VANISHED: Jodi Huisentruit

Summary

Up and Vanished Weekly: VANISHED – Jodi Huisentruit
Released on January 29, 2025
Hosts: Payne Lindsay and Maggie Freeling
Produced by Tenderfoot TV

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Introduction

In the debut episode of Up and Vanished Weekly, hosts Payne Lindsay and Maggie Freeling delve deep into the mysterious disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit, a beloved morning news anchor from Mason City, Iowa. Released nearly three decades after Jodi vanished, this episode serves as a comprehensive exploration of the case, unraveling the complexities and uncovering new insights in the pursuit of truth and justice.

Background: The Disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit

On the morning of June 27, 1995, Jodi Huisentruit did not show up for her morning news broadcast, setting off alarm bells among her colleagues at KIMT in Mason City. As Payne Lindsay narrates, "Jodi, Mason City's beloved morning news anchor, was about to become the day's top story" (02:54). The investigation revealed a startling scene at Jodi's apartment complex the next morning: scattered personal items, a bent car key, drag marks, and a high-heeled shoe—signs suggestive of foul play rather than an accidental incident.

Investigation: Retracing Steps and Uncovering Evidence

Payne and Maggie, alongside producer Meredith Steadman, recount their meticulous approach to re-examining the case. Meredith emphasizes the personal connection to Jodi's story, stating, "She was a journalist, she was an anchor. She had all these dreams" (07:33). Their investigation involved:

• Revisiting the Scene: The team visited Mason City, Jodi's apartment, and the local news station to gather firsthand accounts and revisit the physical locations pivotal to the case.

• Interviews and Tipsters: Engaging with Jodi's co-workers, family members, and anonymous tipsters provided new perspectives and undisclosed information that had previously eluded the original investigation.

• Key Evidence: Significant findings included potential signs of a struggle at the parking lot, Jodi's torn belongings, and unexplained elements like the piled beer cans, which Maggie interprets as "clear signs of a struggle" (15:32).

The Role of John Van Cise: A Central Figure

A focal point of the investigation is John Van Cise, a man with a peculiar and unsettling presence in Jodi's last known days. The hosts discuss his involvement extensively:

• Last Known Interaction: At Jodi's 27th birthday party, captured on video, John’s overly affectionate behavior towards Jodi raised eyebrows. As Payne narrates, "He pressed their cheeks together... he was getting on the table and pumping his fists" (23:39).

• Alibi and Behavior: John claimed to be the last person to see Jodi alive, an assertion that lacks credibility given the absence of physical evidence. His alibi, verified by a friend, appears flimsy and raises suspicion. Meredith notes, "The more you know, it was like they met within six months. It is kind of strange" (25:30).

• Confrontation with Payne: In a dramatic recount, Payne and the team approached John Van Cise in Arizona. The interaction was tense, with John refusing to engage and displaying hostility. Maggie reflects, "Confronting someone involved in any case is a bold move and will yield varying results" (45:19).

Theories Explored: Stalker, Serial Rapist, or More?

Multiple theories emerge regarding Jodi’s disappearance:

1. Stalker or Serial Rapist: Jodi had previously reported being followed and was taking self-defense classes. The presence of a white van near her apartment in the morning suggests a possible connection to her reported stalker.

2. Involvement of John Van Cise: His obsessive behavior and inconsistent alibi make him a prime suspect. Maggie questions, "How would he know she was missing?" (42:24), indicating potential foul play.

3. Drug-Related Murder: The connection to Billy Pruin, a friend whose death was ruled a possible suicide but later deemed undetermined, suggests Jodi might have been investigating local drug operations, potentially putting her in danger. The mention of Dustin Honkin, a meth kingpin linked to multiple disappearances, adds another layer to the theory.

Critical Evidence and Unanswered Questions

The episode highlights key pieces of evidence that remain unresolved:

• Sealed Warrants and GPS Data: There was a warrant to obtain John Van Cise's GPS information on the day of Jodi's disappearance, but the details remain undisclosed. Payne expresses frustration over inaccessible information: "I'd want to see what was in that sealed warrant" (54:40).

• Police Investigation Flaws: The turnover in Mason City’s police leadership over the years has likely hampered a consistent and thorough investigation. Maggie observes, "With all that turnover, who's really keeping track of the details?" (54:33).

• Lack of Physical Evidence: Without a body or definitive evidence, linking suspects directly to Jodi’s disappearance remains challenging, leaving the case mired in speculation.

Notable Quotes

• Payne Lindsay: "If you're withholding information, if you got, you know, the keys to the castle, give them up or tell us that you don't have anything." (59:25)

• Maggie Freeling: "There's too many people in this woman's world that could have done this to her, and that is terrifying." (60:23)

Conclusion: The Ongoing Pursuit of Truth

As the episode wraps up, the hosts reflect on the enduring impact of Jodi Huisentruit's disappearance. Jodi's mother has passed away without closure, and Jodi remains missing, shrouded in unanswered questions. Payne asserts, "Mission accomplished" if they can help even one person find closure (61:18).

The episode serves as a poignant reminder of the complexities inherent in cold cases and underscores the importance of continued public engagement and fresh investigative approaches. Hosts encourage listeners to contribute any information that might shed light on Jodi’s whereabouts, exemplifying their commitment to giving a voice to those long overlooked.

Call to Action

Listeners are urged to share any pertinent information about Jodi Huisentruit by contacting the provided tip lines:

• Find Jodi Tip Line: 640-1999-1109
• Email: teamindjody.com
• Anonymous Tip: findjoni.com
• Mason City Police Department: 641-421-3636

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Thank you for tuning into the first episode of Up and Vanished Weekly. Ensure you subscribe to Tenderfoot TV for more in-depth explorations of unsolved cases each week.

Transcript

[Unknown]

You're listening to a Tenderfoot TV podcast.

Up and Vanish Weekly is released every Wednesday and brought to you absolutely free, but for one week early access and ad free listening. Subscribe to Tenderfoot plus at tenderfootplus.com or on Apple Podcasts.

