For more than a decade, the case sat quietly in the background of an overwhelmed system — another name in a database, another family without answers. But on Tuesday, the Des Moines Police Department announced a rare resolution in a long-cold missing-person investigation: a woman who vanished 14 years ago has been found alive in another state.

The woman, whose identity police are withholding at her request, was located “alive and well” in Nebraska after disappearing during a 2011 trip to visit family in southern Iowa. At the time, she was 54 and traveling from South Carolina with her partner. Somewhere along the way, the pair became separated. The details were thin even then; police said there was no evidence of a crime, no sign of foul play, and not much helpful information from the partner. Leads dried up almost immediately.

She slipped quietly into the missing-person database — and into silence.

“Open cases often fade from the public memory,” the Des Moines Police Department wrote in a Facebook post announcing the discovery. “But they are never forgotten by the families and friends impacted, or by our investigators.”

That persistence, as it turns out, mattered. A scheduled audit at the police communications center brought the old case to the desk of Detective Cheryl Nablo. She and investigative assistant Belen Ceballos began revisiting it last week, armed with tools they didn’t have in 2011. Advances in database technology and interstate record-sharing gave them fresh avenues that led across several states — South Carolina, Texas, Iowa — before ultimately tracing the woman to Nebraska.

Police did not detail exactly how she was found, but said her disappearance appears to have been voluntary. She had struggled with “past family dynamics,” they said, and chose a life separate from the people who once searched for her. She made clear she prefers to remain independent and private.

That reality — that a missing person may not wish to be located or reconnected — is a complicated one for families who have spent years bracing for the worst or hoping for the best. Police acknowledged as much in their statement.

“Closing a case doesn’t always bring the closure loved ones hope for,” the department wrote. “But we hope we bring some peace of mind by answering the question, ‘What happened?’”

The discovery highlights the long tail of missing-person cases, which can be reshaped by time, technology, and chance. It also reveals something more human: the way people sometimes slip away from their pasts in search of a different kind of life.

Des Moines police said they are not releasing additional details, out of respect for the woman’s privacy. She is not considered in danger, and authorities say she has the right to continue living quietly, on her own terms.

In a country where more than half a million people are reported missing each year — most found quickly, some not — the resolution of a 14-year-old case stands out. It is a reminder, police said, that even the coldest files can thaw.

And for one family, even without full closure, it’s an answer they’ve been waiting a very long time to hear.