WI WI - Audrey Good Backeberg, 20, Reedsburg, 7 July 1962

Audrey Good Backeberg Missing since 7 July 1962 from Reedsburg, WI

Audrey Good Backeberg
Missing since July 7, 1962 from Reedsburg, Sauk County, Wisconsin.
Classification: Endangered Missing Vital Statistics
Date Of Birth: 1942
Age at Time of Disappearance: 20 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: N/A
Distinguishing Characteristics: N/A
The Doe Network: Case File 163DFWI

Circumstances of Disappearance

Audrey married Ronald Backeberg in 1957, when she was 15 years old. The couple had two children together and resided on Vine Street in Reedsburg, Wisconsin.

Audrey and Ronald's marriage was troubled and there were allegations of abuse. On July 4, 1962 she filed a complaint. It indicated that she had been beaten in the head -- that her husband had threatened to kill her, and he had loaded two guns and put them in the trunk of his car.
Three days later she went to pick up a paycheck, leaving her children and husband at home. Audrey never returned home and has not been heard from again.

The family's babysitter told investigators that she and Audrey took a greyhound bus to Indiana. The 14-year-old came back, but said Audrey had run away. Audrey's family members insisted that she would not abandon her children.

Ronald passed a polygraph exam conducted after Audrey's disappearance and has maintained his innocence in her disappearance.
Investigators have reopened the case and are bringing in a specially trained forensic canine. A confidential informant has come forward, pointing detectives to a rural area where Audrey's remains may be.

If you have any information concerning this case, please contact:
Sauk County Sheriff's Department 888-847-7285

Source Information: WISC-TV3

link;
http://www.doenetwork.us/cases/163dfwi.html

...Investigators have reopened the case and are bringing in a specially trained forensic canine. A confidential informant has come forward, pointing detectives to a rural area where Audrey's remains may be. ...

Click to expand...

Anybody hear what the outcome of this search was?

http://www.channel3000.com/news/1440667/detail.html
Cold Cases -Audrey Good

(Sorry, Richard this article I found doesn't mention the outcome of the search either.This article discusses information available in the above doenetwork sites but also includes additional pictures and family interviews. Seems there would be news articles available if the search was fruitful.)

<snip> from article dated May 7, 2002

"But just maybe for not much longer."

Investigators are bringing in a specially trained forensic canine.

Eagle has helped find bodies around the globe from the World Trade Center to mass graves of the Noriega regime in Panama. A confidential informant has come forward, pointing detectives to a rural area where Audrey's remains may be.

"We're pretty confident her body will be found there," Barbara said.

The question would then become how did she die.

"With homicide there's no statute of limitations," Stammen said.

"My hope would be for the person or persons responsible for this to be brought to justice," Marilyn said. "There's no way, no matter what would ever be done to them, that they could suffer, or go through, the pain we've gone though for 40 years."

I think the b-day is a bit off on this site:
http://www.wafmp.org/missingpersons_details.cfm?missingid=37

Today, July 7, 2007, marks the forty-fifth anniversary of Audrey's disappearance. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts and prayers. PLEASE, if you have any information regarding the disappearance/possible homicide of Audrey Good Backberg, please contact the Sauk County Sheriff's Department at 888-847-7285 or your local police department (you can remain annonymous).

Is this her husband? I found this obituary:

Ronald L. Backeberg, age 65 years, of Elroy and Kendall, died on Sunday, April 2, 2006 at the University Hospital in Madison.

He was born on May 3, 1940 in Reedsburg to Everett and Doris (Sefker) Backeberg. He was united in marriage on June 16, 1982 in Caledonia, MN to Sandra Frye. Ron has lived in Kendall and Elroy most of his life where he was a dairy truck driver. He was also a member of the Grace Lutheran Church.

Survivors include his wife, Sandra of Elroy; three children, Tammy (Steve) Ziems of Elroy, Kim (Steve) Mauss of Eitzen, MN, and Kathleen (Andy) Morgan of Onalaska; six Grandchildren, Curtis, Justin, Lauralee, Cassandra, Jacob and Jessie; two brothers, Terry (Lois) Backeberg of LaValle and Charlie (Audrey) Backeberg of Reedsburg; and a special nephew, Michael Backeberg of LaValle. He was preceded in death by his Parents, a son, James, and a brother, Raymond.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, April 6, 2006 at 1:00 PM at the Grace Lutheran Church, Elroy with Rev. William Wrieden officiating. Burial will follow in the Glendale Cemetery, Kendall. Friends may call at the Picha Funeral Home, Elroy on Wednesday from 4 &#8211; 8 PM and at the church on Thursday from Noon until 1 PM.

