Case 303: Duncan MacPherson
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When 23-year-old Duncan Macpherson left his hometown of Saskatoon, Canada for a new job in Scotland in August 1989, his parents weren't worried. From a young age, Duncan had always shown incredible bravery and independence. He was just three years old when he first insisted on taking the bus to a doctor's appointment all by himself.

The bus driver had refused to pick him up on account of his age, but that didn't deter the toddler. He simply figured out how to get on another bus instead. This level of courage and determination followed Duncan into his teenage years, bolstered by his strong physical stature. He developed a passion for ice hockey and spent years honing his skills, becoming a prized defenseman for the Saskatoon Blades where he earned the nickname "McFearsome".

His hard work paid off in 1984 when, at the age of 18, he was picked in the first round by the New York Islanders as part of the National Hockey League professional draft. This meant a move across the border into the United States, away from the comfort of his close-knit family. For five years, Duncan devoted his life to the game before the team cut him loose. He wasn't too disappointed though.

While he adored ice hockey, he had no interest in the politics that went on behind the scenes in the major league. Duncan told his mother he was happy to be moving on and ready for the next step in his life. He accepted a well-paid job as the head coach for the Dundee Tigers ice hockey team in Scotland and left Canada for Europe on Wednesday August 2 1989.

On Friday August 11, Duncan's mother, Linda McPherson, woke up in the middle of the night, screaming. Her husband Bob was sleeping beside her and was roused by the commotion. He tried to calm Linda down, assuring her she'd just had a bad dream. But Linda's instincts told her otherwise. Something terrible has happened to Duncan, she cried.

The last time Linda McPherson had spoken to Duncan was a week earlier on Friday August 4 1989. He'd called home to let his family know that he'd arrived safe in Germany where he was staying with his close friend, George Peschut. Duncan told his mother he was exhausted from the long international journey.

While he was unsure of his exact plans, he said he was going to spend some time travelling and relaxing before his coaching job with the Dundee Tigers officially commenced on Monday August 14. Duncan promised Linda that he'd touch base with her again when he arrived in Scotland on Saturday August 12. The day after Linda's nightmare, she eagerly waited for that call. Something in her gut was telling her that Duncan was not okay.

Even when he'd been living in America, he never went more than a few days without checking in with his parents. That gnawing fear only intensified when the McPhersons still hadn't heard from Duncan by Monday August 14, the day he was scheduled to start his job with the Dundee Tigers. In the days before the internet and cell phones, it wasn't easy to make contact with overseas travellers.

For days, Linda sat by the phone, urging it to ring. She tried to reassure herself that Duncan was probably just busy with his new job and would be in touch soon. On Wednesday August 16, the phone finally rang. It was a hockey friend of Duncan's who lived in Europe. He was trying to track Duncan down because he'd just spoken to the Dundee Tigers team manager. It looked like Duncan had never made it to Scotland.

It was an anxiety-filled 24 hours for Linda and Bob McPherson until they finally made contact with Duncan's friend, George Peschut, the following day, Thursday August 17. George was a Canadian ice hockey player who had recently accepted a position on a German team and he was living in the German city of Nuremberg.

He told the Macphersons that he and Duncan had spent a couple of days together before George had to go away for training camp on August 7. Duncan wanted to visit some friends and do some travelling, so George lent him his car, a red Opel Corsa. The plan was for Duncan to be back in Nuremberg by August 11 to return George's car and catch his flight to Scotland. But George said he'd just returned from his training camp,

To his surprise, Duncan's hockey bag was still there. But Duncan and the Opel Corsa were not. After making a few more calls, the Macphersons discovered that on Monday August 7, Duncan had left Nuremberg and driven three hours north to the Bavarian town of Fusen. There he stayed with his friend Roger, another Canadian ice hockey player who was living in Europe. It was a short but enjoyable visit.

The two played tennis together and then went out for dinner, where Roger got a kick out of Duncan's attempts to water without speaking a word of German. Duncan stayed at Roger's house that night, then hit the road again at around lunchtime the following day of Tuesday August 8. Roger told the Macphersons he wasn't entirely sure of Duncan's plans from there. Fussen is just one kilometre north of the Austrian border and only a few hours drive from Italy.

Duncan had mentioned wanting to visit a friend in the Italian city of Bolzano, but nothing was set in stone. He'd departed from Rogers with no specific plans, and neither Roger, George, nor any of Duncan's other contacts in Europe had heard from him since. Upon learning this information, Linda's heart sank. She and her husband had raised Duncan and his brother to be reliable, respectful, and trustworthy young men.

While Duncan was definitely keen for an adventure after years dedicated to hockey, he was a rule follower who adored his family. There was no way he would have just taken off and bailed on his job commitment without so much as a phone call. He also had a lot of respect for George Peshut and would never run off with his car without seeking permission first.

The McPhersons contacted their bank to find out when Duncan had last cashed one of his traveller's cheques. They were told it was Monday August 7, the day Duncan visited Roger in Fusan. This meant that ten days had passed without Duncan accessing any of his money. The McPhersons' anxiety spiked as they considered all possibilities.

What if Duncan had accidentally driven George's car off the road and he was concealed in a ditch or mountainside somewhere? What if he'd picked up a hitchhiker who caused him harm? In the 1980s, kidnappings for ransom weren't unheard of in Italy. What if Duncan had unwittingly crossed paths with the mafia?

After two more days passed with no word from Duncan, on Sunday August 20, the McPhersons contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, or RCMP, and reported the 23-year-old to be missing. To their surprise, their situation wasn't treated with any sense of urgency. Instead, they were told to call back again during regular office hours on Monday.

When the McPhersons finally made contact with the police the next day, the officers they spoke to told them not to worry. Duncan was an adult who was free to do as he pleased. Like many other young foreigners, he'd likely just gotten caught up in an adventure or had met a girl and would resurface again soon. Or maybe he intended to disappear for a while, which as an adult, he was free to do.

The Macphersons didn't believe any of these reasons for a second. Not only would they have been completely out of character for Duncan, he also had a girlfriend back at home and the two had been making plans for her to come and visit him in Scotland. When Duncan still hadn't contacted anyone by Wednesday August 23, the RCMP finally alerted Interpol and a bulletin was distributed to police stations and border crossings throughout Europe.

