A woman who disappeared from Wisconsin more than 6 decades ago has been
found safe
[May 06, 2025]
By HALLIE GOLDEN
Sixty-two years ago, Audrey Backeberg disappeared from a small city in
south-central Wisconsin after reportedly hitchhiking with her family’s
babysitter and catching a bus to Indianapolis.
Nobody ever knew where she went or what happened to her.
All that changed last week when she was found alive and safe in another
state, thanks to the fresh eyes from a deputy who took over the case in
February.
Detective Isaac Hanson discovered an out-of-state arrest record that
matched Backeberg, which triggered a series of investigative moves that
led to finding her alive and safe in another state.
Turns out Backeberg chose to leave the town of Reedsburg on her own
accord -- likely due to an abusive husband, Hanson said.
“She’s happy, safe and secure; And just kind of lived under the radar
for that long,” he said.
Hanson was assigned the case in late February and, after discovering the
arrest record, he and other officials met with Backeberg’s family to see
if they had a connection with that region. They also started digging
through Backeberg's sister's Ancestry.com account, pulling census
records, obituaries and marriage licenses from that region.
Within about two months, they found an address where a woman was living
that Hanson said shared a lot of similarities with Backeberg, including
date of birth and social security number. Hanson was able to get a
deputy from that jurisdiction to go to the address. Ten minutes later,
Backeberg, now in her 80's, called Hanson.
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A welcome sign stands at the entrance of the city of Reedsburg,
Wis., in July 2020. (Erica Dynes/Reedsburg Times-Press via AP)
“It happened so fast," he said. "I was expecting the deputy to call
me back and say, ‘Oh nobody answered the door.’ And I thought it was
the deputy calling me, but it was actually her. And to be honest it
was just a very casual conversation. I could sense that she
obviously had her reasons for leaving.”
Most of the information he learned during that call he declined to
share, saying that it was still important to Backeberg that she not
be found.
“I think it overwhelmed her of course with the emotions that she
had, having a deputy show up at her house and then kind of call her
out and talk with her about what happened and kind of relive 62
years in 45 minutes,” he said.
Hanson described discovering her safe after more than six decades
practically unheard of. And while he doesn't know what will happen
next in terms of her family reconnecting, he said he was happy that
she can reach out if she wants to.
“There's family living here, so she has my contact number if she
ever wants to reach out or needs anything, any phone numbers of
family members back here," he said. "Ultimately she kind of holds
the cards for that.”
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