It’s the kind of twist you’d expect in a Netflix docuseries: a woman disappears in small-town Wisconsin, seemingly swallowed by time, only to reemerge 62 years later—alive, well, and living quietly under a different name.
Back in 1963, Audrey Backeberg was a young woman in Reedsburg, Wisconsin, who’d last been seen hitchhiking with the family babysitter before catching a bus to Indianapolis. Then—nothing. No phone calls. No letters. Just decades of silence and dead-end leads that left her family and investigators grasping at shadows.
Enter Detective Isaac Hanson: The Right Eyes at the Right Time
Fast-forward to February 2025. Detective Isaac Hanson picks up the cold case with a fresh set of eyes and an old-school obsession for details. One obscure arrest record in another state matched Backeberg’s basic info. That cracked the door open.
From there, Hanson dug deeper—combing through public records, tracing genealogy from a sister’s Ancestry.com account, and cross-referencing marriage licenses and census data. It wasn’t some eureka moment. It was good, old-fashioned grunt work. And after two months of cross-checking records and following paper trails, Hanson landed on a current address.
The Phone Call No One Expected
When a local deputy showed up at the home, it wasn’t the deputy who called Hanson. It was Audrey. Now in her 80s. Calm, composed, and very much alive.
“She just started talking,” Hanson said. “Like we weren’t closing one of the oldest missing person cases in the country.”
Why She Disappeared
The full story behind her disappearance is still a mystery, by her choice. Hanson hinted at a possible abusive relationship and said it appeared she’d left on her own terms.
“She’s safe. She’s happy. And she’s been living her life without interference. That’s what matters,” Hanson explained.
He also made it clear: he’s respecting her privacy. No pressure. No media circus. Just an open line if she ever wants it.
What Happens Now? That’s Up to Her.
There’s no fairy-tale reunion here, at least not yet. Audrey holds all the cards. Whether she reconnects with her family is entirely up to her.
“She has my number. If she ever wants to call, I’ll be here,” Hanson said.
So ends one of America’s longest-running missing person mysteries—not with drama, but with a quiet phone call, a sigh of relief, and a reminder that sometimes, the answers don’t come with closure… just peace.