While the Macphersons were relieved to know that Duncan was officially being treated as a missing person, the authorities continued to reassure them that he'd likely show up soon. Linda and Bob felt completely helpless waiting around in Saskatoon. They realised that the only way to ensure the search for their son was taken seriously was to fly to Europe and do it themselves.

On Sunday August 27, the couple touched down in Germany armed with 2,000 missing person posters printed in various languages. By now, Duncan had been missing for well over two weeks. Their first stop was to the missing persons unit of the Nuremberg police. Like the RCMP, the officer in charge assured the worried parents that Duncan was likely off chasing romance.

At 6 foot 1, he was a strong, athletic young man and he'd be able to take care of himself in the face of danger. Linda pointed out that 20 days had passed since he'd last cashed one of his traveller's cheques. Still, this raised no alarm bells for the police officer. He assured the Macphersons that the girl Duncan was with was probably rich.

Frustrated that they weren't being taken seriously, Linda and Bob rented a car and began tracing Duncan's movements themselves. This was no easy feat for the middle-aged couple. They were modest people who enjoyed a quiet and wholesome life. Neither of them had ever been to Europe before and they didn't speak any of the local languages. Linda was a schoolteacher and Bob a small plane pilot.

They'd won their home in a raffle, which had afforded them a comfortable upbringing for their two boys. Venturing across Europe to take on the authorities was far beyond their comfort zone, but they both remained convinced that they'd find Duncan no matter what. Duncan had cashed his last traveller's cheque at a travel agency in Nuremberg. The Macphersons went there and showed the staff a photo of their son.

One of the agents recalled serving Duncan there on Monday August 7. He had put a deposit down for a flight to the Scottish city of Glasgow, set to depart five days later on Saturday August 12. This was the same date he told his parents he would contact them from Scotland. According to the travel agent, Duncan said he'd return to the office the day before the flight to pay the remaining balance and pick up his ticket. But he never did.

From there, the Macphersons drove to Fusen, the German town where Duncan was last seen by his friend Roger. Studying a map, they tried to put themselves in Duncan's shoes. Given Fusen's proximity to both Austria and Italy, it made sense to assume he might have visited one of the nearby towns in either country.

Austria offered world-class skiing, while Northern Italy offered windsurfing, both activities that would appeal to the outdoor, sport-loving Duncan. He'd mentioned to Roger that he'd like to visit Italy's Lake Garda, which was about a five-hour drive south of Fusen. Bob and Linda McPherson set out on this route, stopping at every regional police station along the way.

For days, they traversed all the areas they thought Duncan might have visited, plastering his missing person posters while on the constant lookout for George's red Opal Corsa. They checked with officials at the border crossings in Italy and Switzerland. Nobody they spoke to recalled seeing Duncan. In fact, to Bob and Linda's horror, none of the border officials or regional police were even aware of their son's case.

In spite of what they'd been told by the RCMP, it didn't appear that an Interpol bulletin had been sent out. This meant that Duncan could have been passing through any number of towns and countries without anyone even being aware that he was a missing person. Linda and Bob continued to go over every possible scenario in a desperate bid to figure out what could have happened to their son.

Soon, another unnerving possibility began to enter their minds. A few months before Duncan had left for Europe, he'd fulfilled a dream of his by hiking North America's Appalachian Trail. While it had been a positive experience for the nature lover, he'd returned with an unwanted souvenir: Lyme disease. Transmitted by tick bites, Lyme disease is typically characterized by a rash, body aches, fever, and fatigue.

Duncan had fully recovered by the time he left for Europe, but after his disappearance, his parents learned that in rare cases, Lyme disease can leave individuals with memory loss, confusion, and personality changes. They wondered whether Duncan could be experiencing these symptoms. Maybe he was alive somewhere, but suffering from some kind of neurological episode.

There was also an odd comment that Duncan had made to his family in the months before his trip. Out of nowhere, he'd told Linda that a recruiter from the Central Intelligence Agency had tracked him down and asked if he'd be interested in working as a spy. This wasn't a far-fetched offer. Intelligent athletic types like Duncan made attractive recruits.

Linda had told Duncan it sounded like an exciting opportunity, but he said he wasn't interested. Working for the CIA would mean changing his identity and leaving his family behind, which he wasn't prepared to do. While it seemed unlikely, the McPhersons wondered whether Duncan had changed his mind and accepted a position with the agency after all.

They also had a niggling feeling that something wasn't quite right about the job that Duncan had accepted with the Dundee Tigers in Scotland. He'd been offered the position by a Canadian businessman named Ron Dixon, who had recently bought the team. Ron offered Duncan the high-paying role even though the two had never met. Duncan had been a little dubious.

He told his family there was something off about Ron Dixon and his offer, but he'd pushed his concerns aside knowing it was too good an opportunity to turn down. Ron said that Duncan had called him at some point during his travels in Europe. He wasn't sure of the exact date, but he believed it was most likely on Thursday August 10. This was two days after Duncan was last seen leaving Fusan and two days before his flight to Scotland.

The McPhersons had no idea what to think. Every possibility was on the table, from foreign intelligence to amnesia to foul play. Yet, they were no closer to a breakthrough. Almost a month had passed with no reported sightings of Duncan. Then on Thursday September 14, Linda had an instinctive feeling that she knew where he was.

When she and Bob had first driven from Fusan to Italy, their route had taken them through the Austrian city of Innsbruck. Known as the capital of the Alps, it was a charming city nestled amongst stunning mountain peaks that was known for offering a wide range of winter sports. Boasting impressive architecture, alpine views, and easy access to the ski slopes, it was exactly the kind of place that would have appealed to Duncan.

It was also only a two-hour drive from Fussen. Given that Duncan had just two days after leaving Roger before he was due back in Nuremberg, Linda reasoned that he wouldn't have wanted to waste too much of that time behind the wheel. It therefore made sense to her that Duncan would have decided to stop in Innsbruck for the night before seeing the sights the following day.