[Payne Lindsay]

Hey guys, it's Payne Lindsay. For almost eight years I've been making true crime podcasts, investigating cold cases, unsolved disappearances, murders, wrongful convictions. I've sat face to face with serial killers, stared evil in the eye, and I've met countless families whose lives have been shattered by unimaginable loss. These experiences have shaped who I am today and they've lit a fire in me to keep fighting for justice, for truth, and for those whose stories have been ignored for far too long. Since the first season of up and vanished in 2016 where we uncovered the truth about Tara Grinstead's disappearance and helped bring her killers to justice, I've spent years investigating and telling stories just like hers. Along the way, thousands of tips, stories and cases have poured in, each one carrying the weight of unanswered questions and unimaginable heartbreak. I've decided these stories can no longer just sit in the shadows. They need to be told and we need to bring them into the spotlight. That's why we created up and Vanish Weekly. Each week we're going to explore a new unsolved case, missing persons, murders, and even wrongful convictions. This show is about shedding light on stories, giving a voice to those who need it most, and most of all, trying to find answers. Every week I'll be here to guide you through these stories, taking you through all the twists and turns of an unsolved case. But this is far from a one person operation. This is a team and I've brought in my good friend, journalist, activist and overall badass, Maggie Freeling to take the helm. Each week Maggie will lead thoughtful and candid discussions, examining these cases, sitting down with victims, families, talking to expert guests and members of our own up and Vanish team, breaking down the details that matter most and enlisting your help to try and solve them. This show is about awareness, action and the overall pursuit of the truth. I'm beyond grateful to have you on this journey with us and I want to personally thank you for your support. As a listener, I'm proud to present to you up and Vanished Weekly.

[Unknown]

Foreign.

[Maggie Freeling]

This podcast discusses mature and sensitive content, including descriptions of violence that may be triggering for some audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

[Payne Lindsay]

It's early afternoon on Tuesday, June 27, 1995 as the coolness of morning fades. The news team at KIMT peeks outside a window of the station. A circus of reporters and trucks are gathering, and the sun seems to spotlight the frenzy. KIMT is a local news station in Mason City, Iowa, so this type of scene is common. But today is different. There's a notable change in the air as various other news crews circle the station. An unsettling feeling grows amongst the colleagues. They feel a pit in their stomachs. Earlier that day, Jodi Husentrut, the station's morning news anchor, didn't show up for work. As the team scrambled to produce the show in her absence, her co workers went from thinking she'd simply overslept to now fearing something far worse had happened. Over the next few hours, they would learn the shocking reality of what had actually transpired that morning. And Jody, Mason City's beloved morning news anchor, was about to become the day's top story. From Tenderfoot TV in Atlanta, I'm Payne Lindsay.

[Maggie Freeling]

And I'm Maggie Freeling, and you're listening.

[Payne Lindsay]

To up and Vanished Weekly.

[Maggie Freeling]

Hey, y'all. Welcome to up and Vanish Weekly. I'm Maggie Freeling. I am so thrilled you're joining us for our debut episode. I'm sure you're here because you already know and love pain, and some of you may know and may love me, but for those who don't, I hope you get to know me and you want to stick around. So to start, besides being a fanatic cat mom, my entire identity is as a journalist. I need to know the who, what, when, where, why of everything. It's truly insufferable for everyone around me and myself. Lucky for you, though, that's why I'm here today. I want to get to the bottom of every mystery and find out the facts of every matter. And this first case I feel particularly connected to because Jodi was also a journalist and she was young. She had her entire career ahead of her. And I remember that point in my life, landing my first big job, scrambling to prove myself and get the story. And when we get lost in the shuffle like that, it's so easy to be blindsided by what we're least expecting. Joining me today to talk about Jodi's case is Meredith Stedman, a producer at Tenderfoot who has worked closely with Payne and the team on the up and Vanish series. Meredith, I am freaking stoked you're here. So good to see you.

[Unknown]

Thanks, Maggie. I'm honestly really excited to be here. It's been a while since I've been in the Up And Vanished Universe.

[Maggie Freeling]

Yeah. So, Meredith, I know that you've worked with Payne and the up and Vanished team almost from the beginning. And you work on the Tenderfoot horror series, Radio Rental, a favorite of mine, as well as hosting Rattled and Shook. But I'm curious, how did you meet Payne and the team in the first place?

[Unknown]

Wow. Yeah. So I have been around since the early days. I got into working at Tenderfoot actually, when up and Vanished, like kind of first came out, it hadn't really blown up yet. The case hadn't broken. This is season one, Tara Grinstead's case, and I was following it. I'm a writer and I just cold emailed and offered writing assistance. And then Payne needed more help and I just joined the team full time. And then I've been here ever since. Wow.

[Maggie Freeling]

That's kind of the dream. Just like following a case and having the person working it be like, hey.

[Unknown]

Come on, I did not expect it. I'll never forget, like the first blurb I wrote. I think, like, Payne was like, hey, can you help me write something about the town of Ocilla? And I remember I hadn't been there yet, so I was like looking up Osilla and trying to describe it.

[Maggie Freeling]

Wow, crazy.

[Unknown]

Haven't thought about that in a while.

[Maggie Freeling]

You also worked with Payne on Jody's case for the up and Vanished TV series. When you first looked at the overview of the case, what stood out to you about Jodi?

[Unknown]

Of all the cases that I've worked on since working at Tenderfoot, this is one of the cases that has really stuck with me the most. I think it's because I felt I related to Jodi a bit more maybe than some of the other cases that we have covered. And I think that's because she was this journalist, she's an anchor. She had all these dreams of working in that space and making her way up to the national rankings and being on national tv. And I think I similarly kind of got into this career because I was interested in journalism. When I went to school, that was what I initially tried to study. And I think I just kind of related to her dreams. And it was so scary to think that someone so public facing with so much promise disappeared like that. And I also felt a sense of kinship with her. So it's kind of stuck with me all these years.

[Maggie Freeling]

Yeah, it's so interesting. Cause that's exactly what stuck out to me, right? Like the young journalist, like I just was like, yeah, I could see myself going to my 3am public radio shift and like being Ambushed is horrifying.

[Unknown]

Yeah. And there's so many options for who could have done it. Because she's so public facing and you can see from all the videos of her, she seems like such a light. I can just imagine how in this smaller town, she could be an object of fixation for a lot of people.

[Maggie Freeling]

Mm.

[Unknown]

But, yeah, the fact that she was doing such a service for the town and was so beloved, but then had so many weird interactions with kind of obsessive men, it just kind of makes me sad. And it really, I think, is another reason that it stuck with me. I just, it. It doesn't seem fair.

[Maggie Freeling]

So it's been almost 30 years since she disappeared, and we have no answers. When you covered this for the TV show, you didn't just retell the story. You guys actually took a real deep dive, retracing steps of the original investigation and following up on investigative leads. Can you tell me a bit about some of the things that you did?

