6:00

For days,

6:02

Linda sat by the phone urging it

6:04

to ring. She

6:06

tried to reassure herself that Duncan was

6:08

probably just busy with his new job

6:10

and would be in touch soon. On

6:15

Wednesday, August 16, the phone

6:17

finally rang. It

6:20

was a hockey friend of Duncan's who lived

6:22

in Europe. He

6:25

was trying to track Duncan down because

6:27

he'd just spoken to the Dundee Tigers

6:29

team manager. It

6:32

looked like Duncan had never made it

6:34

to Scotland. It

6:37

was an anxiety-filled 24 hours

6:39

for Linda and Bob McPherson until

6:42

they finally made contact with Duncan's

6:44

friend George Peerschut the following day,

6:46

Thursday, August 17. George

6:51

was a Canadian ice hockey player who

6:53

had recently accepted a position on a

6:55

German team and he was living in

6:57

the German city of Nuremberg. He

7:00

told the McPherson's that he and Duncan

7:02

had spent a couple of days together

7:04

before George had to go away for

7:06

training camp on August 7. Duncan

7:10

wanted to visit some friends and

7:12

do some travelling, so George lent

7:14

him his car, a red Opal

7:16

Corsa. The

7:18

plan was for Duncan to be back in

7:21

Nuremberg by August 11 to return

7:23

George's car and catch his flight

7:25

to Scotland. But

7:28

George said he'd just returned from his

7:30

training camp. To

7:32

his surprise, Duncan's hockey bag was

7:35

still there, but Duncan

7:37

and the Opal Corsa were not.

7:43

After making a few more calls, the

7:46

McPherson's discovered that on Monday, August 7,

7:48

Duncan had left Nuremberg

7:50

and driven three hours north to

7:52

the Bavarian town of Fusan. There,

7:56

he stayed with his friend Roger,

7:58

another Canadian ice hockey player. who

8:00

was living in Europe. It

8:03

was a short but enjoyable visit. The

8:06

two played tennis together and then went

8:08

out for dinner, where Roger got a

8:10

kick out of Duncan's attempts to water

8:12

without speaking a word of German. Duncan

8:17

stayed at Roger's house that night, then

8:19

hit the road again at around lunchtime

8:21

the following day of Tuesday, August 8.

8:26

Roger told the McPherson's he wasn't

8:28

entirely sure of Duncan's plans from

8:30

there. Fusern

8:32

is just one kilometre north of the

8:34

Austrian border and only a few hours

8:37

drive from Italy. Duncan

8:39

had mentioned wanting to visit a friend

8:41

in the Italian city of Bolzano, but

8:44

nothing was set in stone. He'd

8:47

departed from Roger's with no specific

8:50

plans, and neither Roger, George, nor

8:52

any of Duncan's other contacts in

8:54

Europe had heard from him since.

8:59

Upon learning this information, Linda's

9:01

heart sank. She

9:04

and her husband had raised Duncan

9:06

and his brother to be reliable,

9:08

respectful and trustworthy young men. While

9:12

Duncan was definitely keen for an

9:14

adventure after years dedicated to hockey,

9:16

he was a rule follower who adored

9:18

his family. There

9:21

was no way he would have just taken

9:23

off and bailed on his job commitment without

9:25

so much as a phone call. He

9:28

also had a lot of respect

9:30

for George Pechaud and would never

9:32

run off with his car without

9:34

seeking permission first. The

9:38

McPherson's contacted their bank to find out

9:40

when Duncan had last cashed one of

9:43

his travellers' checks. They

9:45

were told it was Monday, August 7, the

9:48

day Duncan visited Roger in Fusan.

9:52

This meant that ten days had passed

9:54

without Duncan accessing any of his money.

9:58

The McPherson's anxiety he spiked

10:00

as they considered all possibilities.

10:04

What if Duncan had accidentally driven George's

10:06

car off the road and he was

10:09

concealed in a ditch or mountainside somewhere?

10:12

What if he'd picked up a hitchhiker who

10:14

caused him harm? In

10:17

the 1980s, kidnappings for

10:19

ransom weren't unheard of in Italy.

10:22

What if Duncan had unwittingly crossed

10:24

paths with the mafia? After

10:31

two more days passed with no word

10:34

from Duncan, on Sunday, August 20, the

10:37

McPherson's contacted the Royal Canadian

10:39

Mounted Police, or RCMP, and

10:41

reported the 23-year-old to

10:44

be missing. To

10:46

their surprise, their situation wasn't treated

10:49

with any sense of urgency. Instead,

10:52

they were told to call back

10:55

again during regular office hours on

10:57

Monday. When

11:00

the McPherson's finally made contact with the

11:02

police the next day, the officers they

11:04

spoke to told them not to worry.

11:08

Duncan was an adult who was free to

11:10

do as he pleased. Like

11:13

many other young foreigners, he'd likely just

11:15

gotten caught up in an adventure or

11:17

had met a girl and would resurface

11:19

again soon. Or

11:22

maybe he intended to disappear for a

11:24

while, which as an adult, he was

11:26

free to do. The

11:30

McPherson's didn't believe any of these reasons

11:32

for a second. Not

11:35

only would they have been completely out of

11:37

character for Duncan, he also had a girlfriend

11:39

back at home and the two had been

11:42

making plans for her to come and visit

11:44

him in Scotland. When

11:47

Duncan still hadn't contacted anyone by Wednesday,

11:49

August 23, the RCMP finally alerted Interpol

11:53

and a bulletin was distributed to

11:55

police stations and border crossings throughout

11:58

Europe. weeks.