Linda and Bob returned to Innsbruck and approached the local police, only to discover that they still hadn't been made aware of Duncan's disappearance. Linda expressed her belief that Duncan had likely stopped over in Innsbruck on the night of Tuesday August 8. She requested that a search be done of all the hotels in the area to see if Duncan's name was any of their registers. The police refused.

Innsbruck, which had twice hosted the Winter Olympics, had hundreds of hotels and guest lodgings. Making inquiries with each one would be a monumental task when they didn't even have any evidence to indicate Duncan had passed through the area. Like the others, Innsbruck police reassured the Macphersons that Duncan was likely off having an adventure and would show up soon.

If he had come to Austria, his parents could rest assured that it was a safe country with a very low crime rate and nothing bad would have happened to him. The Macphersons remained convinced that Duncan would have travelled to Winsbrook. They spent the next few days driving around town and the surrounding mountains, putting Duncan's missing person posters up and making inquiries of their own.

Upon learning of their story, the head coach of the Innsbruck Hockey Club felt for the couple and pulled some strings to have Duncan's case broadcast on a local news network. The segment was broadcast on Wednesday September 20, almost 50 days since Duncan had vanished. The McPhersons asked anyone who might have seen Duncan or his vehicle to come forward. Finally, someone did.

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Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. Sebastian Wagner, not his real name, was a contractor who had recently been doing some repair work to the parking lot of a popular ski resort known as the Stubai Glacier, 40 kilometres south of Innsbruck.

The Stubai Glacier is situated at the end of the Stubai Valley, roughly 3,000 metres above sea level. It is made up of five glaciers, making it the largest glacier ski area in Austria. In the winter, hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world flock to the area to make the most of the snowfall.

But it is just as popular in the summertime, with tourists drawn to the hiking trails, waterfalls, and alpine huts that dot the surrounding mountainside. When Sebastian saw the news bulletin about Duncan McPherson's disappearance, he was certain he'd seen that red Opel Corsa before. It had been sitting in the parking lot of the Stubai Glacier Resort near the gondola station for weeks.

Sebastian immediately notified the police, who followed up on the lead that night. The vehicle was right where Sebastian said it would be. At a quick glance, nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. The driver's side window was slightly ajar, allowing the officers to reach inside and to open it up. In the glove box, they found Duncan McPherson's passport and uncashed traveller's cheques.

A plastic bag of fruit sat rotting on the back seat, along with Duncan's backpack, a sweater, ice skates, and a hand-drawn map. Duncan himself was nowhere to be seen, nor were there any signs that a struggle had taken place. However, an unsent letter to his girlfriend provided a potential clue. In the letter, Duncan mentioned that he'd just bought a cool new pair of Mephisto brand walking shoes.

The shoes weren't in Duncan's car, which raised the possibility that he might have warned them to go hiking on one of the nearby trails. Police immediately made inquiries with the accommodation providers in the area. Duncan McPherson hadn't been registered as a guest at any of the major hotels or the small alpine huts, nor did anyone recognise him from his photograph.

Bob and Linda McPherson arrived at the Stubai Glacier the day after Duncan's car was found. Upon learning that the vehicle had been in the area for weeks, they were stunned. The Stubai Glacier is a major tourist attraction, bringing in millions of dollars in revenue each year. Every day, thousands of visitors and locals used the parking lot. But the glacier shut for business in the evenings and the parking lot was virtually empty by 6pm.

The Macphersons wondered how Duncan's car could have sat there for weeks without it raising any alarms, especially when police were aware that a tourist had gone missing in the area. The Macphersons checked into the nearby hotel to join the search for their son. As they were registering, a man approached them. He introduced himself as Walter Hinterhölzel, a Stubai Glacier snowboard instructor who also worked at the hotel part-time.

Walter said he'd just seen the missing person poster taped to the window of the Macpherson's rental car and recognised Duncan's photo. While most of the ski runs on the Stubai Glacier were closed in August due to lack of snow, one small bunny hill with a rope tow lift remained open, known as the Schaufelfenner.

Walter Hinterhäusel claimed that on the morning of Tuesday August 9, he had given Duncan a two-hour snowboarding lesson on the Schaufelfenner. He'd been impressed by how quickly Duncan had gotten the hang of things and how well he was able to control the board. After the lesson, the two ate lunch together. Duncan told Walter about his upcoming coaching job in Scotland and his desire to go windsurfing on Lake Garda before then.

Walter recommended that Duncan visit Austria's Lake Aachen instead. It was less than an hour from Innsbruck and would give Duncan more time before he had to be back in Germany for his flight. Duncan seemed pleased by this. He told Walter he was going to spend the rest of the afternoon testing out his new snowboarding skills and might then go for a hike on one of the surrounding trails. He arranged to meet Walter again for a follow-up lesson the next morning.

The jumper Duncan had been wearing was soaked through, so he bought a new one from the gift shop and hung his wet one out to dry in Walter's office before hitting the slope on his own. At the end of the day, Walter returned to his office only to find that Duncan's jumper was still there. He reasoned that Duncan would probably just pick it up after his lesson the next morning. But he never showed up, and the jumper remained unclaimed.

The Schaffelfehner Ski Run was located 3,770 vertical feet above the parking lot. The only way to reach it was to ride the gondola or hike it on foot. The Macphersons rode the gondola up to see the slope for themselves. It was only a small area, its entire surface visible from the base. The ski run was clearly marked with a rope cordon marking an out-of-bounds area to the east.

The McPhersons knew there was no way something bad could have happened to Duncan at this spot. Not only was the slope smoothed over at the end of each day by a snow groomer machine, if Duncan had accidentally gone off course, he would have left behind an obvious trail. He was also last seen wearing a bright yellow ski jacket which would have been very visible. A search team combed the slope but didn't find any trace of Duncan.

Walter Hinterhölzl's girlfriend, who was also employed by the Stubai Glacier, recalled seeing Duncan on the tow lift at 2.30pm on Wednesday August 9, shortly after he'd finished his lunch with Walter. This was the last confirmed sighting. Based on Duncan's conversation with Walter, police deduced that after practising snowboarding for a while, Duncan likely set out on one of the hiking trails.

