A Wisconsin cold case dating back more than 60 years has ended with the missing woman found alive. Audrey Backeberg, now 82, vanished from her family's home on July 7, 1962, when she was 20 years old and a mother of two. The Sauk County Sheriff's Office announced last week that Backeberg is "alive and well" and living out of state. Authorities say their investigation determined that her disappearance was voluntary, with no evidence of foul play, Fox News reports.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, the family's babysitter, who was 14 at the time, told authorities that she and Backeberg hitchhiked from Backeberg's home in Reedsburg to Madison, Wisconsin, then took a Greyhound bus to Indianapolis, People reports. The babysitter said she last saw Backeberg walking away from a bus stop there; Backeberg never returned home and was reported missing.
Family members were convinced Backeberg would not have willingly left her young children. However, the Charley Project, a site that profiles unsolved missing person cases, notes that Backeberg's marriage was troubled and involved allegations of abuse. Backeberg reportedly wed Ronald Backberg when she was around 15. Ronald later passed a polygraph test after Audrey's disappearance. Earlier this year, the sheriff's office assigned a detective to revisit the case, leading to new interviews and a review of old evidence. (This content was created with the help of AI. Read our AI policy.)
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