FindJodi

And at this hour, investigators still have few clues about where Jody Housen Troop might. >> The FBI is now involved in the case and they're beginning to concentrate there. >> Search Docs turn up clues, but tonight it remains untested evidence. >> Where is she?

Who knows something who hasn't come for? >> Caroline Low is in Tiff and Iowa with an update right now, Caroline. >> Well, Amelia tonight there's a stain silo door. >> Being in a journalist, I know what gets covered.

“And that's why we do things like billboards to try to get the attention.”

[MUSIC] >> We really wish we weren't here today. >> 23 years later, what happened to Jody is still a mystery. >> You are watching News Channel three day break, the time is 6 o'clock, 64 degrees, and light showers falling in North Iowa.

>> Jody grew up in Minnesota, then she went to Mason City in 1993 to become an important morning anchor. [MUSIC] >> This morning our morning anchor 27-year-old Jody Housen Troop apparently disappeared. >> She was running late, appeared the Jody had been attacked from behind and then dragged away

from her car, and her stuff is scattered behind. >> I called her and I talked to her, she was there, it sounded like I woke her up. Her first question was, what time is it? I said, Jody, it's 10 after 4, you need to come in. >> That was the last contact anybody has had with Jody.

>> It's been 38 hours now since anyone has spoken to Jody Housen Troop. >> Good evening, everyone. >> I had such a strange collision of emotions. >> Residents from all across North Iowa are in turn feeling the emotion and the desperation for Jody safe return.

>> And I thought, I know her so well, and all of these folks who are watching on TV right now feel like they really know her too. They had her in their home every morning, and they loved her. >> There you go. >> She has a hard last name.

Housen Troop, after the 27th of June, she's Jody.

Doesn't need a last name anymore, she'll always be just Jody.

>> The clock was ticking. >> I'm John Shrine from KIMT Television, Mason City, Iowa. We need your help. One of our news anchors is missing. >> It's been 42 hours since we last heard from our dear friend, Jody.

There are lots and lots of theories. >> How would you pass a fight, John, that place? >> I would classify him as a friend. Jody spent more time with John Van Sice in the last month that she was in Mason City than anybody that we know of.

>> And he said, I was the last person to see her. >> I interviewed him the next day.

“>> And the police indicated whether they're in our era suspect?”

>> No, they haven't been in education, they've interviewed me twice, but they haven't been in education unless it's back. >> Is anybody alive? >> The Mason City police said they're now concentrating their efforts on 12 people. >> There's been no detainments, there's only been the people that have been interviewed.

>> It could be somebody we least expect. Did she ever express concern that she was being stalked? >> Yes, yeah. >> This case is not going to go away.

>> We're never going to get out of it.

>> We've got a couple of investigators on. >> We'll go back this way. >> These are phone-in-tips, psychic leads. >> We've never closed the case. It's never been a cold case for us.

It's been an active investigation since it happened. >> But we're 23 years in. >> Right, I'm not ready to quit yet. >> The more we keep this story alive, it might just unlock the puzzle.

“>> I may be walking around my king and maybe in a wheelchair,”

but I am staying on this until we find Jodi. Somebody knows something. Is it you? [ Music ] >> Relay sound of music.

>> I'm going to send things right back to the studio. Thank you very much, Sarah. [ Music ] >> Are they for or are they not taking things? >> They're just being questioned right now.

[ Music ] >> Here's a look at what we're working on for KIMT News 3 at 5. [ Music ] >> The Yellow Ribbon is still there. >> 23 years after Anchor Jodi Hoosentrude vanished on her way to work in Mason City, Iowa.

>> I said earlier, there's no way they still have those old ass, but. >> And here it is. >> Here it is. >> Jodi's old desk still occupies the same spot in the KIMT TV Newsroom. >> I'm certain it is.

>> Doug Merbach was the news director back then. >> I've been back in 15 years. >> Robin Wolfram was also an anchor. >> It makes me sad to be right here for some reason. >> Sad and then peaceful too.