This would explain why his new shoes were missing. Walter had advised Duncan to avoid hiking downhill because it would cause stress on his knees, which were weak from hockey injuries. One Stubai Glacier employee recalled seeing a tall young man standing near a waterfall below the glacier on August 9. In the summer, the melting ice created deep whirlpools around the waterfall.

Police theorised that Duncan could have ignored Walter's advice, hiking downhill to the waterfall where he fell in and drowned. They searched the falls but found nothing to indicate Duncan had been there. They focused their search further up the mountain instead, where snow continued to fall. There was no sign of Duncan there either.

By Monday September 25, the search for Duncan MacPherson at the Stubai Glacier reached its fifth fruitless day. With no confirmed sightings of him after August 9, the police concluded that he'd likely gotten lost or had an accident on the mountain and his body was concealed by snow.

His abandoned car hadn't raised any alarms because hikers often left their vehicles in the Stubai Glacier parking lot while heading out for extended hiking trips, during which they camped at the alpine huts along the way. Police reasoned that they hadn't patrolled the parking lot because it was private property. They called off the search, confident that Duncan's body would eventually be recovered by hikers or hunters in due course.

Bob and Linda McPherson were outraged by this conclusion. Without Duncan's body, how could the police be sure that he was even dead, let alone that he died by accident on the mountain somewhere? As far as his parents were concerned, Duncan could be anywhere. He might not even be dead.

Disappointed with the Innsbruck police investigation, the McPhersons were dubious about their claims that they'd found no record of Duncan having stayed anywhere in Innsbruck throughout August. Bob and Linda conducted their own inquiries and discovered that Duncan had indeed spent the night of Tuesday August 8 in a youth hostel downtown before checking out the next morning.

While this bolstered the police theory that Duncan had disappeared on the same day he was last seen, the McPhersons couldn't help but wonder. If the police had overlooked a simple detail like Duncan's hostel registration, what else had they missed? Ron Dixon, the owner of the Dundee Tigers ice hockey team, was confident he'd spoken to Duncan on Thursday August 10, the day after he'd been snowboarding at the Stubai Glacier.

A recently purchased cassette tape found in Duncan's car was traced to a music store in Innsbruck where an employee remembered serving Duncan. She couldn't be sure exactly when, but she remembered one distinct detail: Duncan hadn't been alone, but with a dark-haired man. While it pained Bob and Linda to imagine, they considered whether Duncan might have been abducted and was being held captive.

What if he was out there somewhere, willing his parents to find him? As Bob later told Esquire magazine: "Even though we knew in our hearts that he probably wasn't alive, you always think there's some chance. That's what made us want to keep going. It's amazing how much you hang on to that thread. The tiniest bit of hope." They stewed over it for days before the realization dawned on Linda.

Walter Hinterholzel, the snowboard instructor, had told the McPhersons that Duncan had rented a snowboard, gloves and ski boots prior to their lesson together. At the time, there was only one ski shop on the mountain. In order to rent any equipment, customers had to put a government-issued ID or credit card down as a deposit, which would be returned to them when handing over their gear at the end of the day.

It occurred to Linda that staff at the shop would be able to tell them whether or not Duncan returned his gear. If he hadn't, this would signify that he might have had an accident while he was out snowboarding, instead of after. Linda visited the rental shop and asked them to check their records. The staff told her they'd recently started a new log and had therefore thrown the old one away.

While none of the employees specifically recalled Duncan returning his gear, no snowboards were missing from their inventory, so they reasoned that he must have returned it. It was protocol for staff to inform guards of any rental equipment that hadn't been returned so they could check the slope for any potential accidents.

If the police theory was correct and Duncan really had perished while hiking in the Stubai Valley, his parents couldn't bear the thought of his body being left out there all alone. With winter just around the corner, they knew that time was of the essence, as any search efforts would be hindered completely once the heavy snowfall began.

A Canadian businessman heard about the situation and generously funded a Canadian search and rescue team to fly to Austria and continue the search themselves. They arrived on Sunday October 8, the beginning of the third month of Duncan's disappearance. With the help of some new computer software and a sniffer dog, they started from the Stubai Glacier Resort parking lot and searched outwards around the valley from there.

The days ticked by with no breakthroughs, and by Sunday October 15, the team was forced to call off the search on account of heavy snowfall. Defeated, Bob and Linda McPherson felt there was nothing more they could do. They reluctantly returned to Canada, vowing to come back as soon as the snow melted.

Around at the same time that the Macphersons left Austria, the manager of one of the Alpine Huts in the Stubai Valley came across one of Duncan's missing posters for the first time. Upon seeing Duncan's face, he was reminded of a strange incident that had occurred a couple of weeks earlier. On Monday September 25, a dishevelled-looking English-speaking foreigner had shown up at the hut in the middle of the night.

He'd trekked there through the dark without suitable hiking gear, not even a flashlight. He seemed a little disoriented and had taken off again after breakfast the next morning, heading towards the old smugglers' trails into Italy. The hut manager thought the man bore a resemblance to Duncan MacPherson. Bob and Linda weren't sure what to make of this.

The police had assured them that all the hut managers had been notified of Duncan's disappearance, so it seemed odd that such an encounter could have occurred without it raising suspicions at the time. Then again, it gave them hope that Duncan could be experiencing amnesia as a result of his Lyme disease or an accident and could still be alive after all. As the months passed by, other potential sightings of Duncan continued to trickle in.

One Canadian tourist thought she spotted him at a bar in Russia. Thinking fast, she took a photo and sent it to his family. But it wasn't Duncan. The Macphersons couldn't shake the feeling that Ron Dixon, the man who'd offered Duncan the coaching job, knew more about Duncan's disappearance than he was letting on.

Not only did Ron claim to be one of the last people to speak with Duncan before he went missing, the Macphersons found it odd that he hadn't contacted them to let them know Duncan never arrived in Scotland. He'd never even reached out to offer any support. The Macphersons did some digging and discovered that Ron Dixon had a shady past.