If this is the same man, it's interesting that there is no mention of his first wife. Of course, his family might just not have known how to deal with her being missing without that taking over the obituary, I guess. Still.

Bluecat said:

Is this her husband? I found this obituary:

Ronald L. Backeberg, age 65 years, of Elroy and Kendall, died on Sunday, April 2, 2006 at the University Hospital in Madison.

He was born on May 3, 1940 in Reedsburg to Everett and Doris (Sefker) Backeberg. He was united in marriage on June 16, 1982 in Caledonia, MN to Sandra Frye. Ron has lived in Kendall and Elroy most of his life where he was a dairy truck driver. He was also a member of the Grace Lutheran Church.

Survivors include his wife, Sandra of Elroy; three children, Tammy (Steve) Ziems of Elroy, Kim (Steve) Mauss of Eitzen, MN, and Kathleen (Andy) Morgan of Onalaska; six Grandchildren, Curtis, Justin, Lauralee, Cassandra, Jacob and Jessie; two brothers, Terry (Lois) Backeberg of LaValle and Charlie (Audrey) Backeberg of Reedsburg; and a special nephew, Michael Backeberg of LaValle. He was preceded in death by his Parents, a son, James, and a brother, Raymond.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, April 6, 2006 at 1:00 PM at the Grace Lutheran Church, Elroy with Rev. William Wrieden officiating. Burial will follow in the Glendale Cemetery, Kendall. Friends may call at the Picha Funeral Home, Elroy on Wednesday from 4 – 8 PM and at the church on Thursday from Noon until 1 PM.

If this is the same man, it's interesting that there is no mention of his first wife. Of course, his family might just not have known how to deal with her being missing without that taking over the obituary, I guess. Still.

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I found this online too and was going to post it...I thought it was interesting they didn't mention her either. He is just the right age and that is not a common last name so I believe it's him. It's also interesting that his brother Charlie married a girl named Audrey too.

Link in post one no longer working. Found one that does.

http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/backeberg_audrey.html

Went through the backdoor of the doe network and found her page that was listed in post #1

snip:

...The marriage was troubled and there were allegations of abuse. On July 4, 1962 Audrey filed a complaint. It indicated that she had been beaten in the head -- that her husband had threatened to kill her, and he had loaded two guns and put them in the trunk of his car.
Three days later she went to pick up a paycheck, leaving her children and husband at home. Audrey never returned home and has not been heard from again.
The family's babysitter told investigators that she and Audrey took a greyhound bus to Indiana. The 14-year-old came back, but said Audrey had run away. Audrey's family members insisted that she would not abandon her children.
The husband passed a polygraph exam conducted after Audrey's disappearance and has maintained his innocence in her disappearance...

Click to expand...

It is likely nothing was found at the search. Eagle and his handler were sadly discredited when the handler pled guilty to planting evidence at her various search sites.
http://www.truthinjustice.org/sandra-anderson.htm
She is a disgrace.

snip
An internationally known handler of a cadaver dog admitted she planted bones and other phony evidence at crime scenes across Michigan and Ohio.
Sandra Marie Anderson of Sanford and her Doberman-German short-hair dog, Eagle, participated in hundreds of searches, including at the World Trade Center after September 11 and at mass graves in Bosnia and Panama.
Anderson, 43, searched dozens of historical sites — from a Nebraska Native American burial ground to a Mackinac Island golf course, hunting for remains of soldiers killed in 1812.
But she has admitted she planted evidence for Eagle to find in at least a half-dozen cases. Lawyers for Azizul Islam of Plymouth, convicted in the 1999 murder and dismembering of his wife, have asked for a new trial based on the disclosure.
FBI affidavits obtained by The Detroit News raise questions about why police didn’t catch Anderson before April 2002, when she was seen by a Michigan State Police employee planting a bone at a search site in the Huron National Forest.
FBI records show that police also saw her plant evidence in January 2002 at the Proud Lake Recreation Center, near Wixom, in Oakland County.
As early as 1999, Anderson repeatedly claimed to have found evidence that was inconsistent with what investigators were looking for.
In July 2001, police in Columbia County, Wis., searched for a missing woman.
“(Anderson) located several bones in a pile of brush which had been placed there by a neighbor just hours before her arrival. The bones were human, but determined to be the bones of an older male, rather than a younger female,” reported FBI Special Agent David Marthaler.
snip

Audrey Good Backeberg

Endangered Missing

Missing From: Reedsburg, Wisconsin

Missing Since: July 7, 1962

Age: 20 -- Height: 5'5" -- Weight: 125 lbs -- Hair Color: Brown -- Eye Color: Hazel

Audrey has a crippled left finger.


