My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark - 461 - Heed This Advice

Episode Date: January 2, 2025

On today’s episode, Georgia and Karen cover the disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit.  For our sources and show notes, visit www.myfavoritemurder.com/episodes. Support this podcast by shopping our latest sponsor deals and promotions at this link: https://bit.ly/3UFCn1g. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is exactly right. Get groceries delivered across the GTA from real Canadian superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC optimum points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. Hi, I'm Bridger Weinegger and each week I invite my favorite people from comedy to join me on my podcast, I Said No Gifts. It's not just the title of the show, it's also my only request.

And yet every guest disobeys. Listen as unwanted presents, offerings, and trinkets are laid at my feet and the conversation turns to whatever bizarre item is forced on me. Tension runs high, but I am a professional and I keep things civil despite having every reason to rip my guests to shreds. Listen to I Said No Gifts wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Thursday. Hello and welcome to my favorite murder. 2025. It's 2025.

That's your daughter. That's Karen Kilgarafe. 2025. It's 2025. Is that a good number? Is that a lucky number? How do we feel about that? Okay. Oh, the numerologists love 2025. Do they? Uh-huh. Okay. Because if you add all of that up, it goes to nine. And nine is the power number for girls that wear black nail polish, for girls that wear glasses, for girls that like books.

Crystals, do we have a lot of crystals going on? Lot of crystals, nine is the number of crystals. Okay. And you should have nine crystals on your window sill. Oh, shit. Okay, I'll get on that. We were recording this before the new year, so I can get on that and do it.

Yeah, that was all acting, all that happy new year so I can get on that and do it. Yeah, that was all acting. All that happy new year stuff. It was just, we're tricking you. We're here to trick you. Showbiz baby, get used to it. Drink your tiny Coke. Can't I have a tiny sip every time we're supposed to be talking?

Well, I've had a fucking energy drink that hasn't hit me yet. You better chug that thing. Is it a Celsius? No, no, it's just like one of those shots. Please put your finger up like this when it hits. Not the like good kind of like medicinal and fuck you up takes yours off your life kind. And I love those.

It's like one of the like juice juices with caffeine. Oh, I mean, I just immediately when you're like the kind of fucks you up, it just reminds me of buying those big black pills on the counter at 7-eleven. Remember those like last minute impulse buys? They call them trucker speed, right? Yeah, trucker speed. But like, who knows? It looked like it was made of ashes, like old charcoal briquettes. And they're like, yeah, you'll totally get a bunch of energy from this.

And no-dos, remember crushing up. Don't do that, everyone. Listen, we're from the nineties. We're allowed to crush pills up and snort them. We've done that. We did it for you. It burns. Don't do it.

Yeah. If you're a youngster that has a real problem with millennials and Gen Xers, then heed this advice Yeah, stay away from that shit. Just stick to your yerba mate You're doing it right just it's fine You're fine. Oh my god. I can't believe we survived in the 90s. God damn it I used to eat those fuckers swallow those gigantic horse pills that were black

to somehow think that it was going to like Speed me up and like to do what I think I was trying to do some sort of dumb diet thing Always where it's like if I eat these I won't eat spaghetti. It's just like, you know You know what? Spaghetti especially now more than ever, eat the spaghetti. Especially that kind that's made from lentils. What? No.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. You refuse? I will not. It's my brand. I made it.

You didn't know that I started a lentil pasta company? Oh, I'm so sorry. I love the Hard Stark Lentil Noodle Company. I made it. You didn't know that I started a lentil company. I love the hardstark lentil noodle company. Try them today. George is it going to be a vegan in 2025? That's correct. It's her new thing. Yep. All things vegan. Is it working yet? Am I awake? It's hard. It's weird to go from nap to energy drink to podcasting. Yeah, I think it's cool. It's kind of like, it's the dark triad.

Put your finger up like this when you start to feel it. Okay. Okay. You'll know. It'll be me. It'll be like the real me. There she is. There she is. There she is. There's the reason she needs social breaks because she just gives it all. Into that microphone. So we're still on break this episode, which means only one story today, She just gives it all. Into that microphone.

So we're still on break this episode, which means only one story today, but I'll make it powerful. I promise. Yeah. Georgia loves acting and she loves storytelling. She's kind of a folklorist in her free time. I'm kind of like the epitome of the number nine. You're such a nine.