Rumours swelled about his dodgy real estate ventures and a criminal record that included a prison sentence for manslaughter. The Macphersons wondered if Duncan's job offer seemed too good to be true because something more sinister had been at play. Regardless, they weren't discounting the possibility that Duncan had indeed died by accident around the Stubai Glacier.

In the summer of 1990, they returned to Austria, bringing Duncan's beloved dog Jake with them. For weeks, they camped in the Stubai Valley and hiked the surrounding trails on the lookout for any sign of Duncan. They returned every summer for the next three years, but came no closer to finding him.

In late 1993, a German television program called Bitte Melder Dick aired a segment about Duncan's disappearance, urging anyone with information about his whereabouts to come forward. A woman named Lena, not her real name, was watching the show when something occurred to her. Lena lived in the Austrian city of Klagenfurt, roughly 320 kilometres southeast of Innsbruck.

Four years earlier, on Saturday September 9 1989, a distressed and malnourished young man had emerged from the woods in a town about half an hour from Clargon Fort. Speaking only North American English, he had no identification on him and claimed he couldn't remember his name, where he came from, or anything else about his life. The only thing he could remember was that he'd once lived in New York.

The mystery man was arrested for vagrancy before being transferred to a mental health facility. Doctors initially thought he might be suffering from some type of neurological condition, but when he didn't respond to any of the treatments, it was determined that he had a severe case of amnesia. The man was given the green light to live in Austria. He settled in Klagenfurt, where he went by the name Mark Scherfman.

Over time, Lena became friends with Mark. Other than the fact that he couldn't remember his true identity, there was nothing unusual about him. He was a nice guy who lived an otherwise normal life. But when Lena saw the bitter Meldedijk segment about Duncan MacPherson's disappearance, it gave her pause.

Mark Scherfman had emerged from the woods exactly one month after Duncan McPherson was last seen at the Stubai Glacier, only a few hundred kilometres away. Mark had been wearing an American brand of jeans, just like Duncan had. Duncan had had various surgeries on his knees. Mark's knees also had surgical scars on them. Duncan's front teeth had been knocked out during a hockey match and had been replaced with crowns.

Mark's front teeth had received similar dental work. Looking at Duncan's picture on the television, Lena saw the similarities and wondered: Could the two men be one and the same? Lena shared her suspicions with her boyfriend, who managed to get a hold of the MacPherson's phone number. In early February 1994, he called them in Canada to pass on the information. Bob and Linda didn't know what to think.

Given Duncan's brush with Lyme disease just before his trip to Europe, the possibility that he was experiencing amnesia seemed entirely plausible. And what were the chances that two young North American men could go missing within such close proximity within just a few weeks of one another? The Macphersons contacted Foreign Affairs, who arranged to have someone from the Canadian Embassy in Austria visit Mark Scherfman.

Everything Lena said was true. Mark and Duncan did share many similarities. The embassy officials even took Mark to an ice skating rink to put his skills to the test. It turned out he was a talented skater. A picture of Mark was faxed to the McPhersons in Canada. They gathered around the fax machine along with some of Duncan's friends, anticipation soaring as the image emerged.

But Mark Scherfman looked nothing like Duncan. His loved ones considered every conceivable possibility that Duncan's appearance could have changed in the four years since his disappearance, and embassy officials ordered a comparison of the two men's dental records. They didn't match. A former teammate of Duncan's who was living in Austria went to visit Mark just in case.

But, to the crushing disappointment of many, he confirmed that Mark Scherfman and Duncan MacPherson were definitely not the same person. In the summers that followed, Bob and Linda spent their life savings returning to Austria. They refused to change their phone number or move house just in case Duncan ever tried to get in touch. By 2003, Duncan had been missing for 14 years.

Bob and Linda could no longer afford the annual trips, and they did their best to get on with their lives, even though their son was never far from their minds. That summer, the temperature soared to record heights in Innsbruck. So much of the winter snow melted that even the Schaffelfehner ski run had to be closed down.

On Friday July 18 2003, a Stubai Glacier employee was walking along the empty ski run collecting rubbish when they noticed something sticking out of the snow approximately 35 metres east of the ski lift. At the Macphersons' home in Saskatoon, the phone rang the next day. It was a friend of theirs from Innsbruck. "They've found Duncan," he said.

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You heard that right. HomeChef.com slash Casefile. Must be an active subscriber to receive free dessert. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Casefile to continue to deliver quality content. It didn't take long for the Innsbruck police to confirm that Duncan had died by accident on the same day he was last seen back on Wednesday August 9 1989.

His body had been buried in a small crevasse and was seemingly frozen in time. Dressed in the same bright yellow ski jacket and the newly purchased jumper he'd been wearing at the time of his disappearance, his pockets still held his wallet which contained essentials for his European trip, including his international driver's license and a Canadian calling card.

The snowboard and ski boots he'd supposedly returned to the rental shop were also still with him. Similar crevasses to the one Duncan's body was found in criss-crossed all over the Stubai Glacier. To make the area safe for skiers, piston bullies groomed the ski runs at the end of each day, filling each of the crevasses in with snow. Ungroomed areas were cordoned off to make sure skiers didn't veer out of bounds.

The ski lift operator insisted that the area to the left and right of the ski lift had been cordoned off at the time Duncan went missing. Crevasses like the one Duncan's body was found in also moved naturally over time. It was therefore deduced that at the time of Duncan's death, the crevasse would have been about 40 meters further uphill, just outside of the designated ski run.

Authorities therefore theorized that Duncan could have either ridden off course while snowboarding or been riding the ski lift when he fell off. It wasn't possible to snowboard down the lift route and they assumed Duncan would have thought it was too difficult to climb up. Instead, they concluded that he likely took a shortcut on foot across an out-of-bounds area.

The air was thick with fog that day and Duncan could have gotten lost before falling into one of the crevasses too far outside of the ski run for anyone else to notice. Duncan's frozen remains were removed using an ice pick and transported to the coroner, where a pathologist was tasked with formally identifying the body.

In Austria, autopsies aren't necessary if the individual is determined to have died as the result of an accident, and as such, no autopsy was requested. Based on the known facts, the pathologist concluded that Duncan had likely fallen into the crevasse and was unable to climb out. He would have managed to breathe some of the air that was trapped in the snow for a little while before running out of oxygen and suffocating to death.

