Former police investigator Jay Alberio retired from the Woodbury Police Department in 2012, but he never gave up his job.
Alberio, who retired at the rank of commander, spent his retirement volunteering with a team of journalists and retired police officers – called FindJodi.com – dedicated to finding kidnapped Iowa news anchor Jodi Huisentruit.
Alberio continued to work with FindJodi until just a few weeks before his death Tuesday at his Cottage Grove home due to complications related to kidney cancer. He was 66.
The organization reported last week that investigators from Mason City, Iowa, recently searched an area in Winsted, Minnesota, for a possible lead in the case. Huisentruit was kidnapped on June 27, 1995, as she got into her car in her apartment parking lot on the way to work at KIMT-TV in Mason City.
Alberio was hired in Woodbury as a patrol officer in 1986 and spent most of his 27-year career in law enforcement in the east metro area.
“He just wanted to help people,” said Judy Alberio, his wife of nearly 40 years. “It was about helping people and just trying to bring a sense of order to the community and doing your best to serve the community. He truly believed in serving the community.”
Alberio’s tenacious personality made him well suited for police detective work, Judy Alberio said. “Any task you give him, he wants it done well,” she said. “He was extremely persistent. There was also a bit of perfectionism in him, and he was very competitive. … He had to win the case, if you know what I mean, but you always had to follow the rules, whether you liked them or not. He believed in people’s constitutional rights to the end of the day.”
Alberio was “the kind of detective you hoped would be assigned to the case when someone in your family went missing or was the victim of a violent crime,” said former WCCO-TV reporter Caroline Lowe, who worked with Alberio on the FindJodi . com team.
“He was the perfect detective because he would be ruthless in his quest to find whoever committed the crime – and he would also be compassionate,” Lowe said. “He would communicate with you along the way. He was simply the best. He brought so much to our team because we were able to get involved with something, and he gave us the law enforcement perspective. He was just invaluable and he was so cheerful. We had so many ups and downs on our roller coaster, but he just had positivity and just kept us going.
Even while hospitalized, Alberio continued to participate in FindJodi.com meetings and conversations, Lowe said. “He was just unstoppable and so caring,” she said. “He refused to let his failing health stop him from talking about our latest research activities.”
EARLIER: After 25 years, family and friends still wonder: Where is Jodi?
“That’s what was so incredible about him,” Josh Benson, co-founder of FindJodi, wrote in a post on the site. “He was ruthless. He had the innate ability to dig on a point or lead with great detail. And he didn’t want to give up, even until the end.”
Huisentruit’s niece, Kristen Nathe, said her family is grateful for Alberio’s work. “I think it says a lot about who Jay was as a person that after his retirement he would volunteer his time and energy to solve Jodi’s case,” she wrote in a post shared on FindJodi.com. “Our deepest condolences to his wife, Judy, and all who loved him, and our eternal gratitude to him for all his work to help find Jodi.”
Grew up in Bloomington
Alberio grew up in Bloomington and graduated from Bloomington Jefferson High School in 1975. He served in the US Marine Corps from 1975 to 1979, stationed at Camp Pendleton, California.
He graduated with an associate’s degree in law enforcement from Normandale Community College and later earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational management from Bethel University. He got his start in law enforcement as a reserve with the Minneapolis Police Department and later served more than a decade with the Washington County Special Response Team, attended the FBI National Academy and completed firefighter training.
In 1983, he met Judy Boll while working as a manager overseeing disk drive production at a Control Data subsidiary. She worked as a security guard and the two started talking, she said. “I checked his badge and thought he was very handsome,” he said. The two married in 1985 in Bloomington.
After retiring, the couple wintered for 10 years in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, where they built their beach house, Corgi Cottage.
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Jay Alberio enjoyed playing golf and after his retirement got a job at Eagle Valley Golf Course in Woodbury. “He built many close friendships through golf, loved his time on the course and enjoyed many golf trips with his dear friends,” his obituary reads.
In addition to his wife, Judy, Alberio is survived by his mother, Joy Smith; a brother, Joe Alberio; sisters, Julie Springer and Juanita Peterson, and many nieces and nephews.
A celebration of Alberio’s life will be at 11 a.m. Friday at Five Oaks Church in Woodbury, with visitation an hour earlier.
Neptune Society will make the arrangements.
