Authorities in Wisconsin have announced that Christopher Revak, a former EMT, is responsible for the 2006 murder of Deidre Harm, a 21-year-old single mother. This marks the closure of a case that had remained unsolved for nearly two decades. Revak, who died by suicide in 2009 after being charged with murder, had also been a person of interest in the 1995 disappearance of Iowa TV anchor Jodi Huisentruit. Ongoing investigations continue to explore his potential involvement in multiple unsolved murders, with new leads suggesting he may have been a serial killer.
Revak’s connection to the Deidre Harm case was confirmed by the Wood County Sheriff’s Office, which announced that he was behind the 2006 killing. The case had been deemed unsolved for nearly two decades until recent evidence linked Revak to the crime. District Attorney Jonathan Barnett shared a letter 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 had enough to charge and, if Mr. Revak were still alive, win at trial.”
Deidre Harm disappeared after a night out at a downtown Wisconsin Rapids bar on June 10, 2006. Her remains were discovered five months later by hunters in a wooded area near Seneca, roughly five miles from downtown, according to WSAW. The Wood County Sheriff’s Office and Wisconsin Rapids Police expressed their condolences to Harm’s family, acknowledging that this may provide closure but not bring her back.
Revak, a Wisconsin native and former EMT, died by suicide in a Missouri jail cell in July 2009, just one day after being charged with second-degree murder in the death of Rene Williams, 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 present at the bar that night, according to FOX 9. In 2024, KCCI Des Moines reported that Iowa and Wisconsin investigators were re-examining Revak, who had long been suspected of multiple violent crimes before his death.
Investigations into Revak’s potential involvement in multiple murders have intensified in recent years. According to a recent documentary, police have explored whether Revak might have been connected to as many as five different homicides over a 14-year span, including the disappearance of Huisentruit. Douglas County Sheriff Chris Degase, who investigated Williams’ case, previously told Fox News Digital that Revak’s confirmed link 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 my suspect in the murder of Rene Williams,” Degase said. “I didn’t think it was his first go around at it.”
Forensic evidence connected Revak to Williams’ disappearance, including his DNA at the crime scene and her DNA inside his truck. Despite the lack of a body, investigators charged Revak with Williams’ murder based on the DNA results. Degase expressed his belief that the similarities between these cases were not coincidental. “It wasn’t the first time Revak tried to abduct a woman in Ava,” he said. “Actually, shortly after his arrest I Google searched ‘women abducted from bars’ in all the towns that he had lived in. And when I Google searched from Wisconsin Rapids, Deidre Harm came up.”
These findings prompted Degase to reach out to Wisconsin investigators, sharing his findings and helping connect the dots between cases. He emphasized that the lack of a body for Harm did not prevent them from charging Revak. “We had his DNA at the scene. We had her DNA inside his truck,” he said. “I think the biggest thing was that they weren’t able to find a body. They had no witnesses to come forward to say that she was dead.”
Despite three decades of dead ends, Mason City Police continue to pursue leads on Huisentruit’s disappearance. Her family has expressed hope that the case will be solved and justice served. “The pain and anguish felt by us and all who loved Jodi are immeasurable,” her family stated. “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.” A reward of $50,000 remains in place for anyone who can provide information leading to answers in Huisentruit’s disappearance. Anyone with information is urged to contact the Mason City Police Department or the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation.