The Girl in the Ditch: The Wilma June Nissen Story

In 1993, 16-year-old Rayna Rison walked out of her after-school job and vanished.Thirty-three days later, her body was found in a pond. No signs of trauma. No suspect in custody.For decades, the case haunted LaPorte, Indiana—tainted by rumors of sexual abuse, cover-ups, and silence.Then in 2014, prosecutors convicted Jason Tibbs, Rayna’s former middle school boyfriend. Case closed. Or so it seemed.But now, a new investigation raises disturbing questions: Was Tibbs the wrong man? Did the real killer slip through the cracks?

In 1987, 10-year-old Linda Weldy got off her school bus in rural Indiana and vanished. Her body was found just a few miles from her home. Her murder remains unsolved nearly four decades later.But Linda’s story is more than a cold case—it’s a reflection of the cracks in small-town systems, where children fall through and justice stalls. In this episode, we revisit Linda’s case and examine how communities respond to the disappearance and death of a child.Content note: This episode discusses the murder of a child and may not be suitable for all listeners.

Jessica. Holly. Linda. Rayna.These girls never met.But they may all be connected by the same man.In this episode, we examine Larry Dewayne Hall: a man suspected in over 40 abductions, but convicted in just one. His words led to search warrants, graveyard digs, and hope for families desperate for answers. But when it came time to testify… he claimed it was all a dream.

A grave digger. A Civil War re-enactor. A man with a van full of rope, duct tape, and maps marked with X’s.In this episode of A Heavy Weight, we reveal the man who may have haunted the Midwest for over a decade—Larry Dewayne Hall. Though convicted of kidnapping Jessica Roach, he’s suspected in the disappearances of more than 40 young women, including Holly Ann Anderson, who was found murdered just three miles from Jessica.Hall confessed to many of the crimes—then recanted them all.We go inside the cell where he spilled secrets to a confidential informant, explore the van that may have served as his mobile crime scene, and read from the notebooks where he documented what might be the deadliest lies in recent U.S. history.Why couldn’t investigators convict him of even a single murder?Why do so many families still wait for answers?And what do we owe the girls whose names he tried to bury?

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.