Dec 7, 2006 3:27 pm US/Central
False Huisentruit Tipster May Be Charged
by Caroline Lowe
Mason City, Iowa (WCCO) ―
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Mason City Police have dismissed the information of a woman who claimed to know the fate of KIMT-TV news anchor Jodi Huisentruit, who disappeared in 1995.
Charges are pending against an Anoka, Minn. woman who claimed she witnessed the slaying of a missing Mason City television anchor, police said.
Cindy Sweeney, 25, told several news media outlets that she was an eyewitness to the murder of a missing TV anchorwoman and later recanted key pieces of her story.
Jodi Huisentruit vanished on her way to work at KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa early in the morning of June 27, 1995.
Wednesday morning, a Mason City detective and an investigator from the Iowa Division of Criminal investigation interviewed Sweeney in the Twin Cities. They had previously interviewed her last week in Iowa.
The woman and her husband refused to talk with WCCO-TV after the police interview, but late Wednesday afternoon, the Mason City Police Department sent out a statement.
It said, "After a thorough investigation, none of the information provided by the witness could be substantiated. Investigators re-interviewed the witness this afternoon who subsequently recanted key elements of the information previously provided."
Mason City Police Lieutenant Ron Vande Weerd said charges could be filed next week. He said there are jurisdictional questions because the woman is in Minnesota, but "she caused damage here."
Vande Weerd says he has no idea what motivated the woman to make up the story.
Over the weekend, the woman had asked WCCO-TV for compensation in exchange for details about what she said she knew. The station declined.
Earlier this week, the Mason City Globe Gazette reported it received an e-mail that said, "I am an eyewitness to what happened 11 years ago. I've recently gone to the police with the information, but I still can't get over what took place. ... Until I can talk to and trust you, the only thing I will tell you is there was more than one person involved."
Yet another e-mail was forwarded to
FindJodi.com, which read "I was 13 in 1995 and forced to witness what happened to Jodi," and continued, "I've recently went to the police with the information."
Mason City Police are still urging anyone with any information in the case to contact them at (641) 421-3636.
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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