Rodney J. Olsen (Courtesy Iowa Department of Public Safety)
Rodney Olsen, a 32-year-old rural Mason City farmer, left his farm around 1 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, 1986, with intentions of visiting someone and was never seen alive again. Olsen had a young son and farmed northeast of Mason City. He had moved from his native Britt area not too long before he disappeared.
Mason City in Cerro Gordo CountyHe was last seen wearing blue jeans and a brown shirt, and is described as a 6-foot white male with brown hair, brown eyes, and weighing about 210 pounds. He has dark shoulder-length curly hair and usually is clean shaven.
Several months later, Olsen’s car, a black 1978 Pontiac Sunbird, was found in a Forest City trailer park. No clues were found to indicate what happened to Olsen, according to reports at that time.
In a Mason City Globe Gazette article published March 30, 2008, Olsen’s family said they still think of their lost son.
“You always want to know,” said his father, Myrlen, who lives in Britt. “We always have hope.”
Myrlen believes that Rodney, one of his three children, “went off in the middle of the night by himself — and after that, we just don’t know.”
Rodney Olsen’s son today lives in California, Merlyn said.
Myrlen Olsen said he keeps in contact with the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Department, in hopes new information about the case can be developed.
A DNA sample has been submitted and tests are complete.
If you have any information regarding Rodney Olsen’s suspicious disappearance, please call the Cerro Gordo County Sheriff’s Office at (515) 421-3000 or 1-877-671-0052.
Father died in 2016
Are there more photos of Rodney John Olsen? Here it says he was out visiting someone but i found another site that said he went back to Britt to visit the son.
if you want to know more let me know.
I’ve never even heard about this case. Thanks for sharing!
it just sucks that someone could do this to him or any other human being and get away with it.
what friend was he visiting? were their fingerprints in the car?