13 Vanished Drivers: No Trace, No Clue
It’s a fact of life: people go missing. The National Missing and Unidentified Persons organization tells us that 600,000 do this every year in the U.S. Most turn up fairly quickly, but not everyone. Some are never seen again, leaving friends and relatives in a state of miserable speculation. Some of the most puzzling cases are those that involve an abandoned vehicle, with the owner nowhere to be found. And it’s an unlucky 13 of the most frightening of those unsettling cases that we’re going to delve into here.
1. Jodi Huisentruit — disappeared in 1995
Jodi Huisentruit of Mason, Iowa, was a success. By the age of just 27 she was already working as a news anchor for the local CBS partner station. But on a June day in 1995 she didn’t show up for her stint in front of the cameras.
One of her colleagues called her and Huisentruit said she’d slept in but was on her way to the TV station. Yet a fair amount of time passed, and still she didn’t appear.
A scream
By now Huisentruit’s co-workers were worried enough to call the police. The cops soon found her Mazda Miata, finished in a sporty red, in the parking lot by her apartment. But Huisentruit wasn’t with the car.
Strewn around the vehicle were various of Huisentruit’s personal items, including a pair of shoes and a blow dryer. The police began a serious investigation but drew a blank, although some neighbors said they’d heard a scream around the time that Huisentruit was due to leave for work.
A $30,000 reward
A reward of $30,000 was offered for any information about Huisentruit, but even that failed to generate any solid leads. Her family hired a private detective and details of the disappearance were featured on three TV shows, including America's Most Wanted. None of this activity produced results.
The mystery of Huisentruit’s disappearance remains unsolved, and in 2001 she was officially declared dead. But her family still operates a website, FindJodi.com, in hopes of learning the truth about what happened to the young woman.
2. Jeramy Burt — disappeared 2007
Although divorced from his ex-wife Kim, Jeramy Burt still lived with her in their Boise, Idaho, home along with their child and Burt’s father. On a February evening in 2007 Burt borrowed Kim’s car, planning to meet up with a friend.
Then, unsettling text messages from Burt began to appear on Kim’s cell. The gist of them were that her ex had decided to vanish before embarking on a new life.