As a personal milestone never reached nears for missing northern Iowa TV news anchor Jodi Huisentruit, a billboard campaign has been launched in hopes of unearthing any clue leading to the Minnesota native's whereabouts.

Huisentruit, a morning news anchor at KIMT-TV in Mason City, disappeared on her way to work on June 27, 1995.

The St. Cloud State University graduate and native of Long Prairie, Minn., was 27 years old at the time. Her 50th birthday would have been on June 5.

Law enforcement officials have followed thousands of leads in a case publicized nationally, but authorities have yet to locate her or determine what is behind her disappearance. Huisentruit was declared legally dead in 2001.

The four billboards in Mason City feature a different picture of Huisentruit, all with the words: "Somebody knows something … is it YOU?"

The billboards are being put up by FindJodi.com, a 15-year-old nonprofit begun when Josh Benson and Gary Peterson worked in the newsroom together at KAAL-TV in Austin, Minn.

With each instance in northern Iowa of remains being found, a moment of hope is realized by Huisentruit's family and friends. Just last week, remains were found in a rural area near Mason City, but the State Medical Examiner's Office on Wednesday announced that they were not Huisentruit's.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482