Jodi Huisentruit disappeared on June 27, 1995 from Mason City
Jodi Huisentruit is one of Iowa’s most well-known missing persons. The 27-year-old was abducted an hour before dawn on Tuesday, June 27, 1995 from the parking lot of her apartment at 600 North Kentucky Avenue in Mason City. She was leaving for work at a local television station.
Her disappearance was featured on “Unsolved Mysteries” and “America’s Most Wanted” and was the subject of the pilot episode of “Psychic Detectives.” An entire website — www.findjody.com — is devoted to her case. Queries, tips, and comments about her come in regularly to the Mason City Police.
The apartment complex where Jodi was abducted.
What is it about Jodi and her disappearance that still fascinates Iowans after 15 years, that makes us pause when we see her photograph and wonder?
The answer lies with Jodi herself. A pretty, petite blonde with brown eyes, Jodi was appealing and memorable.
She was the morning and noon anchorwoman at CBS affiliate KIMT-TV, which reaches a wide area of northeast Iowa and southern Minnesota.
Viewers woke up every morning to her pleasant smile and friendly manner. She was there while they had coffee in their kitchens. She sat across from them in their living rooms like a friend who came each day for a visit.
Locals often saw her — single and carefree — cruising around Mason City in her 1995 red Mazda Miata sports car.
Women envied Jodi’s slender figure and beautiful hair. Men found her attractive. Older viewers wished she were their daughter or granddaughter. She was the woman everyone wanted to be or to know.
But her high profile may also have attracted someone with less wholesome motives. Jody may have been taken by a stalker lurking at the edge of her celebrity, driven by obsessive thoughts and fantasies about a relationship with her.
Jodi was declared dead in 2001; but her friends, fans, and family push on for answers and never give up hope of finding her.
Jody Huisentruit
Graciela “Grace” Esquivel was tiny—only 4-feet-11. The 25-year-old Hispanic woman weighed 140 pounds and had brown hair and eyes. She lived with her six-year-old daughter Angie at 1619 N. Pennsylvania Avenue in Mason City, Iowa.
Grace Esquivel
On the evening of Friday, June 10, 1983, Grace dropped Angie with the little girl’s grandparents — Manuela and Armando Esquivel — and went out for the evening with friends.
The next morning, the Esquivels took Angie home. Grace’s wallet and driver’s license were in the house. But Grace was not there and had not slept in her bed, which was turned down in preparation for sleep.
Lt. Ron Vande Weerd of the Mason City Police Department believes Grace Esquivel was taken against her will.
Grace was born to Manuela and Armando Esquivel on December 21, 1957 in Calhoun, Texas. She would now be 54-years-old.
If you have any information concerning Grace Esquivel’s case, please contact the Mason City Police Department at 641-421-3636 or the Iowa Missing Person Information Clearinghouse at 1-800-346-5507.
On March 18, 1977, Elgin Hobert Strait, 80, was found dead at his Mason City, Iowa, residence from a shotgun blast to the head.
Elgin Hobert Strait as a Teenager
Elgin Hobert Stait was born October 15, 1896 in Adams County, Iowa, one of 15 children of Josie Mary McCord and Peter Addison Strait. His brothers were Jacob M. Strait, Cyrus Daniel Strait, Blaine Lockheart Strait, Warren Lester Strait, Arnold A. Strait, Arlan Lewis Strait, Donald Robert Strait, and Byron Roosevelt Strait. His sisters were Winnie Mable Strait Westcoat, Celia Bell Strait Ritenour, Agnes Vernice Strait Hardee, Iva C. Strait Scott, Blanche Rose Strait, and Flossie Fern Strait Smith Jackson. Many of his siblings preceded him in death.
On May 5, 1917, he married Flossie J. Ridnour in Corning, Iowa, and the couple had four children: Geneva Rose Strait LaGrange, Otho Strait, Colleen Strait, and Ruth Strait DeMaris. He also had several grandchildren.
Although his death was examined by a Cerro Gordo County Grand Jury in July 1979, there were no suspects named and it was declared an “unsolved murder.” The case has never been solved.
If you believe you have any information concerning this case, click here to report it to the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation Cold Case Unit.
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