Earthblog

Jodi Huisentruit is supposed to be a bridesmaid Saturday when her best friend, Stacy Wagner, is married in Long Prairie, Minn.

But on Wednesday, police in Mason City, Iowa, were still searching for the television anchorwoman who apparently was abducted early Tuesday as she left her apartment for work. She is morning and noon producer/anchor at KIMT-TV.

Huisentruit, 27, grew up in Long Prairie and was a reporter and morning anchor at the nearby Alexandria television station before moving to Mason City last year.

"Jodi's this upbeat, friendly, outgoing, very lovely person," said Ray Gove, her former band director in Long Prairie, where she twice was a member of the state champion high school golf team. "You always knew when she was in the room."

Her former station manager at Alexandria said it has become common for TV newswomen to receive unwanted attention from men who become obsessed by them. But police say they are not aware that Huisentruit had any such problem.

"We consider this a possible abduction," said Mason City police Capt. Mike Halverson, who heads the investigation. He admitted that "we really don't have any other possible theories about what happened. We don't like what we found at the scene."

Officers found Huisentruit's Mazda Miata in the parking lot of her apartment complex about a mile from the television station in downtown Mason City. A pair of women's shoes, a blow dryer, bottle of hair spray, car keys and earrings were scattered around the car.