>> Jodi was more than a colleague. She was a friend. What words pop into mind when you think a Jodi?

>> I think the first word that always comes to mind is effervescent.

I'm Jodi who's introverted. >> Ten people would often describe her as bubbly. >> Kind of a bright light in the morning to get people started for the day. >> She was your cup of Joe. >> I have a lot of energy.

>> I want to live forever. >> This was not going to be her last stop, Mason City.

>> She always talked about being a national television.

We always would have these conversations the two of us. She was beautiful. She was engaging. She was smart.

“The only thing she had to overcome was that Minnesota exit.”

>> President Clinton leaves this morning for the group of seven summit in Nova Scotia. >> And she was working hard on me. >> She was working really hard on that one. >> But Jodi who's introverts dream of making it big. Ended the morning of Tuesday June 27th, 1995.

The anchor of KIMT 6AM newscast. She usually arrived at work by 330 in the morning. >> She's not there between 330 and 4G of recalls to hear your wake.

>> Producer Amy Koons, notice nothing unusual when she called and woke Jodi up about 10 after

4 that morning. She was asking about the show. She was concerned about the show and she said I'll be right there. >> But at 530 still know Jodi. And this being a time before cell phones, Amy tried her at home again and got her answering

machine. At 6AM, Amy had a step up and delivered the news in Jodi's place. >> She loves her show.

“She calls it her show, you know, she wouldn't miss it for anything.”

>> The police were called shortly after 7. And they arrived at Jodi's apartment. She wasn't home, but they found her shoes, hair dryer, and keys scattered on the ground near her beloved red Mazda Miata. >> Jack Sleeper was police chief then.

>> We do have things that would make us believe that there could be foul play here. >> Then we're also apparent drag marks near her car signs of a struggle. >> The vehicle was processed on the outside. We did process it for fingerprints. >> Police found someone's palm print on the car.

Special K9 units quickly began a search of Jodi's apartment complex and the banks of the Winnebago River. >> This is News Channel 3's evening edition. >> Police are investigating the disappearance but aren't saying much else at this time. >> That evening, KIMT's lead story was the devastating news about one of its own.

>> Somebody who's in truth was and still is a very dear friend of mine as well as all of us here at KIMT and we're inviting all of you to join us and keeping her and her family in your purse and sending. >> Toughest thing you've ever done in your career, Reverend? >> Probably.

>> Yeah. >> I don't know what it looked like to the viewer, but I just know inside it was a mess. >> Police descended on the newsroom, searching Jodi's desk for any evidence of an angry or obsessed viewer at Jodi's natural warmth, made her at the target, you know, she went grocery shopping and took her two hours because she talked to three people along the way

and she always had time for everybody.

>> Joe and Nathie is Jodi's sister. >> She definitely was to trust. >> So not thinking that maybe some of those people watching her had their own potentially troubling ideas.

“>> Yeah, that's what I worry about that she was too personable.”

>> Way to go Kevin, I'm getting there sleeping. >> Way to keep me in check. >> Revealing too much, maybe what you did day to day. >> I live by a big swimming pool and I can hear the children swimming and splashing and yelling and it's like everyone she met loved her.

Do you know how many people think she was her best friend? >> Stacey Steinman and KIMFICE actually were Jodi's best friends. >> She mentioned that named us all stupid things and her nickname was Focus. >> She wanted us to call her Focus. >> They grew up together in the small town of Long Prairie, Minnesota.

In high school Jodi lived up to her nickname when she helped the golf team win two state championships. >> She just doesn't fail. >> What would she say about what she wanted to achieve in life? >> She wanted to be famous.

>> Yeah, she wanted to be famous. >> She knew that in high school that she wanted to be a news anchor. The twin city's metro area is among the top 20 areas in the nation and total population. >> Jodi pursued her dream at St. Cloud State University with a starring role on the school's TV station.

>> I'm not calling you around and I say her show has to come to a close. >> She was just 25 when she landed the 6 a.m. and noon anchor slots at KIMFICE. >> Joining us the time right now is 630 right on the button. >> Now she was gone. Jodi vanished just days before she was to be in Stacey's wedding party leaving Stacey

>> A good friend of ours was a priest and we're just like what do we do.