Bob and Linda McPherson promptly arrived in Innsbruck to identify Duncan's mummified body. His remains were laid out in the forensic institute, covered in a white sheet with only his face visible. Despite his skin being black from oxidation, Linda recognised her son right away. Bob and Linda each took a moment to say goodbye to their son.

If there was any consolation to be found after 14 agonising years, it was that Duncan likely hadn't suffered too badly. The forensic pathologist in charge, Dr Walter Rabel, told the Macphersons that survivors of similar experiences had reported feeling calm and happy in the moments before they were rescued.

While the Macphersons were relieved to discover that Duncan hadn't suffered any of their worst-case scenarios, something didn't feel right. A few days after identifying their son, they returned to the Stubai Glacier and rode the gondola up the Schaufelfehrner like they'd done many times before. Two glacier employees then drove them in a snowcat to the location where Duncan's body had been found.

While the McPhersons were anticipating the spot to be off to the side in an area that was obviously out of bounds, they were shocked to see that it was right in the middle of the ski run. In fact, they'd passed by that very spot themselves several times over the years. Bob had even taken a photo of Linda standing nearby.

It struck them that for all the time they'd spent worrying about their son, thousands of people had been skiing practically right over him. As they tried to get their heads around the reality of it all, Bob looked into the recently disturbed ice and noticed something black emerging from the melting snow. He picked it up. It was a large piece of Duncan's rented snowboard, clearly broken with the serial number still visible.

Bob poked around further, and to his utter dismay, he found several of Duncan's bones that the recovery team had failed to retrieve. Appalled by the careless recovery efforts, the McPhersons sought answers from Dr Walter Rabel, the forensic pathologist. He advised them that some of the items, such as Duncan's snowboard and clothing, had been encased in such a way that it was impossible to remove them using an ice pick.

Instead, the rescue crew had used a snow grooming machine to dig them out, which had resulted in some damage. Bob was taken aback by this. He was familiar with snow grooming machines and knew that they didn't have any excavation capabilities. The tiller blade on the front, which consists of a rapidly rotating shaft, was used to push snow, not dig ice.

Suspicions raised the Macphersons wanted to have their own autopsy conducted. But repatriating Duncan's body back to Canada was an expensive endeavour and their relentless search for him had already set them back over 100,000 euros - their entire retirement fund. They simply didn't have the money.

Besides, Dr Rabeul advised them that given how long Duncan's body had spent in the ice, an autopsy probably wouldn't reveal much anyway. He offered to have a computerised tomography scan done of Duncan's body instead. It would produce two and three-dimensional X-ray images of the remains. While it wouldn't reveal how Duncan had died, it would show any injuries he'd sustained.

The Macphersons agreed to go ahead with the scan. A few days later, Dr Rabele told them that while he hadn't yet seen the scans himself, a colleague in the radiology department said Duncan hadn't sustained any major injury that would account for his death, bolstering the theory that he'd died by suffocation. Reluctantly, his parents accepted the explanation for Duncan's accidental death and consented to have his body cremated.

They returned to Canada armed with nothing more than his ashes, his ski boots, and the remnants of his broken snowboard. While Duncan's case was officially closed, that didn't stop his parents from seeking answers. It seemed unbelievable to them that Duncan could have died right at the spot where he was last seen and then gone undetected for so many years.

The last reported sighting of Duncan had occurred around 2.30pm on Wednesday August 9 1989. The slope closed to the public at 4pm, after which the piston bullies came out to groom the snow in preparation for the following day's run.

What the McPhersons couldn't understand was why didn't anyone go looking for Duncan, despite the fact his car sat in the parking lot, his rental gear hadn't been returned to the ski shop, and his wet clothing sat hanging in Walter Hinterhosel's office. For many years, the Innsbruck police had told the McPhersons there had never been any fatal accidents on the Schaufelfehrner ski run. But as the McPhersons soon discovered, this wasn't the case.

In fact, almost one year to the day before Duncan went missing, international student Cheng Yin-Chu had been skiing the Schaufelfener when he fell from the ski lift. He then took a shortcut across the cordoned off area and fell into a crevasse. Unlike Duncan, Cheng was visiting with friends who raised the alarm when he failed to surface at the end of the day.

Rescue workers found Chung in the ice, his body temperature so low that he was barely clinging to life. He was transported to hospital where he passed away due to complications from hypothermia.

During the McPherson's tireless search for Duncan, the possibility that he could have fallen down a crevasse had never once been suggested by officials, even though he was last sighted in the very area where Chung Yin-Chu had died a year earlier, and the same police officer had overseen both searches.

Not only did this raise some serious red flags for the McPhersons, they also took issue with the suggestion that if Duncan had fallen off the ski lift, he might have found it too difficult to climb back up the slope, and that's why he took the shortcut through the cordoned off area. Duncan was a fit, strong professional athlete who was also very safety conscious.

Back in 1993, snowboarding instructor Walter Hinterhäusel had even told the German television show Bitter Melderdeck that Duncan had been particularly cautious around the slope boundaries. So, if he had indeed fallen off the ski lifts, the McPhersons found it hard to believe that he would have taken the risky shortcut instead of simply climbing back up the mountain.

In September 2003, the Innsbruck Police released their final official report into Duncan McPherson's death. While they acknowledged that they could only speculate about the cause of the accident, a statement from the police read: "Mountain accidents, primarily falls into crevasses or ice breaks in glacier areas, happen regularly.

Staying on the glacier outside of the secured ski area without appropriate safety equipment carries, among other things, a high risk of falling into a crevasse. Such accidents are almost always the result of careless behaviour on the part of those involved.

The Macphersons were eager to see the results of Duncan's computerised tomography scan for themselves, but it took them several months of going back and forth with Dr Walter Rabel in Innsbruck before they finally got a hold of them. The scan left Bob and Linda stunned. Despite being told that Duncan hadn't sustained any fatal injuries, it appeared on the scan that he'd been decapitated.

