Judge: Release part of Huisentruit search warrant

MASON CITY — Senior District Court Judge James Drew has ruled that a portion of a search warrant related to the 1995 disappearance of KIMT-TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit should remain sealed — but the rest can be unsealed and made public.

The warrant, which involves GPS data from two vehicles that were connected to John Vansice, a longtime person of interest in the case, initially was filed and executed in March 2017. The warrant was sealed the same day.

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Attorneys for private investigator Steve Ridge filed a petition in Cerro Gordo County District Court to unseal the warrant following Vansice's death in December in Arizona, arguing that his family needs closure.

County Attorney Carlyle Dalen then filed a petition on the behalf of the state, arguing that unsealing the record would jeopardize the ongoing investigation into Huisentruit's disappearance.

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Drew held a court hearing on the issue earlier this month. In the ruling he issued Thursday, he wrote that although the contents of the affidavit that Mason City police Investigator Terrance Prohaska filed to obtain the search warrant is not an investigative report, "the policy reasons behind protecting investigative reports in certain circumstances are equally applicable in this situation."

The affidavit contains the same type of information commonly found in police officers' reports, according to Drew.

"If every affidavit in search warrant files were open to public inspection, simply because the affidavit is a different document, it would lead to an absurd result," his ruling stated.

The affidavit contains information only law enforcement and the perpetrator would know, including items found at the scene of Huisentruit's apartment building after she did not show up for work, the specific locations of those items and other observations at the scene made by officers, according to Drew.

The concern is that potential suspects would know what information to hide and what information not to hide if the document was made public, according to Drew. Additionally, the state argues that, if released, the information would lose its corroborative value if a confession were obtained.

"The court recognizes this is an extremely high-profile case. The high level of public curiosity is understandable. However, what the public would like to know is often very different from what the public needs to know or should know," Drew's ruling stated. "Mere curiosity is never a sufficient reason for potentially interfering in an ongoing criminal investigation, especially of a major crime."

Drew noted that although some federal and state courts have specifically recognized the court's authority to seal search warrants, in those cases only the affidavits are sealed, not the entire file.

"That is the appropriate result here as well," his ruling stated.

The application, endorsement search warrant and the return "do not contain information that would compromise the investigation if made public. Therefore, they will be unsealed," the ruling stated.

Those records will be unsealed in 31 days unless Dalen or attorneys for Ridge file an appeal.

Sometime before Feb. 14, 2017, Vansice moved to Arizona. About that time, law enforcement officers became aware he would be driving from Arizona to Iowa later that month, the ruling said.

On Feb. 28, 2017, Prohaska applied for a search warrant authorizing law enforcement to secretly place GPS tracking devices on two vehicles registered to Vansice's address. The application was supported by an affidavit signed by Prohaska. The requested warrant was granted. A return to search warrant was filed on March 20, 2017. The file was ordered sealed at the state's request and has remained sealed since then.

Anyone with information about Huisentruit’s disappearance is asked to contact the Mason City Police Department at (641) 421-3636.