Hi, it's me. I'm nine. It's me. Hi, I'm the nine, it's me. I'm the nine, it's me. So we hope everyone had a good holiday and a good New Year's Eve. Oh my God, I hope you had the worst New Year's Eve. I hope you drank so many wine coolers,

around 10 and then around 11, you're like, I fucking gotta throw up. I have to, my little gold dress is gonna be ruined. Oh, that spaghetti I ate for dinner. It's gone. The girls told me to eat the spaghetti and that's gone. They made me eat the lentil spaghetti and now it's back. Heartstruck brand lentil spaghetti sure is,

sure comes up gross. There's a tiny picture of your face on the package making a face like, I don't like this. Like I would not be eating this if I was you. Seriously? I have had to eat a lot of gluten-free stuff with Nora. And yeah, there's some that's like shockingly delicious. And then there's some that you're like, I need,

I need a washcloth to get this out of my mouth because it's so gross. Crazy. Some of the desserts are like fucking incredible and you'd never know. Yeah. You could never tell the difference. I'd only accidentally eat it or buy it. I wouldn't do it on purpose. You wouldn't seek it out. Okay. We have a couple exactly right media highlights. This is our podcast network exactly right media and here's my lights.

Okay. So don't tell your dad we said this, but we think you should join our fan cult so you can get access to all of these crazy new videos that we're making. You get a $20 credit to our store and much, much more. So go over and visit fancult.supercast.com and get in on the action because there's a lot of action. There is a lot of action. And if you have a moment, please go follow us on social media. Our handle is at exactly right on all platforms and you can get updates on all of our podcasts, including I Said No Gifts and Ghosted by Roz Hernandez. And if you would like to prove you love our podcasts, make it your new year's resolution

to rate, review, and follow us and them and everything exactly right wherever you like to listen. Yeah, next time we're like in a waiting room and you're like, I don't know, I'm so sick of Instagram or whatever, just go to your podcast app and give that little heart a tap on your favorite podcast because it really does make a difference. It makes a huge difference. And then just go through and kind of like, you might want to delete some pics in your phone. It just let's clean that phone up. I guess rate reviewing and subscribing is kind of like our like semi-annual report.

Or what's it called when you get like... That's right. A work... Like a performance review? That's it. Thank thank you yes I think of it as a performance review and like it doesn't really matter but also it does matter they can use it to fire you in the future if it's not good so like we need a positive performance review in the form of rate review and subscribe yeah that's right you can really you can really push the needle in the positive direction sure or the

negative I mean listen we might have pissed you off you might be vegan you can really push the needle in the positive direction. Sure, or the negative. I mean, listen, we might have pissed you off. You might be vegan. Free will, baby. It's your life. Do what you want. You know we don't boss in that way, but we do suggest strongly with a kind of mean-looking eye.

That's right. With a fist raised. Rate, review, and subscribe. Okay, this is one of those episodes where there's just one story and this is one of those episodes where it's just your story. How happy about that are you? I love it so much. I know. Isn't it weird when you're like, I gotta record today.

I don't have to do jack shit today. I don't. You don't have to do say a bunch of bullshit about the 90s at the top. I continually divert the conversation into a weird direction. And boom, that's podcasting. There we go. Five stars. It's a great hobby, if you can get it. So, okay, so I am doing a classic cold case. You know, that's my obsession.

Your passion. And this one specifically is a cold case that many people are obsessed with. And it's still being actively investigated. Up until recently, there was even a little break. And this is one of Iowa's biggest unsolved mysteries. This is the story about a young TV news anchor who disappeared in 1995.

This is the story of Jodie who's in truth. You know what I'm talking about? No, I've never heard this. You'll know when I start to tell you because it's like one of those ones that are like, how hasn't it been solved? But also, how is there such a small amount of evidence? And so everyone's able to like put their own theories on it. There's groups of people who have certain theories. There's like people fighting each other about whose theory is right. So I have mine. I want to hear yours at the end of this. I'll fight everybody. I know you will. And so I'm ready for that. So the main source I used for the story is

an episode of 2020 called Gone at Dawn. And the rest of the sources can be found in the show notes. And if you've watched any of these true crime shows, you've seen this case, probably. Okay. So this is the weird part of the story. It's four in the morning on June 27th, 1995. We're in Mason City, Iowa. Mason City is a small city of about 29,000 people. It's up by Iowa's northern border with Minnesota,

about halfway between Minneapolis and Des Moines. So it's like a smaller town outside of the big cities. Every once in a while when we talk about a state and then you say something like that, where it's like, it's up by Minnesota. And then I'm like, I absolutely thought those two states were nowhere near each other. You think I wrote this?

This is fucking Ali. This is fucking my researcher, Ali Elkin, giving me details. I didn't fucking know that I went on a map and I was like, wow. You know what? I'm going to get you and me for Christmas in Christmas past, Christmas future. I'm going to get us the United States map placemats. And then we are going to know these states by heart in one year. Okay. Perfect. So here we are. For know these states by heart in one year. Okay. Perfect.

