‘48 Hours’ looks at Huisentruit case Saturday night

MASON CITY - The disappearance of Mason City news anchor Jodi Huisentruit is scheduled to be featured on '48 Hours” Saturday night.

The 27-year-old disappeared on her way to work at KIMT, a CBS affiliate, on June 27, 1995.

Police found signs of a struggle outside her Mason City apartment, but her body was never found.

Huisentruit - who would now be 50 years old - was declared legally dead in 2001.

Jim Axelrod, a senior national correspondent for CBS News who reported the '48 Hours” episode, said the episode will feature new information about Huisentruit's car, which has remained a subject of interest in the case, according to a news release.

It will also explore multiple theories about her disappearance, including a look at a convicted serial rapist who once lived near Huisentruit, according to the release.

Promotions for '48 Hours” - which airs at 9 p.m. on CBS - show a reporter attempting to talk to John Vansice, one of the last people known to have seen Huisentruit alive.

Vansice, now 72 and living in Arizona, videotaped a birthday party he threw for Huisentruit just days before her disappearance.

Vansice told authorities Huisentruit had been at his house the night before her disappearance, watching that tape.

Vansice said he passed a polygraph test shortly after Huisentruit's disappearance.

In March 2017, the Mason City Police Department executed a search warrant against Vansice for GPS data from a 1999 Honda Civic and 2013 GMC 1500.

The warrant was sealed the same day, meaning no other information is publicly available about why the search was ordered or what was discovered.

In October 2017, a judge ordered the documents would remain sealed for another year. The seal was extended again in September, through Sept. 28, 2019.

In 2004, police checked the basement of a home formerly occupied by Vansice, but said the search yielded no new information.

On June 5, Jodi Huisentruit's 50th birthday, four billboards were put up around Mason City to draw attention to the cold case.

'48 Hours” producers approached the people behind FindJodi.com and began working on the episode after attending the dedication of the billboards.

The billboards feature Huisentruit's photo and the message, 'Somebody knows something ... is it YOU?”

Since FindJodi.com was launched in 2003, the website has received several hundred tips and leads.