“>> He said now is good time to keep people together.”

This is when we need prayer and pray for and don't cancel the wedding. >> It's been 38 hours now since anyone has spoken to Jodi who's in truth on his channel three co-anchor disappeared yesterday morning. >> June 28, 1995. The investigation was expanded.

>> We had asked for the FBI to give us some assistance and Jodi's story was national news. >> Fear is growing in one Iowa farm town. Someone is missing not a face in the crowd but one of the most familiar faces in town. >> It just struck me as so sad and I was just sick and I thought this is not what we meant

about being a national news.

[MUSIC] >> I'm also Shannon Maldo Nado and I'm the founder of Yaui, a singer, who has had a hard-working specialised at the time. My role as a copy-fi, as a copy-fi, in comparison to the other platforms I tested, with Ambe Nutzer Friendlysten War.

I've already thought about the future.

“All tools that for the development of Verkaufs are important,”

for example from Lager, are found directly in the dashboard. >> Start now at your cost-in-law'sntest/shoppy-fi.com. [MUSIC] >> The yellow ribbons there, yellow ribbons there, everywhere you go. All along the road.

[MUSIC] >> News Director Doug Murbach was overwhelmed by Mason City's show of support after Jody disappeared 23 years ago. [MUSIC] >> It really gives you a boost to know that people care, they really love Jody.

>> She was not just a person on TV every morning, she was in her friend. Somebody's got to know something to bring her home. >> It's now been nearly 2 1/2 days since the person who usually sits in this chair disappeared. [MUSIC] >> June 29, 1995, investigators say they've now narrowed their focus to around a dozen people.

They'd like to continue questioning. >> The police also revealed Jody had reported a possible stalker nine months before she disappeared. >> We did find out that Jody didn't make a report of an incident that occurred when she was out jogging. >> How long ago was that reported?

“>> I believe that it's an October of 1994.”

>> She got shook up one day when she was out hiking or jogging on a trail that black truck had followed her.

>> But the police never got to the bottom of that incident.

And Jody never reported another one. And now Joanne Nathie was pleading on TV for her baby sister's return. Just pray that whoever has her out there, they'll just remember she's so sweet and good. She never heard anyone, just let her go. >> It's been 84 hours now, Jody, who's in truth, the 27-year-old colleague of ours.

>> Disappeared 3 1/2 days ago, she was supposed to arrive. >> June 30th, the fire department has intensified its search in the Winnebego River. >> There's no put that line across to the highway bridge. In case a body is floated to the surface, it's a scenario, no one wants to think about it. >> I've never personally talked with Jody, but myself and everyone else doesn't want to find Jody this way.

>> July 1st, this announcement. >> We are now officially classifying this as an adult. >> Several neighbors have told police they heard a scream around the time Jody disappeared, but no one had called for help. >> This type of white van was also seen in the parking lot that morning. >> I couldn't even walk outside in the dark, because I was so afraid of how it happened in Jody's parking lot.

>> You had a police escort home. >> Whoever took Jody seemed to be familiar with her schedule. >> Could it have been someone she knew? >> To find out, investigators were piecing together the last days of Jody's life. >> And this man popped up on the radar by declaring he'd been the last person to see Jody alive.

>> They've interviewed me twice, but they haven't given me an indication on the suspect. >> Jody's friend John Van Sice told Robin in an interview that Jody had visited his home the night before she was abducted. >> She's laughing the whole time she's there and she laughed a little time she laughed. >> How did he strike you? >> Way too happy and gleeful and he wanted to be interviewed.

>> She was like a doctor told me she was just like my own child.

>> So who exactly is John Van Sice drilling down into that question is complicated by the passage of time.

>> But this certainly helps.

“>> 23 years ago days after Jody disappeared.”

>> 48 hours was in Mason City and we spent time with a man who had put himself at the center of the case. [ Music ] >> This way she's alive somewhere. This hope she's not hurt. I hope she's okay.

