- At least her kids now know she’s somewhere out there.
Sometimes people simply go missing. Whether they do it voluntarily or not, their disappearance will always leave their loved ones wondering what happened to them.
One such missing person’s case, however, recently received closure.
Audrey Backeberg vanished in 1962. She was reportedly trying to escape domestic abuse, and that’s what she did.
After leaving her home, no one saw or heard of Backeberg again. The police tried to track her down, but the case went cold and sat forgotten for decades.
More than 60 years later, the cops began a comprehensive review of cold case files, including Backeberg’s. Investigators started following her trail and — what do you know — they found her.
Having been missing for more than half a century, they now know where Backeberg is. However, as she had her reasons for disappearing, the authorities have not disclosed where the now more than 80-year-old woman lives.
The Day She Took Off
The saga of Backeberg’s disappearance starts in 1962. At the time, the 20-year-old Backeberg was living in the small town of Reedsburg in Wisconsin with a husband and two children.
However, it would appear that the marriage wasn’t necessarily a happy one. Backeberg had married her husband when she was only 15 and he evidently had a violent streak.
Before her disappearance, Backeberg had filed a criminal complaint against her husband. According to records, she alleged that the man beat her and had threatened to kill her.
We don’t know whether anyone acted on the complaint. However, we do know that on July 7, Backeberg decided to take action on her own.
On the day she disappeared, Backeberg left her home, telling her husband she was going to pick up her paycheck from the wool mill where she worked. She, however, had other plans.
According to the family’s babysitter, who was 14 at the time, she and Backeberg hitchhiked to Madison, Wisconsin’s capital. They then got on a bus to Indianapolis, Indiana, more than 300 miles away.
Once they arrived, the babysitter said that she lost her nerve and decided to return to Reedsburg. Backeberg, however, couldn’t be persuaded to return.
With that, she bid farewell to her babysitter and walked away from the bus stop. That was the last time anyone was known to have seen her for the next six decades.
Going Cold
The police began looking for Backeberg as soon as she was reported missing. They heard the babysitter’s story, so you’d imagine they’d know where to look.
Despite that, however, the cops were unable to locate her. According to the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO), the investigators at the time pursued numerous leads, but each reached a dead end.
“Despite these efforts, the case eventually went cold,” Sheriff Chip Meister said in a statement.
With that, Backeberg’s case got buried under newer paperwork. It wasn’t until earlier this year that Backeberg’s disappearance received renewed attention as part of the police’s review of past cold cases.
In early March, that effort landed Backeberg’s case file on the desk of Detective Isaac Hanson.
‘No Regrets’
Hanson started doing his detective business, re-interviewing old (and in some cases very old by now) witnesses and poring through past evidence. However, he also made use of tools they simply didn’t have in 1962.
That included the internet — specifically Ancestry.com.
“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,” Det. Hanson explained to WISN.
Backeberg’s sister’s ancestral records eventually led Det. Hanson to an address. He called the local sheriff’s office and asked if they could send someone to check the place out.
“Ten minutes later, she called me, and we talked for 45 minutes,” said Det. Hanson.
Backeberg, now 82 years old, had been found. She had been missing for 63 years before the cops knocked on her door.
According to Det. Hanson and the SCSO, there’s no reason to believe there was anything criminal about Backeberg’s disappearance.
“Ms. Backeberg’s disappearance was by her own choice and not the result of any criminal activity or foul play,” the SCSO summarized.
But why did she decide to stay away all these years? Det. Hanson hinted that the abusive husband had his role to play, but he would not disclose the rest of their conversation — bar suggesting that she had her reasons.
“She sounded happy. Confident in her decision. No regrets,” he concluded.