Just based on that info, I’m sure a lot of my readers know which case I’m talking about -especially if those readers live in Iowa or Minnesota. For my more distant readers, including the ones that the little google bots on my blog tell me have been checking in from the Netherlands, the UK, Russia, Spain, and Italy, as well as the readers from other regions of the US, the link between an unsolved crime, Mason City, and a little red Miata probably doesn’t ring a bell. I’m writing about the 1995 disappearance (and presumed kidnapping and murder) of a Mason City television newscaster named Jodi Huisentruit.
Huisentruit was originally from Minnesota, and studied at St Cloud University, so she’s a Minnesota girl, which hits close to home where I am now. Back in June of 1995, I was on summer vacation after my junior year of high school, which means that I was 16 years old at the time, working my summer job at the mall to earn money, and had probably racked up my first speeding ticket already. Even though I lived in the Des Moines area rather than near Mason City, I remember this news story.
Jodi Huisentruit worked for KIMT in Mason City and was an anchor for their early morning news. It was a job that she likely considered a stepping stone in her career as she gained experience and exposure and set her sights on larger television markets. She was 27 years old at the time, a petite and attractive blonde TV personality who was working on toning down her Minnesota accent with its long ooooo‘s, and just about two weeks before she vanished, she got a red 1995 Mazda Miata. There is some speculation about how she got this car, after all she wasn’t making the big bucks yet at her job, and even though Miata’s aren’t all that expensive, it was the type of thing that was probably a financial stretch for her at the time. There didn’t seem to be any paper trail involving a loan for the vehicle, and in view of accounts I’ve read that indicate Jodi was rather frugal with her money, it doesn’t seem likely that she would have gone into debt to get it. At the same time, a 1995 Miata would have had a base price of around $14,000; an amount that it seems unlikely Jodi would have had stashed away in her mattress or something.
Regardless of how Jodi came by the car, one fact is undeniable: she had good taste in automobiles. I don’t know how much of a motor-head she was, or if she just liked the Miata because it was a cute little car that seemed to match up well with her personality, but it really doesn’t matter. In view of the fact that she went out and got herself a real car with real driving chops instead of some appliance on wheels, I consider her part of the gear-head gal sisterhood, and I want to see some resolution to the mystery of her disappearance.
In 1995, the Miata was still in its first generation, featuring pop up headlights, which is how you can tell them apart from other generation Miatas. Of the many attributes that make the Miata a fantastic little roadster, its featherlike weight is perhaps its best. These are itty bitty little two seater drop tops (though they could be ordered with a removable hard top) with a near 50/50 weight distribution front to back. The engine sat in the front of the car, and the rear wheels provided the go via 14“ wheels. They weighed in at right around 2,300 lbs, had four wheel disc brakes, a suspension tuned for sprightly handling, communicative steering feel, and uncomplicated features that didn’t set the car up for very much to go wrong. They were tiny and nimble, and they didn’t need a lot of power to thrill their drivers. In 1995, the Miata featured a 1.8L inline 4 cylinder under its hood along with 128 HP and 110 lb ft of torque, which was plenty of power for a car its size. Most Miatas you’ll find will have a 5 speed manual, though you could get them with an automatic if you really insisted on it.
Like previously stated, a 1995 model Miata would have had a starting MSRP of about $14,000 for one with a manual transmission, manual windows and locks, no air conditioning, no power steering, and very basic steel wheels. A step up in price to the “A” package got buyers power steering, a cassette deck (remember, this was 1995), and aluminum wheels. Throw in some more money, and you could get into the “B” package, which gave you all the stuff mentioned so far plus power windows and locks, cruise control and headrest speakers to go with that fabulous factory tape deck. Buyers willing to pay more than that could get the “C” package, which came with tan or biscuit leather interior and a tan top instead of the standard black. Perhaps the most desirable Miatas though, are the “R” package ones, which were actually pretty stripped down, but were outfitted for racing (thus the “R” designation). “M” package Miatas indicated that they were some special edition, which usually came loaded up with all kinds of goodies and featured special paint colors not otherwise available. If you’re looking to get into Miata, particularly a first generation one, shoot for the R or M packages depending on if you want to race or cruise, as they are the most valuable and the most desirable ones to have.
The Miatas I have pictures of are going to have to go through a kind of mental mash up in order to match what Jodi’s car looked like. The red one pictured is a 1999 model, making it a 2nd generation Miata. While the paint matches what Jodi’s car would have looked like, it does not have the pop up headlights her car would have. Additionally, the red ‘99 model features a tan top, so it’s at least a “C” spec model. The little white Miata I’ve featured is a 1st generation model, though it is 5 years older than the one that Jodi Huisentruit had. Hers would have looked pretty much just like this only in red rather than white, and without the car bra. It’s a shame that I didn’t manage to get a picture of the one that headed South on 35 when I was traveling North back to Minneapolis, because that was the right generation, right body color, and had the right color convertible top.
I don’t know what trim spec Jodi’s Miata had, though from pictures I was able to find online, it appears it was not the C package, because it featured a black top (or what looks black in the black and white photo I was able to find). What we do know is that Jodi was attacked while she was getting into her Miata. In the early morning hours of June 27, 1995, Jodi was due at work at 4AM and had overslept. She got a call from her producer at the station who later noted that Jodi seemed sleepy and surprised she had overslept, but otherwise, didn’t sound distressed. Jodi never showed up for work, and by the time the morning show had gone on without her and 7AM rolled around, her coworkers were starting to become alarmed, so they called the police to have them stop by and do a welfare check.
