A new person of interest has been identified in the decades-old case of missing Iowa news anchor Jodi Huisentruit, who disappeared from her Mason City apartment on June 27, 1995, as reported [1] by The New York Post.
The revelation came through an ABC News documentary, Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit, which premiered July 15 on Hulu.
Who was Jodi Huisentruit? Iowa news anchor abducted in 1995 back in spotlight with new docuseries
Read more at: https://t.co/ThF4Kh0KMT [2]#JodiHuisentruit [3] #JioHotstar [4] #Docuseries [5] #abduction [6] #NewsAnchor [7] #Iowa [8]
— Mathrubhumi English (@mathrubhumieng) July 16, 2025 [9]
Brad Millerbernd, the ex-husband of Huisentruit’s childhood best friend Patty Niemeyer, was investigated by Iowa authorities after tips connected him to the case.
According to the documentary, Niemeyer told filmmakers that Millerbernd matched never-before-released police sketches from the initial investigation.
“I see Brad Millerbernd,” Niemeyer said in the documentary. “That is him to a T.” Millerbernd has denied involvement and has been described as “very cooperative” with investigators.
Brad Millerbernd, the ex-husband of Huisentruit’s childhood best friend Patty Niemeyer, was investigated by Iowa police after tips came in suggesting he might be connected to the 1995 suspected abduction, according to the Daily Mail.
https://t.co/M21VpVqPGq [10]— Simply_Stranger (@AngelsBokenHalo) July 16, 2025 [11]
Huisentruit, 27 at the time, had called her news station early the morning she disappeared to say she was running late. When she failed to arrive for work by 6 a.m., coworkers contacted authorities.
Police arrived at her apartment and discovered signs of a struggle in the parking lot. Her car keys were found bent near her vehicle, and personal belongings — including a blow dryer, high-heeled shoe, and hair spray — were scattered nearby.
Mason City Police concluded that the case had shifted from a missing person to a likely abduction. A palm print was found on a nearby light pole, but otherwise, little physical evidence was recovered.
Huisentruit was officially declared dead in 2001, though her body has never been found and no one has been charged in the case.
Thirty years ago today my friend Jodi Huisentruit was abducted on her way to work, as a morning news anchor in Mason City, Iowa. The case has never been solved and Jodi hasn’t been found. Pictures are us at college, SCSU in Minnesota. Anonymous tips: 641-999-1109. Please share. pic.twitter.com/Z1c4rJAvyc [12]
— Joe Vigil (@JoeVigil) June 28, 2025 [13]
Niemeyer told investigators that Millerbernd unexpectedly contacted her on the 10th anniversary of the disappearance, saying, “Do you realize what day it is?” The call, she said, left her unsettled. “You know that burning gut feeling that you get? I couldn’t let it go.”
The couple had divorced just four days before Huisentruit vanished. Niemeyer also recalled that Millerbernd frequently asked about Huisentruit during their marriage and seemed fixated on her.
In 2017, Niemeyer reported her suspicions to police. When she followed up years later, investigators re-examined the lead and questioned Millerbernd.
He reportedly had dinner with Huisentruit the fall before she disappeared and called her weeks before the incident. Millerbernd also drove a white van — a vehicle similar to one witnesses reported seeing in the area the morning of the disappearance.
Detective Terrance Prochaska of the Mason City Police Department commented on the timeline, stating:
“Coincidences happen. But this one, there’s a lot stacked up in June for sure.”
Millerbernd submitted to a polygraph test and DNA sampling and has not been named an official suspect. The only other known person of interest in the case remains John Vansice, a friend who had visited Huisentruit the night before she disappeared. He also denies involvement.