{"id":2247,"date":"2025-12-11T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=2247"},"modified":"2025-12-11T05:45:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T11:45:38","slug":"mason-city-pi-doubles-reward-in-huisentruit-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/mason-city-pi-doubles-reward-in-huisentruit-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Mason City PI Doubles Reward in Huisentruit Case"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mason City (trfnews.i234.me<\/a>)<\/strong> \u2014 A private investigator who has long followed the Jodi Huisentruit case is raising the reward again, hoping money will finally bring answers in the 29-year-old cold case.<\/p>\n

Reward Raised to $100,000 in Long-Running Case<\/h2>\n

Private investigator Steve Ridge<\/strong>, a former journalist, says he is doubling his reward offer to $100,000.<\/p>\n

The reward is for information that leads to the recovery of Huisentruit\u2019s remains.<\/p>\n

Ridge told Des Moines station KCCI<\/a> the larger reward will remain in place through June 27, 2026.<\/p>\n

That date will mark 31 years since Huisentruit vanished outside her Mason City apartment building.<\/p>\n

Huisentruit was 27 years old when she disappeared in 1995.<\/p>\n

She grew up in Long Prairie, Minnesota, and worked as a morning news anchor for KIMT-TV in Mason City.<\/p>\n

Evidence at her apartment complex suggested a struggle near her car.<\/p>\n

She has never been found and was declared legally dead in 2001.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Image<\/div>\n

Recent Search in Minnesota Brought No New Evidence<\/h2>\n

Ridge\u2019s new reward push comes shortly after another search linked to the case.<\/p>\n

The Mason City Police Department<\/a> recently confirmed that investigators returned to Winsted, Minnesota.<\/p>\n

Officers and a K-9 unit searched the site of a former home there in November 2024.<\/p>\n

The property is about 40 miles west of the Twin Cities.<\/p>\n

Police said the tip involved a former Winsted resident with links to Huisentruit\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

Nothing was found at the site, but investigators said it was important to check because the house had been moved.<\/p>\n

This was at least the second known search in Winsted for clues in the case.<\/p>\n

Details of the search were highlighted in a recent Hulu<\/a> docuseries about Huisentruit\u2019s disappearance.<\/p>\n

The series, produced with cooperation from Mason City police, drew fresh attention to the long-unsolved case.<\/p>\n

Private Investigator Adjusts Strategy After Other Case<\/h2>\n

Ridge has been visible for years as an independent investigator on the Huisentruit case.<\/p>\n

He previously raised the reward to $100,000 in 2024 for a short time.<\/p>\n

He told KCCI he is renewing that level after seeing what he called \u201cgreat success\u201d in another cold case.<\/p>\n

Ridge offered a $100,000 reward in the 1985 disappearance of eight-year-old Cherrie Mahan<\/strong> in Butler County, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

He says that the reward brought in strong new leads for the authorities there.<\/p>\n

Ridge now hopes the same high-dollar offer in Iowa will reach people who have stayed silent for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great success we\u2019ve had with this level of reward in the case of eight-year-old Cherrie Mahan in Butler, Pennsylvania, has encouraged us to try again in Iowa,\u201d Ridge said.<\/p>\n

He also told the station he plans to keep more of his findings private from now on.<\/p>\n

Ridge said he wants to share new information first with law enforcement and prosecutors.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow the goal is arming authorities with the evidence and testimony needed for indictments,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Anyone with information about the case can contact Mason City police or the team behind FindJodi.com<\/a>, which tracks tips and updates.<\/p>\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mason City (trfnews.i234.me) \u2014 A private investigator who has long followed the Jodi Huisentruit case is raising the reward again, hoping money will finally bring answers in the 29-year-old cold case. Reward Raised to $100,000 in Long-Running Case Private investigator Steve Ridge, a former journalist, says he is doubling his reward offer to $100,000. The… Continue reading Mason City PI Doubles Reward in Huisentruit Case<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[2587,871,678,2655,772,2740,2660,2590,2661,2662,2654,2657,2739,2653,2659,2663,2589,2588,2656,786,2658],"class_list":["post-2247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-100k","tag-case","tag-city","tag-cold-case-reward","tag-crime","tag-doubles","tag-findjodi-com","tag-huisentruit","tag-hulu-huisentruit-docuseries","tag-iowa-missing-person-case","tag-jodi-huisentruit","tag-long-prairie-minnesota","tag-mason","tag-mason-city-news","tag-mason-city-police-department","tag-minnesota-true-crime","tag-offered","tag-reward","tag-steve-ridge-investigator","tag-trf-news","tag-winsted-minnesota-search","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2316,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2247\/revisions\/2316"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}