Her Name Was Sonya Ivanoff

Vanished Voices, The Overlooked · Oct 23, 2025 · 49m

In August of 2003, nineteen-year-old Sonya Ivanoff walked home through the quiet streets of Nome, Alaska — a college student, basketball player, and proud Inupiaq woman with her whole life ahead of her. Two days later, her body was found on the edge of town.

The man responsible wasn’t a stranger. He was one sworn to protect.

In this episode, we share Sonya’s story — who she was before that night, what happened in the investigation that followed, and how her murder exposed a painful truth about the vulnerability of Indigenous women in Alaska.

Through her family’s words, community outrage, and…