So here we are. For most people in Mason City, it's the middle of the night. It's 4 a.m. Like, who is up that early? But for 27-year-old Jodi, who's in Trute, it's time to wake up and get ready for work. Because she is an anchor for the morning show on the local TV network, KIMT TV. She's a newscaster. And she's supposed to be getting into the office

at this point to prepare for the show, do her hair and makeup, get ready to go on at 6 a.m. So ouch, oh my God, who chooses that life? I would just be fired immediately. So difficult. Also because like, then you have to go to bed at 9.30 probably, and you have to go to bed at 930 probably. Right.

And you have to make sure no one wakes you up. Yeah. So that you can get your full night's sleep. Sure. There's no insomnia. You're not allowed to have insomnia, which causes my worst insomnia when I can't, I'm not allowed to have insomnia, you know? Yeah.

The pressure's on. Yeah. Like go to sleep right now. Yeah. You have to be a very disciplined, like reliable, obviously person. The one thing I do love about that though, of getting up and being that kind of morning person, first of all, it's bad ass. So there, you know, you're really doing it and you're in it.

You have a dream and you're like doing all the, yeah, it's this incredible dream. Living your dream. Yeah. But then you're also out with like people who deliver newspapers. Yeah. The guy that works at the donut shop. A very select group of people are up in the morning when it's still dark. And it's cool to like dip into that. But then see, this story reminds me

that it's still nighttime and the creeps are still out. Like I guess this time night is like when people break into cars a lot. Like, there's still nefarious shit going on. And you think, well, it's my morning. So everything's fine. But it's like still dark out. And it's deceiving, you know, middle of the night in a lot of ways. Like, I don't think you're as alert because it's your morning. But it's really dark out still. So Jodie is originally from Long Prairie, Minnesota. She's been working as an anchor at the TV network for two years, though she's only lived in Mason City for a relatively short time.

Jodie has lots of friends. She's bubbly, she's social, she's outgoing, as I think you kind of have to be to be a female newscaster, it seems like. Yeah, I think that would be part of your makeup. Yeah, it's like you and the head of the sales team. Like you guys are all like... Yeah.

To have this personality that I've always been like, how do you do that? You know? Yeah, the outward facing kind of like, good morning, Mason City. I made cupcakes. When did you fucking make cupcakes? I know.

She's pretty much exactly what you'd imagine a young TV news anchor to be. She's got this like kind of blonde bob. She looks to me like a cross between Belinda Carlisle because she's also got the like 90s, you know, Bob kind of big teased bob cut. She looks a little bit like Britney Spears as well. So cute, dimples, like really beautiful.

Exactly what you'd think of. And so the problem right now at 4 a.m. is that Jodie isn't at work yet as she should be. So the show's producer, a woman named Amy Coons, calls Jodie at her apartment. The two women both have to be at the studio well before fucking crack of dawn, so they have an agreement to call each other by 4 a.m.

if one of them isn't at work to kind of watch each other's back and make sure no one's overslept. Nice. So, here's where our story differs from every other story we tell that begins this way. Jodie actually picks up the phone. Oh. And Amy's call has woken her up when she's supposed to be at work. So Jodie asks time it is, Amy tells her and Jodie, you know, scrambles. She says, I'll be right there and hangs up.

And it should take Jodie about 10 minutes to get to the studio. She has like a bag that she brings, she'll do her hair and makeup while she prepares for the show. So she's running late, but she still has time to scramble and get there. OK. But at 430, Jodie still isn't at work. Amy calls again, and this time she gets Jodie's answering machine. And at 5 AM, Amy calls one more time, still gets no answer.

And at this point, Amy is scrambling to put together a show without Jodie. But it's like not on her mind that something is wrong. She just figures she fell back to sleep. She had woken her up the first time. Amy winds up going on for Jodi when the morning show starts at 6 a.m. and when the news director gets into the office at 7 a.m. and the staff tells him Jodi never showed up, he immediately calls the police

and asked to go check on her. So when the police get to Jodi's apartment, they first check inside. Nothing seems amiss. But when they go back outside to look at her car, which is a red Mazda Miata, which is so cute for a young working woman to have, you know, it's still in its parking spot, but there are signs of a struggle and there are some photos from this and it's just like chilling. You know, it's chilling to me too.

When you said that the news director immediately called the police because the news director has been in the news for, I'm sure, a long career. So anybody else that's just kind of paying attention to other things, that news director is like, I know these stories, we're calling the police. I've seen some shit. Totally. Oh, and like, even if she had like fallen back to sleep when Amy called her by 7am, she'd probably have been awake by then

and freaking out. Yeah because you have that kind of early morning internal alarm clock. Totally. So here's what's going on with the scene. The driver's side mirror on the car is bent backwards. Jodi's belongings are scattered on the ground like there's a pair of red pumps that have essentially fallen off her feet, a pair of earrings, a can of hairspray, and her hair dryer. Remember, she probably had her, like, go bag with her to get ready at work.

