#4 DNA match led police to suspect in toddler murder

MASON CITY | DNA analysis helped Mason City police and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation make an arrest in the 1994 murder of 20-month-old John Joseph Snyder Jr.

Michael Jason Cisneros, 37, formerly of Mason City, is accused of first-degree murder in the Mason City toddler's death.

The arrest was announced July 15 by Mason City Police Chief Mike Lashbrook during a news conference at the Police Department.

The boy was reported missing by his father, John Joseph Snyder Sr., on July 20, 1994. Snyder said he put his son to bed at 11 p.m. July 19 and awoke the next morning to find the boy missing from their apartment at 10 S. Adams Ave.

Snyder and the boy's mother, Lisa Sellmann, did not reside together at the time.

The boy's body was found July 21 snagged on a tree in Willow Creek just east of the Pennsylvania Avenue bridge.

According to autopsy reports, the cause of death was drowning and a crushing skull injury.

In 1994, DNA analysis was not done on evidence as the technology was not yet available.

But on Dec. 2, 2002, the Police Department was able to submit the evidence associated with the case and obtain DNA results. Those results were retained as part of the case file.

On Dec. 19, 2012, Cisneros was transported to the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Oakdale.

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#4 DNA match led police to suspect in toddler murder