John Vansice was a friend of Jodi Huisentruit’s who spent some of the previous days with the missing TV anchorwoman before she disappeared on June 27, 1995.
The former Mason City, Iowa seed salesman was 22 years older than Jodi and his name is often discussed in her case.
Vansice told police that Jodi came to his home the night before she disappeared to watch a videotape of a surprise birthday party he’d co-hosted for her weeks earlier.
But what evidence, if any, supports his possible involvement in her abduction?
Nobody has ever been arrested or charged in Jodi’s case, and Vansice has repeatedly denied any involvement in the crime.
Listen to “John Vansice” on Spreaker.
Vansice, 74, has declined to speak to the media about the events since moving away from Mason City after Jodi went missing.
In March 2017, Vansice was subpoenaed to appear at a U.S. District Court in Iowa and provide finger and palm prints, and DNA.
The same month, Mason City Police were granted a search warrant for two of Vansice’s vehicles, although neither of the vehicles had been manufactured at the time of Jodi’s disappearance. That search warrant has been re-sealed annually.
On this episode of the FindJodi podcast, team members recount the interest in John Vansice related to Jodi’s case through interviews, police statements, and archival media reports.
Vansice stated he’d named his boat after Jodi, however it was not painted on the back. (A Current Affair)
Jodi and friends at a birthday party thrown for her a few weeks before she disappeared.
24 Comments
Regarding the questions and comments that Tammy Baker, LaDonna Woodford, and Caroline Lowe posed, i.e., Jodi being worth more to John alive, or why would he go over there then if he had access to Jodi, or what would have happened to put him in that high risk parking lot: good questions. But if Vansice had become fixated on Jodi, reason wouldn’t enter into his behavior. If her last three diary entries mention him, he may have felt he was becoming a significant part of Jodi’s social life, a special friend if not potential boyfriend. If something happened to challenge that sense, would he reason out that he could see her at any time and didn’t need to go over there?
I agree that it is speculation, but I wanted to make the point that obsession (if he was obsessed) is not reasonable by its nature. I find it strange that he was gushing about Jodi in interviews and how you couldn’t help but love that woman, yet he seemed to take her disappearance in stride (“I think she’ll come back, I really do”) and doesn’t act like a truly concerned friend there.
However, I do agree that focusing on only one suspect undermines the search to find Jodi.
What I am wondering is who else was at John V’s house the night before she disappeared? Remember, Jodi was at John’s house watching a video of her birthday party the night before she disappeared. But what really sticks in my mind is the person or persons who abducted Jodi waited for an extra hour or so for her to come out to her car, as she was running late for work. And the only person who knew Jodi was up and leaving for work was Amy Kuns who worked at the TV station where Jodi anchored, as she called Jodi twice. I think that means and opportunity are there, but to this day, I am baffled by a motive. Although this abduction could be a random act of a stalker, one has to focus on possible motives if this case is to be solved. According to FBI statistics, most homicides (not abductions but we can assume Jodi is unfortunately deceased), are due to money and/or jealousy. As I have personally ruled out money (Jodi was living in an apartment) , that leaves jealousy or being rebuffed. And it was Ani Kruse, who years later when she changed her story, said it was possible John V felt rebuffed.
John’s claim that they watched the video at his house, or even at all, isn’t confirmed. Jodi had a tv and VHS player in her apartment. The Jim Feldhaus interview said that there were empty beer cans in Jodi’s sink. One of the beers was the brand she drank and the other was not. I think in the interview he kind of insinuates that the other brand of beer was the brand that John drank, but I could be wrong. My point is that they could have been in her apartment. It has also been reported at some point that John had a breathalyzer device in his vehicle that he needed to blow into in order to start it. Depending on how much he drank he might have sat in the parking lot for a while or took a nap.
I know slot of people didn’t know John v had a girlfriend and wanted her to move in..not Jodi.
Also Jodi had a boyfriend.
So let’s see she gets a car breaks up with married man and now she’s missing..makes sense
In addition to JVS being possibly obsessed with Jodi, remember that he was an alcoholic. Maybe he was also jealous that Jodi had left his boat to party with other guys that last weekend of her life. Obsession plus alcoholism doesn’t equal rational behavior. JVS is my primary suspect (of course it really doesn’t matter what I think).
I’ve also been leery of Amy Kuns. Whenever I hear her, she always seems so jealous of Jodi.
Amy Kuns was the last person to speak with Jodi, as she called her twice on the morning she disappeared. And remember, Ani Kruse was friends with Jodi and John. It was Ani who changed her story years later, and I personally reported that to Mason City Police once I discovered it. What I look for is inconsistencies in people’s statements. If they are telling the truth, their story should never change.
Who is “Ani”? Thanks.
The fact that the search warrants have been sealed year after year should say something. But John V is in his 70’s and is suffering from dementia. How then is he going to remember anything at this point, let alone defend himself? If John V didn’t abduct Jodi, then who did? Or is this a cover up, and we’ll never know? I believe the answer might be in the day before at the golf tournament and social gathering at the club house, and with her final phone calls. Connect the dots, and look for a motive. Only then will this case be solved.
There is something very shady about Vansice….him telling different stories and speaking about Jodi in the past tense..I definitely think he could be her killer,she didn’t want him and he couldn’t handlle it.Just my opinion but things do not add up.Too may discrepancies in his story.
It’s only a 20-25 minute drive from Jodi’s apartment to Clear Lake. If someone planned ahead and owned a boat they could easily wrap Jodi in something secure, attached weights, and drop her into the water. They could then easily get back to Mason City within 90 minutes or less.
