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Ben Oberto: Wisconsin dad goes missing after work trip to Chicago suburbs

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Published  November 15, 2024 4:23pm CST
Missing Persons
FOX 32 Chicago

‘I just want him to be alive’: Wisconsin dad goes missing after work trip to Chicago suburbs

A Wisconsin husband and father has been missing since Wednesday night and was last seen in the far western suburbs.

The Brief

    • Ben Oberto, a Wisconsin husband and father, has been missing since Wednesday night, last seen in Crystal Lake, Illinois.
    • Oberto's car and phone were last tracked along I-90, with no further activity after 9:47 p.m.
    • His wife, Laura, is pleading for information and spreading the word to help bring him home.

CHICAGO - A Wisconsin family is searching for answers after a husband and father of two went missing in Chicago's suburbs on Wednesday night.

Ben Oberto, who lives in New Berlin, Wisconsin, works for a wine company and was last seen at 1776 Restaurant in Crystal Lake, where he spent several hours for work. Surveillance footage showed him leaving the restaurant at 8:56 p.m., and his car exiting the parking lot at 9:02 p.m.

From there, toll records and his phone's signal suggest he traveled on I-90. His I-Pass registered at the Elgin Plaza at 9:27 p.m., and his phone last pinged in the Rosemont area around 9:47 p.m.

Shortly after, the phone lost power, and there has been no activity on his credit cards or phone since.

His wife, Laura Leatherberry, is struggling to explain the situation to their children, a 3-year-old son and a 21-year-old daughter living in New York.

"Your head can go a lot of different places. I just want him to be alive," Leatherberry said. "I don’t know what to tell my son right now. He has a daughter who I just told a few hours ago, and she’s distraught and just wants her dad home."

Oberto was driving a 2019 Subaru Impreza with Wisconsin license plate "ANJ 2349."

Authorities in Crystal Lake and New Berlin have not yet confirmed a missing persons report, but his family is urging anyone with information to contact police.