So she was probably on her way to her car to go to work to finish getting ready. And something happened outside of her car. On the ground, investigators also find the key to Jodie's car. It appears to be slightly bent. And on the ground near the ground, investigators also find the key to Jodie's car. It appears to be slightly bent. And on the ground near the car, investigators find what looks like drag marks, like these little indentations

that look like someone's being dragged. And investigators also find one partial handprint on the outside of the car. And I mean, so there's a lot of scenes that you hear about that don't give any clues as to what happened, which really delays someone getting searched for. And I think that all of this evidence there is almost this lucky thing, because they know immediately

something's wrong. I've been reading about J.C. Dugard's abduction, and it's just gone without a trace. Nothing left behind. And that's just almost worse, because you have nothing to go on. But because you have nothing to go on. But here you have evidence to go on. And like a little window of time where it's like, oh,

I had talked to her here and then I knew she was running to her car. Totally. It had to be between this time and this time. Yeah, totally. And I think everyone who's obsessed with this case is like, for me personally, it's like the answer is somewhere in here in this little area and window of time. But so the apartment complex where she

lives, you know, where the parking lot is, is a group of two story mid century type buildings, three neighbors from the complex said that they heard a scream at about 430 am. Of course, no one called the police. One witness reports that they specifically heard a woman scream, leave me alone. Do you like, do you have what I have where it's like, I thought I heard one gunshot, but I don't know. And so you don't call the police, right? And it's like, I don't, it doesn't sound, I mean, this is LA. Some people are like, what are you fucking talking about?

Every once in a while you hear a gunshot in LA. Yes. In your neighborhood. For sure. That's definitely happened. But you wouldn't, what would you say to the police when you called? You would be like, I heard what I think is a gunshot and they'd be like, okay, anything else. And they would hang up on you because they literally don't help you a lot of the time. If I heard a woman scream in the middle of the night though, I think of that and I would... And say, leave me alone. You would at least, I would love it if there were more dudes that were like, I got to go out there and at least look. Totally.

Like that hometown we read recently where the dad like caught her and ran inside and fucking caught her. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think that Vince and I, if we were fucking woken up at four in the morning by a woman screaming, would fucking take care of shit and take some action, take some action and also call the police. Yeah. Yeah. You know, don't mind your own business. That's like rule number one.

Mind your own business up until a point. And then when business gets scary and dangerous, go ahead and don't mind your own business. Right. A scream is a cry for you to butt in to my business. You know? And as a woman, you can stay in your apartment and start calling the police. Totally. You don't have to go outside.

Okay. PSA. Now we have that out. I mean, PSA that we're making up based on something we wish very badly didn't happen. Yeah. So curiously, another witness who lives across the hall from Jodie says she heard a commotion outside Jodie's apartment the night before. She says she heard a man banging on Jodie's door saying, open the door. I know you're in there. But that said, this person tells this story like weeks or months later, not immediately after Jodie's disappearance. So it's hard to like really pin down exactly what happened. So while police are still at Jodie's building, a friend of Jodie's comes over and says that he believes he was the last person to have

seen her. This man's name is John, I'm not going to say his last name, but it's, you know, all over the internet. And he's older than Jodie, but it's, you know, all over the internet. And he's older than Jodie. He's 49, so like 20 years older than her. But the two really do seem to be close friends. He had recently thrown a surprise party for her 27th birthday. And the night before she disappeared, he says she had gone to his house to watch a home video from that party.

There's actually a problem though, with this sequence of events. And here's another camp that believes that this guy fucking totally did it. So the day before Jodie disappeared, she had played at a charity golf tournament. That tournament was followed by dinner at the country club and Jodie had been at that dinner. Multiple people report that she had left dinner at 8 p.m. But John maintains that she came over after the dinner to watch the video. The video is about 15 minutes long.

But investigators know that Jodie made a long distance phone call from her apartment at 8.24 p.m. So this timeline doesn't add up, right? Jodie wouldn't have had time to get to John's from the dinner, watch the video, and then drive home in time to place the call. So it's just this weird discrepancy. to get to John's from the dinner, watch the video, and then drive home in time to place the call. So, it's just this weird discrepancy. And sorry, it was his story that that's...

that was the timeline? No, it was his story that she came over. And that is the actual timeline. So it's like, I don't know if they confronted him or not, but they're like, you know, this doesn't add up. Which to me is like super suspicious. Right. But why would he offer that info if it wasn't true?

That's the question. Because he's trying to hide something. Right. But John makes himself available to the police. He's generally very cooperative. And other friends of theirs confirm that they were just friends. There was nothing weird going on.

