Find Jodi: A 2017 Search Warrant Was Partially Unsealed By A Judge

Are we getting closer to knowing what happened to former St. Cloud State and Long Prairie native Jodi Huisentruit? A 2017 search warrant was partially unsealed last week, and the information that came from it sheds some light on where the investigation is on the decades-old case.

FindJodi.com's Scott Fuller wrote about the search warrant being unsealed and what it revealed in terms of the ongoing investigation in Mason City, Iowa.

Fuller wrote that the search warrant that was argued in court to be unsealed dealt with "GPS tracking devices placed on two vehicles tied to John Vansice – a friend of Huisentruit’s and described as a “person of interest” in the court decision. The vehicles, a 1999 Honda Civic and a 2013 GMC 1500, were reportedly registered to the Arizona address where Vansice was living in early 2017."

The judge in the case, Judge James M. Drew, ruled that the affidavit that was submitted for the search warrant wouldn't be made public, but other aspects of the search warrant would be made public.

Fuller of FindJodi.com went on to write, "The decision underscores that the investigation into Huisentruit’s disappearance remains open, despite the death of John Vansice in December 2024. The judge noted there is no statute of limitations on murder in Iowa, and law enforcement continues to consider the case active."

Jodi disappeared on June 27, 1995. She was supposed to report to work that morning at the local television station, KIMT, but never arrived.

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Portions of the 2017 search warrant will be unsealed later this month. It takes about a month for the records to be unsealed, as it allows time for an appeal to be filed. As long as there isn't an appeal to the judge's decision, the files will be available to the public by April 28th.

You can follow along with the investigative work Scott and the team at FindJodi are doing here. 

H/T Scott Fuller