Jane Doe Mother Identified: Cold Case of Wilma June Nissen

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October 4, 1978 a young woman’s body is found in the ditch by a roadworker laying cable just outside of Rock Rapids, Iowa. She would be Jane Doe for almost thirty years, but finally in 2006 local police matched her fingerprints to an old arrest and her name was discovered. 

Wilma June Nissen was only 23-years-old, and to say her life was He$$ would be an understatement. She was born into a poverty-strickened family like many other children, but when her mother left them, it only compounded the problem. To make matters worse her sister was disabled and their father seemed more interested in other things.

Wilma never attended school. Instead the two sisters would be locked in the closet while her father left for the day. He ended up losing the house and the three ended up living in a car. While her disabled sister was locked in the trunk, Wilma was free to scrounge the alleyways looking for food for the family. This is the life poor Wilma suffered through when the Child Protective Services finally stepped in. 

Wilma was ten years old and she couldn’t even use a fork to eat. The children were taken from their father and passed from home to home in the foster care system. Wilma was one of the lucky ones, and she ended up in a couple of different loving homes as a foster child. So many children don’t get this opportunity, but like all foster children she would end up aging out of the system with no where to go and no life skills. She ended up on the streets paying her way with her body. 

By the time she was 23 she had been married three times and had three children. Unfortunately, those marriages failed, and the children were given up for adoption in each case. A year before Wilma died she gave birth to a beautiful little girl who was immediately adopted by one of Wilma’s former foster families. They were old enough to be her grandparents, but they didn’t care, they wanted to help any way that they could.

Fast forward until 2006, and by now you have a woman ho had looked for her mother for 17 years. Krissi was 28 years old by the time she would find out what happened to her biological mother, and she would find out in the most gruesome of ways. Everyone knew she was looking for Wilma, but nobody knew what happened to her. She just vanished into thin air. No one knew that she had been sitting as a Jane Doe for 27 years, but that was soon to change. 

Police would find her name through her fingerprints and it would hit the papers along with a photograph of a forensic reconstruction of her face. This is what Krissi got to see for the first time. A greusome reconstruction of what was left of her mother.  It was heart wrenching, but now she knew why Wilma never came for her.

It’s been 47 years since this woman’s body was found in that ditch, and we still don’t know what happened to her. There are two women who were also escorts that the police would like to question. One’s name is Peaches and the other one’s name is Sugar.  Of course, these are stage names. Police have contacted Sugarc and she denies any knowledge of Wilma, but she has also failed lie detector tests. It is a known fact that Peaches and Sugar would rob other escorts and clients. Is this what happened? We may never know. The police have never found Peaches. They think she may have fled to Canada after Wilma’s disappearance. 

There is hope however, DNA was found on the ropes that bound Wilma’s feet. The technology isn’t available to use this Amplified DNA source at this moment, but technology is advancing rapidly, and soon we may finally find out who killed Wilma June Nissen.

Do You Have Any Information About Wilma June Nissen?

Krissi is looking for any information on her biological mother, even if it’s not about the case. If you have any information, please reach out using the contact information below:

Wilma’s Facebook Group

Lyon County Sheriff’s Department – (712) 472-8300

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Check Out Synova’s Chasing Justice Video on This Case:

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