Where is Nathan Edberg?

Eleven years ago today, Nathan Edberg disappeared after leaving Decoy’s bar at 2143 4th Street in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. According to published reports, no one actually saw him leave the bar, but he is thought to have left around 7:30 p.m. Edberg's empty truck was later located in a ditch at the junction of Hwy 694 and Hwy 35E. Authorities believe Edberg probably went off the road after missing his exit, but the trail stops there.

Edberg's truck, found just a couple of miles from his mother's home, yielded no clues. There were no signs of a struggle nearby or any trace of Nathan Edberg. His keys were located inside the locked truck.

Tom Paget of the Ramsey County sheriff's office who managed the case from 2000 to 2007 said, "There's no indication of foul play, anything. He just disappeared. I talked to everybody I could. Everybody was at a loss as to what happened."
There has been some speculation that Edberg either committed suicide or simply walked away from his life. According to published reports, Edberg had experienced some upheavals in his life shortly before he disappeared--a lost job, a break-up with his girlfriend of four years, and the divorce of his parents just 6 months earlier. The bartender at Decoy's noted that he seemed less upbeat than usual on the night he disappeared. However, Edberg's mother, Jackie Edberg, said life had been looking up; and he was working to become a member of the police reserve. And if he had simply walked off, she explained to the Pioneer Press (04/13/10), 11 years is a long time for him to go without contacting anyone.

According to the paper, it has also been conjectured that Nathan "hitched a ride with someone after running his car off the road and was abducted" or "wandered away from the ditch and succumbed to the cold, wet April weather," yet the paper points out that with no clues and no body, it is easy to speculate. Answers are clearly what is needed.
It has been difficult for the Jackie Edberg to go so long without knowing what happened to her eldest son. "In the beginning, I thought, a month, two months, we'll learn," Jackie Edberg told the Pioneer Press. "But I just never imagined 11 years...we've never had anything remotely close to closure."

Without any answers, Nathan's mother can't help but hold onto hope of seeing her son again. According to the Press, Jackie Edberg, "still lives in her Vadnais Heights home so he'll know where to come home to, and she plans on always having the same home phone number she had when Edberg disappeared. 'When people ask how many children I have, I tell them four, but I don't know where my oldest one is,' Jackie Edberg said.' At this point, I really think I may die without ever knowing what happened to my son," she said.

If you have information that could help the Edberg family get some answers, please call the Ramsey County sheriff's office at 651-266-7320.

More information about the anniversary of the disappearance of Nathan Edberg can be read here.