I hope she'll come back so. >> Back in 1995, we caught up with John Van Sice and Jody's close friend, Connie Cruz, doc side. Where we learned the three often water skied off his boat, then Sice certainly wasn't hiding. We're acting like someone under a cloud of suspicion. She wouldn't want to sit around home and try and soft.

She'd want to be out having fun because that was her. >> It's no one. >> It is. >> Everything is. >> It is.

>> She's coming back.

I'm going to be ready for her.

>> In the days directly after Jody disappears, you're speaking in present tense. >> She was one of my closest friends. You know, she was coming home. I really thought that. >> Then Sice, who was a seed salesman,

was recently divorced.

“He had once lived in Jody's apartment complex,”

but Jody and Onny had met him at a bar. >> He offered to buy us both a drinks and just started talking to him and did know how he felt about him and then we met again and again. >> Although he was 22 years older than Jody, he became part of her inner circle.

>> Just a bunch of people would make it long fine together and have a good time. >> Two weeks before Jody disappeared, Van Sice helped Onny. >> Through a surprise birthday party for her. >> That's the water skiing cake. >> You know, you look at the pictures and she's smiling.

She's so beautiful and happy and she's in a prime. >> Then the weekend before Jody's abduction, she and Onny were out on Van Sice's boat. This is News Channel 3's daybreak. On Monday, Jody was back at work for the last time.

>> Good Monday morning, welcome to daybreak. It's June 26th. Thank you, Jody. >> That afternoon, she played in a charity golf tournament where she complained. She'd been getting some prank phone calls.

>> She told some people this golf tournament that she was going to have to change her phone number or do something or go to please. >> It was later that Monday evening that Van Sice claims, Jody came over to his home to watch a video of that surprise birthday party. And we watched a tape and we chuckled and we laughed.

We giggled. We he hauled. We did everything. We're going to cut this portion out of the tape. We got this portion out of the tape and we laughed about it.

>> The next morning, Jody was gone. With John Van Sice have a reason to harm her. Onny couldn't think of any. >> Not a doubt. I had no question that there's no possibility in my mind.

We could have ever. >> The police were also asking Onny what she knew. >> Investigators are asking you about John Van Sice. >> Yes. >> And you're saying it couldn't be John.

>> He's our friend. >> For me, I'm thinking why would you hurt somebody that that brought so much joy in your life. >> But Robin had long suspected that Van Sice had feelings for Jody that weren't mutual.

“>> I truly believe that he had very strong and deep feelings for Jody.”

>> Something he told her back then sent chills down her spine. >> I or name my boat after because just because she's Jody and he can't help a lot of the woman. He just can't help a lover. >> When he said I named my boat after that's when I said. >> That's an obsession.

I remember holding onto the microphone and just feeling so ill at ease and thinking to myself. >> I think you might have done it. >> In the fall of 1995, some three months after Jody who's in true disappeared. Her family allowed a local TV reporter inside her apartment. >> Well, it's definitely a little strange thing in here.

>> There were no obvious signs of a struggle. Dishes were still piled up in the sink. >> When we clear this, this is where my house just head out to work. >> Had Jody taken the time to neatly make the bed before rushing to work. >> Other people had been in the apartment, so we don't know for sure.

>> There's apparently guests for her on hatchery chain.

>> A message she never had a chance to retrieve.

>> She'll be back. >> Except our patients. >> We can't be down. >> Her Jody would want him. >> John Van Sice remained under suspicion.

48 hours has learned Jody befriended him during what seems to have been a turbulent time in his life.

He had a series of arrests related to drunken driving.

“>> Did John's life improve just through his connection to Jody?”

>> Absolutely. She brought so much joy into his life. And he didn't have a lot of friends. And you know, all of a sudden, now he's kind of accepted. You know, he's hanging out with us.

We're having fun. >> Honey Cruz says Jody thought van Sice understood the boundaries in their relationship. >> She knew she knew he had an interest, but just blew it off. He's like a father to me. She made that mention quite a few times.

