ST. PAUL 鈥� In a final attempt to find out what happened to Jodi Huisentruit, a news anchor who went missing in Iowa nearly 29 years ago, a private investigator is doubling the reward for information about the cold case to $100,000.
Steve Ridge, a private investigator who has been on the case since 2019, first offered $25,000 in early 2023 and later raised it to $50,000. On Thursday, May 30, Ridge told Forum News Service he has doubled his reward to $100,000.
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But the $100,000 comes with a caveat, Ridge said.
鈥淭he $100,000 is good through the 29th anniversary which is June 27. After June 27 the $100,000 expires but the $50,000 will remain,鈥� Ridge said.
Ridge holds no hope that Huisentruit, a native of Long Prairie, Minnesota, is still alive. The $100,000 reward is to specifically recover her remains. Huisentruit was declared legally dead in 2001, And there are no solid suspects connected to her disappearance.
鈥淭hat is what we鈥檙e trying to find. The $100,000 doesn鈥檛 require an arrest or a conviction,鈥� Ridge said.
鈥淚 think the chances that she is alive are nil, really, and I think the importance of finding her remains... will be very significant in finding who is responsible,鈥� Ridge said.
As a former television reporter and producer in multiple locations, Ridge said that Huisentruit worked with his company, and may have attended a speech he gave once, but he never met her in person.
He鈥檚 always had an interest in cold cases, 鈥淏ut this case hits close to home. Jodi鈥檚 first job was at a place I worked at one time.鈥�
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During the decades since Huisentruit went missing, friends, family and investigators have repeatedly sparked campaigns to find out any information about her disappearance. In 2018, around St. Paul saying 鈥淪omebody knows something鈥� is it you?鈥�
on the 27th anniversary of her going missing, friends, family and members of a website and podcast devoted to solving her case, gathered outside the television station where she worked, KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa, to mark the anniversary.
People were also asked to 鈥淟eave A Light On For Jodi鈥� by leaving a porch light on or lighting a candle in her memory during the weekend of June 24-26, 2022.
In 2023, a team of four retired Federal Bureau of Investigation agents or profilers began looking at Huisentruit鈥檚 unsolved case in a called The Consult. Julia Crowley, one of the former agents, said it was impossible not to become emotionally invested working Huisentruit鈥檚 case.
鈥淪he was loved by so many wonderful people, and it鈥檚 easy to see why. Jodi is only two years older than me, and I know she would have been a role model to me if we had gone to the same high school,鈥� Crowley said on a in 2022.
Huisentruit, 27 years old when she went missing, moved to Mason City to become a morning and noon anchorwoman two years before her disappearance.
She didn鈥檛 show up for work for her 6 a.m. broadcast in 1995, but answered an early telephone call from a KIMT-TV producer saying that she overslept and was heading to the office. The producer called back at 5 a.m. and nobody responded.
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Law enforcement believed she was grabbed as there were signs of a struggle, media outlets reported. She had tried to unlock a red Mazda Miata shortly after 4 a.m. A hair dryer, a red pair of shoes and a bottle of hairspray were found next to her car at her apartment.
Ridge is hopeful the extra reward money will produce results.
鈥淲hile I am pursuing this $100,000 for a very specific location, I am working steadily on possibilities based on all kinds of tips and research and information that I have obtained. I am pretty confident that we will eventually find where she was buried, regardless of the $100,000,鈥� Ridge said.
He isn鈥檛 as confident that a suspect will ever be found, or charged.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a question mark. If we find her remains I will be able to identify the killer,鈥� Ridge said.
Over the years, Huisentruit鈥檚 family has rarely spoken to the press.
鈥淭he more troublesome part is living and not knowing what happened. I think regardless of how it may have happened, just knowing where she is, where her remains have been replaced would bring some degree of peace to the family,鈥� Ridge said.
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Ridge has asked that any information in the case be directed to the Mason City Police Department at 641-421-3636.
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