disappearance, and also alleged Lt. Logan Wernet was involved in a cover-up in connection with Gerald Best’s murder.

Ohl claimed that the Rev. Shane Philpott — pastor of the Christian Fellowship Church — had received a phone call from Donald Milk of Minnesota regarding police misconduct and the cover-up, including the information that Huisentruit was buried near a sawmill near Forest city. Ohl held onto the information for three years before coming forward.

Ohl is the reverend’s sister-in-law.”

This case is sooooooo tangled! So many facets & twists & turns. No wonder it’s still unsolved. They need a clean slate with 100% new team investigating. MO

Is the Ohl story believable or is it possible that Gerald Best found out something completely on his own about the case? If someone knew Gerald and the killer that may have caused a problem.

 

[User4243]

Maria Ohl's story is not believable, but it may be true. She is correct that the MCPD has badly mishandled this case. I do doubt 3 cops killed Jodi and could keep a secret like that for that long. But nothing about this case really is believable. It's all incredulous - from the mishandling of the initial scene, to letting Jodi's car leave evidence too soon, to the Chief taking her diary, and to the investigations division having Jodi's driver's license on the wall. What's wild is the City of Mason City actually settled a case with Maria Ohl for $95,000. Why? That was likely just short of the deductible for a defamation/libel case, so why not fight it if the City was innocent? Did the City decide it didn't want evidence of untapped leads to go exposed or did the insurance company force them to settle? Again, this case needs a fearless investigative reporter.

Fired officer, Mason City, settle federal lawsuit for $95,000

 

[Wisdom]

Search warrant / GPS info on JVS was sealed for another year. Huisentruit search warrant to be kept secret for another year

 

[User4243]

Search warrant / GPS info on JVS was sealed for another year. Huisentruit search warrant to be kept secret for another year

Thank you for posting this! What other reason would they have to do this but to keep up the suspicion on John Van Sice? What point is there in that, unless MCPD's goal is to draw attention away from other leads.

 

[itsrak]

Search warrant / GPS info on JVS was sealed for another year. Huisentruit search warrant to be kept secret for another year

* Wisdom, do the pics show Jodi had been socializing with Honken? In other words, is that Honken in the group photos? I figure you'd know.
* Who is the girl with Jodi?
* The unidentified guys?
* Is it true that at the time of her disappearance Jodi had been investigating Billy Pruin's death?
* Did JV know DH?

 

[itsrak]

Search warrant / GPS info on JVS was sealed for another year. Huisentruit search warrant to be kept secret for another year

That would certainly seem to suggest that JV remains on LE's radar.

 

[JudgeJoe]

Thank you for posting this! What other reason would they have to do this but to keep up the suspicion on John Van Sice? What point is there in that, unless MCPD's goal is to draw attention away from other leads.

I am wondering this very thing! The only thing I can think of is that LE got “new information” about JH’s whereabouts? Hence a warrant for GPS tracking. Pretty long after the fact, so a tip that her body was moved? And they need more time to search from GPS tracking history? Or- he was back in IA & may have “visited”/ checked on the grave site? Guessing because IHNC- I have no clue. Anyone?

 

[pppsuedio]

* Who is the girl with Jodi?

In the 48 Hours episode, there is footage of Jodi's sister and "other family members" meeting with JV a few days after Jodi went missing.

Jodi Huisentruit mystery: The decades-long search for the missing TV news anchor

The footage starts at about 21:50.

The "other family member" sitting across from JV in the booth, in the bright pink, looks similar to the young woman with Jodi in those two photographs. It isn't really enough footage or the right angle to make a good comparison but it looks like a possibility to my eyes.



Also, I might have misunderstood but I think some people implied that those photographs would need to be from late 1995 if it is DH in them, because of his 1993 arrest (and 1995 because those charges were dropped in March of 1995 after the witnesses in the case against him 'disappeared'). But I do not think he was actually in jail between '93 and '95, I think he was out on bond, living in Mason City. In the background information in this appeal decision it says, "On March 23, 1993, the government filed a federal criminal complaint against the movant. [snip] After being released on bond, the movant moved from Arizona to Mason City, Iowa." If you read on it seems like he was pretty much free to do as he pleased until the end of April 1996 when he was arrested on different charges (and even then he was still released pending his next trial, only with electronic monitoring this time - which was ineffective).

 

[pppsuedio]

However, I also think the young woman in the photos looks like a friend of Jodi's, TB - see the photo towards the end of the page here.

 

[Woofbark]

In the 48 Hours episode, there is footage of Jodi's sister and "other family members" meeting with JV a few days after Jodi went missing.

Jodi Huisentruit mystery: The decades-long search for the missing TV news anchor

The footage starts at about 21:50.

The "other family member" sitting across from JV in the booth, in the bright pink, looks similar to the young woman with Jodi in those two photographs. It isn't really enough footage or the right angle to make a good comparison but it looks like a possibility to my eyes.



Also, I might have misunderstood but I think some people implied that those photographs would need to be from late 1995 if it is DH in them, because of his 1993 arrest (and 1995 because those charges were dropped in March of 1995 after the witnesses in the case against him 'disappeared'). But I do not think he was actually in jail between '93 and '95, I think he was out on bond, living in Mason City. In the background information in this appeal decision it says, "On March 23, 1993, the government filed a federal criminal complaint against the movant. [snip] After being released on bond, the movant moved from Arizona to Mason City, Iowa." If you read on it seems like he was pretty much free to do as he pleased until the end of April 1996 when he was arrested on different charges (and even then he was still released pending his next trial, only with electronic monitoring this time - which was ineffective).

Good info. It's odd JV came to Arizona, DH had been in Arizona, and Jodi H was thinking about coming to Arizona. I still think she's buried right around the Mason City area.