MASON CITY, Iowa — Police are awaiting tests that will confirm the identity of human remains recovered from the Winnebago River in Mason City, Iowa, in early March.
A release from Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley says the remains were found on the riverbank near Illinois Avenue March 11, and that local and federal investigators are going back out Thursday, April 1, to search the area for additional remains.
"On Thursday, March 11th, a citizen located clothing and what they believed to be human bones in the shore of the Winnebago River near North Illinois Avenue in Mason City," reads a news release issued by Mason City police. "Officers responded to the scene and collected the bones and clothing found by the citizen and continued to search the area, finding additional bones."
The evidence was sent to the Iowa Office of the State Medical Examiner in Ankeny for examination.
The site is near the Key Apartments, where Minnesota native and television news anchor Jodi Huisentruit lived. Huisentruit disappeared the morning of June 27, 1995 while leaving for work, and hasn't been seen since.
While police are not commenting on the remains and the possibility they could be related to Jodi's case, former KARE 11 crime reporter and current FindJodi.com blogger Caroline Lowe said it appears they could be related to the discovery of a missing woman near the same site last summer.
"We don't know, but it was the same area," Lowe said. "Another family is waiting for answers."
Lowe has been following Jodi's case for decades, and has forged a deep, personal connection to Huisentruit's family. She says every time there is a possible development in the case she calls Jodi's sister to make sure she doesn't hear about it in the media. Lowe herself remains hopeful that questions about Jodi's fate will be answered, just like they were with Jacob Wetterling nearly 30 years after he disappeared.
And every time something happens near Mason City, the same thing flashes through Lowe's mind.
"It's always Jodi... always Jodi. Could this be it?"
For more on the continuing effort to find Jody Huisentruit and bring her home, check out the website and blog dedicated to her.