In the early fall of 1978, a utility crew in Rock Rapids, Iowa, stumbled across a body in a ditch along Highway 182. She was young—maybe early 20s. Wearing go-go boots and a floral shirt. Her body had been exposed to the elements for days, maybe longer. There was no purse. No ID. Just a rope. And a haunting silence from the small rural town around her.
The coroner couldn’t identify her. She became a file number. A mystery. A woman without a name.
They buried her under a headstone that read only Jane Doe.
For nearly three decades, no one came forward. No missing person report matched her. No family ever claimed her. She vanished from memory. Except—she hadn’t disappeared. She had been taken.
And she had a daughter.
Wilma’s daughter Krissi grew up not knowing much about her biological mother. She had been adopted as a baby and told little—only that her mother was gone. Then in 2006, Kristi got a phone call that would change her life.
A fingerprint taken during a routine forensic database sweep had just come back with a match—from a prostitution arrest in Los Angeles in 1975. It belonged to the woman found in the ditch in Iowa.
Her name was Wilma June Nissen.
She was Krissi’s mother.
A Name Restored, But No Justice
Episode 1 of our new investigative podcast, The Girl in the Ditch, dives deep into Wilma’s story—a life marked by childhood neglect, survival in the foster care system, and ultimately a desperate struggle to stay afloat.
By 23, Wilma had given birth to three children and was working in the sex trade across several states. Investigators believe she may have been traveling with a man or working for an escort service when she was murdered. But even after her identity was restored, her killer was never found.
A partial DNA sample was recovered. Eight suspects were named over the years. A woman known only as Sugar became a person of interest in 2016. But no one has ever been charged.
Wilma’s daughter Krissi is still searching. Still asking questions. Still hoping that someone, somewhere, will come forward.
Because someone always knows something.
Listen Now: The Girl in the Ditch
🎙️ Episode 1 is available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.
We’ll follow Krissi’s journey—reconstructing the life of the mother she never got to know, and investigating a crime that Iowa law enforcement still considers unsolved.
📞 If you have information about the death of Wilma June Nissen, contact the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office at (712) 472-8300.
