(Des Moines , IA) – Officials with the Des Moines Police Department, Tuesday, reported on social media that a scheduled audit by the DMPD’s Communications Center brought to a close a 2011 missing person case. The department says a 54-year-old woman reported missing in 2011 was found alive in Nebraska.

The DMPD said that during a trip to southern Iowa, the woman and her partner became separated and the family never saw her again. The partner eventually returned to South Carolina, where the couple originally came from, after there was no indication where she had gone. Police didn’t have enough information in 2011 to find the woman, and there was no indication that a crime had occurred relating to her disappearance. The woman’s information was entered into the nationwide missing person database.

The advancement of technology in law enforcement provided them with leads that took the investigation from Des Moines to other cities in Iowa, to South Carolina, on to Texas, and finally stopping in Nebraska. That’s where the missing person was located, alive and well. Investigators learned that her absence was voluntary, she has struggled with some past family dynamics, and prefers to remain independent and private.