But of course, the relationship raises eyebrows. And John goes on multiple local news segments in the wake of Jodie's disappearance, you know, talking about her saying he had nothing to do with it. He tells police and local news media that he had been asleep when Jodie was abducted, which is understandable, it was four in the morning. And a friend of his says that she went on a walk with him that morning from 630 to 830 a.m. Is it weird that I'm like, well, I could see them being friends if they were both in AA? Because that's the only time you meet older people,

I feel like, in AA. That's so specific. It is. You might as well say, that's the only time I've ever met anyone older. Honestly, like, yeah. Oh, you've been in the program for a long time? Let's hang out, yeah.

Cool, yeah. In another TV interview, John mentions that he named his boat after Jodie. It's unclear whether he did this before or after her disappearance. It's not after. It's not after. That would be insane. But why before?

To me, that's insane too. Like, you're naming your boat after a friend of yours? Well, I don't know. Which one? I'm just saying, which one's weirder. I think after your friend disappeared and you're like, great, I'm going to go name a boat after her. After to me is like a tribute before to me as an obsession. I hear you and I raise you after is making it about you where it's like I named

cause all you're doing is pointing out to other people that you named your boat after her. But someone who would kill someone and doesn't understand how things look would think that it's like a way to be like, see, I'm honoring her memory. Like, look how normal this is. Yeah. I don't think they'd understand how, I agree, it's fucking creepy. I feel like either way it's creepy. What are you doing? No.

What's the last time you heard someone, unless it was their child or their grandchild? Totally. I don't know. No, it's, it's odd. It raises flags. You know what it is? I don't like if he did do it. I don't like if he didn't do it. That's how I feel about this story right now. Yeah. He's of course, treated as a person of interest for years. He's taken two polygraphs and police will not discuss whether or not he passed. He says that he did.

And Jodie actually kept a journal and she mentions him in it often. And she writes about having fun with him on a recent water skiing trip and has nothing negative to say about him. But I don't fucking tell the truth in my journal. Do you? I don't have a fucking journal. I have a once in a while journal when I feel like it. I want to go find it and read it. Exactly.

That's why I don't fucking tell them the truth. But you take the time to lie. I'll write like thoughts that I have at the moment, but I won't write like details and secrets. Yeah. Okay. You're just more like recording stuff that happened. Not recording stuff that happened.

Just getting whatever thought is in my head out, but no details. Got it. So if you read it, it might not make any sense to you. I always felt like you were beholden to tell like deep feelings and secrets in a journal. That's why I'd always be like, I should start doing this for my mental health. And then literally two days later, I'd be like, just throw it over my shoulder. For me, and I'm betting for you too, growing up with a sibling means that you don't write

jack shit in a fucking diary. Or they're going to read it and make fun of you and hold it over your head for the rest of your life. Absolutely. Do you know that my sister, one time I wrote a letter, a boy that I went to camp with wrote me a letter when we got home, I had a huge crush on him, and I wrote a letter back to him and my sister went and took it out of the mailbox. Oh, wow. Because she knew it was like the wrong move.

And actually- Did she start re- Oh, that was nice. I know. But of course I was like, I didn't know until, and then she told me like two years later, she's like, you never- Oh my God. Because I was like, oh my God, I sent her the most embarrassing letter. She goes, no, you didn't.

But what if it had been like heartfelt and real? She was at camp. She knew how not real it was. Okay. Wow. That's actually really touching. She was, Laura was looking out. The meanest, most loving older sister of all time.

Where she was like, please stop acting like this. And I'd be like, I'm not going to. And then she'd be like, okay, you're going to have to keep following me and picking up my trash along the way. Everything's a show, come and fix it. Okay, we're back in. So they call the state troopers, the police call the state troopers in

to come help the Mason City police to look for Jodi, which we always like. They bring in dogs and search a nearby river. There's also like park grounds across the street from her apartment building. It seems like maybe campers hang out there. Maybe also people party there. Like it's, and also like if she has a stalker, it's a good vantage point. To like watch from, you know what I mean? No sign of Jodie is found though in that park area and inside Jodie's apartment,

police noticed two things. There are two wine glasses by the sink and the toilet seat is up inside Jody's apartment police noticed two things. There are two wine glasses by the sink and the toilet seat is up in Jody's bathroom, which would suggest a male guest. No manners. Right. This leads, of course, people to wonder if a man had been in her apartment the night before she disappeared. I've also read somewhere that there were beer bottles by like by the dumpster outside as if someone was hanging out waiting around but oh I you know I can't find anything further on that. And no further evidence is found and it sounds like the glasses aren't tested for DNA or if they are

there's no an account for male DNA like you know they haven't it's an open case so they haven't really said but you'd think that they would let us know if that was the case. So people point out that Jodie is a local celebrity and so that might've been a factor in her disappearance. It is a small town. And I think the newscaster is like a big deal there, right? It would be a huge deal. Yeah. There's no fucking online influencers. There's no online. It's like, this is, these are the celebrities. And like it's a person you turn on your TV, you're seeing them all the time.