[Unknown]

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's maybe why of the up and vanish TV showcases, this is probably, for lack of a better word, my favorite. Because we really did try to look into a lot of different angles, some of which I think are more possible. Some are just, you know, to cover all bases, to look into every single thing that was mentioned to us. But we really went to that town. We went to Mason City, Iowa, where Jody was the anchor. We went to her. Her apartment complex. We talked to her co anchor, the woman that was at the station at the time. We even talked to some people that were like anonymous tipsters or people that gave us new information that they tried to give the police prior and felt they weren't heard when they deliver that information. So we really were talking to a lot of people that hadn't spoken in years and years about things that they heard and saw around those days when she disappeared. And if you saw the show towards the end of that episode, Payne actually tried to speak with one of the main persons of interest. And it was honestly a pretty interesting interaction.

[Maggie Freeling]

Yeah. And I want to get to that. But first I want to go back and start with the morning that Jodi vanished because we learned some critical information from a really small window of time. Here's pain with more.

[Payne Lindsay]

As an early morning news anchor, Jodi had a strict routine on day she was on the air. She arrived at the station at 3am preparing for the 6am broadcast. This meant she usually went to bed early the night before. But leading up to her disappearance in the early morning hours of June 27, several details seem to indicate that her normal routine wasn't followed. Here's what we know. Around 2am that Tuesday, Jodi's producer Amy Kunz arrived at KIMT. She started the process of preparing the crew for the day's morning segments. Before long, Jody's usual 3am arrival time came and went. It wasn't until 4am that that Amy looked at the clock and realized she hadn't heard from Jody all morning. So she called to check on her. The phone rang and Jody picked up. She was groggy and it was clear that Amy had woke her up. When she realized what happened, Jody apologized, stated she'd overslept and she'd be right in. But a short time later, there was still no word from Jody. Amy tried calling Jody again, but this time there was no response. This few hour period would later be determined as the window when Jody disappeared. But at that time, Amy couldn't have known that Jody was in danger. She just assumed that Jody had fallen asleep again. The morning rolled on and after two hours of not hearing from Jody, Amy began to grow more concerned. At 6am, someone from the station went to Jodi's apartment to check on her and still no answer. It was at this point they decided to call the Mason City Police Department to perform a wellness check. Police arrive at Jody's apartment complex at 7:30am and immediately find something very out of place. Next to Jody's red Mazda Miata, they saw different items scattered across the parking lot. Authorities identified a high heeled shoe, a hairdryer, hairbrush, hairspray and other belongings that looked to have fallen out of a bag. As concerning as this scene looked, they became more alarmed when they found a bent car key. The police noticed that Jodi's car mirror was bent backwards and found what looked like drag marks in the area. Moving away from her vehicle. At this point, it was shaping up to look like much more than an accident. Police canvassed the area but found no other evidence. They did some knocks on doors in the complex and got some early tips from neighbors. A few residents said they heard voices and potentially screaming in the early morning hours. Authorities also noticed a pile of beer cans in an area of the parking lot that had a clear line of sight to Jody's apartment. Were these mere coincidences or potential clues painting the picture of what happened to Jody? The evidence in the parking lot showed signs of a struggle, but it was not enough to give police a full story, so the investigators shifted their focus to Jodi's apartment. While they didn't Find anything that pointed to forced entry? They did find some used wine glasses and something interesting in the bathroom. Apart from her normal personal items, authorities noticed that the toilet seat was left up. What's normally a pretty clear sign that a man had been there at some point. Recently, suspicions were mounting, and it became clear that authorities needed to learn more about who may have interacted with Jodi that morning.

[Maggie Freeling]

So first we need to just talk about the scene. The evidence that the police found at Jody's complex. You have this high heeled shoe, I think it was red, a hairdryer, a hairbrush, hairspray, and a couple other belongings. But it literally looks like a woman was just dragged away from this car. And they do find potential drag marks and a bent key, as if she was going to put it in the door. To me, this seems like clear signs of struggle took place. What do you make on this whole scene?

[Unknown]

Yeah, I'm glad you phrased it that way. It appears to be a crime scene, but we don't know if a crime took place there because I remember feeling like, is there a chance this was staged? The pictures look almost like a bad student film. But do I think it's likely that the crime took place there, that the abduction took place there? Yes, I do. Because what I've always found super unique about this case is that there's a very clear time frame for when this took place. This probably happened somewhere between 3, 33, 45, like somewhere in there. And it's kind of rare, I think, to have such a really exact timeframe where this probably happened. And if we hadn't had that phone call from Amy, who knows what could have happened? It'd be. The whole night would be a possibility. But now we know it's like just this early morning time when she usually would be rushing to her car. So it does seem pretty likely that that's the crime scene.

[Maggie Freeling]

Right. And so there's some red flags that when you start digging come up that maybe there was something going on in Jody's life. She mentioned she was being followed when she was out running. She was taking self defense classes. And of course, back then her number and her address were publicly available.

[Unknown]

Wow.

[Maggie Freeling]

What do you make of some of this? Do you think there was something going on in her life?

[Unknown]

Yes, I definitely do. There is the option that this is a random crime of opportunity, and that was definitely explored in our up and vanished episode about it. But I think also from everything we heard, there were several people that may have been infatuated with Jodi. She'd had a stalker in the recent past before she went missing. I think it's pretty safe to say that though a random crime of opportunity is possible, there is so much evidence pointing towards a crime of passion that I don't think that can be ignored.

[Maggie Freeling]

Our discussion continues after a quick break. Where'd you get those shoes? Easy. They're from dsw. Because DSW has the exact right shoes for whatever you're into right now. You know, like the sneakers that make office hours feel like happy hour, the boots that turn grocery aisles into runways, and all the styles that show off the many sizes of you from daydreamer to multitasker and everything in between, because you do it all in really great shoes. Find a shoe for every you at your DSW store or dsw.com random crime makes headlines, but how common is it really? A 2022 article by News Nation with the same name offers some insight. Citing statistics from 2020, they found that 25% of crimes are committed by a total stranger, 24% of crimes are committed by someone related to the victim, and over 50% of crimes are committed by someone the victim knows but is not related to.

[Payne Lindsay]

So while many people think that crimes.

[Maggie Freeling]

Are most often incidents of opportunity committed by strangers, statistics seem to show otherwise. Any crime should be taken seriously. If you're the victim of a crime, call 911 to report it immediately. If you have information about a crime, call Crime Stoppers USA at 1-800-222-TIPS. All right, now back to our case. We were just talking a little bit about why this case resonates with us. Because we're both producers and, you know, we both wanted to be journalists. And Jody really made it. She was like a local celebrity. And, and back then, you know, being on tv, there was no TikTok, nothing like that. So Jody, she was in the limelight. How much of this do you think is related to that?

[Unknown]

Oh, I think a lot. I do. And I don't think that only people in the limelight can be obsessed over stalked. However, I think you're absolutely right. Like Mason City, Iowa, it's not a huge place. And I think you're right. You know, no TikTok, no social media. Like, no other celebrities live there except for kind of the people on the local news. And I think that she was a really hot commodity in the area. And I'm sure that made people feel a parasocial connection with her. Maybe she was seen as kind of like a trophy, like a goal. If you could, like be friends with her if you could be in her circle. And I kind of think that a lot of the stories we've heard pointed towards that, too. A lot of people wanted to be around her also. That's terrible that what you said about, like, her phone number and address being public information. It just makes me squirm, makes me so upset. Right?

[Maggie Freeling]

I mean, the, the white pages or the yellow pages, I mean, 1995, it's like, yeah, our addresses are out there now. But it's so interesting because, you know, as a, as a producer, when you're trying to find someone, you get like 50 different addresses, and who knows which one it is? And, you know, it's like AI aggregating your data with your moms and your dads. But back then it was like, you find her last name and there is her most recent address. That's terrifying. And there's speculation around whether Jody may have had someone in her apartment the night before she disappeared. And that person may have been the last person to see her alive. Thankfully, some crucial details about the hours before her disappearance were about to be revealed. Here's Payne with more.

[Payne Lindsay]

On the evening of June 11, just a few days before she went missing, Jodi's friends and co workers threw her a 27th birthday party at a lounge in nearby Clear Lake. Everything was captured on video. You can see red balloons, party hats, and streamers. A big banner reading Party Hardy Girl hung above the cake with the figurine topper of a skier, a nod to Jody's love for the outdoors. Everyone seemed to be having a good time, especially Jody. You can see her smiling wide and laughing hard as she dances on the table, singing all of her favorite songs. It seems like the kind of night you'd remember for a long time. But in the video of the party, it also shows Jody dancing closely with a man. It's a party, so that's not out of place. But you can't help but notice a few odd details. First, there's a significant age difference. Jody turned 27, but the man she was with looked a lot older, about 20 years older. And secondly, the vibe seemed off, like he's much more into Jody than she's into him. So the question became, who is he? His connection to Jody and his interaction with her in the hours leading up to her disappearance will answer several burning questions, but also raise many more.

[Unknown]

Last night, new information on the case was released in a two hour program on the Oxygen Network.

[Payne Lindsay]

For the first time, the video of.

[Unknown]

Jody Husentruth's last birthday party is made public as part of up and Vanished.

A two hour show airing on the Oxygen Network.

The FBI and Mason City police have both told Carolina News the video is evidence in the case of the missing news anchor.

[Maggie Freeling]

So I want to talk about this infamous video of Jody dancing at her birthday party with a friend of hers. This man is named John Van Sykes. The age difference between the two of them is quite visible. He is older, she is very young. And a lot of people say there's a weird vibe when you study the video.

[Unknown]

Yeah. Speculation is hard. However, if you're just asking me how I feel, the video is weird. The video is super weird. The whole thing about the video is weird. Jody had had the birthday party very recently before she went missing. And her friend, this man who I think she had like a 14 year age gap with or something like that, had apparently thrown her this party and had asked his friend to video it. And if you watch the video, it's like, John Van Cise, the man who threw this party, is hamming it up. I mean, he is like life of the party. They're dancing a lot. He's touching her constantly, picking her up, sweeping her up in his arms like, you know, bridal style. He's pressing their cheeks together. He's getting on the table and pumping his fists. And there's also a few moments where she's dancing with someone else and he is just like staring at her.

[Maggie Freeling]

I've only seen clips of the video. Cause when I see this, I'm like, I don't know, it's a drunk guy having fun.

[Unknown]

But yeah, it does look like that the clip does.

[Maggie Freeling]

But maybe if I saw more, I would think otherwise.

[Unknown]

Well, I think what it would be is like you'd either be like, oh, they are best friends, or oh, they're in love or they're dating or oh my gosh, like some. He must be some really significant figure in her life. But the thing is that they'd met six months prior, they weren't dating. And at least that's what her friend told us, that they had met like six months before. And that's why I'm like, he threw this party. He's like clearly pulling out all the stops. And she looks like she's having a lot of fun at the party. Arguably. He almost looks like he's having more fun.

[Maggie Freeling]

Yeah. And he's really important because the night before she went missing, he is allegedly the last person to see her. And he comes forward and says that.

[Unknown]

The night before Jodi went missing, apparently John Van Cise, he's the one who said this. He's the one who put this out there, said that she came over to his house that night, the night before she went missing, and that they watched the videotape together. And on the up and Vanished show, we actually talked to someone who anonymously claimed that the following day, when Jodi had gone missing, and it was just starting to be figured out that John Van Cise made some weird comments along the lines of being like, I have the video. Like, I have the video of the birthday. Like, I can prove it. And it almost seemed like he was desperate to prove that they had a good connection. Now, that's coming from this anonymous source who I did see in Mason City, Ohio, that I did, like, you know, Payne Donald and I, the whole team, like, met this person. But, you know, we can't verify that. However, I do think now that you, like, I'm telling you, that it was like they met within six months. It is kind of strange, right? It's like, now that you know that and you've seen the video or at least clips of it, you're like, oh, they seem like they'd be so much closer. The police report initially had kind of gone into just, like, the facts of what they could verify, and that was that that day, before she went missing, Jodi had gone to a charity golf tournament, had left around 8pm had gone home, and then there was a phone call to a friend, like, on her call log. And then it's like a question mark until the next morning when she's called from the station, and they're like, jodie, you're late. And she's like, huh? Oh, I'll be right there. And, like, that is, like, all that is there on paper from my understanding. And then John Van Cise kind of entered the picture and offered up information that Jodi had gone over that night and they had watched the videotape of her birthday party together. Then within the next couple of days, John went on the news and made some strange comments. And one of the comments that he made publicly is that he was the last person to see Jody alive, which is really odd because no one said she was dead. Why would you say you're the last person that saw her alive?

[Maggie Freeling]

Right.

[Unknown]

You know, she's missing. People at that time still had hope that she would be found.

[Maggie Freeling]

It's also a weird statement to make because you don't know that unless you're the one that did something with her and she's no longer alive. Like, I. I Wouldn't be like, oh, I'm the last one to see that person. Even if I say alive or not. Like, how do you know you're the last person to see her?

[Unknown]

And why would you want to be like, I wouldn't want to be the last person to see anybody.

[Maggie Freeling]

Mm.

