Wisconsin woman missing for more than 60 years found ‘alive and well’

A Wisconsin woman missing for more than 60 years has been found “alive and well”, according to authorities.

In a press statement, Wisconsin’s Sauk county sheriff’s office said that 82-year old Audrey Backeberg, who initially disappeared in July 1962 at the age of 20, had been found living out of the state. The sheriff’s office did not disclose which state Backeberg was found in.

“Further investigation has revealed that Ms Backeberg’s disappearance was by her own choice and not the result of any criminal activity or foul play,” the sheriff’s office said.

According to the Wisconsin justice department, Backeberg left her family home on 7 July in 1962. Backeberg’s babysitter claimed that she and Backeberg hitchhiked to Madison, Wisconsin, and then took a Greyhound bus to Indianapolis, Indiana. The babysitter last saw Backeberg – a mother of two – walking around the corner away from the bus stop.

The Charley Project, which profiles missing persons, said in a since updated post that Backeberg married her husband, Ronald Backeberg, when she was “about fifteen years old” and that that their “marriage was troubled and there were allegations of abuse”.

Around the time of her disappearance, Backeberg had filed a criminal complaint against her husband, alleging that he had beat her and threatened to kill her, the BBC reports, citing the Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy nonprofit group.

It added that on the day Backeberg disappeared, she left home to collect her pay cheque from a woollen mill where she had worked.

Backeberg was ultimately found 60 years later after her case was assigned to a detective for a “comprehensive review as part of an ongoing examination of cold case files”, the Sauk county sheriff’s office said. It added that part of the review involved “a thorough re-evaluation of all case files and evidence, combined with re-interviewing witnesses and uncovering new insights.”

Speaking to WISN, detective Isaac Hanson who found Backeberg said he was able to locate her through her sister’s Ancestry.com account.

“That was pretty key in locating death records, census reports, all kinds of data,” Hanson told the news station, adding, “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.”

“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,” Hanson added.