I feel like somebody like a newscaster would be especially prone to a stalker in that way. Totally. So Mason City is very small. In other parts of the country, we would call it a town. It's not, you know, a city. And Jodie lived life like a regular person, even though people started their mornings with her every single day. So it's not unheard of for TV news personalities to have stalkers. In fact, obviously it's very common. And Jodie was a young woman who lived by herself in a small apartment complex without any kind

of special security. She was listed in the phone book. And so it probably wouldn't be hard for someone to figure out where she lived. No security. You go to the news station, you wait till she comes out, you follow her home. I mean, it's, yeah, kind of terrifying. Yeah. So the current lead investigator on the case

says that the stalker angle doesn't add up for him. And remember, Jodie was late for work the day she disappeared. So on a normal day, she would have walked out the door at 3 in the morning. So a stalker waiting for her would have walked out the door at three in the morning. So a stalker waiting for her would have had to stay outside her apartment building for a whole extra hour to grab her on the day she disappeared. And the investigator doesn't think that that's likely. And I hate to contradict him, but... Yeah, he's wrong. If he knew she had to be at work, he could have just waited. I'm sorry, you're trying to say that stalkers wouldn't wait an extra hour.

I feel like that is what they do. Yeah, it's like today's the day I'm gonna do it. They wait all the time, did stalking. Yeah. And then the other thing people think about is that if she did have someone over the night before and she was being stalked, that might've upset the stalker enough to wait for her and attack her.

Yeah, that makes sense. So that kind of is an angle I really think is strong. So nine months before she went missing, in October of 1994, Jodie made a police report saying that she had been out jogging, she was being followed by someone driving a white truck. And the night before Jodie disappeared, a neighbor reported seeing an unfamiliar white

van in her building's parking lot. Don't like that. Some people also say that she was going to change her phone number because she was getting nasty calls from someone. And there's one other angle that people always wonder about. I mean, this is kind of loose for me, but Jodie had been covering the growing issue of drug use in the Midwest. Some people think that she was possibly killed by people who didn't want her to keep reporting on it,

but, I mean, she was not an investigative journalist. I can't imagine she was, like, breaking any crazy news that, like, gangs were worried about her sharing. You know what I mean? It's all after-the-fact kind of stuff that already happened. Right. So, that seems unlikely to me. So two years after Jodie disappears in 1997, a serial rapist is arrested and ultimately convicted and this man lived in Mason City about a block or two away from the TV studio

where Jodie worked. Oh. Yeah. Police look into him in connection with Jodie based on an account from a jailhouse informant, but they ultimately rule him out. Which I'm like, based on what? Because it must have been, it had to be like, he was out of town that day or something to rule him out.

Right. It's pretty crazy. There's another man from nearby Minnesota who has a record of sexual assaults going back to the 1970s. He was known to spend time in Mason City. He owned a white van, not unlike the one that the witness had seen in Jodie's apartment building's parking lot. And this man's ex-wife actually says that he had a special interest in Jodie.

LESLIE KENDRICK Yeah. And two witnesses who have had conversations with this man say that he bragged to them about being involved in her disappearance. So I just want to know how close they were looked at and like, can we do it again, please? There are private investigators. There's, you know, regular investigators on this. You'd have to think that they looked as much as they could into these people. If anyone came and said, Hey, this guy bragged to me that he was involved, you know that they looked into that person.

Right. And that does happen all the time. And it's, and they had nothing to do with it. Right. In 2004, police served this guy with a search warrant for his finger and palm prints. And the officer who executed this warrant says that this man became irate when presented with the search warrant, but he had to comply. He was never charged. Police say they've cleared him. In June of 2001, Jodi's family makes the awful decision to declare her legally dead. But no one is giving up on finding out what happened to her. In 2003, a group of journalists form a website called FindJodi.com. And this group is still extremely active. So for journalists, this case hits home because it's a big community made up of some people who knew Jodi personally,

but also other journalists who didn't know her, and this just hit them. It seems so... It's one of their own. One of their own, yeah. Yeah. So this is another crazy little, like, breadcrumb to throw in there. In early June 2008, 84 photocopied pages of Jodi's personal journal

