Man tied to Iowa anchor case behind Wisconsin mother’s 2006 murder

A man once named a person of interest in the disappearance of Iowa news anchor Judy Huisentruyt was responsible for the 2006 murder of a Wisconsin woman and may have been responsible for other murders, authorities revealed this week.

The Wood County Sheriff’s Office announced that Christopher Revack was behind Deidre Harm’s death, officially bringing the case to a close It has not been resolved for nearly two decades.

On October 20, the Wood County Sheriff’s Office shared a message from District Attorney Jonathan Barnett on Facebook stating that he would have filed charges against Revak if he were still alive.

“I consider this case closed,” Barnett wrote. “I believe I have enough to press charges, and if Mr. Revak is still alive, I will win the trial.”

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Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degas spoke to Fox News Digital about his experience investigating the case of Christopher Revak. (Wood County Police Department)

Harm, a 21-year-old single mother, disappeared after a night out at a downtown Wisconsin Rapids bar on June 10, 2006. Hunters discovered her remains five months later in a wooded area near Seneca, about five miles from downtown. According to WSAW.

“This may provide some closure for many but it will not bring back Deidre,” the Wood County Sheriff’s Office and Wisconsin Rapids Police said in a joint statement. “Our thoughts and prayers will always be with Deidre’s family.”

Revack, a Wisconsin native and former paramedic, died by suicide in a Missouri prison cell in July 2009, just one day after his arrest. Charged with second-degree murder In the death of Renee Williams, 36, a mother of three from Mansfield, Missouri.

Williams was last seen on March 13, 2007, at the Eagle Lodge bar in Ava, Missouri, where she worked. Revak was also at the bar that night, According to Fox 9.

In 2024, KCCI Des Moines Reportedly, Iowa and Wisconsin investigators are taking a new look at Revak, who had long been suspected of committing multiple violent crimes before his death.

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Investigators never found Jodi Huisentruyt, who was declared legally dead in 2001, the Associated Press reported. (ABC News Studios)

According to a recent documentary, police examined whether Revak was connected to as many as five different murders over a 14-year period, including Huisentruit’s disappearance.

Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degas, who investigated Williams’ case, previously told Fox News Digital that Revak’s confirmed connection to Harm’s killing deepened his concerns about the former EMT’s violent history.

“When I started working on the Christopher Revak case, he was the suspect in the murder of Renee Williams,” Degasy said. “I didn’t think it was the first time he’d done it.”

Removal of gases KY3 said Forensic evidence links Revak to Williams’ disappearance.

“We had his DNA at the scene. We had her DNA inside his truck,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is they couldn’t find a body. They didn’t have witnesses to say she was dead.”

Although there was no body, investigators charged Revak with Williams’ murder based on DNA results. Degasy said his curiosity about similar crimes led him to uncover horrific similarities.

“This was not the first time that Revak tried to kidnap a woman in Ava,” he said. “In fact, shortly after his arrest, I Googled ‘women kidnapped from bars’ in all the towns he lived in. And when I Googled from Wisconsin Rapids, Deidre Harm came up.”

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The discovery prompted Degas to reach out to Wisconsin investigators, sharing his findings and helping to connect the dots between the cases.

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” he added. “I contacted the authorities there and gave them the information I had.”

Degassi, who appears in the documentary discussing the case, said both Williams and Huisentruyt remain missing, a detail that continues to haunt him. He did not rule out the possibility that Revak had traveled to Iowa.

“clearly, [Jodi] “I wasn’t kidnapped from the bar, but I thought it was weird,” Degasy said.

He added that Revak “had a dark side.”

“We are dealing with what may be a serial killer,” Degas told KY3. “During his day he was doing his bit for the community and helping and saving people, but there was a dark side to Chris Revak.”

Revak was also a person of interest in the 1995 disappearance of Huisentruit, a 27-year-old morning anchor for KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa.

Huisentruit disappeared around 4 a.m. on June 27, 1995, after calling a colleague to say she was on her way to work but never arrived. Police found signs of a struggle outside her apartment, including a pair of high-heeled shoes and a bent car key near her car.

She was declared legally dead in 2001, although her body was never found.

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Jodi Huisentruyt was a television presenter before her disappearance in 1995. (Findjodi.com)

At the time, Mason City Police said there was no evidence linking Revak to the case. However, in 2024, investigators from Wisconsin and Iowa reconnected to compare notes on him. According to FindJodi.com.

Authorities also looked into whether Revak’s ex-wife lived in the same house as one of the last people to see Huisentruyt alive, but determined she had moved out six months before the broadcaster’s disappearance.

Despite three decades of dead ends, then-Mason City Police Chief Jeff Brinkley said in June that the department continues to receive and follow up on leads throughout the year.

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Flyers announcing the disappearance of Judy Huisentruyt seen outside her workplace, KIMT-TV, July 3, 1995. (Steve Kagan/Getty Images)

“We haven’t stopped this, we haven’t stopped working, we haven’t stopped following up on leads and information,” Brinkley told FOX 9 at the time.

In 2024, officers searched a property in Winsted, Minnesota, following a tip, though no new evidence was found. Earlier this year, part of the 2017 search warrant was also unsealed.

“We remain hopeful that the case will be solved and justice will be served — no matter how long it takes,” Brinkley said.

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The Huisentruit family continues to hold out hope for closure.

“The pain and suffering felt by us and all those who loved Judy is immeasurable,” her family wrote in a statement on Judy Hope’s Facebook page. “True peace will only come when Jodi is found and justice is served. We still choose to hope that one day soon it will happen.”

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There remains a $50,000 reward for information that leads to answers The disappearance of Huisentruit. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Mason City Police Department or the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.

Fox News Digital’s Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.

Stephenie Price covers crime, including missing persons, homicides and immigrant crimes. Send story tips to stepheny.price@fox.com.