The police drove to Jodi’s apartment building along Kentucky Avenue in Mason City and discovered a crime scene in the parking lot. There were signs of a struggle around Jodi’s shiny little red Miata. Several of Jodi’s personal items that she regularly brought with her to work were strewn across the ground near the car, including a pair of red high heeled shoes, her hair dryer, and some cosmetics. Her keys dangled on the driver’s side of the vehicle, the entry key bent in the lock. The convertible top of the Miata was indented, and it would seem that Jodi had been forcibly thrown down onto it. There was blood and tissue on and around the Miata’s driver’s side mirror, and it was determined to be Jodi’s. There were also drag marks leading away from the Miata. Neighbors at the time mentioned to police that they heard screams from outside their building in the early morning hours that day, but the wrote them off as ruckus from the nearby camp ground, and didn’t bother to check into the matter further. This leaves little doubt that Jodi was attacked while trying to get in her car and go to work that day. What nobody (or at least nobody who’s talking or can prove anything) knows with certainty is what SOB perpetrated the attack.
Jodi’s body has never been found, and though there have been a few persons of interest, there has never been an arrest made in the case. Most suspicion seems to swirl around a neighbor who lived in a duplex near Jodi’s apartment building at the time. Though he was more than 20 years her elder, he was said to be quite enamored of her and spent money on flowers, parties, and activities to gain her favor. He even bought a boat that he named “Jodi” shortly after making her acquaintance. This guy no longer lives in Mason City, having left the state a while after Jodi’s disappearance. There are some eerie and unusual things about this man, from what I’ve been able to gather from my reading and research… Even aside from the creepy thing about naming his boat after Jodi, that is.
For starters, this neighbor can be loosely linked to another notorious Iowa crime involving Iowa’s real life version of Breaking Bad: a methamphetamine kingpin, who I’ve been told was actually a brilliant chemistry student (his high school chemistry teacher is a relative of mine) named Dustin Honken. Dustin was convicted of murdering 5 people, including two little girls ages 10 and 6, to protect his meth business. Honken owned a property that he rented out to an auto repair business where Jodi’s neighbor used to bring his work vans for maintenance, which is odd considering that he could have had the work done for free at the dealership where the fleet vehicles were purchased. It is possible that this business could have been a front for some type of illicit activity linked to Honken’s real stream of income, his meth operation. There are undertones of some type of unaccounted for, and possibly ill-gained income on the part of Jodi’s seemingly obsessed neighbor. Prior to meeting Jodi, this neighbor had just come off a divorce. He worked a job with good pay, but it wasn‘t the type of work that makes a man rich. It is uncertain how he could afford to buy several properties that he owned (including the duplex in which he lived) as well as his boat, while still taking on the cost of his divorce. There is even some speculation that this neighbor financed the purchase of Jodi’s Miata.
There is another creepy thing linked to this neighbor of Jodi’s. It seems that Jodi had a magnetic personality and made lots of friends wherever she went. One of these friends was a local bachelor farmer who was closer to her same age than the older neighbor. Some friends and acquaintances have given accounts of a rivalry between this younger bachelor and the older neighbor guy, particularly when it came to who was on the receiving end of Jodi’s attention. The bachelor farmer has been described as a more laid back kind of gent, who wasn’t particularly aggressive. There were stories of the older neighbor becoming irate and making threats against this bachelor farmer one night at a bar where Jodi and her friends would hang out together. Oddly enough, just a few months prior to Jodi’s disappearance, this bachelor farmer was found dead of a gunshot wound that was written up as self inflicted. I’ve not heard any mention of this man having emotional issues prior to his apparent suicide, and indeed, some people speculate that his death was not by his own hand. Regardless of any suspicion or speculation, so far, investigators haven’t been able to prove anything, so no charges have ever been brought in either the bachelor farmer‘s death or Jodi‘s.
Jodi was declared legally dead in 2001, and every year when the anniversary of her disappearance rolls around, Mason City and the surrounding area seems to be humming with whispered suspicions and theories on the crime. I was visiting my folks in a nearby town this past summer shortly after the 18th anniversary of the crime, and was privy to some of this speculation while enjoying a drink and dinner in a local bar. The people who were speculating that day had another person in mind, whose name I won’t mention because for starters, I’ve never met the man, and secondly, I’d rather not get sued or anything like that. This other guy supposedly worked at the hospital in Mason City in a custodial capacity. Apparently, in the local area, this man is known as one of those guys who everybody just felt creeped out by. He was one of those cruel types of guys who went out of his way to hurt animals and always managed to alienate and give the heebie-jeebies to people who made his acquaintance. My mother grew up in the area and I asked her about it. She said she was vaguely familiar with this person and described him as a mean guy whom she and her friends stayed away from.
The alcohol-fueled bar talk about this person of interest managed to account for the fact that Jodi’s remains were never found. The bar patrons’ theory is that the custodian incinerated Jodi’s remains in the hospital waste disposal system. I have no idea if the Mason City hospital even has such an incinerator, or if this man they speak of ever actually worked there, but it certainly is another theory of the crime.
It would seem that this cold case might never be solved. For that matter, I don’t know what ever happened to Jodi’s Miata. It would be interesting to find out who has it now. Anyway, this is a case that has fascinated the residents of Northern Iowa for nearly two decades with its blend of local celebrity, a hot car, a beautiful and well liked victim who has never been found, and the spider web of connections between the people who may have been involved and other suspicious activity. Its mystery is only enhanced by how tight-lipped the local police are about it. One would think that after 18 years, they could make more of their evidence public to give a broader audience a crack at helping to solve the case, though it would seem they prefer to keep it under wraps. Every time I see a Mazda Miata, my synapses spark and crackle with the recollection of its role in this real life whodunit, and I‘m not sure I‘ll ever set eyes upon a Miata without also thinking of this mystery.
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