The Girl in the Ditch: The Wilma June Nissen Story

On a cold January morning in 1992, 18-year-old Holly Ann Anderson was found stabbed to death on the side of an empty rural road in Vermillion County, Indiana. Her case went cold almost immediately. No suspect. No motive. Just silence.Nearly two years later and just three miles away, 15-year-old Jessica Roach disappeared while riding her bike home from school. Her body, discovered weeks later in a cornfield, reawakened a horrifying question: Was this the work of a serial killer?In this episode of A Heavy Weight, we investigate the chilling parallels between two unsolved murders, and the emerging shadow of a man who would come to haunt law enforcement for decades—Larry Dewayne Hall.What links a On a cold January morning in 1992, 18-year-old Holly Ann Anderson was found stabbed to death on the side of an empty rural road in Vermillion County, Indiana. Her case went cold almost immediately. No suspect. No motive. Just silence.Nearly two years later and just three miles away, 15-year-old Jessica Roach disappeared while riding her bike home from school. Her body, discovered weeks later in a cornfield, reawakened a horrifying question: Was this the work of a serial killer?In this premiere episode of A Heavy Weight, we investigate the chilling parallels between two unsolved murders, the hidden history of overlooked victims, and the emerging shadow of a man who would come to haunt law enforcement for decades—Larry Dewayne Hall.Hall, a Civil War re-enactor would be linked to the disappearance of dozens of young girls across the MidwestThis is where the story begins.

In 1978, Mary Beth “Pixie” Grismore — a 26-year-old mother and former pageant star — vanished from her Indiana farmhouse, just hours before she was set to start a new life. Seventy-one days later, her body was found 180 miles away, strangled and abandoned in the trunk of her car at a motel in Ohio.This is more than a cold case. It's a haunting portrait of how women’s voices were ignored, how justice stalled, and how silence still protects the guilty.In this immersive episode, we trace Pixie’s final days, examine the systemic failures that followed, and explore why her story still matters in the era of the Violence Against Women Act.

For nearly 30 years, Wilma June Nissen’s name was lost —buried in a ditch in rural Iowa, remembered only as Jane Doe.In this episode of The Girl in the Ditch, we revisit the decades-long mystery through the voice of her daughter, Krissi—who has fought for justice every step of the way. We explore the latest breakthroughs in DNA technology that could finally unlock the truth behind Wilma’s murder, and we examine how stigma, silence, and systemic neglect have long prevented women like her from being seen as victims.

In 2006, a fingerprint match gave Jane Doe a name: Wilma June Nissen. For nearly three decades, her identity was lost—but not anymore.In this episode, we uncover how Wilma was finally identified, follow her daughter Krissi’s journey advocating for her mother's case, and dig into the shadows cast by two mysterious women known only as “Sugar” and “Peaches.”We also confront the reality of what Wilma faced: how foster care, systemic neglect, and sex work created vulnerabilities—and how the language used to describe women like her has shaped the silence that followed.

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.

In 1998, Stacey Colbert disappeared without a trace.Six years later, her remains were found beneath brush in a wooded area of Delaware County, Ohio. But no one has ever been arrested — and the questions still remain.Who killed Stacey? And why, decades later, is her case still cold?Our latest podcast episode Echoes of a Smile unpacks Stacey’s story — from the night she vanished to the grassroots movement Finishing Stacey’s Fight that’s keeping her memory alive.

As a follow up to previous episodes, we go beyond the headlines and into the aftermath — where incarcerated women, brutalized inside the Clark County Jail, are still waiting for justice.This episode explores: • Why the media’s language shields institutions, not survivors • How criminal charges were quietly dismissed — and why it matters • What Sheriff Jamey Noel was punished for (and what he wasn’t) • How we failed the women who did speak upListen alongside episodes: 🔹 When Protection Fails – Deputy Freeman’s arrest 🔹 Covering Tracks: Police Misconduct in Indiana 

This episode contains descriptions of domestic violence, assault, and trauma. Please listen with care.Nathanael Sexton terrorized women in Southern Indiana for nearly two decades. Eight survivors came forward. Multiple charges, multiple releases . This episode explores how the justice system fails domestic violence survivors, the language that minimizes trauma, and why abusers so often walk free.

She went out with friends in 1979. And then she was gone. Vali Davis’s case is just one of many cold cases from the 1970s, where slow investigations and lack of technology left too many questions unanswered. Join us as we dig deeper into this tragic mystery and explore why these cases are still so hard to solve today.

Deputy Jeffery Freeman’s arrest for assault and strangulation wasn’t just an isolated case—it revealed Indiana’s hidden crisis of police misconduct enabled by silent transfers and systemic loopholes. In this episode, we uncover how Indiana’s lack of transparency allows dangerous patterns to persist, and what communities can do to demand accountability and change.