Voluntary disappearance? Accident? Murder? A 20 -year -old young woman had left her home in Reedsburg, a small town in Wisconsin, during the summer of 1962, then had never given a sign of life again. The investigation had to be abandoned at the time, after investigations that had given nothing. But a huge surprise, almost 63 years later: last week, the county of Sauk announced that it was found, “alive and healthy”.
The improbable discovery was made following the reopening of old files at the start of the year, including that of this “Cold Case”. Result: “The sheriff’s office is now able to announce that Audrey Backeberg is alive and healthy and is currently outside the state,” said the authorities.
The press release does not say where she lives, says nothing of her life for over 60 years and, certainly at her request, does not disclose her new identity. But simply specifies that “in -depth investigation revealed that the disappearance of Ms. Backeberg was due to her own choice and not to a criminal activity or to a criminal act”.
Taking up the local press, the BBC explains that when it had disappeared, Audrey Backeberg was 20 years old. She was married and mother of two children.
The week before disappearing, she had filed a complaint against her husband, whom she had married at 15, accusing her of having violently beaten and death threats.
Then, on July 7, 1962, the day after celebrating her 20th birthday, she had left her home to get her salary in a woolen spinning, where she worked. But she had hitchhiked to Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, then took a bus for Indianapolis, almost 500 kilometers away. Then evaporated. Relatives then said they were convinced that the worst had arrived, saying that she could never have left without her children.
Inspector who resolved this Cold Case, Isaac Hanson, explained to the local news channel Wisn that he had spoken some 45 minutes on the phone with Audrey Backeberg, now octogenarian. “I think she turned the page. She seemed happy. No regrets, ”he said.
