Wisconsin woman found alive 62 years after disappearance
By Bella Van Lanen & Hannah Hilyard
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REEDSBURG, Wisconsin (WISN) — After 62 years with no trace of Audrey Backeberg, the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office announced they’ve found her “alive and well.”
The sheriff’s office is right now putting fresh eyes on its cold cases. It landed Backeberg’s case file on Det. Isaac Hanson’s desk in early March.
“Where do you even begin?” WISN 12 News Hannah Hilyard asked Hanson.
“Just paper by paper,” he responded.
At the age of 20, Backeberg went missing from Reedsburg in July 1962. No one in her family has heard from her since.
Hanson’s renewed efforts included re-evaluating evidence, re-interviewing witnesses, and uncovering new insights.
“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.”
The detective promised Backeberg he’d keep their conversation private. Hanson said an abusive husband may have played a role in her initial decision to leave, but we may never know what made her stay away for six decades.
“I think she just was removed and, you know, moved on from things and kind of did her own thing and lead her life,” he said. “She sounded happy. Confident in her decision. No regrets.”
The sheriff’s office found her disappearance to be her own choice and not the result of any criminal activity or foul play. Hanson said Backeberg is living outside the state of Wisconsin but would not specify where.
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