A young mother who vanished over 60 years ago has finally been found and admitted she has ‘no regrets’ about her disappearance.
Audrey Backebeger was 20 years old and a married mother-of-two when she disappeared from Reedsburg, Wisconsin, in July 1962.
On Thursday, the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office announced that Backebeger had been found ‘alive and well’ in another state.
According to the sheriff’s office, further investigation has determined that Ms. Backeberg’s disappearance was voluntary and not linked to any criminal activity or foul play.
The Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy (WMPA) group stated that the woman tied the knot with her spouse, Ronald Backeberg, when she was only 15 years old and their relationship was characterized by mistreatment.
Despite her family’s insistence that Backeberg would never abandon her kids, the case eventually went cold.
Detective Isaac Hanson reopened Backeberg’s case in March for a comprehensive review as part of an ongoing examination of cold case files.
‘It seems like she made a choice to distance herself, move on, and live life on her own terms. She appeared content and self-assured in her decision, without any regrets,’ Hanson informed WISN.
Audrey Backebeger (pictured), vanished over 60 years ago. She has finally been found and admitted she has ‘no regrets’ about her disappearance
Backebeger was 20-years-old and a married mother-of-two when she disappeared from Reedsburg, Wisconsin (pictured), in July 1962
Backeberg filed a criminal complaint claiming her husband had beaten her and threatened to kill her just days before she vanished, according to WMPA.
However, her husband passed a polygraph exam and has always maintained his innocence in the case.
Shortly after Backeberg went missing, a 14-year-old babysitter for the couple told police she had hitchhiked to Madison with the young mother, then took a bus to Indianapolis, Indiana with her.
The teenager decided to return home and claimed she last saw Backeberg at a bus stop.
‘The juvenile was interviewed again as an adult, maybe 15 years ago,’ Detective Lt. Chris Zunker of the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office told WMPA.
‘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.’
The Sauk County Sheriff’s Office said investigators pursued numerous leads over the years, but the case went unsolved for decades.
Detective Isaac Hanson (pictured) reopened Backeberg’s case in March and was able to track her down in another state
Earlier this year, Hanson was assigned the case and through re-evaluation and re-interviewing witnesses, was able to track Backeberg down.
‘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,’ Hanson said.
‘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.’
Hanson did not specify what state she is in, but said her abusive husband may have played a role in her initial decision to leave.