were anonymously mailed to a local newspaper. The original journal had been in the possession of the former Mason City police chief. So who sent this? Well, it turns out the sender was identified as the wife of the former Mason City police chief. So who sent this? Well, it turns out the sender was identified as the wife of the former Mason City police chief. He had taken, you know, copies of this home or the journal, I don't know which, and she sent them maybe in a bid to like, try to fucking get this solved, you know? It's just weird. It's just a weird violation. Maybe she was hoping that

someone would glean some information off of it. You know, it's been it had been 13 years. So is there anything in it that like helps people or it furthers anything? It doesn't seem like it. No. I mean, maybe. Yeah, who knows? It is that thing where like they keep stuff secret so that only the killer knows. But eventually if there's no leads at all, you've got to put some information out there... to try to get some leads. So in 2017, John, the older friend guy, who named his boat after Jodie, is subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury

for a second time, like they're on this guy. He gives finger and palm prints and a DNA sample. The results of that grand jury proceeding is sealed. But I feel like it happened in 2017. If they had anything on him, he would have been indicted by now. Right? It seems like it. Yeah.

John recently gave a statement saying, he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, and he has reiterated that he had nothing to do with Jodi's disappearance. Sorry. So, ultimately, the reason they went to him first was just because they were close? I think he showed up that day when they were searching,

when they like went to the crime scene. He kind of inserted himself, you know, which we always in true crime, that's a red flag. But he does, he did think he was the last person to see her the night before. Yeah, and if he heard, if someone told him she might be missing, he might run over there to see what's going on.

Sure, yeah. Or he's driving by and it's his friend's apartment building and something's going on in there. Yeah. Right, so it could be totally innocent. That's why I'm not saying his last name, because who the fuck knows? Right. And like, if we find out what happened

in this whole time this guy's been hounded because who the fuck knows? Right. And like, if we find out what happened in this whole time this guy's been hounded and had nothing to do with it... Which happens a lot. Yeah. When they're like, they just, the police decide this one person is guilty and they're gonna, they're gonna bend it all around to fit that.

It's just like, the sudden violent act. To me, it either seems like a stalker or a crime of opportunity like something that got someone some nefarious person was there maybe breaking into cars or Pete like peeping Tom and at 4 a.m She happens to come out and when you first said that she screamed leave me alone Yeah to me. I interpreted that as that she had dealt with this person Totally like I know you I know I've seen you leave me alone because you won't leave me alone. You won't leave me alone.

Tips still come in all the time on this case. Most recently, just this past October that we just had, investigators got an anonymous tip about possible human remains on a farm in Winstead, Minnesota. And it was known that like it was about Jodie. So people were excited that something was finally going to happen in this case. It turns out that the bones were just farm animal remains. But it did once again stir up interest in the case. The Find Jodie group still maintains billboards around Mason City asking for people to come forward

with tips about this case. They get tips regularly, and they run down all of them hoping to finally solve this almost 30 year mystery. God. I know. Jodie's sister, Joanne says, quote, I don't like the word closure. You're not going to close something. We're always going to think about Jodie.

We're always going to miss her. End quote. And that is the story of the disappearance of Jodie, who's in truth. That is so crazy. That's just one of the ones that like hold space in my mind at all times. You know? Yeah. The drag marks. The clarity that it was something potentially violent, dangerous, scary. Yeah. Shoes, the shoes left behind.

Bent key. I know. I know. You know, whenever there is a crime in the immediate area or even larger, it's like, does this match? It kind of reminds me of the Springfield Three who just disappeared out of nowhere as well. It's just so like... Did you do them?

I did that one. Well, Andrews told me episode 95. Good to know. But that was 200 years ago. So that was in 1999 that I did that one. Well, Andrews told me episode 95. Good to know. But that was 200 years ago. So that was in 1999 that I did that. It's 2025 now. Good to know. Yeah. Good update. I think it's that thing of like, it's a, it doesn't surprise me that there are all kinds of theories, camps, and people discussing it and fighting about it.

Because it's all to the good of let us figure this out. So, you know, again, theorizing about why people like true crime. But it's like, if we all put our brains together here on Reddit or anywhere else, can you please just get this going one step forward? Right, because the investigators haven't been able to find anything. So, like, why not have more people put their eyes on it? 30 years later, it's like... And I think you're right about find anything. So like, why not have more people put their eyes on it 30 years later? It's like and I think you're right about you when you're like re-interview some of those people or just like, is there anything that like,

you know, that much later could could change or break or oh this alibi actually isn't solid or any of those things. Yeah, like her phone records. Was there some was there someone calling her and saying weird things? Like, it sucks that like, you know, we have GPS tracking now, which is so great, but back then there's just like nothing to go on. Wow. That's my story. We'll go back to two stories very soon. I mean, here's the thing I think about all the time and my frustration with your cold cases because, because we all want a button ending, which is not

how life works and how many, many, many crimes, the majority of crimes do not work that way. But then there is that potential of like, and here is the break that, you know, 30 years later, here's the headline we've been looking for. Totally. And it does fucking happen. It happens all the time. You know, it does. So I just saw one on Tik TOK by a huge person on there. Her name's true crime mama. And she tells the story of this couple. It's the 44 year old missing persons case of Charles and Catherine Roemer. And yeah, and they just, and the guy with the sonar. Yeah, what's his, what's their name? It's a man named Jason Serada, who has his own sonar equipment.