John was really going out of his way to create situations to be around Jodi. Throwing the birthday party, inviting her to water ski in Coralville, inviting her over to watch the VHS tape of the birthday party that only just recently happened. That night watching the birthday video seems to be the only time they were really together alone. I’ve always wondered about the theory that he made a move to be more than friends that night and she rebuffed him. John was kind at an age where his window of time to get a younger woman like Jodi was closing.
I know everything about John is speculative, but there is a lot of interesting things. Let’s also remember that in the videos of him after the abduction he has broken and blacked fingernails. That is something that could potentially happen during a struggle.
In the clip from The Current Affair interview, Vansice describes how Jodi came over for a short time that Monday night to watch the birthday video and he says, “And then she left and went on to…uh…went on to go home.” Was he hoping that watching the video together might spark something? In the video clips she and John dance cheek to cheek at one moment and in another, he picks her up in his arms. In her diary account of the party, Jodi had written: “John Vansice grilled 150 pork burgers,” which seems to me a staggering amount. It must have been a huge party. This wasn’t a milestone birthday either. It was quite a fete for someone he claims he thought of in father-daughter terms. Was Vansice hoping for a response from Jodi to the very public attention he’d been showing her? If it became apparent that it was a fun evening to her but nothing more — along with the Glenn Miller Orchestra in Belmond and the recent skiing weekend — did he then show up at her apartment later in a bad state of mind?
It not only wasn’t ant sort of milestone birthday, if you see pictures of the invitations he makes sure the bottom right corner of the invite says “Given by John Vansice and friends.” I think he wanted to make sure Jodi and everyone else knew that he threw her the party. I think it’s pretty obvious he had a major thing for her and was trying hard to create situations and events to be around her. The birthday party was June 9th and he was already creating a situation for her to watch the video from her birthday just 17 days later on a Monday night. All the effort for those two to do anything together came from John. He had to have felt like he had built up so many “boyfriend material brownie points” with Jodi by June 26th. I would love to see a full timeline of John with Jodi events because I was unaware of the Glenn Miller Orchestra thing.
Good point about Vansice’s name at the corner of the invitation. The Glenn Miller Orchestra event comes from Jodi’s diary entry dated June 13. They had attended the event the evening before so that was just a few days after the birthday party. Yes, it would be nice to have a full timeline of those last few weeks.
That was KAP replying there. It says Anonymous because I forgot to log in.
I also have to say,Jodi’s big mistake was keeping in touch with John but I’m sure she really didn’t know who she was dealing with..I think he was a stalker.Jodi was too nice,she probably didn’t want to hurt his feelings but this may have led to her demise. RIP,Jodi.
Has Steve Ridge’s 9/2020 findings that were reported to MCPD come to anything? What if anything has her heard? He interviewed JVS in early 2019 – then reported a breakthrough in Sept 2020. His reports at the time we’re that he expected arrest(s) to follow. Yet NOTHING has been reported since…
The latest I’d heard/read was at least MCPD was asking the Waterloo IA police about their DNA research that convicted Jerry Burns of Michelle Martinko‘s murder in 11/2020. Hopefully they’ll take action on that as it sounds like they have a hair & handprint from the crime scene. I gave them info on CeCe Moore‘s assistance from https://www.gedmatch.com/ who’s been key in solving many criminal cases pro bono…
Also, does anyone know the areas that have been searched for Jodi? For unknown reasons the police are keeping that secret. Like other aspects of the case – from many sources, that all seems counterintuitive. More facts that could be publicized may well help to solve this case. At this point the hope of solving this case by the methods employed to-date have dwindled to near none. A “Hail Mary” attempt is well overdue IMHO.
Jodi’s family & friends are owed answers…
Correction on the Jerry Burns case/MCPD follow up was with Cedar Rapids PD – not Waterloo. Sorry…
Did you know jodi was also drunk alot
And why she didn’t show for work on time?
Well her start time was around 4 am. You would probably be late from time to time as well.
That is interesting about her drinking habits. Do you have some on line hyperlinks that I can reference concerning this topic? FYI – I was also unaware that JVS was an alcoholic. Thanks.
John V. was described as a father figure to Jodi. I find it odd, that he never appeared sad or worried and never teared up.
He was just too casual about her disappearance. He had a boat and could have easily abducted her and dumped her body in a body of water.
I’m going to push back on the idea that the person of interest discussed in this episode had access to Jodi at any time, thus making an early morning abduction in the parking lot unnecessary and too risky. If the person planned an abduction, where would be a less risky site? From his upstairs duplex? From her apartment? Either site would mean more chances of other residents hearing and seeing the perpetrator take her down a flight of stairs. From a boating trip with friends present? From a bar, which seemed to typically include a group of friends and where other patrons would have seen them together? I don’t think any of the other options are less risky propositions. And I suspect it wasn’t really planned, that it was a reaction of rage that could have built up over a few days, or more rapidly, over the previous several hours. One doesn’t have to have a plan in place to pull this off. As we now know from Jacob’s case, his abductor took him to a site that the abductor was familiar with from his past and buried him in a place and way that he wasn’t discovered.
His demeanor just seems way off in the interviews after her disappearance. Smiling, nonchalant, laid-back, oh she’ll be back, etc. WTF… this woman has now been missing for several days, he’s acting like she’s a teenage runaway or something. Totally bizarre.
No, I haven’t dug deep into the details of this case, but sometimes you don’t have to. My wife watched about 5 minutes of the first Susan Smith interviews on TV and said – Nah, something’s not right. I watched the Chris Watts pleas on TV and said the same thing…
Maybe he’s totally innocent, but his behavior is certainly suspicious… to me.
Very suspicious! That guy giving off creepy vibes 👀