Missing woman found after more than 60 years, sheriff reveals what really happened

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A more than 60-year-old cold case out of Wisconsin involving a missing mother has been solved.

Audrey Backeberg, now 82, who disappeared at age 20, has been found “alive and well,” the Sauk County Sheriff’s Office said in a media release.

“The Sheriff’s Office is now able to report that Audrey Backeberg is alive and well and currently resides out of State,” the sheriff’s office said in a media release. “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.”

Backeberg disappeared from her family’s home on July 7, 1962, the Wisconsin Department of Justice website says. The family’s babysitter told authorities that she and Audrey hitchhiked to Madison, Wisconsin, before taking a Greyhound bus to Indianapolis, Indiana.

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Audrey Jean Backeberg, whose maiden named was Good, went missing in July 1962 when she was 20 years old.  (Wisconsin Department of Justice)

There, the babysitter said, she last saw Audrey walk around the corner away from the bus stop. The mother of two never returned home and had not been heard from again, according to the Charley Project, which profiles missing person cold cases.

The Charley Project says Audrey married Ronald Backberg when she was “about fifteen years old” and that their “marriage was troubled and there were allegations of abuse.”

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Audrey Backeberg lived with her husband and children in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, seen here.  (Google Maps)

The Backeberg’s babysitter said she and Audrey took a Greyhound bus from Madison, Wisconsin to Indianapolis, Indiana. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

“The babysitter stated Audrey chose to leave of her own accord and said she would not return, but Audrey’s family members insisted she would never have abandoned her children,” The Charley Project said, adding that “Ronald passed a polygraph exam conducted after Audrey’s disappearance.”

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The Sauk County Sheriff’s Office assigned the cold case to a detective earlier this year, “which included a thorough re-evaluation of all case files and evidence, combined with re-interviewing witnesses and uncovering new insights,” the media release said.