He searched the pond directly. It's like behind this old hotel. And then you can see where the driveway basically goes down. So if they drove and like, for whatever reason, just drove and drove into that in this big old Cadillac and it sank. Like you can just kind of see it like, Oh my God, if it was like the mills and night, no lights, something happened. They were drunk or something. And then just like, and that's that. If no one witnessed it, they wouldn't know.

Totally. Yeah. Those cases just give me the chills. And I think there's probably so many missing person cases that can be attributed to that. And there are like a lot more companies and people now who are taking that seriously. You know, the town doesn't have the money to use that equipment on the lakes, but these individuals are, and I think that's amazing.

Yeah. Well, amazing job. I mean, it feels very trite to say, I hope, I hope there's some breaking news the way there, there can be breaking news sometime. I really hope there is. Totally. Should we go back to, what are we doing now? Fucking hurray's. Do we do what are you even doing right now? Should we do a new one for 2025? Yes, we should start a new one.

What's your, what does nine mean again? Say it again. Oh, I should start a new one. What's your, what does nine mean again? Say it again. Oh, I made all that up. I swear to God, I was just, I've heard that the number nine means. I mean, that was, it was an amalgamation of all this stuff that I just look at on my phone and see and did it done. Whatever. I believe it. It is true that 2025 adds up to nine. Sure. But that doesn't mean anything though. Turns out. No, it doesn't. All the things about nine.

I just wanted people to feel good. I want people to like, let's start interpreting numbers exactly the way we want to tell ourselves that we are going to be powerful and strong and exactly what we want to be. It's chronic positivity. Let's go into toxic positivity. Toxic positivity, I love it. Chronic, toxic, delusional positivity for 2025. Why not? So what should we have people tell us?

Like, what are you excited about this year, maybe? What's your power number? Yeah, tell us what your power number is and then you have to get a tattoo of it. Hashtag for 22. Let's do what are you excited? What are you excited about this year? What are you excited about in 2025? That's that can be a new like question. Why don't we answer it since we obviously don't have any emails from it yet?

Yeah, that's true. We can't because it's not the future. We truly can't. What I'm excited about for 2025. And you can manifest something to make something up that like that's going to be the year that I get another dog or whatever. Can you imagine the dream coming true of getting another dog? I think I would like to do some more serious, actually writing, like write a script. I think that's gonna be my thing

because I talk about it all the time. There's like seven I've actually said on this podcast. So poor man's copyright, but I talk about it too much. I now need to just actually do it. And I think that I'm going to make the time, find the time and actually do it. Fuck yeah, you should. I love that. Thank you. What's yours going to be?

What's mine going to be? Um, It has to be far enough away that it's hard, but still like what you ruminate on a thing that comes back to you a lot. Let's see in 2025, I'm going to become proficient in gardening. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to read Gardening for Dummies. I'm going to not stop watering plants. Okay. No joke, I have a gift for you.

Because I accidentally bought two of this book. It's a book called Plantopedia. And Bradford Berlowski, who works in our legal department in the Great Lakes office, told me to get it because he is a total green thumb. And he was like, I actually just got this book and it tells you like, water this plant, don't water this plant type of thing. And wherever I bought it, I accidentally bought two. Okay.

So I will wrap it up as if I meant for you to have it. You can have it. Thank you. Thank you. I'm excited for that. Yeah, I'm gonna do that this year. I'm gonna be a responsible adult who doesn't kill plants. That's good. And who cultivates a beautiful garden that I'm proud of. Great.

What are you even gonna do in 2025? Let us know in the comments. What are you planning to do? Oh, you're trying to make it sound like the other one? Yeah. What are you even planning to do in 2025? Yeah, let us know in the comments of all our places. Yeah, we'll power number this into existence.

And until then, stay sexy. And don't get murdered. Goodbye. Elvis, do you want a cookie? This has been an Exactly Right production. Our senior producer is Alejandra Keck. Our managing producer is Hannah Kyle Creighton. Our editor is Aristotle Acevedo.

This episode was mixed by Liana Squillace. Our researchers are Maren McClashen and Ali Elkin. Email your hometowns to MyFavoriteMurderer at gmail.com. Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder at gmail.com. Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook at My Favorite Murder. Goodbye.