>> In front of him. >> Yeah, yeah. >> But some of Jody's friends doubted he got the message. >> A caution term. He said, Jody, there's going to come a point in time when he's going to want more.

>> When she told us, he named his boat after her, we go. >> That was the like cage. >> This is a little much. >> But she didn't see it as odd. >> No, she laughed.

I think she was like honored. Like, hey, it's kind of cool. >> Jody's sister Joanne and other family members met John van Sice a few days after Jody's disappearance. >> You were fun loving. >> We were.

>> We had a blast. >> We had a blast. >> 48 hours was there as Van Sice told them about his friendship with Jody. >> I just loved watching her fun. >> Joanne found his demeanor.

>> I tried to watch over. I tried to check on her once and a while. I don't know what time this once and a half. >> In my mind, there's a good chance that he is linked to Jody's case. Some way or other.

>> What makes you say that? >> It's just that he was so obsessed. >> They've hurt your apartment. >> They're going to your apartment. They're going to miss clothes.

They're mine. But I got to sure she liked. You know, I'd wear for a while, but I get it to her.

>> But Ben Sice has never been arrested.

He's never been named a suspect. >> I know. He hasn't. >> It's been 23 years. >> I know.

If he is the one, let's get the evidence. But we have to be an objective. We have to have an open mind. It could be somebody. We least expect.

>> Looking back 23 years later, on he now believes van Sice could have harmed Jody. >> When you think maybe it was John, what was motive had been? >> Maybe being rebuffed?

>> Maybe finally saying to her, I'm not your father. I want to be your boyfriend.

“>> That's the only thing I could think of.”

But the thing that has always puzzled me,

like why in the morning in the parking lot. >> Could what was in that parking lot of had something to do with it. 48 hours obtained a copy of a search warrant for Jody's 1991 Miyata. And learned it was not in her name when she vanished. It reads this license is listed to John Lassar,

the previous owner, penned entitled transfer. John Lassar is a prominent businessman. He told 48 hours, the sale of the Jody was arranged by a friend who was a car salesman. The friend is since died, but his son remembers the sale.

>> She worked hard for that. She was proud of getting that car. She was excited about it. >> And that car seemed to be on John van Sice's mind. His close friend, Madonna Woodford, claims he told her

the car was a birthday gift to Jody from a boyfriend. >> He said, but she doesn't like want the car. She's going to give it back to him.

>> She never said anything about a gentleman buying it or paying for it

or anything like that. So I think that's hogwash. >> In conceivable to you. >> Yeah. >> Lassar says the only time he met Jody was to hand to the car keys.

>> Oni says van Sice had a history of jealousy when it came to Jody. >> If we were out somewhere, if she was visiting with somebody, he would come join the conversation. >> Just swooped in. >> Pretty much.

Yeah. I mean, you want to make sure that everybody knew Jody was his. >> But Madonna insists van Sice had no romantic interest in Jody. And no reason to hurt her. >> When he talk about Jody, it was like I'm protecting her.

She's like my daughter.

“>> What if on June 26th and then into the morning of June 27th?”

What if John van Sice had picked then to share with Jody that he wanted to take it to the next level? >> And people always ask me that question and this is what I say. He would not do it or they think he did it. When she was abducted, he used to live in those apartments.

>> Madonna feels van Sice has been unfairly singled out by police and the community.

>> Just as horrible as they've done to him. He lost his best friend and it's sad. It's really sad. >> And Madonna says she knows where van Sice was. The morning Jody was abducted.

He was out taking a walk with her. It was their routine.

“>> As you walk through this neighborhood, did he seem anxious?”

>> Didn't seem anxious, he seemed himself. >> And nothing seemed unusual when she called earlier to confirm their plans. >> I called John six o'clock in the morning. I say, hey, John, are we going to work out today? >> You felt when you called him that morning that he was up there sleeping.

>> Yeah, absolutely. We didn't have cell phones, so I know he was home. >> And that is why Madonna believes she is his alibi. >> I called her and I talked to her. She was there.

