BONNER COUNTY, Idaho — A family is continuing to search for answers more than two months after the disappearance of a Bonner County woman.
Rae Berwanger, 54, was last seen at the home of her ex-boyfriend on Kelso Lake Road in the Clagstone area on March 3. Family members reported her missing four days later.
Last week, Berwanger's ex-boyfriend was arrested on charges of fraudulently using Berwanger's bank card to withdraw $1,200 from her account in the days after her disappearance.
Jordan Law, the former boyfriend, is also accused of lying to Bonner County Sheriff's Detectives during their investigation.
"It's been rough. There's no closure," said Jimmie Bailey, Berwanger's brother-in-law. "Something happened. I knew from the beginning as soon as this went down."
Bailey said that Berwanger was living with her brother and other family members at a home also on Kelso Lake Road not far from Law's residence. Berwanger had struggled with alcoholism in the past but was making strides toward sobriety, Bailey said.
"She was turning her life around up here," Bailey said.
According to a court documents, Bailey told a sheriff's detective that on the day of Berwanger's disappearance, he was called to Law's residence to help Berwanger collect personal items from the home after she and Law had a "falling out."
Berwanger had indicated that she wanted to move to Washington to "get away from there," according to the detective's investigative report.
When detectives spoke with Law, he said that he didn't know where Berwanger was but that she may have left the area to visit a friend.
Detectives wrote that Law told them he sold Berwanger a Pontiac Grand Am for $800 on March 4 and paid him that night. The next day, Law claimed that Berwanger and the car had disappeared from his property.
Two days after that, however, Law told investigators that he located the Pontiac abandoned at an intersection west of Silverwood Theme Park. He then transported it back to his home by "leap frogging" it.
Upon further investigation, detectives discovered that Law had used Berwanger's bank card at banks at banks in both Coeur d'Alene and Spirit Lake between March 4 and 6, following her disappearance.
On each day, documents said Law withdrew $400 to total $1,200. Security cameras at the banks showed Law driving the Pontiac he claimed to have sold to Berwanger.
When confronted with the evidence, detectives said Law confessed.
"Jordan Law has not been truthful regarding his statement to investigators regarding the Pontiac," wrote Detective Matthew Wallace.
A warrant was issued for Law's arrest in late April but he wasn't apprehended until last week. Online records show Law subsequently posted bail and was released from jail.
Law is currently not charged with a crime related to Berwanger's disappearance. A Bonner County Sheriff's detective told KREM the investigation remains active and Law is considered a person of interest in the case.
"We just need closure. And we want the truth," said Bailey of the situation, despite Law's arrest.
Bruce King, Berwanger's brother, called her disappearance uncharacteristic.
"She never not called," King said, noting that his sister spoke with family and friends on the phone daily.
Following her disappearance, court records state that family members made multiple attempts to contact Berwanger over the phone and social media.
King added that the disappearance represents added heartbreak for the family. King said that their father was murdered during a home-invasion robbery in Mississippi several years ago.
"This is like another replay, another family member possibly being killed again," King said.
King said he has faith detectives would bring the family closure.
"I've got every confidence in them. They'll get around to the truth," King said.
Bailey, when asked what he wanted to convey to Berwanger if she's alive, pleaded her to contact the family.
"Come home. And don't make everybody worry," he said.