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.