In 2004 a body was discovered north of Mason City. While suspected to be Jodi's, it turned out to be the body of a man who had disappeared after running from the police (or sheriffs) about a month before Jodi vanished. His name was James Perkins, and he was about 44 when he disappearance. Since he wasn't Jodi, there wasn't much for follow-up coverage.

Does anyone know anything more about his disappearance, etc.?

I am trying to rule out the following kind of profile: Guy (local) is stalking Jodi for quite a while, for whatever reason. Has something against her. Knows (maybe by CB scanner -- they were very popular in N. Iowa back then) that there's a fugitive (Perkins). Finds him perhaps by chance, kills him, leaves him where he's least likely to be found -- where they've already searched. Now he knows he can do it. His sense of being somehow wronged by Jodi makes her the equivalent in his mind of some criminal. Such a person imagines himself a hero of some sort, but he also knows he's smart enough to get away with it. The nature of what Perkins was accused of (and what might have been discussed so a scanner could hear) might shed light on how such a suspect saw Jodi.

This is all hypothetical. I kind of guess the likely thing is that Perkins either accidentally drowned or killed himself, that law enforcement didn't want to acknowledge they'd lost him in 95. But Jodi going missing was the unlikely thing, and for no resolution after 15 years is unlikelier still.