Family still seeks information on missing Bergland woman

By RALPH ANSAMI

[email protected]

MELLEN, Wis. - More than six weeks after a Bergland woman was reported missing, her family is still seeking information as to what happened to her.

Jody Lynn Newberry, 54, went missing at a music festival near Mellen, Wis., on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend.

Her family continues to use Facebook, hundreds of posters and other media outlets to try to stir up some tips that may be helpful in solving her May 26 disappearance, but has been unsuccessful.

She had been seen with a companion at the festival, which was reportedly attended by fewer than 100 people.

The initial response included an extensive aerial search as investigators said Newberry was missing, possibly under circumstances indicating she was endangered or had been harmed.

Her son, Jake Newberry, said a few days after she went missing, "She always, always had things that meant something to her everywhere she went, and as far as we know, she took nothing. No water, no clothes, no wallet, nothing."

On Memorial Day around 4:30 p.m., the Ashland County Communications Center received a report Newberry had traveled from her home to attend the Mellen Jam. Newberry's sister was concerned because the festival on Gilgen Road, north of Mellen, had ended and she had not returned home and didn't contact the family, which was unusual.

Newberry's last contact with the Bessemer male companion that Saturday in the heavily wooded area, near a river, was around noon, according to police. Initial reports said they somehow became separated.

Newberry is 5-3, 115 pounds, with long brown hair, several missing teeth, a skin tag on her nose and wearing wire-rimmed glasses.

"Any information would be greatly appreciated; we're just trying to keep it up there so people know that she's still missing and to look for her," her sister, Melodee Dupont, of Bergland, wrote in a June 29 email to the Globe.

On a Facebook site, she wrote, "Again, the not finding out is the worst" and "I just want out of this nightmare."

Family members believe there must be somebody at the festival who knows what had happened, but isn't revealing information that could be valuable in solving the lingering mystery.

Anyone having contact with Newberry, especially at the Mellen Jam party and afterward, should contact the Ashland County Sheriff's Department at 715-682-7023.