Thirty years after news anchor Jodi Huisentruit vanished on her way to work, a bombshell documentary reveals a new person of interest.
Huisentruit, 27, was running late to her shift at KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa, on June 27, 1995, when she was abducted from the parking lot of her apartment complex sometime after 4am.
For years, the investigation into Huisentruit’s disappearance stalled with few leads, no arrests and little concrete evidence to move the case forward.
She was declared legally dead in 2001.
However, a new three-part documentary, Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit, reveals that a tip led authorities to Brad Millerbernd, the ex-husband of her childhood best-friend Patty Niemeyer.
In the series, Niemeyer describes how, after watching an ABC 20/20 special on the case three years ago, she got a gut feeling that her ex-husband may have been involved.
‘My information just fit in there too much,’ said Niemeyer. ‘You know that burning gut feeling that you get? I couldn’t let it go.’
She first became suspicious 10 years after the disappearance in June 2005 when Millerbernd apparently called her out of the blue and said, ‘Do you realize what day it is?’
Jodi Huisentruit, 27, was running late to her shift at KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa, on June 27, 1995, when she was abducted from the parking lot of her apartment complex
A tip led authorities to the door of a new person of interest: Brad Millerbernd, pictured, the ex-husband of Huisentruit’s childhood best-friend
Niemeyer had been separated from Millerbernd for almost 11 years and said the call ‘freaked’ her out.
It was the first time she had heard from him in over a decade, and she didn’t understand why he’d reached out to discuss her friend.
But the odd conversation got her thinking. Millerbernd, she claimed, always had an odd preoccupation with Huisentruit, frequently talking about her, asking what she was up to and where she ‘was at’.
‘That always bothered me,’ said Niemeyer. ‘But I guess I was naive, and I was like, “Oh, it’s nothing.”’
Niemeyer first reached out to the Mason City Police Department (MCPD) in 2017, urging them to look into Millerbernd as a potential suspect.
Her initial tip went unanswered, but she followed up again after seeing the 20/20 special, sharing more detailed information to support her suspicions.
Millerbernd has not been accused of any crimes related to Huisentruit and has denied any wrongdoing in his conversations with law enforcement.
He declined to speak in the latest ABC documentary, and the Daily Mail’s attempts to reach him for comment have been unsuccessful.
Millerbernd (seen left and right), his ex-wife has alleged, always had an odd preoccupation with Huisentruit, frequently talking about her and asking what she was up to and where she ‘was at’
Patty Niemeyer (seen right) first reached out to the Mason City Police Department (MCPD) in 2017, urging them to look into Millerbernd (left) as a potential suspect
Millerbernd told police he drove to Mason City in the fall of 1994 to take Huisentruit (pictured) out for dinner and claims that was the last time he saw her, detectives say
At the time Huisentruit vanished, Millerbernd was living roughly three hours from Mason City in Winstead, Minnesota, property records show.
He was working for his father’s company, Millerbernd Process Systems, and frequently traveled to Mason City for work, driving a white Ford Econoline van, according to Niemeyer.
Niemeyer’s recollection of the van stood out to Mason City detectives.
Several witnesses reported seeing a mysterious white Ford van parked outside Huisentruit’s apartment moments before she was abducted.
Identifying the owner of that vehicle has long been seen as the key to cracking the case.
While investigating Niemeyer’s tip, MCPD detective Terrance Prochaska made a startling discovery: in its case files, the department had composite drawings of a man who’d been spotted lurking near Huisentruit’s apartment block two nights before she went missing.
Sharing the information publicly for the first time, Prochaska said several witnesses saw a suspicious white male standing at a bridge embankment next to the complex, carrying a bag and ‘acting odd’ as he stared in the direction of Huisentruit’s home and ‘creeped’ around the property.
The man was described as bald with a mustache and goatee and wearing a strange black hat.
The documentary showed the moment Niemeyer looked at the drawings.
‘I see Brad Millerbernd… ‘ she said in response. ‘That is him to a T.’
Niemeyer’s marriage to Millerbernd was short-lived. They tied the knot in February 1994 and were living apart by December of that year.
According to Niemeyer and Detective Prochaska, Millerbernd drove a Ford Econoline van at the time, which matched the description of one spotted outside of Huisentruit’s apartment the night she vanished
Jodi had just celebrated her 27th birthday weeks before she disappeared
Evidence recovered from the scene indicated signs of a struggle. Seen above is one of Huisentruit’s shoes found outside her apartment
Their divorce was finalized on June 23, 1995, just four days before Huisentruit vanished, and two nights before numerous locals spotted the suspicious man lurking near the anchor’s building.
Both Niemeyer and Detective Prochaska emphasized that the timing of the divorce being finalized and Huisentruit vanishing is compelling.
In 2022, Prochaska quizzed Millerbernd over the phone about his memories and interactions with Huisentruit.
According to the detective, during that call, Millerbernd admitted to taking Huisentruit out to dinner in the fall of 1994.
He claimed to have made contact with Huisentruit after getting her information from a telephone directory, and then drove from Winstead to Mason City in his white Ecoline van to pick her up. That was understood to be the last time he allegedly saw her.
However, Prochaska – along with the documentary’s director, Maria Awes – made a startling discovery in the notes of the late private investigator Gary Peterson, who worked the Huisentruit case for years.
Buried in Peterson’s files was a note that, on June 5, 1995, Huisentruit reached out to Niemeyer to inform her that Millerbernd ‘tried to contact her.’
‘Coincidences happen,’ said Prochaska, ‘but this one, there’s a lot stacked up in June for sure.’
Prochaska interviewed Millerbernd for a second time in October 2024, this time in person, stopping by his home in Marshfield, Wisconsin, unannounced.
Millerbernd voluntarily agreed to sit down with Prochaska at the local police station for questioning. The detective described him as being ‘very cooperative’ but ‘shaken.’
On June 5, 1995, Huisentruit (pictured) had reached out to Niemeyer to inform her that Millerbernd had ‘tried to contact her’, according to case files
Millerbernd has not been accused of any crimes related to Huisentruit and has denied any wrongdoing in his conversations with law enforcement
Several witnesses saw a suspicious white male standing at a bridge embankment next to the complex, carrying a bag and ‘acting odd’
While their conversation was not aired, the detective shared chilling real-time updates with the documentary crew, revealing an unsettling atmosphere during the interview.
The detective said he told Millerbernd it was ‘hard to believe’ he last saw her in the fall of 1994, considering the alleged attempted contact and the man matching his description in her parking lot.
In response, Prochaska claimed Millerbernd sat back in his chair, stared and ‘had this dazed and glazed over look.’
Then, he recalled, after the detective zeroed in on the white van and eyewitness accounts, Millerbernd’s demeanor changed.
‘His mouth started twitching out of control,’ Prochaska claimed. ‘I wanted to give him a break, so I paused and gave him a water and, within a few minutes, he’d finished the whole thing.’
Prochaska called the suspect ‘very nervous’ and ‘concerned.’
‘He looked like a ghost during those questions, which is very much concerning to me.’
When given the chance to ask questions about the case, Millerbernd allegedly didn’t ask a single one.
‘In my career, I’ve never had that happen,’ Prochaska said.
In total, the interview lasted 90 minutes.
Millerbernd agreed to voluntarily submit his DNA and later agreed to take a polygraph test, the results of which were not disclosed – though, Prochaska described him as ‘very cooperative’ throughout the three-hour interview.
Two days later, Prochaska led a search for Huisentruit’s remains in a wooded area behind a property in Winstead, where Millerbernd and Niemeyer used to live.
That search came up empty, but the investigation into Millerbernd remains ongoing.
Jodi’s niece, Kristen Nathe (above left), told the Daily Mail that while her optimism wanes with each passing year, she still clings to hope her aunt’s killer will be brought to justice
In October 2024, investigators searched an area in Winstead, Minnesota. The search was focused on an apartment building construction site where Millerbernd once lived
In the documentary, Prochaska admits that MCPD does not currently have any DNA evidence in the case.
However, the department has several items of evidence that were never tested for DNA or fingerprints – now, they ‘absolutely’ plan to send them off for examination, hoping significant advancements in DNA technology could help finally crack the case.
MCPD Chief Jeff Brinkley said it comes down to a matter of timing: prematurely testing delicate items with insufficient methods could destroy trace DNA samples, potentially squandering vital evidence.
MCPD also saw the documentary as an opportunity to share previously unreported details and lay to rest some long-standing myths and misconceptions.
For example, officials clarified the partial palm print allegedly found on Huisentruit’s car was actually recovered from a nearby light pole in the parking lot.
Additional never-before-shared evidence included a police report one of the victim’s neighbor’s filed saying they consistently found a pile of Coors Light cans in the parking lot every morning for two weeks before the anchor vanished.
The cans, according to MCPD, were left in the parking spot opposite Huisentruit’s and in view of her apartment window.
After Huisentruit was reported missing, one of the responding officers found two Coors Light cans in a nearby dumpster and collected them as evidence. It’s unclear if the cans have ever been tested and whether MCPD is still in possession of them.
Niemeyer emphasized numerous times in the documentary that Millerbernd drank excessively and became a ‘different person’ when he was intoxicated.
Police records uncovered by the Daily Mail show that Millerbernd has been convicted of misdemeanor DUI charges in Minnesota at least twice, once in 2004 and again in 2010.
MCPD detective Terrance Prochaska (pictured) revealed never-before-shared evidence for the first time in ABC News Studio’s new documentary Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit
Police records uncovered by the Daily Mail show that Millerbernd has at least twice been convicted of misdemeanor DUI charges
Today, he serves as Vice President of Dairy Processing at Custom Fabricating & Repair, in Marshfield.
Posts to his social media show him spending time with his children and grandchildren.
Following the documentary’s release, Millerbernd’s name is among only a handful of persons of interest to ever be publicly linked to the case.
The search to find Jodi Huisentruit remains ongoing.
Earlier this year, her niece, Kristen Nathe, told the Daily Mail that while her optimism wanes with each passing year, she still clings to hope her aunt’s killer will be brought to justice.
‘You can’t move on,’ Nathe said. ‘It’s always an open question that’s eating at you and haunting you, so it’s been a defining part of my life.’
Speaking directly to the culprit, she added, ‘We’ve existed in this nightmare for too long, so find compassion in your heart to help us find the peace that we and Jodi desperately need.’
Her Last Broadcast: The Abduction of Jodi Huisentruit, a three-part docuseries from ABC News Studios and Committee Films, premieres on Hulu, on July 15.
