When the remains of a young woman are found in an Iowa ditch, it takes decades for them to be identified.

Determined to solve her murder, investigators piece together the short and heartbreaking life of the victim in this episode of Last Seen Alive.

Music Thanks for listening to Last Seen Alive.

I'm your host, Leah, crime analyst by day, and true crime storyteller by night.

As always, I'm your host, Scott. This case was suggested to us by the victim's daughter, Chrissy.

Thank you for letting us know about your mom's unsolved case, Chrissy. We're so sorry for your loss,

and we hope you receive the answers you've been waiting so long for soon. Also, a quick heads up. This episode

contains discussion of child abuse and mention of sexual assault. Please listen with care.

Wilma Niesin was last seen alive during the summer of 1978. She was 23 years old at the time

and had recently relocated to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Wilma wasn't from

Sioux Falls, though, or even from the Midwest at all. She'd grown up in San Francisco, where her

early life had been chaotic, to say the very least. Reporting by Mark Mahoney for Northwest Iowa

News explains that Wilma was born to parents who didn't want her and who were extremely

neglectful. And according to reporting for the Sioux City Journal, when Wilma was only eight years old,

her mom walked out on the family home and never returned. This left eight-year-old Wilma and her

disabled sister, who could neither hear nor speak solely in their father's care.

It is an incredibly tragic upbringing.

Definitely, and trust me, the details are worse than you might imagine.

According to what Wilma's daughter, Chrissy, has told Kilo News as a young child,

Wilma wasn't sent to school, was routinely locked inside of a closet closet and wasn't taught many of the basic

life skills that most of us take for granted. And investigators say this is no exaggeration.

According to what former Lyon County, Iowa sheriff Blythe Blumenthal explained to the Sioux City

...