A woman who had been missing for nearly 63 years has been found alive and well after the investigation into her disappearance was completed, authorities in the US state of Wisconsin announced.
Audrey Backeberg, 20, went missing from her house in the small town of Reedsburg on July 7, 1962.
In a statement, Sauk County Sheriff Chip Meister stated that Ms Backeberg’s disappearance was “by her own choice and not the result of any criminal activity or foul play.”
The sheriff stated that she lived outside of Wisconsin but could not disclose any other information.
According to Wisconsin Missing Persons Advocacy, a non-profit organisation, Ms Backeberg was married with two children when she went missing.
According to the group, days before she went missing, Ms Backeberg, now 82, filed a criminal complaint against her husband, whom she married at the age of 15, stating he abused her and threatened to murder her.
On the day she vanished, she left her house to pick up her pay cheque from the woollen mill where she worked.
The couple’s 14-year-old babysitter told authorities that she and Ms Backeberg hitch-hiked to Madison, Wisconsin’s state capital, and then took a bus to Indianapolis, Indiana, which is roughly 300 miles (480 km away).
The babysitter became concerned and asked to return home, but Ms Backeberg refused and was last seen walking away from the bus stop.
The Sauk County Sheriff’s Office stated that investigators explored multiple leads in the case, but they went cold before a thorough examination of old case files was conducted earlier this year.
Isaac Hanson, the detective who solved the case, told local television station WISN that Ms Backeberg’s sister’s internet ancestry account was important in locating the missing woman.
Det Hanson stated that he phoned local sheriffs where Ms Backeberg currently resides and spoke with her over the phone for 45 minutes.
“I think she just was removed and, you know, moved on from things and kind of did her own thing and led her life,” according to him. “She sounded pleased. She is confident in her decision. “No regrets.”
Credit: BBC.COM