
Recently, I shared with some of our children details about the disappearance of Jodi Huisentruit on June 27, 1995, along with our family’s multi-faceted connection to Jodi.
A news anchor in Mason City, Iowa, Jodi went missing that day just before her early-morning-news stint at KIMT-TV. She’d just called a colleague at work to let them know she was running late. It was the last call she’d make.
About six months earlier, Jodi and I had shared a guest room in Dawson, Minn. I was living in Washington state at the time, and Jodi, in Iowa. We’d gathered there for our friend Karla’s wedding, and she’d offered us a room in her home that night while she was on her honeymoon.
Karla and Jodi had met their freshman year of college at (then) Moorhead State University (MSU) in Moorhead. Though Jodi would transfer to St. Cloud State University (SCSU) by mid-year, the two stayed in touch.
I also was a freshman at MSU in 1986-87, but had yet to meet Karla or my husband, Troy, whose sister, Kelly Salonen, was studying at SCSU. In a strange twist of fate, Kelly and Jodi crossed paths on campus soon after Jodi’s arrival, and later, became dear friends.
I met Jodi for the first time when she and Karla were working at Madden’s Resort in Minnesota on Gull Lake the summer of our junior year, the summer of my broadcast journalism internship at KXJB here in Fargo.
A few summers later, Karla called me in Washington. “I was just at Troy’s (childhood) house!” Turns out Jodi had recently taken a news-anchor job in Alexandria, Minn., near Glenwood, my husband’s hometown. Jodi wanted to get together with her two dear friends, so they all met in Glenwood. At the time, I was awed by my multi-pronged connection to Jodi.
At Karla’s wedding on Dec. 23, 1994, Jodi and I were the two out-of-town, non-family guests, so we ended up hanging out most of the night, including at Karla’s home, where we stayed up talking about our lives, careers and love for Karla.
Six months later, Jodi disappeared. Kelly, who’d recently relocated to Mississippi, was one of the people the FBI interviewed to try to learn about Jodi’s final days.
It’s been a haunting sadness to our family ever since. Jodi was outgoing with loads of charisma. But there was indication not long before her disappearance that she was fearful for her safety and had taken some self-defense classes.
Its incredible to me that in this day of advanced investigations, Jodi’s case remains unsolved. A group of journalists and concerned citizens haven’t given up, however, and offer updates on FindJodi.com.
God knows what happened, both to Jodi and the many others who’ve disappeared and never been found. He knows and he cares, and someday, he will bring peace to those who’ve been left aching to know the truth. Meantime, we continue praying for the truth to be known while we are still here.
[For the sake of having a repository for my newspaper columns and articles, I reprint them here, with permission, a week after their run date. The preceding ran in The Forum newspaper on Jan. 19, 2025.]
Leave a Reply