In October 1978, a utility worker in Rock Rapids, Iowa, made a grim discovery—a young woman’s body in a roadside ditch. No identification. No name. And for 27 years, no answers.
She was buried under a headstone that read Jane Doe.
What no one knew then was that the woman had a name: Wilma June Nissen. She had a daughter—an infant at the time of her death —who’d been looking for her mother the whole time.
This is episode one of the Wilma June Nissen story.
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Links to news coverage regarding this case:
If you know anything about the death of Wilma June Nissen, contact the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office at (712) 472-8300.
• https://www.change.org/Justice4Wilma_June_Nissen
• https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-support-dna-tech-to-find-wilma-june-nissens-killer/
• https://projectcoldcase.org/2025/05/12/wilma-nissen/
• https://www.instagram.com/wilma_june_nissen_cold_case
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