The trial opens today for a man accused of murdering a 20-month-old Mason City boy 20 years ago. John Snyder Junior went missing from his father’s apartment on July 20th of 1994, with his body being located the next day in Willow Creek. No solid leads turned up in the case until authorities say DNA evidence pointed to 38-year-old Michael Cisneros.
Cisneros was taken to the Oakdale Medical and Classification Center last December after being sentenced to two years in prison on an OWI charge and was required to submit a DNA sample for entry into the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation database. A month later, the database revealed a match between Cisneros’ DNA and the profile taken from the victim’s pajama bottoms, with Mason City police using that evidence to build their case and eventually charge Cisneros last July.
If convicted of first-degree murder, Cisneros would face the rest of his life in prison without the opportunity for parole.
(Reporting by Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City)