[Unknown]

Even if he is. Has nothing to do with it. It just feels kind of like a possessive remark to make. Like he just wanted everyone to know that they were very close and that he was the final person that she saw before she went missing. And honestly, like to say that publicly, too. It's like, well, everyone knows it was at night, you know, the night before. Like, I think he kind of had a fixation on making sure people knew that they had a maybe romantic connection or maybe it could turn into that or something like that.

[Maggie Freeling]

Yeah. And I also wanna point out that we don't really know whose house, who went to whose house. If Jody went to John's house to watch the video before she disappeared, or if he went to her house, this was just his word of what was happening that evening.

[Unknown]

Unless the police have some other evidence that we haven't seen. I've never heard that was verified. However, in recent years, they got a warrant for GPS information about John Van Cise's car that day. And, like, around Jody's disappearance, they got a warrant to look into that, and they sealed that warrant. So we can't tell what was the information that they had that convinced a judge that they had enough information to go get that GPS information.

[Maggie Freeling]

Wow.

[Unknown]

And then nothing came out of it. So it's like, presumably they didn't find anything damning, but they did have something that was enough to convince a judge to approve the warrant. So that's interesting.

[Maggie Freeling]

Yeah. And there's still a lot of unanswered questions about what happened to her the night before she disappeared and whether John's account of things is true or accurate if she went to his house. So I want to get into the discussion of theories with you and pick your brain a bit about what you think happened. One of the theories that we've touched on is that she had a potential stalker. And again, Jodi had mentioned she had been followed when she was out for runs and reported this to authorities. What are your thoughts on her being stalked?

[Unknown]

The stalking one is interesting. Cause, like, I. I totally believe she was stalked, but I don't know if there's evidence that it was always the same person or if it was the person who may have been in. In the parking lot that morning. Cause there was some alleged report that some someone saw, like, a van in the parking lot that morning.

[Maggie Freeling]

I want to just kind of make that connection. So she had alleged being followed by a white van. And then there was a witness who lived on the same street as Jody. He drove past her complex every day. And he said that morning he saw a white Ford Econoline van parked in her apartment complex facing the street. He didn't see a driver or anything. What do you make of that?

[Unknown]

I think it's very possible that that van in the parking lot that morning was related to the crime. Especially I think they said that would have been around 4am which kind of fits the time period of when Jody would have been abducted.

[Maggie Freeling]

The police determined that none of the other residents in the apartment complex were registered to a similar van. So it does seem like this van was potentially out of place.

[Unknown]

Yeah, potentially out of place. Whether it was the same one as when she was jogging? Unsure. But it could have been. It definitely could have been.

[Maggie Freeling]

So some suspect. She may have been a victim of a serial rapist. And there was a couple that were actually active in the area at the time. Tony Jackson had four victims that were similar build and description to Jody. He lived two blocks from the news station. And Thomas Corskaddin assaulted multiple women, including one at knifepoint. He did have a van similar to the one seen in the parking lot at the time of her disappearance. And allegedly he was trying to get tickets to an event Jodie was planning to attend. Do any of these names ring a bell for you?

[Unknown]

We definitely looked into that. I think Tony Jackson in particular, the one thing that was kind of weird or I remember about his case, apparently he bought a car the day before she went missing. And also someone in jail that was in jail the same time that Tony Jackson was in jail for other victims that he had stalked and raped. Someone in jail at the time with Tony said that he told them that he had killed an anchor, allegedly. Now, can we verify this? No. You know what I mean? It's like that's hearsay from jail. Like it was passed on. Finally got to us as like a tip is like, Tony Jackson said this. It's hard to say because Tony Jackson was interviewed and Tony Jackson said, I never met Jodie Husintrude. I only know her because of the local news. Tony Jackson was looked into and he was eventually cleared by the police. However, it's unclear why he was cleared because he didn't have an alibi for that night. He apparently stalked people, and it doesn't really seem like he was really investigated deeply. So I don't know why they cleared him other than he didn't seem to have a expressly like deep connection to Jody.

[Maggie Freeling]

And then this other guy, Thomas Corskadden, allegedly had a van similar to the one seen in the parking lot. And he's just another dude that's a freaking creep and assaulted multiple women, including one at knifepoint in the neighborhood. So I think the point just being like, yeah, it's really possible that there's a lot of people that could have hurt Jodie.

[Unknown]

Yeah. And there was also Dirk Jablonski. He was another man who apparently had a record of stalking women. And he briefly lived in the same apartment building as Jodi and he was at the golf tournament allegedly that she had been to the day before. And someone we talked to said that they sent in a tip about him, like look into him and they didn't believe that the police had ever done it.

[Maggie Freeling]

We'll be right back after a quick break. You're listening to up and Vanished weekly. Ready to level up. Jumbo Casino is your playbook to fun. It's free to play with no purchase necessary. Enjoy hundreds of casino style games like bingo, slots and solitaire anytime, anywhere with.

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[Payne Lindsay]

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[Maggie Freeling]

Their kids are learning about money with guardrails in place. Try Greenlight Risk free [e-mail] Odyssey hey everyone. Before we get back to the episode, I want to take a second to bring attention to something unique about up and Vanish Weekly. When Payne and I created the show, we we knew we wanted to bring awareness to late breaking missing persons cases. A way to highlight disappearances where authorities are desperately looking for tips and information about sightings to help track down missing persons who may still be in danger. Each week we'll bring you one of these cases in what we're calling our critical missing segment. Here's our producer John with more.

[Unknown]

Hey Maggie. So this is a really interesting one. So at 10:41am on January 18th of this year, a black 2016 Ford Fusion with North Carolina tag Juliet Lima Sierra 6635 entered the long term parking lot at the Charlotte Airport. It's believed the vehicle is registered to 32 year old Alexander Gonzalez from Mooresville, North Carolina. The following day, Alexander's brother received a text from Alexander's phone around 8:45pm Then around 10:19pm that night, the phone was pinged in Grapevine, Texas. And a second ping at 11:38pm shows the phone was either off or disconnected. And from what we know, Alexander hasn't been heard from since. Alexander is of Hispanic ethnicity and has a height of 5 foot 10 inches and a weight of 175 pounds. He has shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes and he was last seen wearing brown leather boots and dark wash jeans. Alexander has a tattoo of a Japanese style mask on his forearm as well as a tattoo of a standing frog also on his forearm. He also has a scar on his forehead above his eyebrow. So listeners, if you know any information about the whereabouts of Alexander Gonzalez, please contact the Mooresville Police Department at 704-664-3311 and you can reference case number 2000 25000, 391.