>> Remember, Jody's producer spoke to her at around 4.10 a.m. >> Madonna believes that van Sice, even though he lived only five minutes away, would not have had enough time to abduct Jody, possibly dispose of her body, and be home by six a.m. >> I know the time frame of when I called him.

When I met with him, when we walked, it's almost impossible for him to have done this.

“>> Police finally confirmed in the fall of 1995 that van Sice had passed the polygraph test.”

Something he'd been telling friends all along. But he remained on the radar. And soon another man would join him. >> Tony Jackson is a predator. You got to look at this guy.

>> Do you have a dark curiosity? Heart starts pounding. Horrors, hauntings, and mysteries is a weekly podcast hosted by me and Keel and more. Each week, I'll take you on a dark journey through terrifying true urban legends. Bizarre, true crime cases, chilling tales of backwards horror and more.

So if you're looking to join a passionate community of the darkly curious, check out Heart starts pounding on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. And remember, stay curious. [ Music ] >> May 4th 1996.

>> We're going to head down to the river.

“>> Nearly a year after Jody disappeared.”

>> Gary, this is Connie. >> Connie Cruz was holding on to a sliver of hope. >> Follow the river. >> That her friend could still be found. >> They said 18 and 19, we hope to find any type of evidence.

Oh, yuck.

Any type of clues, you know, earrings, first anything that we can find.

>> She let us search party through woods. >> Start curving back here at the river's over here. >> Two miles from Jody's apartment. >> It hurts to see us, huh? >> Despite on his efforts, nothing was found.

Two and a half years after Jody vanished. >> Someone else, someone 140 miles away. >> Started her own search for answers. >> The test potential evidence in the Jody who's in true case. >> Caroline Loe was an investigative reporter at WCCOTV in Minneapolis.

She started reporting on Jody while covering a terrifying crime spree. In the Minneapolis, Saint Paul Ari. >> I covered a serial rapist who was accused of raping four women in 18 days. >> The rapist was this man, Tony Jackson. He was arrested in 1997.

After a routine traffic stop, police found in his car. The tools of his trade. >> He's got rope, he's got handcuffs, he's got his gun, he's got duct tape.

Basically it's a rape kit.

>> Jail Barrio, formerly a detective with the Woodbury Minnesota Police Department, worked the Jackson case. >> All the victims that we know of, there's a element of stocking. >> J, explored Tony Jackson's past. He learned Jackson was living in Iowa when Jody disappeared.

And not just anywhere. >> The background investigation puts him in Mason City. Two blocks from the TV station that Jody worked at. >> This is where Jackson lived. >> This is where Jody worked.

>> Two blocks, it's chilling. It was like a bolt when you see that you go, wow. >> This guy may be involved in Jody's case. We need to get this information down to the Mason City authorities. >> Caroline visited the Mason City police three months after Jay had sent them

the Jackson information. She noticed the filed.

>> Woodbury police sent Mason City a fat file about the Twin Cities race.

A file that has been gathering dust. >> Minnesota sent me a copy. >> And there. >> Caroline was trying to get answers to questions about Jackson's past. She learned he was once a promising college basketball player.

And I was Waldorf College. >> He was a star basketball player. Problem is he would do well and then he would snap. And he would get into violent episodes with people. And he was kicked out of the college.

>> Then a year and a half before Jody disappeared.

He enrolled at North Iowa Community College in Mason City. Where he showed an interest in broadcasting. >> He does a couple of talk shows.

“And so is it your thought that to start watching the people in town who were on TV doing the news?”

>> Sure. He's going to watch them. See how they go about doing their job. >> The time is 6.11 62 degrees. >> Jay's theory is Jackson might have watched Jody on TV. Knowner schedule and even stalked her.

Caroline also learned something that troubled her. >> When he snapped he snapped. She spoke with an ex girlfriend of Jackson's who said they broke up five days before Jody vanished. >> And it was violent very violent. I mean it was a totally different person.

