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A woman who vanished and has been found alive made a startling comment about her six decades away.
When a young mom suddenly disappeared without a trace, people immediately began to suspect the worst - but years later, the truth came to light.
Audrey Backeberg was 20 years old when she disappeared in July 1962, after having been last spotted in Reedsburg, Wisconsin.
The young mother shared two children with her husband, Ronald, who she had married when she was 15.
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According to The Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy (WMPA) organization, Audrey had married Ronald, but there were allegations she was being abused in their relationship.
One incident of alleged abuse saw Audrey file a criminal complaint which claimed at the time that her husband had beaten her and also threatened to kill her just days before she would go missing.
However, her husband passed a polygraph test and he has always maintained that he was innocent.
So, what actually happened to Audrey?
The day Audrey Backeberg went missing
With no leads to look for, the case of Audrey’s disappearance hit a dead end for 63 years, but it was noted that the couple’s 14-year-old babysitter had told police she had hitchhiked to Madison with the mom and took a bus to Indianapolis with her before returning home on her own.
“The juvenile was interviewed again as an adult, maybe 15 years ago,” Detective Lt. Chris Zunker said.
“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.”
However, this was the only information police had at the time to use to search for Audrey with.
Sadly, this meant that her case would go cold, and no answers would be given until May 1, when the case was reassigned and combed through again.
The search effort for Audrey Backeberg
According to the Sauk County Sheriff's Office, Audrey had finally been located, through the use of her sister.
This startling discovery came after they reevaluated the evidence and also spoke to those who were there at the time of her disappearance.
The Sheriff’s Office stated: “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.”
Isaac Hanson, who was the detective who took over the case just two months prior told WMTV: “I ended up locating an arrest record that I suspected was likely Audrey, so I contacted her family. She has a living sister in the area.”
He shared that he had re-interviewed witnesses and finally managed to track her down after over six decades.
“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 told WISN. “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 aftermath and confession of Audrey Backeberg
The 45-minute conversation with Audrey, who was alive and well all along led to something shocking being said about her time under the radar while her family swore she’d never abandon her children.
According to Hanson, she left of her own free will and had ‘no regrets’ about leaving her family, even 63 years alter.
"I told Audrey that I would keep it private," Hanson said. "She had her reasons for leaving and we discussed a lot of things.
“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."
Britt Jones