[Maggie Freeling]

Okay, now let's get back to the show. So just as we discussed, a very strong theory is that Jodie could have encountered a stalker or a serial rapist or murderer. But the other leading theory is that John Van Syce may have had something to do with her disappearance. Obviously, he's been the main person of interest since the beginning. You guys also really focused on him. After she went missing, he did a couple media appearances and then he moved to Arizona and that's where you guys found him. So tell me about John Van Cise and this is kind of who I think is your main person of interest.

[Unknown]

This is where we spent a lot of the time of our investigation on Jodi Husntreat's case because there was so much weird about John Van Cise as a person of interest. And I think there's a reason why he still to this day hasn't been cleared by the police publicly. His alibi is that his friend Ladonna, she called him at like 6am to work out or go on a walk with her. She called him and he was really groggy and so she was like he Was definitely asleep. And he was like, no, no, let's. Yeah, let's work out. And that they worked out most days together. Again, like, don't know how you can verify that, but they went on a walk together. And he didn't say anything about Jodi, except for in our interview with her, she said that she was like, john, you look like hell this morning. And John was like, oh, well, I mean, all I did last night is Jody came over and we watched the videotape of the party and we had a good time. Okay. Kind of a weird alibi. The alibi is that not at the time she really went missing, but before the cops found out she was gone. At least not at the time I think she went missing because I think she went missing somewhere around 4am that even leaves 5am open, you know, but at 6am, ish. He had a friend call him and then they went on a walk and he didn't seem to know anything about it. That's like the alibi. However, we also talked to another man that said that they would have been together around the same time that this walk would have been taking place and that they actually met up every morning. And honestly, that was the man I believed. Like, we don't. We can't say his name. He was anonymous. But I don't think that this woman Ladonna was telling the truth. I don't think that they worked out every day together. I don't really know why she would say that. However, I think the. The most likely thing is if they did go on a walk, I actually think there's a possibility that John called Ladonna to work out or go on a walk that morning, not the other way around. And somehow he got her to eventually say that she called first by saying maybe that people would think it was suspicious or like, could she help him out? Like, it would help because he's innocent and yada yada. However, like, if they did go on that walk that morning, it still is 6:30, 6:45 or something that she claims they finally met up. And to me, that doesn't really seem like an alibi. Right. That seems hours before. It's before the police got to the crime scene. Cause I think the police didn't get there until closer to 7:38. I think they were called at like 7:30 in the morning, after the morning news shift had ended. But still, like, I don't know why we're assuming that Jody went missing at seven.

[Maggie Freeling]

Right. That's what I. You know, we keep saying Alibi but it's pretty clear she went missing sometime around 4am she's late for work, so she's going to be rushing to work. If she had left that area around 4am, she would have been at work by 6amSo she didn't. So he needs an alibi for 4am.

[Unknown]

Yes, and I guess the only alibi you can have is sleep. And that's fair enough. However, here's the real thing that sticks with me. Amy Kunz, who I've mentioned a bunch of times, was the assistant producer at the Mason City TV station, and she says that that morning John Van Cise called to ask if Jody was there and can I talk to her that morning, like early in the morning. I mean, this. That had to be around the same time supposedly that he was on this walk with Ladonna. And I believe Amy Kunes, I really do. She was the one that talked to Jodi that morning. Firstly, no reason to lie. Seemed really upset about it and very intense about Jody's case. She's the last person that we know talked to her. And she says that John Van Cise called sometime after that to ask if Jodi was there and can I talk to her? And then Amy Kuhn said she didn't show up for work this morning. And then he said, well, is she sick? Like, was really kind of insistent about, like, why can't I talk to where is she? And Amy said she thought it was suspicious and she told the police. And she said that she didn't even know if it made it into the affairs official police report.

[Maggie Freeling]

How would he know she was missing?

[Unknown]

Exactly?

[Maggie Freeling]

Like, how, why and how? I guess in theory he could have.

[Unknown]

Well, the thing is that I think Amy was saying that he called asking, like, oh, can I speak to Jody? Not that he knew that she was missing, but Amy said he never called before, to her knowledge, just to talk to Jody that early in the morning before her news coverage. To me it sounds like an al. Like you're trying to make an alibi, like, oh, how would I have known she was missing? I tried to talk to her.

[Maggie Freeling]

Right. A very obvious person of interest.

[Unknown]

Yeah. And I know, like, obviously you do a lot of, like, wrongful conviction work. And I know there's like, people zero in on suspects that seem really likely. It happened with Tara Grinstead's case and her boyfriend too, and I'm sure it caused him a lot of heartache. So I do think it's it. You gotta be sure about these things. However, the stuff that happened with Jon Van Sykes is really, really, really weird.

[Maggie Freeling]

When you guys recorded the up and Vanish TV show, Payne tried to reach out to John Van Cise to sit down with him and get his take on what he believed happened to Jodi. John ignored the outreach. So Payne and the team flew to Arizona and actually approached John at his house. I want to play a part of their interaction and get your take on it.

[Payne Lindsay]

He's in the backyard.

[Maggie Freeling]

There he is, right there.

[Unknown]

Payne.

[Maggie Freeling]

So when Payne shows up at John's house, they spot him in the backyard. Payne's on the sidewalk, public property. And he calls over the gate at John to try and get his attention.

[Unknown]

Say about nothing. Do not bother us. I'm asking.

[Payne Lindsay]

Okay. Can I ask you a question before I leave?

[Unknown]

Sure you can.

[Payne Lindsay]

Why does he not want to talk?

[Unknown]

Because he's.

[Payne Lindsay]

His friend's been helping, something he didn't.

[Unknown]

Do for 20 years. That's why he told you he does not want to talk. Cheating. Very simple. Okay. And if you think that a man doesn't want to talk to you, that makes him guilty.

[Payne Lindsay]

I didn't say that.

[Unknown]

Whatever your ideas are.

[Payne Lindsay]

If you were me, though, and you talked to his good friend who's defending him, who is crying about this, who's really upset, and she encourages me to.

[Unknown]

Go talk to him, I know who it is.

[Payne Lindsay]

What am I supposed to do, ask.

[Unknown]

You to talk to him? Okay.

[Payne Lindsay]

How do you know that? Because you talked to La Donna.

[Unknown]

I know. I found out. Okay? But here's the point. The point is that this man has been hounded for 20 years. 20 years. I'm supposition. I'm on innuendo. And he's done. The truth will eventually come out, period.

[Payne Lindsay]

How will it come out if no one's talking anymore?

[Unknown]

You'll find out.

[Payne Lindsay]

How. Is there evidence that I don't know about? I'm just trying to help John. I really am.

[Maggie Freeling]

John refuses to talk with pain and starts yelling, cursing at him as Payne gets back in the car.

[Payne Lindsay]

You said she'd come back. She never did. I'll never understand John. I'll never understand.