It was like the devil stepped inside of him and just took over. I sat in the living room with this girl and she looks a lot like Jody. It was chilling.

“>> The woman did get back together briefly with Jackson until she says his anger took another scary turn.”

>> And she described how he tried to choke her and they took him in the custody.

>> Although Jackson was arrested for that attack, the charges were ultimately dropped when the woman moved away

and declined to proceed. Four months later he would go on to commit the Minnesota reaps. >> The verdict is guilty on all counts for a local man accused of being a serial rapist. >> Jackson was sentenced to the equivalent of life in prison. Still, Caroline kept digging into any connection to Jody's case.

>> I want to get this guy as bad as the police do you do. >> She learned about a former jailmate of Jackson's. >> He says I abducted a anger woman and killed her. >> The man said Jackson boasted about what he'd done in a rap song. >> Not wanting to forget the lyrics, the jailmate wrote them down.

>> He said she's a stiffen around Tiffin and pilot the silage and a by-low low-below.

“>> Thinking that might mean Jody was buried in a farm.”

>> Near a silo in the town of Tiffin. >> A few hours from Mason City, Caroline headed there. She brought law enforcement. >> It could be the entry. >> And cadaver dogs, I'll work this side and meet you in the back to search for human remains.

>> Two of the three dogs alerted, which was a sign that something had been there. And the boards that they found there were sent to the state crime lab. >> But like so often in Jody's case, the lead led nowhere. >> Any forensics, time Tony Jackson and Jody. >> None that we know, none.

>> On May 5th, 1999, the Mason City police issued the following statement. After conducting a thorough investigation, which included interviews, crime laboratory analysis, records review and polygraph examination, Tony Jackson is not considered at this time a viable suspect in the investigation. >> I tell you, I've wondered about him to his on the list. Jody's sister Joanne can't close the book on Jackson.

>> He's a rapist and living in the area, but the police say no, that he, that there was no way. And I don't know, though. >> 48 hours wanted to ask Jackson about Jody's case, but he declined to speak with us. He would not answer specific questions, but in a rambling email, wrote, "I stand firm in my integrity regarding the Jody who's in true case."

>> I'm going right now, and so the hunt for clues crawls on with another look at John van Cice. [BLANK_AUDIO] >> Hey John, my name's Jim Axelrod. I'm with the CBS News broadcast 48 hours. [BLANK_AUDIO]

[BLANK_AUDIO]

She received a visit from an FBI agent. >> And he said, "I have a subpoena for you to appear at the grand jury to testify for John van Cice.

“One van Cice, they're trying to indict him. And I was like, really, like, are you kidding me?”

>> Ladana is going public with this information for the first time.

>> I went into the grand jury, and I just told my story, what I knew. >> Ladana says she was questioned about John van Cice for five hours. >> What do they have on John? Why did I have to go to the grand jury? Why would they turn and indict him? >> Because at the end of the day, you don't think it's going to be him.

>> I am just shocked. >> Do you ever have any contact with the FBI again after that? [BLANK_AUDIO] >> There would be no indictment of John van Cice. Police continued to work the case and the mystery of who abducted Jody remained.

[BLANK_AUDIO] >> So yeah, it was hard, you know, they weren't solving it. We weren't finding it. [BLANK_AUDIO]

>> On May 14th, 2001, now six years after Jody disappeared,

she was declared legally dead.

“Jody's family was forced to make the tough decision in order to settle her estate.”

[BLANK_AUDIO] >> That's like the end of the chapter. That's like the end of the book. But you still had to hope, even though you know, realistically, you're mind is saying, you know, she's probably not coming home.

[BLANK_AUDIO] >> And despite the hundreds of leads, detectives generated early in the investigation, over time, tips slowed to a trickle, and fewer detectives were assigned to the case.

[BLANK_AUDIO] >> That's when, in 2003, journalists, Gary Peterson and Josh Benson, created the website, FindJody.com. They were later joined by a team of former reporters and retired detective Jay Albario.

