EXCLUSIVEAll the evidence in TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit's disappearance... as chilling links to four potential suspects are revealed READ MORE: A beloved news anchor vanished. Now a new theory has emerged By LUKE KENTON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM Published: 21:15 BST, 19 April 2025 | Updated: 21:16 BST, 19 April 2025 This June will mark 30 years since TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit vanished in the early morning darkness, never to be seen or heard from again. The 27-year-old was abducted from the parking lot of her Mason City, Iowa, apartment complex as she made her way to work on June 27, 1995. Huisentruit had overslept on that fateful morning. Her producer at the local KIMT News station, Amy Kuns, called just after 4 a.m. as the anchor was 30 minutes late. A drowsy and apologetic Huisentruit told Kuns she would be at the office within 15 minutes, but she never arrived and following calls started ringing through to voicemail. When she still hadn’t shown by 6 a.m., Kuns was forced to go on air in her place. Later that morning, when police arrived at Huisentruit’s apartment complex to conduct a welfare check, they were greeted by a disturbing scene. Her red Mazda Miata was still parked out front, but strewn around the vehicle were several of Huisentruit’s belongings, including a hairdryer, a pair of red shoes and a can of hairspray. A bent car key and drag marks on a muddied patch of asphalt indicated signs of a struggle. Investigators believed Huisentruit had been snatched seconds after leaving her apartment. But who took her and why are questions that still haunt Huisentruit’s loved ones more than three decades later. Leads in the case have been few and far between, and no arrests were ever made. Here, Daily Mail takes a closer look at the persons of interest who have aroused tentative suspicion. Friends fear a viewer may have become obsessed with Jodi Huisentruit, with their unhealthy fixation developing into a deadly abduction She was abducted after stepping outside her apartment in Mason City, Iowa, in June 1995 Police were called after Jodi failed to show for work and missed anchoring her morning show DayBreak An Older Friend The first person of interest (POI) to land on the Mason City Police Department’s radar was John Vansice, a friend of Huisentruit’s who was more than 20 years her senior. On the morning of her disappearance, Vansice, 49, appeared at the crime scene and told investigators he was likely the last known person to have seen her. According to Vansice, she stopped by his home on the evening of June 26 to watch a video from a surprise 27th birthday party he’d thrown for her weeks earlier. ‘We watched the tape and we chuckled, we laughed, we giggled - we hee-hawed,’ Vansice told KIMT in 1995. ‘She's laughing the whole time she was there, and she laughed by the time she left.’ Vansice, a seed salesman, befriended Huisentruit in what appeared to be a turbulent time in his life. He had recently divorced and been ordered to install a breathalyzer device in his van, following a series of arrests for drunken driving. Vansice used to live at the same apartment complex as Huisentruit, but he first met her at a bar after offering to buy her a drink. Jodi is pictured with friends at her birthday party. Standing above her is John Vansice, the last person known to have seen her alive John Vansice denied any involvement in Jodi's disappearance Friends of Huisentruit’s have previously speculated that Vansice may have had romantic feelings for the young, blonde anchor that weren’t reciprocated. Her best friend, Tammy Baker, told the Daily Mail she once questioned Huisentruit about the nature of her and Vansice’s relationship, but the anchor denied any romantic entanglement. ‘I know there was a lot of conjecture about John Vansice and their relationship, and whether he was jealous,’ said Baker. ‘So I asked her at one point, I said, “Are you and John a thing? You’re spending a lot of time together.” ‘And she goes, “Oh no, no, no. We're just really good friends.” And I asked him the same question. I said, “Are you interested in Jodi?” And he said he thought of her as a daughter, and he wanted to protect her.’ The watchful protector is how Vansice sold himself to the media in the immediate aftermath of Huisentruit's disappearance. Speaking to Huisentruit's colleagues at KIMT, Vansice described her as being ‘like a daughter’ to him. ‘She was just like my own child, I treated her like my own child,’ he said. Huisentruit’s colleagues Robin Wolfram and Doug Merbach later described Vansice as being ‘too happy and gleeful’ during the segment. ‘He wanted to be interviewed,’ added Merbach. Friends of Huisentruit’s have previously speculated that they believed Vansice had romantic feelings for the young, blonde-haired anchor that weren’t reciprocated Tammy Baker (right) told Daily Mail she believes a crazed stalker fan abducted Jodi and not Vansice In a separate interview with 48 Hours, Vansice shared his belief that Huisentruit was still alive and that she ‘wouldn’t want us to sit around at home and cry and sob, she'd want us to be out having fun cause that was her.' Huisentruit’s friend Ani Kruse, who was being interviewed alongside Vansice, interjected to remind him to speak about her in the present tense. ‘It is her,’ emphasized Kruse. ‘Everything is.’ Correcting himself, Vansice repeated ‘it is her’ twice. He added that he ‘just loved watching Huisentruit have fun.' ‘I tried to watch over her. I tried to check on her once in a while - not all the time, just once in a while. See how she's getting along.’ Huisentruit had spent the last two weekends of her life with Baker and Vansice, carousing and waterskiing on his boat, which he named ‘Jodi’ in her honor. Baker said she often spent time with the pair but never saw anything in his behavior that gave her cause for concern. The only odd interaction she could recall came two weeks before the disappearance, when the three were out drinking and an admirer who recognized Huisentruit from TV approached her to dance. ‘She was dancing with that guy, and he was being a little touchy-feely, and John got cranky about that,’ recounted Baker. ‘The guy was being a little forward... so [Vansice] got a bit belligerent, but he wasn’t attacking the guy or screaming, he was just upset about how forward he was being.’ Vansice died in December last year from Alzheimer's Baker is certain Vansice had nothing to do with Huisentruit’s suspected murder. Amid mounting suspicions, she asked him directly if he was involved, and said she left that conversation convinced of his innocence. ‘He wasn’t someone who sat and plotted,’ said Baker. ‘John was a reactive, spontaneous person. ‘If he wanted to do something to her, he wouldn’t abduct her in front of her building where people knew him because it’s much riskier than going into the woods or doing something out on his boat.' Lingering Suspicions Vansince agreed to take a polygraph test a week after Huisentruit vanished and passed. He also voluntarily supplied DNA, fingerprints and palmprints. But despite his cooperation, it appears police have never been able to conclusively rule him out as a suspect. Vansice was subpoenaed to appear in front of a grand jury in Iowa on March 2, 2017. Grand jury proceedings are confidential, and because the jurors did not vote to indict, the basis for subpoenaing him is not clear. Around the same time, a search warrant was served on Vansice, demanding examination of GPS data on two of his vehicles. In a 2018 interview, Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley told CBS News that investigators didn’t get any useful information from the search. But last month, a judge ordered the affidavit from the warrant to remain sealed to preserve the integrity of the ongoing investigation. In a statement in 2019, Vansice said he'd been in a 'living hell' since Huisentruit vanished He once lived at the same apartment complex as her (above) but the pair met at a bar Jodi Huisentruit was a rising star at KIMT. She was looking to move to a bigger network when her contract expired in the fall of 1995 Vansice left Mason City not long after Huisentruit’s disappearance, stopped taking interviews and moved to the West Coast. Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, he died in December 2024. In a statement issued through private investigator Steve Ridge in 2019, Vansice maintained his innocence and claimed he’d been ‘living in a suspended hell.’ Aside from Baker, others who knew Huisentruit remain torn over Vansice’s viability as a suspect. Kruse told CBS in 2020 that, while at the time she was convinced of his innocence, she now believes he could have harmed her. When asked about his possible motive, she said, ‘Maybe being rebuffed.’ ‘That's the only thing I could think of… But the thing that has always puzzled me, like, why in the morning in the parking lot?’ Huisentruit’s sister, JoAnn Nathe, has also been vocal in the past about her suspicions of Vansice, believing him to be ‘obsessed’ with her younger sibling. Nathe’s daughter, Kristin Nathe, told the Daily Mail she’s unsure whether her aunt’s abductor could’ve been someone she was close with or a crazed stalker who’d become obsessed by watching her on TV. ‘My brain goes back and forth between the two,’ she said. ‘But [Vansice] is definitely a person of interest, given some of his words and behavior after Jodi disappeared. ‘He’s very suspicious to me, but we have to keep our minds open to the possibility it could be someone else as well.’ A Convicted Rapist On the 20th anniversary of Huisentruit’s disappearance, a compelling person of interest re-entered the fold, thanks to crime reporter Caroline Lowe, who helps to run FindJodi.com, and retired detective Jay Alberio. Together, the pair called on MCPD to re-investigate serial rapist Tony Dejuan Jackson, citing his pattern of violence against women and the fact that he was living just two blocks from the KIMT station in June 1995. Jackson, who was then 21, is currently serving a life sentence at a prison in Rush City, Minnesota, for raping three women in 1997. Tony Dejuan Jackson, a convicted rapist, has twice been thrown into the spotlight Journalist Caroline Lowe was the first to report Jackson's tentative links to the case He denied any involvement in Huisentruit’s abduction and claims never to have met her or seen her in public. But an anonymous former friend came forward to KMSP in 2015, claiming that just before Huisentruit went missing, Jackson asked him out to happy hour drinks, to a bar where he knew Huisentruit was a regular: South Bridge Lounge. When they arrived, the source said Huisentruit was sitting at the bar. Jackson allegedly walked right up to Huisentruit and started speaking with her, but the source couldn't hear what was said. During his time living in Mason City, Jackson attended North Iowa Community College, where he developed an interest in broadcasting and hosted a student talk show. His friend figured that he was just trying to get career advice from Huisentruit and didn't think too much about why he wanted to seek her out that night. But after she disappeared, the friend was overcome with a grim feeling that there may have been more to Jackson’s motives. 'My gut tells me that he probably did it, after all the stuff he's done since,' the source claimed. A second anonymous source came forward to Lowe and Alberio to report that she used to run past Huisentruit’s apartment complex every morning around 4:30 a.m. That morning, the woman said she was almost hit by a car speeding out of the complex's parking lot. 'I'm coming up to the apartments and a car comes out really fast, and it nearly hits me and then I have to jump onto the sidewalk, and its headlights were off as it was speeding out,' she said, unable to offer a description of the vehicle. In a sit-down interview with 20/20 in 2021, Jackson pleaded his innocence The investigation into Jodi's disappearance remains active and ongoing She had just celebrated her 27th birthday weeks before she disappeared Jackson was living within a few blocks of KIMT in June 1995 Further strengthening circumstantial claims against Jackson came from a jail informant named Dennis Goff, who claimed Jackson told him he murdered an anchorwoman. Goff claimed Jackson also recited a rap with lyrics that he believed hinted to where Huisentruit was buried. The lyrics allegedly suggested that Huisentruit's remains were in Tiffin, Iowa, a two and a half hour drive from Mason City. Jackson bought a car the day before Huisentruit went missing, Lowe discovered. Following Goff’s tip, a silo in Tiffin was searched by cadaver dogs in 1998 but no remains were found. In a jailhouse interview with 20/20 in 2021, Jackson denied having any connection to Huisentruit, telling the network that though he’s a convicted rapist, that doesn’t mean he’s a killer. ‘It's unfortunate that people try to take rape and murder and put it all together as one big heinous act and say that if you had did this, you would have done this,' said Jackson. Jackson was cleared of suspicion in 1999. In 2016, a spokesperson for MCPD said, ‘Tony Jackson's DNA has not matched any evidence of ours. ‘We've had no reports or indications that he had anything to do with Jodi Huisentruit's disappearance.’ Stalker Fears Lowe still believes Jackson is worth a closer look and wants more clarity from MCPD about how specifically he was ruled out. The veteran journalist noted that stalking was a likely element of the Huisentruit abduction, and Jackson was known to stalk some of his victims months before attacking them. Twenty-four hours before she went missing, Huisentruit attended a local golf tournament and confided in two people that she was planning on changing her phone number the next day because she’d been receiving ‘nasty’ and ‘naughty’ calls from an unknown creep. The golfers, who requested anonymity to Lowe, said Huisentruit didn’t seem overly concerned and brushed the calls off as an annoyance that ‘goes with the territory'. However, eight months earlier, she had contacted MCPD to report a man in a white pick-up truck following her as she made her way to work on Oct. 8, 1994. Friends and family remembered Jodi as a radiant, warn, and positive force A partial palm print found on Jodi's car has never been identified Jodi Huisentruit took part in a golf tournament hours before she disappeared. She is seen above at a different tournament with her boss, Doug Merbach (left) Her family said she had been left shaken by the experience. Huisentruit was briefly provided a police escort and started taking self-defense classes. Aside from the 1994 incident, Huisentruit told friends and her self-defense instructor that she believed she was being followed, but no further incidents were reported to police. Kristen Nathe, Merbach and Baker all believe it’s possible the culprit behind Huisentruit’s disappearance was an obsessed stalker who eventually fixated their obsession into a deadly abduction. Merbach said he wished he knew of Huisentruit's stalker fears before because it may have changed the way her colleagues reacted to the chain of events on the day she disappeared. The Killer & A Sex Creep In November, a detective with MCPD met with investigators in Wood County, Wisconsin, to discuss a previously dismissed lead in the Huisentruit case. The meeting concerned a murder suspect, Christopher Revak, who killed himself in a jail cell in 2009 after being booked on homicide charges. Revak was later linked to the death of a second woman in the Midwest back in 2006, and both cases bore similarities to Huisentruit's. Additionally, investigators discovered that Revak’s first wife lived in Mason City in 1995. Further updates about the progress of that investigation have not been shared. Serial sex offender Thomas Corscadden was also closely investigated by MCPD. Corscadden was first hauled in for questioning in June 1995, but police found no evidence to link him to the case. He was reexamined as a suspect for a second time years later, after name-dropping Huisentruit out of the blue during a psychological exam. Christopher Revak, who killed himself in a jail cell in 2009 after being booked on homicide charges, was re-examined by cops last year Serial Creep Thomas Corscadden was also twice considered by police but later cleared in 2004 Kristen Nathe, Jodi's niece and goddaughter, picked up the phone when police called her family to report the tragic news Billboards still stand in Mason City in the hope they prompt a memory or lead that lands a long-awaited breakthrough At the time of Huisentruit’s disappearance, Corscadden was living out of his van in Austin, Minnesota, which is roughly 45 minutes north of Mason City. The van was similar to one seen by an eyewitness in the early hours of June 27, 1995, idling outside Huisentruit’s apartment. Corscadden’s daughter told FindJodi.com her father was aware of Huisentruit and would watch her on TV. His criminal rap sheet spanned 25 years and included charges of solicitation, public exposure, voyeurism, rape and attempted rape. He traveled to Iowa for work regularly, she claimed, and other acquaintances said he often drove to Mason City several times a week. Police found no concrete links between Corscadden and Huisentruit. They said they were ‘moving on’ to other suspects after Corscadden submitted to a polygraph test in 2004. He died in 2022. Jodi Huisentruit was pronounced legally dead in 2001. A partial palm print discovered on her Mazda may hold the key to unlocking the case. So far, it has not been matched to anyone. Updates in the case have been scarce in recent years. Huisentruit’s loved ones said while they believe MCPD is right to continue to guard what evidence they have in the case, it appears the department is no closer to solving it than they were in 1995. As Huisentruit's family waits for answers, Nathe has offered an impassioned plea to her aunt’s abductor, urging them to come forward and end her family's suffering. ‘Please don’t make us continue to have to wait for answers on where Jodi is and what happened to her,’ she said. ‘We’ve existed in this nightmare for too long, so find compassion in your heart to help us find the peace that we and Jodi desperately need.’ Share or comment on this article: All the evidence in TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit's disappearance... as chilling links to four potential suspects are revealed Add comment