[Maggie Freeling]

What are your thoughts on this whole scene?

[Unknown]

Well, confronting someone involved in any case is a bold move and will yield varying results. And I think that there are very logical reasons that John wouldn't want to talk after years of this case being in the limelight. You know, we talked previously about how wrongful convictions happen. Sometimes the cops can zero in on the wrong person, so that's always a possibility. I know. I said it is weird that he left so quickly. From Mason City. However, maybe he did just lose everything and the tension was too much and people were zeroing in on him too much, and it just caused him to need to leave. I can see how these things could be true. At the same time, I do think there are a lot of pretty reputable people in Mason City that seem to have strange stories of things John did or said after Jodi went missing. And of course, he's the last person, by his own admission, to maybe have seen her alive. So I think there's good reason to want those questions to be cleared up. What's interesting about this interaction, though, is that after Payne went to John Van Cise's place, John Van Cise, I believe, like, days later, reached out to a journalist himself and made a final statement to the media. He basically had this guy named Steve Ridge write up this piece, being like, this is my final note to the media, like, leave me alone. I have nothing to do with this. I hope Jodie's found. So that's pretty interesting. You can check that out.

[Maggie Freeling]

What do you think his motive would have been?

[Unknown]

Well, she did tell someone that she had rejected his ultimate romantic advances, that I think that he wanted them to be together, and that she had said, I just want to be friends. And that had happened very shortly before this. There's something to all of the theories here, and that's what makes this case so puzzling, truly.

[Maggie Freeling]

Yeah. So I have a theory that I think is pretty good, too. So there is this drug theory, and I think it's linked to Billy Pruin. So Billy Pruin was a friend of Jody's and he died shortly before she disappeared. And from what I understand, his mom went to his house to look for him back in 1995, and when she found him, he was dead from a gunshot wound and she found a revolver on the ground a few feet away. Initially, they said it was suicide, but they never found any gunshot residue or anything on his hands. So it is now undetermined his death. And the other interesting thing is, is if it was a suicide, he's left handed. He doesn't have a thumb on his left hand. So how would he have held the gun?

[Unknown]

Oh, my gosh.

[Maggie Freeling]

So, you know, to me, this seems like a pretty clear homicide, not suicide. So the question is, why would someone kill Billy Pruin?

[Unknown]

Billy was looking into, like, a meth problem in the Mason City area. And originally his death was ruled a suicide. And then they rolled that back and said undetermined. So they didn't quite say homicide, but I Do think rolling back on a suicide determination is a little strange? He was looking into this and there was a theory that Jody was looking into Billy Pruin's death because she's a journalist and was interested in covering these like hard hitting stories actually. And so she was looking into it and there was a theory that basically she might have gotten too far into it and had discovered some of these names. And there's a theory that a couple of those people came after her and kind of disappeared her because she was getting too close to this drug linchpin operation in the area.

[Maggie Freeling]

Yeah. So I think the name that you guys talked about was Dustin Honkin. So he was a person of interest. He was a meth kingpin in the area. He was a person of interest in five disappearances around 1993. And he was actually charged with those five murders in 2001 when they found the bodies. So I think, you know, to me this seems like a really good theory. A journalist friend is what I would consider murdered and she starts looking into it. At least she thinks it's suspicious and she's looking into it. And maybe she was getting close. Maybe they were like, we can't have her looking into what's going on here. And they got her too. Looking into that. Where do you lean?

[Unknown]

I mean, I think it's something that couldn't be entirely ruled out. You know, when we looked into it, I guess I wondered like, all right, back in the day there probably would have been a lot of like handwritten notes, like if she was looking into this. I feel like we would have found a paper trail. But I wonder maybe that was there and if that was the case, I think I would feel more strongly about the Billy Pruin option, about her looking into like some drug lords and getting too close. I'd actually love to see if there's anything like a paper trail that exists for that option.

[Maggie Freeling]

I don't think they ruled out Dustin Hawkins. So like that's something they could potentially still be looking into. As with John Van Cise, I think.

[Unknown]

That'S where this case is left. It's like they never could rule out John Van Cuis. They never could rule out this meth drug lord, Dustin Honkin. They did eventually rule out Tony Jackson, but actually it's kind of not exactly clear why. So that is why it is hard for me to be like, oh, which way do I lean? I just remember how really bizarre the alibi was from John Van Cise and how many people brought him up when we were there. Now that you know, as you've well know, like people do love the local favorite theory. So there is that. There is that element, but it is just kind of. It was overwhelming when we were there in Mason City. It kind of felt like the John Van Syss energy was overwhelming and some of the people we talked to brought up alternative theories. But yeah, Dirk Jablonski being another one of them. I do remember that one. He was like stalked women and lived in her building and never really amounted to any noticeable investigation.

[Maggie Freeling]

More of our discussion after a quick break. Start fresh in the New Year as you set resolutions for 2024, consider how learning a new language can enrich your life, whether through travel, career advancement, or cultural appreciation. Keeping in mind everything you've learned over the last year, it's time to build on that. And learning a new language can help you connect with others and explore new cultures. With that in mind, there's no better tool than Rosetta Stone, the most trusted language learning program available on desktop and mobile. Rosetta Stone immerses you in the language so you truly learn to think, speak and understand it naturally. With Rosetta Stone's intuitive approach. There are no English translations, you're fully immersed, and the Built in Truaxent feature acts like a personal accent coach, giving you real time feedback to make sure you sound just right. Don't put off learning that language. There's no better time than right now to get started. Start the new year off with the resolution you can reach today. Listeners can take advantage of this Rosetta Stones lifetime membership for 50% off, visit RosettaStone.com Rs10. That's 50% off unlimited access to 25 language courses for the rest of your Life. Redeem your [e-mail] Rs10 today. This episode is brought to you by Alma. There's no reason that as a clinician, you should be spending hours on paperwork to bill for insurance, or not knowing for sure when you'll next be reimbursed.

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[Unknown]

Hey, it's John from the up and Vanish team. If you're enjoying this episode, then you should check out the Tenderfoot original series Culpable. Now, fair warning, I helped produce the series, so I may be a little biased, but hear me out. In 2018 my good friend Dennis Cooper came across the case of 21 year old Christian Andrea, who died under mysterious circumstances in his Meridian, Mississippi apartment after a 45 minute investigation. His death was ruled a suicide despite evidence of potential foul play. Then we investigated the shocking death of Brittany Stykes, a 22 year old pregnant mother who was gunned down on a busy highway in rural Brown County, Ohio. Even after a decade long investigation, her killer is still at large. The common thread in each of these cases is the looming question of culpability. Where does the blame lie in each of the victims deaths? Listen to all episodes of Culpable, seasons one and two, wherever you get your podcasts or binge ad free exclusively on Tenderfoot Plus. Now back to the show.