Both of his forearms were fractured and had been completely separated from his body. His left leg also appeared to have been amputated in two places, and the lower part of his left leg was completely shattered. Dr. Rabeul explained that the injuries to Duncan's forearms likely occurred when he fell into the crevasse and presumably tried to break his fall.

As for the other injuries, he said these had been caused by the natural movement of the ice over the years. He'd examined many corpses that had been stuck in glaciers and had observed similar injuries, with the glacier essentially breaking up the bodies over time. Linda and Bob weren't convinced.

Eager to get all the information they could, they successfully petitioned to get a copy of the 2003 case file from Canadian Foreign Affairs. Reports and photos of the recovery mission revealed that Duncan's body had been retrieved by two Stubai Glacier employees, with their rescue workers hovering in a helicopter overhead. No police officers or a coroner were present,

Not only did this seem grossly inadequate, the photos of Duncan's body as it lay in the ice also raised some serious questions. Firstly, Duncan's body lay horizontally on its left-hand side, not vertically like most people who die from similar falls. His left leg was completely shattered, while his right leg, which lay directly on top of the left, was perfectly intact.

If the damage to Duncan's body was caused by the natural movement of the ice over the years, how could one leg be fine and the other so badly damaged? The Macphersons were also told that damage to Duncan's clothing and snowboard had been done during the recovery process, but it was clear from the photos that this wasn't the case. Some of his clothing was already torn to shreds and bunched together in a way that didn't look like a natural occurrence.

Duncan's left ski boot also sat by his side, perfectly intact and filled with snow. Its insular lining was found elsewhere, shredded and covered with V-shaped puncture marks, consistent with the damage to his left leg. This meant that Duncan hadn't been wearing the boots at the time he died, which meant he'd unstrapped them from his snowboard.

The Macphersons wondered whether he could have survived the fall into the crevasse and had enough room to take the boots off and attempt to climb out. But if that had been the case, the boots would have gone further down into the crevasse, not remained right next to his body. But what really shocked the Macphersons was the snowboard itself.

When they'd been given the broken board, red paint marks were visible in the wood, which had been explained as having occurred during the recovery mission. Examining the photos, the McPhersons could see that the red paint marks were visible on the snowboard when Duncan's body was initially found, indicating that damage had occurred earlier on. Bob retrieved the broken snowboard from his basement and examined it closely.

He noticed that the damaged parts of the board featured the exact same amount of heavy weathering and rust as the undamaged parts. The only explanation Bob could find for this was that the board must have been broken and exposed to the elements long before the recovery in 2003. And if the board had been torn up by machinery before it was buried in the ice, then what did this mean for Duncan?

The Macpherson sent the scans to a medical professional in Canada who raised the possibility that Duncan might have been run over by a snow grooming machine. Two renowned forensic experts who had first-hand experience in examining corpses that had been retrieved from the ice independently agreed: "The damage to Duncan's body wasn't caused by movements in the glacier, but by contact with heavy machinery."

In Innsbruck, Dr Walter Rabel discounted this possibility. He said that such an incident wouldn't have severed Duncan's limbs, but caused damage to his ribs, pelvis and organs. It also didn't explain how he'd ended up in the crevasse. If Duncan was run over by a snow grooming machine, Dr Rabel said someone would have had to drive back and push him into the crevasse after the fact.

Bob and Delinda had always been dubious about the claim that no snowboards had been missing from the rental shop on the afternoon Duncan went missing. They noted that while Duncan's international driver's license and calling card had been returned to them, his Canadian driver's license had not.

They wondered whether this was because Duncan had left the license with the rental shop as a deposit for his equipment, along with his shoes, which also hadn't been returned to his family. When Duncan failed to return at the end of the day, someone got rid of the license, his shoes, and any record of his hire.

If this was the case, it meant something had to have happened to Duncan on Wednesday August 9 that Stubai Glacier personnel were aware of. A Glacier official claimed that the cordoned off area had been searched during the initial search in late September 1989, but it had been snowing at the time and therefore the crevasse Duncan was in would have been covered with snow. Bob and Linda had been there at the time in question.

It hadn't been snowing, nor was there any fresh snow on the ground. Stubai Glacier staff also claimed that on the day Duncan went missing, all known crevasses on the ski run had been filled in and those that hadn't had been cordoned off.

The police had taken photos of the Shelfilfana ski run during the search for Duncan in 1989, but despite numerous requests from Duncan's family, they refused to hand these over. Without the photos, there was no way to know for sure if the dangerous areas had indeed been cordoned off.

Convinced that something more sinister than a tragic accident was at play, the McPhersons made multiple efforts to have Duncan's case reinvestigated. But Innsbruck Police maintained that it was an open and shut accidental death and the case would remain closed. Over the following years, the McPhersons tried everything they could think of to have Duncan's case reviewed.

They filed numerous complaints with the Austrian authorities, submitted a formal complaint to the Ministry of Justice, and even tried their luck with the European Court of Human Rights. All of their appeals were rejected. Refusing to let it go, Bob and Linda began working with California-based author John Leake, who had taken an interest in Duncan's case.

John had lived in Austria while investigating the crimes of serial killer Jack Unterweger, as covered in episode 197 of Casefile, and he had a good understanding of Austrian culture. John spent several years getting to know the McPhersons and the intricate details of their story. After reviewing all of the evidence for himself, John consulted with numerous specialists, including Dick Penniman, an American expert in ski slope accidents.

Dick took one look at the snowboard and injuries to Duncan's leg and immediately knew the damage was caused by a snow grooming tiller. "Not only are the bones broken in pieces," Dick explained, "but the flesh around the bones has also been chopped up. A crevasse fall could break bones, but it couldn't grind meat."

Given that Duncan's boots were no longer on his feet, the theory was raised that he might have fallen into the crevasse, survived the fall, and then managed to climb out on his own. While he was hanging on the edge with one hand and leg, the snow groomer came along and drove over him, mangling the exposed limb before burying him in the ice.

But if Duncan's body had only been mangled and not fully run over, it raised the question of how Duncan's body and his snowboarding equipment ended up so deep into the crevasse and not just on the surface. As far as Dick Penniman was concerned, not one but two separate events had resulted in Duncan's death.

