Jodi Sue Huisentruit | Missing Person: Legally Declared Dead
State Representative Speaks Out About Resistance to Solving Huisentruit Case
Iowa State Rep. John Kooiker considered it a privilege to fill in the ninth term of his good friend, Dwayne Alons, who passed away shortly after winning the November 2014 election. But, as a member of the House Public Safety Committee, he found himself appalled at the number of cold cases in the state and the current lack of a cohesive effort to solve them.
In 2015, prior to the 20th anniversary of Jodi Huisentruit’s unsolved disappearance, he saw an opportunity to augment the work being done by the Northwest Iowa Review — one of approximately 200 newspapers participating in the Iowa Newspaper Association‘s statewide GONE COLD project. With the assistance of other legislators, Kooiker drafted a letter addressed to the city of Mason City, asking them to recognize Jodi’s upcoming anniversary and soliciting their help in solving the case....