Whenever I am in Mason City, Iowa, I always stop by the Key Apartments parking lot where Jodi Huisentruit was abducted on her way to anchor the morning news at KIMT-TV on June 27, 1995.
I have been doing that for 28 years since I first reported on Jodi’s case in 1998 as a journalist at WCCO-TV in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
It’s always an emotional experience, trying to visualize what happened to Jodi in the dark around 4:30 a.m. on that June day, wondering where she is now and hoping for insight that leads to answers. I sometimes get choked up during interviews with news crews with the parking lot in the background.
This past June 27 was the first time in decades I was there on the same date and at the same time Jodi was apparently attacked from behind as she was getting into her car to go to work.
In just 30 seconds, Jodi was gone. Thirty years later, she’s still missing.
FindJodi’s Brian Wise and I arrived at the scene around 3:30 a.m. and stayed for just over an hour. Although the parking lot is much better lit than it was in 1995, overall, it looked remarkably the same—something I have rarely seen while revisiting decades-old crime scenes.
As we sat in the dark in our car across the street, it struck us how quiet it was at that time of day, with minutes going by without any cars passing. We saw only one person get into a car in the parking lot the entire time we were there.
Staring at the apartment lot underscored the tiny time frame Jodi’s abductor had to grab her and get away, most likely in a vehicle. No doubt, he had been there before and had an exit plan to escape without being caught.
That morning in 1995, he must have been watching in the dark as the light went out in Jodi’s second-floor apartment and she walked down the stairs, out the front door, and took the 12 steps to her Mazda Miata.
He was likely there for more than an hour since Jodi had overslept and was running late.
Being at the scene reinforced the theory that there was no way someone randomly driving past Jodi’s building on Kentucky Avenue could have spotted her and decided to abduct her right then and there. There was simply no time.
Homicide investigators say a scene will “talk to you,” revealing clues about how the crime occurred. Whenever I visit the Key Apartments, I keep hoping for that insight, always asking, “Jodi, where are you?”
Three decades later, the answer still eludes us. If he’s still alive, the person who took Jodi continues to control the narrative about what happened to the 27-year-old Long Prairie, Minnesota, native with such a promising future.
With the 30th anniversary of the abduction behind us, I never give up hope that this person will finally do the right thing and lead us to Jodi, not make her family wait another year to bring her home.
If you want get a sense of how fast the crime unfolded, check out Brian’s “30 Seconds” video listed in the comments.
If you have any information about what happened to Jodi, call the Mason City Police Department at (641)421-3636 or email Iowa DCI Special Agent Ryan Herman: rherman@dps.state.ia.us. Or contact us at FindJodi.
