A Wisconsin mother of two — who had been missing for more than 60 years — has been found alive after investigators reopened her cold case and is reportedly living a “happy” life with “no regrets” for leaving her family.
Audrey Backeberg was 20 years old, living with her husband, Ronald Backeberg, and their two children in Reedsburg, a city about 55 miles northwest of Madison, when she vanished from her home on July 7, 1962.
For years, investigators with the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office had followed leads trying to piece together the young mother’s disappearance until the case eventually went cold.
However, the sheriff’s office made a startling announcement Thursday that, despite all the decades that have passed, Backeberg was found “alive and well” living in another state.
“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,” cops wrote in a press release.
Detective Isaac Hanson led the investigation after the cold case was assigned to him in March as part of the sheriff’s office’s “comprehensive review as part of an ongoing examination of cold case files.”
Hanson spent weeks re-interviewing witnesses, re-evaluating old evidence, and hunting down new leads to solve Backeberg’s disappearance.
“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,” the detective told WISN Friday.
“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.”
Hanson said he spoke with Backeberg for 45 minutes and told him she fled from her home for her own safety from her allegedly abusive husband.
“I think she just was removed and, you know, moved on from things and kind of did her own thing and led her life,” he said.
“She sounded happy. Confident in her decision. No regrets.”
Days before the then 20-year-old mom of two had gone missing in 1962, she filed a criminal complaint claiming Ronald had beaten her so severely that she had head injuries. He also allegedly threatened to murder her and had access to firearms, according to Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy.
Despite reporting the alleged abuse to the authorities, Ronald — whom she married when she was only 15 years old — remained in the house with her and the children.
She left home to get her paycheck from her job at the woolen mill on July 7, but then vanished.
Ronald chased after leads searching for his missing wife, and her family insisted the young mother would never abandon her children.
Following her disappearance, the family’s 14-year-old babysitter claimed Backeberg hitchhiked to Madison, then got on a bus to Indiana.
However, when police tried interviewing the teen about the claim, she got nervous and refused to speak to them.
“The juvenile was interviewed again as an adult, maybe 15 years ago,” Sauk County Sheriff’s Office Det. Chris Zunker said in 2020, according to Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy.
“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.”
Henson said the department can confidently report that Backeberg left by her own choice and was never unsafe while being listed as a missing person for the past six decades. He would not reveal what state she was now residing in.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1.800.799.SAFE (7233) or text START to 88788.
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