UPDATE: DNA sample leads to arrest in John Snyder Jr. murder
MASON CITY — Mason City Police and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation have made an arrest in a 19-year-old murder case thanks to DNA profiling.
Michael Jason Cisneros, 37, formerly of Mason City, has been charged with first-degree murder in the July 1994 death of 20-month-old John Joseph Snyder Jr.
At the time of the boy’s death, the boy’s father John Snyder Sr. told police that he and his son, John Jr., sat outside their home at 10 S. Adams Ave. and watched a thunderstorm on the evening of July 19, 1994.
Snyder reported his son missing early the next morning. The baby was found dead July 21, snagged on a tree in Willow Creek in northeast Mason City.
At a Monday news conference, Mason City Police Chief Michael Lashbrook said Cisneros was identified as a suspect through a DNA sample he gave when he was when he was transported to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Oakdale in 2012. The match was flagged in the state’s database in January 2013. The match was found on a DNA sample on the boy’s pajamas, according to police.
Authorities said the boy suffered a skull fracture, fractured jaw, bruises, a cut on his lower lip and signs consistent with drowning.
Cisneros is being transported to the Cerro Gordo County Jail.
No further details about the incident are being released by police at this time.
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One of our sources has confirmed that Mason City Police will hold a news conference at 1:30PM CDT today (Monday, July 15th) regarding a major development in a homicide case. We don’t know if this is related to Jodi Huisentruit’s case, but we are simply putting out the word and following up with the department and other sources as to what the news conference regards.
Stay tuned to FindJodi.com for the latest developments out of Mason City Police Department.
FindJodi.com team member Gary Peterson is en route to Mason City Police Department and will have the latest details during the news conference.