An alternative theory was that Duncan could have suffered an injury, perhaps a broken leg, which would explain why he unstrapped his board and took his left boot off. Perhaps he was lying in a semi-fetal position as he waited for help to arrive, unable to walk himself. Unable to see him through the fog, a snow groomer accidentally hit him, dragging his limbs into the tiller and killing him.

Realising what they'd done and the impact this would have on tourism, one or more employees removed his body from the tiller. They threw Duncan's body in the crevasse, which was concealed with snow. The McPhersons took their concerns to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, who aired two episodes about Duncan's case for the long-running investigative documentary program The Fifth Estate.

Speaking about the possibility of third-party involvement, John Leake said: "How did this wreck on the surface of the slope wind up in a neat package in a shallow crevasse?

"Those two actions do not go together, and I've talked to 20 different people who know glaciers and crevasses and physics and everything else, and no one can explain to me how those two things can happen without an intermediate action of someone." Canadian high school teacher Judy Wigmore was watching the show when it occurred to her that she'd been skiing on the Stubai glacier with her family on the very same day that Duncan went missing.

As far as Judy recalled, there had been no signs or barriers on the ski run to indicate any potential dangers. If she'd known about the crevasse hazards, she would have never let her children go skiing there. Unsettled by this thought, Judy tracked down her old travel notes from Wednesday August 9 1989. She had recorded the conditions that day as being quote "pretty awful, mostly white out and slushy snow".

Judy wrote that it was so overcast they could hardly see the mountains. She also recalled that the ski shop had been very disorganised and it had been a challenge to get her whole family outfitted for the day. Judy reached out to Bob and Linda McPherson with this information and sent them the few photos that she'd snapped on the ski run that day. The ski lift on the main hill where Duncan was last seen was clearly visible in one of them.

There was no fence or cordoned off area to be seen. After researching Duncan's case for several years, John Leake released his findings in a book titled Cold A Long Time: An Alpine Mystery.

John ultimately believed that Stubai Glacier personnel likely knew from the get-go that Duncan had died in a crevasse on Wednesday August 9 1989, but had withheld this information, knowing that his parents would have demanded a wide-scale excavation of the crevasses until their son was found.

not wanting to shut the glacier down in the middle of peak season or suffer the bad publicity that would go with it. They said Duncan had returned his rental equipment to cover up the truth and redirect the investigations elsewhere. While it was possible that only the driver of the snow groomer and perhaps some of his co-workers knew exactly how the disaster happened, John wrote:

The McPhersons contemplated taking legal action against the Stubai Glacier, but were dissuaded by both the Innsbruck pathologist and some independent lawyers.

Because the exact cause of Duncan's death remained unclear, they were told there was little chance of proving any misconduct by the Stubai Glacier staff. Instead, they sought reimbursement from the Stubai Glacier founder Heinrich Klier for the costs they'd incurred during their search for Duncan, on the basis that his employees had given them misleading information.

Their claim was rejected by Clear's insurance provider, who stated the Glacier company was not at fault for their son's death. While Bob and Linda ultimately accepted that whatever happened to Duncan had been an accident, they believed that both the Stubai Glacier staff and Innsbruck Police had acted negligently.

Not only had this caused the McPhersons 14 years of undue angst and financial hardship, it also put the lives of other skiers at risk. Linda told a journalist for German magazine Datum: "The only crime for us is the way in which this case was investigated." When asked on the Fifth Estate how she would react if someone finally came forward and took accountability, Linda responded:

"I don't think I'd be able to speak. I'd just be so happy that I'd cry. It would restore my faith in humanity." August 2024 marked the 35-year anniversary of Duncan MacPherson's death. Bob and Delinda are now in their 80s, and they remain convinced that Duncan's death was covered up to protect the Stubai Valley's valuable tourism industry.

While they have come to accept that they will never get the justice they so desperately desire from officials in Austria, they still refuse to stay quiet. In August 2024, Linda told CTV News that without anyone coming forward to take responsibility, quote: "My next and only choice is to expose the corruption. I won't quit. There's always a way to move it along."

A British documentary about Duncan's case is supposedly in the works, with the couple vowing to continue their quest for justice until they die. While it's essential for Linda that someone be held accountable for the failures in her son's case, she only has to think of Duncan's warm and generous nature to be reminded of the good in people. When Linda had arrived in Innsbruck to identify her son's remains, she asked for a moment alone with him.

Looking at Duncan's face, she knew straight away that something wasn't right, but she focused on farewelling him as best she could. Linda told Duncan, "I'm sorry you died so young, but I know you had a good life and you died doing something you loved, and that gives me some peace."

I can hear the explosions. I didn't know what was happening. I'm Vicky Petratis. And I'm Emily Webb. We are true crime authors and podcasters with a long history of interviewing people who've experienced unthinkable events. The next guy had this Molotov cocktail in his hand and I just saw him lighting it. Are you listening? Pay attention. We're at Link Cafe. A gentleman has taken us hostage. He's got a gun and he's got a bomb.

But he turned towards me and he had this demonic look on his face.

and just came at me. These stories will have you on the edge of your seats. My shield man wasn't there anymore. It was me by myself. I had no protection. We are going to die now. Who could get out of that situation? I can hear explosions. I didn't know what was happening. It's just a matter of self-preservation, get myself out of there. We get to ask questions that most would never ask. And because of that, we get told things most would never hear about.

And I couldn't get my gun out. I'm sort of fighting with him. He's stabbing me. Maybe he just hit his head on the ground when he went down. Maybe he's okay. I saw that she wasn't in a very good way. Yeah, this will be difficult for me to talk about. What draws us to these stories is the strength of the people coming out the other side of what they've been through. But it was eight years before I processed what happened in the siege. There is a way.

It's not going to be easy. You might have pitfalls, but you've got to keep going. I'm not going to let it beat me or define me. So even though these are stories of the unthinkable, they are also stories of hope. You've got to be the best for you first before you can be the best for someone else. The Unthinkable is available now. Be sure to download and follow The Unthinkable wherever you get your podcasts.