>> Who's going to consistently look for Jody if we don't do it? She's one of ours. >> Their goal to keep Jody's story alive and to crack the case. >> Did you feel they were overmatched the Mason City Police investigation? >> I think this is a very big case.

>> I think this is something that they were not accustomed to dealing with. >> From the beginning, I need to say she was concerned with how detectives processed the crime scene. >> You know, I was very surprised it was not sectioned off. >> The whole area wasn't police taped off?

>> Not first day or so. >> But there's all kinds of evidence that could have gotten compromised. >> That's what I thought.

“>> And what about Jody's car, a key piece of evidence?”

>> But that car was the only crime scene they have. This is a case with so little evidence until they find her body. They don't have another crime scene. That car is your crime scene. >> But investigators didn't hold onto that car for very long.

It was released to Jody's family just a couple of months after she disappeared. >> So if the car is your crime scene, why would they give it back to the family? >> I think that's a question for the police. >> Was that car given back too quickly? >> Maybe.

>> Jeff Brinkley is Mason City's fourth police chief since Jody disappeared. >> Because the evidence that could have been in that car, especially given the technological advances since then, could be important today. >> Right, but you don't have that evidence.

>> We don't have it, but we just have to live with what we've got. And try to do as good as we can with that. >> Chief Brinkley says they do have some DNA samples. And then there is that pamphlet. But police won't tell us exactly what other evidence they have.

>> Is Tony Jackson still a person of interest? >> I'm not a comment on that. >> Is John Badd's site still a person of interest? >> I can't comment on that. >> But finejody.com broke the news that in 2017,

John Badd's site currently lives in Arizona was still on police radar. The Mason City police obtained a search warrant for GPS information on two of vancices vehicles. >> Would you make it that?

>> Very intrigued because it's the first thing we'd seen in years

of any kind of official document. >> The war in his sealed, but Caroline thinks police were looking for information. They could have led to Jody's body. >> We've survived that they must have been trying to see if he was leading going to visit some site that he might have buried Jody.

>> That piece didn't pin out like we'd hoped. No one was coming back from out of state to check out a potential body site. >> We didn't get information that was useful. >> Whatever information the police may have on anyone,

>> Why won't you talk about any specifics in this case?

“>> I don't want to look the cat out of the bag.”

I think that we're still in the bag. >> Do you not completely? >> No. >> No. >> I don't think we do yet.

But I think that we're very close. >> So does that mean we're talking about weeks? Months? I don't think it's fast. It's not fast.

I don't think it's fast. >> You ready? >> Thank you.

“>> 48 hours traveled to Phoenix to ask John vancices what he knows about Jody's disappearance.”

>> John, my name is Jim Axelrod.

I'm with the CBS News broadcast 48 hours. How are you? >> Fine. >> We're conducting a investigation into the disappearance of Jody who's in charge.

I don't want to ask you a couple of questions. >> John. >> On June 5th, 2018, on what would have been Jody's 50th birthday. The fine Jody dot com team officially unveiled four billboards

around Mason City. >> It's time to bring Jody home. >> Until then, these are the last images of Jody. [MUSIC] >> It friends and family hold on to.

“>> When I think about her, I think about how the fun we had.”

>> Welcome back to News Channel three day. >> She had a lot of sunshine to many people's world. >> 64 degrees already abundant sunshine here in Mason City. >> We're not giving up. >> Fine Jody's not going to go away.

I am staying on this until we find Jody. >> Somebody knows something. >> Is it you? >> Plenty of happy farmers all programs sure with the ring. >> You know the name.

>> The tomato plants and lawns and all that stuff. >> Welcome to Midday. >> I'm Shody, who's in charge. [MUSIC] >> If you have any information about Jody who's in truth,

please call the Mason City Police Department at 641-421-3636. >> August 15th on Paramount Plus. >> He's the Mahasha. >> The best in the world. >> The fence is Walter Wakecraft against Ian Machado Gary.

>> I'm coming for that belt. >> When you call your shot, you best not miss.

>> I will make him never talk about me again.

You have C330, Saturday, August 15, free with your Paramount Plus subscription.