Audrey married her husband in 1957, when she was 15 years old. The couple had two children together and resided in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. The marriage was troubled and there were allegations of abuse. On July 4, 1962 Audrey filed a complaint. It indicated that she had been beaten in the head -- that her husband had threatened to kill her, and he had loaded two guns and put them in the trunk of his car.

Three days later she went to pick up a paycheck, leaving her children and husband at home. Audrey never returned home and has not been heard from again. The family's babysitter told investigators that she and Audrey took a greyhound bus to Indiana. The 14-year-old came back, but said Audrey had run away.

Audrey's family members insisted that she would not abandon her children.
The husband passed a polygraph exam conducted after Audrey's disappearance and has maintained his innocence in her disappearance.


Doe Network

Charley Project

Does anyone think she might be a match to this jane doe?

https://identifyus.org/cases/7097

Here is her brothers obit...he lists her as a survivor in 1985.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=55771605

This year will mark the 50th anniversary of Audrey's disappearance.

mtrooper said:

Here is her brothers obit...he lists her as a survivor in 1985.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=55771605

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This is not her brother...Audrey J."Good" was married to Ron Backeberg, his brother Charlie also married a lady named Audrey. This is her brother.
Audrey J. "Good" Backeberg has 2 younger brothers that are still alive Rodney and William "Bill" Good. Audrey has only one living sister, Barbara K. Her mother is also still alive along with her daughter.
July 7 th 2012 will mark 50 years that Audrey has been missing. Please know we have never given up looking for her. We love her and just want to know what happened. Some one knows what happened...please help us have answers. The not knowing is far worse than anything you could tell us!

mtrooper said:

Does anyone think she might be a match to this jane doe?

https://identifyus.org/cases/7097

Click to expand...

There is some likeness but the height and eye color are off. Also no mention of a crippled finger...DNA has been taken from relatives of Audrey so we are hopeful it will be used to either rule out or confirm a possible match.

mtrooper said:

Does anyone think she might be a match to this jane doe?

https://identifyus.org/cases/7097

Click to expand...

There is some likeness but the height and eye color are off. Also no mention of a crippled finger...DNA has been taken from relatives of Audrey so we are hopeful it will be used to either rule out or confirm a possible match.

The 50 year anniversary of Audrey's disappearance will occur this July 7th. Hopefully there well be some media interest which will generate some new leads in the investigation.

Bumping for Audrey

I hope that LE will try to make contact with the babysitter again. She likely was a terrified, naive 14 year old that would say what she was told to say. She might have more to add now.

I also wonder how old the children were at the time of her disappearance - old enough to remember if their father stayed home while she went to retrieve her paycheck?

Lastly, I wonder if the babysitter was initially reported missing, or if there was any indication (by her parents, etc) that she had traveled to Indiana. (it would have been about a 6 1/2 hour drive from Reedsburg WI to Ft Wayne IN, which is the northernmost major city) If Audrey were going to run away, I think she would have picked up her paycheck first.

How long did the babysitter say she was in Indiana with Audrey? Hours? Days? Weeks? Very vague info to go on from the articles..

Namus elaborates a bit about the info given by the babysitter:

20 yr old mother of two and wife of five years leaves residential home in Reedsburg, WI. She travels with a 14 yr old girl who is an acquaintance and hitch hikes to Madison, WI were the two board a Greyhound Bus and travel to Indianapolis, IN. They both get off the bus, and the 14 yr old turns herself into police as a runaway and our missing person is seen walking around the corner away from the bus stop and this is the last known location of her. She reportedly stated that she did not want to return. Last seen in Indianapolis, IN getting off bus

https://www.findthemissing.org/cases/show/9699

So was it ever verified that the babysitter was in Indianapolis and turned herself in as a runaway, or were they just taking her word for it?

Namus states that Audrey was last seen getting off the bus - would that mean that the sitter turned herself in immediately when they got to Indianapolis and spent no time together after getting off the bus?

After searching some property records, it appears that there are about 11 acres of property that she still legally owns, and the property taxes are current. Unless this is the other Audrey, (wife of Ronalds brother) Does anyone know if her middle name was Jean also?