Jury finds Michael Cisneros not guilty in death of toddler

MASON CITY – Michael Cisneros was acquitted by a Cerro Gordo county jury Monday in the death of a small boy that occurred 20 years ago.

Cisneros, 38, was accused of the death of 20-month-old John Joseph Snyder Jr., who went missing from a Mason City apartment on July 20th, 1994. His trial began June 23rd, 2014 with jury selection.

Prosecution based its case on DNA evidence found in the clothing of the boy, who was discovered dead in Willow Creek in Mason City in June of 1994. lt was determined after an autopsy that the cause of death was drowning and a crushing skull injury. In 1994, DNA analysis was not done on the evidence collected in this case as this technology was not yet available. But on December 2, 2002 the Mason City Police Department was able to submit the evidence associated with this case and obtain DNA analysis. These results were retained as part of the case file.

In 2012, Cisneros was transported to the Medical and Classification Center in Coralville, Iowa. Per Iowa regulations as a convicted felon, Cisneros was required to submit a DNA sample to the Iowa Department of Criminal investigation lab for entry in the DNA database otherwise known as CODIS.

On January 30, 2013 a Search of this CODIS DNA database revealed a match between the DNA Sample submitted by Michael Cisneros and the profile taken from the evidence submitted in December 02, 2002, namely John Snyder Junior’s pajama bottoms.

On Friday, July i2, 2013, an arrest warrant was issued for Cisneros. He was charged by Mason City police with First Degree Murder involving the death of John Joseph Snyder Jr. He pled not guilty and maintained his innocence throughout his trial.

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