A woman who had been missing for six decades made a surprising revelation upon being found alive.
When Audrey Backeberg, a young mother, mysteriously disappeared in July 1962 from Reedsburg, Wisconsin, it raised fears of the worst. But decades later, her story unfolded differently.
At the time of her disappearance, Audrey was 20 years old and married to Ronald, with whom she shared two children. Audrey entered into marriage with Ronald when she was just 15. The Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy (WMPA) organization reported allegations of abuse in their relationship.
A specific incident led Audrey to file a criminal complaint, alleging that her husband had physically assaulted her and threatened her life just days before she vanished.
Her husband, however, passed a polygraph test and consistently claimed his innocence.
Without any leads, Audrey’s case remained unresolved for 63 years. However, a significant detail emerged when the couple’s 14-year-old babysitter informed authorities that she had hitchhiked to Madison with Audrey and then taken a bus to Indianapolis, returning alone.
Detective Lt. Chris Zunker mentioned, “The juvenile was interviewed again as an adult, maybe 15 years ago. She stated Audrey had taken a bunch of pills, put them in a Coke can and drank it before taking the bus down to Indianapolis. She reported Audrey potentially hooked up with some construction workers that may have been in the area.”
Unfortunately, with limited information, Audrey’s case went cold until May 1, when renewed interest and investigation began.
The Sauk County Sheriff’s Office announced that Audrey had been found, thanks to efforts involving her sister.
Their findings stemmed from reevaluating evidence and talking to those who were present at the time of her disappearance. “Through diligent investigative work, which included a thorough re-evaluation of all case files and evidence, combined with re-interviewing witnesses and uncovering new insights, the Sheriff’s Office is now able to report that Audrey Backeberg is alive and well and currently resides out of State,” stated the Sheriff’s Office.
Detective Isaac Hanson, who took over the case two months earlier, recounted to WMTV how he found Audrey. “I ended up locating an arrest record that I suspected was likely Audrey, so I contacted her family. She has a living sister in the area.”
He successfully tracked Audrey down after more than 60 years by re-interviewing witnesses and leveraging an Ancestry.com account associated with her sister. Hanson shared with WISN, “The sister actually had an Ancestry.com account, and I was able to use that. That was pretty key in locating death records, census reports, all kinds of data. Ultimately, we came up with an address. So I called the local sheriff’s department, said ‘Hey, there’s this lady living at this address. Do you guys have somebody, you can just go pop in?’ Ten minutes later, she called me, and we talked for 45 minutes.”
During their 45-minute conversation, Audrey, who had been living under the radar, shared a startling perspective on her years away from her family, who had always believed she wouldn’t abandon her children.
Hanson disclosed that Audrey left voluntarily and harbored no regrets about her decision, even 63 years later. “I told Audrey that I would keep it private,” Hanson stated. “She had her reasons for leaving and we discussed a lot of things. I think she just was removed and, you know, moved on from things and kind of did her own thing and lead her life. She sounded happy. Confident in her decision. No regrets.”