The Sioux City Journal, in addition to their regular coverage on the Wilma June Nissen case, recently launched a multimedia website dedicated to Nissen’s 30-year-old unsolved homicide. It’s nicely done and includes, in part, case history, photos, videos, a timeline, and also details Sheriff Blythe Bloemendaal’s long-standing commitment to solving Lyon County’s only cold case.

Then earlier this week, Sioux City’s KTIV-TV Channel 4 news reporter Melissa Lanzourakis produced an excellent two-part piece on the 1997 unsolved slaying of Ida Grove’s Connie Ruddy. The story featured an interview with Ruddy’s best friend — referred to only as “Jane” — who talked about the days leading up to Ruddy’s disappearance, how she made the discovery and her theories about her friend’s murder. Read the articles and view the videos for Part I here and Part II here.

KTIV has kept close tabs on the Ruddy case since Ida County Sheriff Wade Harriman announced in early February that authorities would reopen the case on Feb. 10, the 12-year anniversary of Ruddy’s disappearance. In 1999, the “missing persons” case became a homicide case when DNA tests proved a jaw bone found in a river near Denison, Iowa was Ruddy’s.

Siouxlanders can also tune in to KMEG 14 or KCAU-TV for cold case updates. And, as more viewers turn up the volume, officials continue to turn up the heat as they close in on cases never laid to rest.

So I say to Siouxland media: We’re reading, we’re watching, and we’re listening. Keep up the good work, and keep the stories coming.

Connie Ruddy

In the past week, officials from two separate Iowa counties offered rewards for information on two unsolved western Iowa homicides.

On February 10, Ida County Sheriff Wade Harriman announced a $5,000 reward in the case of 21-year-old Connie Ruddy, who disappeared from her Ida Grove home on Feb. 10, 1997, and whose jawbone was found in Crawford County more than two years later on Aug. 31, 1999.

Ruddy’s two-year-old and two-month-old children were found alone and unharmed in her residence after she went missing.

Anyone with information can contact the Ida County Sheriff’s Office at (712) 364-3146 or anonymously at the Ida County Crime Stopper’s line at (800) 568-4401.

Wilma June Nissen

On Feb. 16, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office announced a $10,000 reward for information that helps solve the 30-year-old murder case of Wilma June Nissen, whose body was found in rural Rock Rapids on Oct. 4, 1978, but remained unidentified until 2006 when her fingerprint was matched with records on file with the Los Angeles Police Department. Lyon County deputies are also going door-to-door to speak with people living within a five-mile radius of where Nissen’s body was found.

Nissen, who was born in California, was exhumed from a Rock Rapids cemetery in 2007 so analysts could examine her body for new clues about her death. In addition to the reward, officials have set up a hotline and web site to garner information about Nissen’s death. The site, www.lyoncountyiowa.com/wilma, contains information about Nissen’s past, persons of interest and contact numbers for sheriff, FBI and DCI investigators.

Anyone with information about Nissen’s death can call the hotline at (712) 472-8334. Callers can remain anonymous.