On Eve Of 50th Birthday, Search For Jodi Huisentruit Continues

ROCHESTER, Minn. (WCCO) -- As two young news anchors cutting their teeth in Mason City, Iowa, Robin Wolfram and Jodi Huisentruit shared a dream of making it on the national news stage someday.

On June 27, 1995, that dream was snuffed out when Huisentruit mysteriously went missing.

"That night, it was on the national news," Wolfram said. "I remember looking up...and the sickening sense I got. This was not what we meant about being on national news and even after all these years, it just seems so unfair."

Forced to play the role of both journalist and friend, Wolfram reported on the disappearance, even interviewing the man who Huisentruit was seen with last.

"His demeanor was joyful, almost strangely happy," she said. "Telling me he named his boat after her and that he loved her…it was just weird."

She has no doubt in her mind that man, an older gentleman who was friends with Huisentruit, is the one responsible for her disappearance.

"I had seen them together before and I had cautioned Jodi about their friendship and I just said 'be careful,'" Wolfram said. "On television, we have a gut instinct about things…my gut and my instinct tells me that he is responsible."

WCCO TV is not naming the man, now living in Arizona, since he has not been charged with any crime, but Wolfram isn't the only one who shares those same suspicions.

Last March, FindJodi.Com, a website dedicated to the case, reported that Mason City Police served a search warrant to him, seeking GPS data on two of his cars.

As the years press on and the case grows colder, Wolfram is holding onto hope that closure will come.

"I want the person held responsible for snuffing out this beautiful, beautiful light," she said.

Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley says the department does not have additional information to release about the Huisentruit investigation.

He asks that anyone with information about Huisentruit's disappearance should contact Lt. Rich Jensen in the Criminal Investigations Division at 641-421-3636.