As expected, Cerro Gordo County Attorney Carlyle Dalen has filed a motion asking a judge to keep sealed a 2017 search warrant in the Jodi Huisentruit investigation. The warrant concerns GPS data related to two vehicles connected to John Vansice.
In 2018, Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley told “48 Hours” correspondent Jim Axelrod, “We didn’t get any information that was useful,” regarding the GPS search.
In a motion filed on Thursday, Dalen said the “State is conducting an ongoing investigation of the incident. The death of a person of interest, John Vansice, has not stopped or altered the investigation.”
“The State’s ongoing investigation would be severely compromised if the documents are not sealed. These documents contain information concerning essential facts in this investigation, and the investigation will be substantially compromised if information contained in the search warrant is prematurely released to the public.”
“The public and the press have a right to immediate access to documents filed in Court based upon both common law and the First Amendment However, that right to public access is not an absolute right; it is rather a qualified right.”
The prosecutor’s motion also states, “The parties seeking sealing of these documents have the burden to show that such a restriction of First Amendment right of public access is necessitated by a compelling government interest. If the documents are not sealed, then the investigation of the underlying incident would be detrimentally affected because of all the information contained in the application for the warrant would be available to anyone who is or may become a suspect in this case. As it is apparent from the face of the application, it contains information about the case, which should be confidential to allow further investigation. If certain information in the application for the search warrant is made available to any potential suspects, then they would be able to know what information to hide and what information not to hide. Also, the application contains information about the crime which could be used to corroborate a confession if one is ever obtained. If the information is released to the public, the information would lose its corroborative value. ”
Finally, Dalen argues, “Iowa Code Chapter 22.7 (5) doesn’t just protect the rights of the person being investigated, it protects the integrity of the investigation. The records contained in the search warrant are the exact type of confidential records the statute was trying to protect during an ongoing investigation.”
“Since 2017, Judicial Magistrates by court order have yearly reviewed and approved the state’s request to seal the search warrant and related documents. Death of a person of interest does not change any of the compelling government reasons for sealing the search warrant and related documents.”
As FindJodi previously reported, two Iowa attorneys argued in a motion that the warrant should be opened since Vansice passed away in December 2024 and, as such, any ongoing investigation into his involvement in this matter has now ceased.”
Attorneys Nellie O’Mara and Jesse Marzen also said, “The State has no right to conduct an investigation after a person is deceased.”
Iowa private investigator Steve Ridge later released a statement to the news media that the attorneys were representing him. Ridge said Vansice died in December, prompting him to seek a court ruling. “I think it is time to lift the cloud of suspicion that has hung over Vansice and his family for many years.”
It’s now up to a Cerro Gordo County judge to decide if the sealed search warrant should remain sealed.
Anyone with 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, Inc.
