Ruth Ann Homberg was last seen on November 4th, 1983 in her home in Dunkirk, Wisconsin. None of her clothes, cosmetics, or personal items were missing from her home.
Ruth is a white female, 5’4”, and 117 pounds. She has brown hair and blue eyes. It is not known what she was wearing at the time of her disappearance.
Ruth was married to her 2nd husband, Gary Homberg at the time of her disappearance.
On the night that Ruth disappeared, she had learned from friends that her husband Gary was having an affair. She told them that she planned to confront him about it. She was last seen leaving their friends home with Gary.
Ruth was close with her children and her elderly parents. Her loved ones believe that she wouldn’t have left them behind. Ruth’s parents passed away in 1988 without knowing what happened to their daughter.
The day after Ruth's disappearance, Gary reported Ruth missing at 5pm, without consulting with her family or friends to see if they had seen her. The following Monday, Gary told their cleaning woman not to come because Ruth was out of town and that he didn’t know when she would return. The cleaning lady came to the house the following week and noticed that Ruth’s jewelry was missing.
Gary told Sharon Jacobson Nordess, the woman that he was having an affair with, that he had been embezzling money from his employer and that Ruth found out and threatened to tell the owner. He told Sharon to keep Ruth’s disappearance a secret and that he would would dispose of her where no one would ever find her.
In 1986, Gary’s embezzling was discovered. He was found guilty for stealing $645,000 from his employer, Milfab and was sentenced to seven years in prison. At this point, the Grand Jury was investigating Ruth's disappearance. Authorities believed that Ruth was murdered and thought that Gary was the prime suspect.
At the murder trial, Sharon Nordess testified that she didn’t know anything about Ruth’s disappearance. She later went to authorities and confessed that her testimony had been a lie. She told authorities about what happened the day after Ruth's disappearance and agreed to testify in exchange for immunity.
Gary was convicted of first-degree murder in Ruth’s case in 1989. The judge offered to reduce his sentence if he revealed the location of Ruth’s body, but Gary claimed that he could not do that because ‘he was innocent.’
Gary is still in prison and has never revealed where Ruth is. Foul play is suspected in Ruth’s case.
Despite the conviction in this case, the case remains open because Ruth has not been found.
Ruth was 44 years old when she went missing. She would be 83 years old today.
Any leads or information should be directed to:
Dane County Sheriff’s Office
Detective Brian Frisch
(608) 284-6155
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