[Maggie Freeling]

If you had all the resources in the world, what would be the first thing you did with this case?

[Unknown]

I think I'd want to see what was in that sealed warrant that the judge approved to see the GPS information related to John Van Cuise's car. I'd wanna see all the interviews and I'd wanna know like, did they put Amy Kuhn's statement in there about John Van Cuys calling that morning? Maybe it would help me rule him out more too. But those things are just kind of behind closed doors. So now you're only getting people talking about them, talking about how they had reported it to the police back then. The problem with this case is I think Mason City, Iowa has had like four sheriffs or police department heads like since this case happened, maybe five. And so like with all that turnover, who's really keeping track of the details? Mm, I think that they weren't prepared for a case of this magnitude. They thought she was gonna turn up. Then too much time passed and too many hands passed over the case. And now everyone's like, what are we gonna do about it? Everyone's scattered. Some people aren't even alive anymore.

[Maggie Freeling]

That's what gets so frustrating in these cases. The facts after so long just get jumbled.

[Unknown]

So much hearsay. And it does really jumble it. And you're even like, well, in the police files, is that even the correct thing? Is that even all that was said? Because we heard a lot of people doubting that police got the right accounts down. So I don't know, it's all very hard to do. And as someone said, actually in the up and vanished episode about this, it's really hard to solve a case without a body. And I think that's super true. Because if there was a location, if anything else was found, it Would be easier to know who to link that to, but, yeah, it's just such a question mark.

[Maggie Freeling]

It is. Meredith, thank you so much for talking with me about this case.

[Unknown]

I.

[Maggie Freeling]

There's so much that I learned just from speaking with you and the deep dive that you guys did. I really appreciate it.

[Unknown]

Oh, thanks, Maggie. I mean, you're the queen of deep dives, so I appreciate that. That's a lot coming from you.

[Maggie Freeling]

So if people want to find out more about what you're working on, where should they go?

[Unknown]

I mean, I work across a lot of the true crime shows at 10 or foot, so usually you can, like, at least hear my voice doing the disclaimer, but I'm in the background on a few true crime shows that will be coming out in the next year, I'd say. And then more regularly, I also work on our horror shows, Radio Rental and Rattled and Shook, which is the one that I co host. So, yeah, if you like horror and true horror, you could check out those. And if not, I'll be doing more true crime, so I'll be around.

[Maggie Freeling]

When I decided to cover Jodi's case, I also reached out to Payne to catch up with him and get his thoughts on her investigation. Here's what he had to say.

[Payne Lindsay]

It's just a bizarre mystery to me. I feel like it's a case that should have already been solved by now, and it's worth revisiting in hopes to maybe help do that. It just seems odd that it hasn't been solved yet. And so for my curious brain, it just makes me wonder, is it something that the police missed early on? You know, have they always had their suspicions, but there's just not enough physical evidence to actually bring charges and put someone behind bars? My biggest bone to pit with law enforcement when it comes to unsolved missing persons cases that are decades old is just plain and simple. If it's been 20 plus years, clearly whatever methods you're using, whatever leads you've had, whatever you've been doing isn't working right. And so I think it's just common sense to try something different. And, you know, there's always a fear with law enforcement where maybe there's this one piece of evidence that only the killer could know, and you don't want to put that out there, but you could do that for 100 years and that it never means anything. At a certain point, I think you have to take the risk of. Of releasing that because you don't know what that might do. Maybe that piece of information that only the killer would know. Somebody else knows, too. And then you find the killer. I think that all these years later, if we're here still talking about it, we gotta try something new here. And if you're withholding information, if you got, you know, the keys to the castle, give them up or tell us that you don't have anything.

[Maggie Freeling]

If Amy Coons had known that the 4am Called Jody would be the last time anyone would speak to her before she vanished, I have no doubt she would have ran from the station. A few years ago, Amy sat down with a local Iowa news station to discuss Jody's disappearance, which is still weighing on her.

[Payne Lindsay]

It changed who I am. It has shaped who I have become.

[Unknown]

For many, many years.

[Payne Lindsay]

I was just really, really afraid of life.

[Maggie Freeling]

It's been decades since Jodi aired her final segment at kimt. In all these years, authorities have been unable to uncover what really happened to her. But those close to Jody, including Amy, continue to be vocal about where they stand on it all.

[Unknown]

My gut says it was somebody she knew.

[Payne Lindsay]

And I think the person thought, if I can't have her, nobody will.

[Maggie Freeling]

What I believe is that there's too many people in this woman's world that could have done this to her, and that is terrifying. Any one of these people we presented could have found a moment to take advantage of a young woman in a vulnerable situation. And now Jody has been gone for almost 30 years. Jody's mom has since passed away, and she never got the closure of knowing what happened to her daughter. But others close to Jodi, like Amy, are keeping her story alive until the truth about what happened in the early morning hours of June 27, 1995, comes out.

[Unknown]

I want to tell Jody's story, which.

[Payne Lindsay]

Is my story, if I can find a purpose behind all of this and help, even if I just help one person. Mission accomplished.

[Maggie Freeling]

Jodi Husentrut is described as being 5'three 110 to 120 pounds, with brown eyes and blonde hair. She has no known identifying marks. She would now be 56 years old. If you have any information about Jodi Husentrut's disappearance, call the Find Jody tip line at 640-1999-1109 or email teamindjody.com or submit an anonymous tip at findjoni.com or contact the Mason City Police Department at 641-421-3636. Y'all, thank you so much for listening to this week's episode of up and Vanish Weekly. Be sure to tune in next Friday as we dig into another new case. Until next time.

[Payne Lindsay]

Up and Vanish Weekly is a production of Tenderfoot TV in association with Odyssey. Your hosts are Maggie Freeling and myself, Payne Lindsay. The show is written by Maggie Freeling, myself and John Street. Executive producers are Donald Albright and myself. Lead producer is John Street. Additional production by Meredith Steadman and Mike Rooney Research for the series by Jamie Albright, Celicia Stanton and Carolyn Tallmadge Edit and mix by Dylan Harrington and Sean Nurney Supervising producer is Tracy Kaplan artwork by Byron McCoy. Original music by Makeup and Vanity set. Special thanks to Oren Rosenbaum and the team at uta, Beck Media and Marketing and the Nord Group. For more podcasts like up and Vanish Weekly, search Tenderfoot TV on your favorite podcast app or visit us@Tenderfoot TV. Thanks for listening.