Almost a month ago, FindJodi received a tip that 78-year-old John Vansice may have passed away in Phoenix, Arizona. Vansice was a friend of Jodi Huisentruit’s who said he last saw her the night before she disappeared. Vansice told police Jodi stopped by his Mason City, Iowa, apartment to watch a video of a surprise birthday party he cohosted for her a couple weeks earlier.
Vansice has long been investigated by Mason City police and the Iowa DCI but was never charged with a crime in connection with Jodi’s case. Vansice has always claimed he was innocent of any involvement in the 27-year-old news anchor’s abduction from her Key Apartment parking lot on June 27, 1995. It was still dark when Jodi was on her way to anchor the morning news at KIMT-TV and the crime occurred. Vansice said he passed a police polygraph test.
John Vansice (right) at a birthday party he organized for Jodi. (Courtesy Oxygen/NBC Universal)
FindJodi has tried repeatedly to get official confirmation of Vansice’s passing. His family has not published an obituary. The only public statement on Vansice’s reported December 6 death was in a December 26 media release from Iowa private investigator Steve Ridge. It was cited by some Iowa and Minnesota news organizations as the source of their reports on Vansice.
Because Arizona has strict laws regarding who can obtain information about a person’s death, we have been unable to get a copy of a death certificate or any legal or public proof to verify Vansice’s passing.
In response to our inquiry, Magda Rodriquez, the media relations coordinator for the Arizona Department of Health Services told FindJodi, “Arizona is a ‘closed record’ state. That means that vital records are not public record. Arizona law restricts the public’s access to vital records to protect the confidentiality rights of our citizens. Arizona Administrative Code (A.A.C.) R9-19-314 and R9-19-315 ) specifies that only the following persons may receive a certified copy of a death certificate.
Jodi and friends at a birthday party thrown for her weeks before she disappeared.
“Registered death certificates become public on the Arizona Department of Health Services’ website 50 years after the person’s death,” Rodriquez said.
We checked the Maricopa County Superior Court’s public database and found nothing had been filed in Probate Court. If a person dies and leaves a will in Arizona, there is a two-year deadline for it to be filed.
When we asked Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley about the persistent reports of Vansice’s death, he responded in an email, “As you are aware, we are not the clearinghouse for this kind of information. I am not sure where you may find such information in Arizona to get an answer to your question.
“We don’t have any comments on any persons who are part of this investigation,” the Chief said.
Vansice stated that he’d named his boat after Jodi, however it was not painted on the back. (courtesy A Current Affair)
Continuing our search for answers, we also reached out to Cerro Gordo County Attorney Carlyle Dalen. We wondered if Vansice’s death, if confirmed, would affect Dalen’s decision to continue to ask a judge each year to keep a search warrant sealed in Jodi’s case. The 2017 search warrant involved GPS data on two vehicles connected to Vansice that were manufactured after Jodi was abducted. In a 2018 interview, Chief Brinkley told CBS News 48 Hours correspondent Jim Axelrod, “We didn’t get any information that was useful.”
Dalen told FindJodi he had heard the same “rumors” of Vansice’s death and that, if true, he still planned to seek to keep the GPS search warrant sealed to protect the ongoing investigation.
Two separate federal grand juries investigated Jodi’s case and ended without handing down an indictment against anyone. The most recent grand jury met in March 2017, the same month the GPS search warrants were executed.
Meanwhile, Jodi’s family, friends and former coworkers prepare for the 30th anniversary of her disappearance with no answers to what happened to Jodi, no chance yet to say goodbye to the Long Prairie, Minnesota, native.
Anyone with any information on Jodi’s case should contact the Mason City Police Department at (641) 421-3636 or email Iowa DCI Special Agent Ryan Herman at rherman@dps.state.ia.us. You can always reach out to FindJodi here, or anonymously here.