22:01

Making inquiries with each one would

22:03

be a monumental task when they

22:05

didn't even have any evidence to

22:07

indicate Duncan had passed through the

22:09

area. Like

22:12

the others, Innsbruck police reassured the

22:14

McPherson's that Duncan was likely off

22:17

having an adventure and would show

22:19

up soon. If

22:21

he had come to Austria, his parents

22:24

could rest assured that it was a

22:26

safe country with a very low crime

22:28

rate, and nothing bad would have happened

22:30

to him. The

22:33

McPherson's remained convinced that Duncan would

22:35

have travelled to Innsbruck. They

22:38

spent the next few days driving

22:41

around town and the surrounding mountains,

22:43

putting Duncan's missing person posters up

22:45

and making inquiries of their own.

22:49

Upon learning of their story, the head

22:51

coach of the Innsbruck hockey club felt

22:53

for the couple and pulled some strings

22:56

to have Duncan's case broadcast on a

22:58

local news network. The

23:01

segment was broadcast on Wednesday September

23:03

20, almost 50 days

23:06

since Duncan had vanished. The

23:10

McPherson's asked anyone who might have

23:12

seen Duncan or his vehicle to

23:14

come forward. Finally,

23:18

someone did. Don't

23:46

forget to thank... ourselves. Remember

23:50

we're all doing our best in a

23:52

challenging world. Take this

23:54

as a reminder to show appreciation

23:56

to those around you and don't

23:59

forget yourself. The

24:01

team at Casefile firmly believes in the

24:03

benefits of therapy. It's not

24:05

just for those who have experienced major

24:08

trauma. Therapy can

24:10

teach you coping skills, help you

24:12

set boundaries, and provide a space

24:14

to explore your thoughts and feelings

24:16

without judgment. It

24:18

can also help you recognize the

24:20

progress you're making, no matter how

24:22

small. If you've

24:24

been thinking about starting therapy, consider

24:27

giving BetterHelp a try. It's

24:29

an online platform designed to

24:31

be convenient, flexible, and tailored

24:33

to your schedule. You

24:36

simply fill out a brief questionnaire

24:38

and BetterHelp will match you with

24:40

a licensed therapist. Plus

24:42

if you feel the need to switch

24:44

therapists, you can do so at any

24:47

time with no extra cost. Let

24:50

the gratitude flow with BetterHelp. Visit

24:53

betterhelp.com/Casefile today to

24:56

get 10% off

24:58

your first month. That's

25:01

BetterHelp, help.com/Casefile.

25:08

With Robinhood Gold, you don't need a silver

25:10

spoon to weed up the financial favors of

25:12

the 1%. Robinhood

25:15

Gold allows others to get the

25:17

rates and perks usually reserved for

25:19

the higher society. Now,

25:21

the resourceful individual with Robinhood Gold

25:23

can earn the very liberal rate

25:26

of 4.5% APY

25:28

on uninvested cash and be

25:30

rewarded with the handsome 3%

25:33

retirement boost on an IRA

25:35

account. Robinhood Gold

25:37

provides the privileges of a high

25:39

net worth for any net worth.

25:42

These generous benefits are now available for only

25:44

$5 per month. The

25:47

new gold standard is here with

25:50

Robinhood Gold. Sign

25:52

up at robinhood.com/Gold.

25:56

Terms apply. For product specific

25:58

disclosures, visit Robinhood. Thank you

26:00

for listening to this episode's

26:02

ads. By

26:14

supporting our sponsors, you support

26:16

Casefile to continue to deliver

26:19

quality content. Sebastian

26:27

Wagner, not his real name, was a

26:29

contractor who had recently been doing some

26:32

repair work to the parking lot of

26:34

a popular ski resort known as the

26:36

Stubei Glacier, 40 kilometres

26:38

south of Wensbruck. The

26:42

Stubei Glacier is situated at the end

26:44

of the Stubei Valley, roughly 3,000 metres

26:47

above sea level. It

26:49

is made up of five glaciers,

26:51

making it the largest glacier ski

26:53

area in Austria. In

26:57

the winter, hundreds of thousands of visitors

26:59

from around the world flocked to the

27:01

area to make the most of the

27:03

snowfall. But it

27:05

is just as popular in the

27:07

summertime, with tourists drawn to the

27:09

hiking trails, waterfalls and alpine huts

27:12

that dot the surrounding mountainside. When

27:16

Sebastian saw the news bulletin

27:18

about Duncan McPherson's disappearance, he

27:20

was certain he'd seen that

27:22

red opal corsa before. It

27:25

had been sitting in the parking

27:27

lot of the Stubei Glacier Resort

27:29

near the Gondola station for weeks.

27:34

Sebastian immediately notified the police, who

27:36

followed up on the lead that

27:38

night. The

27:40

vehicle was right where Sebastian said it

27:42

would be. At

27:45

a quick glance, nothing appeared to be out

27:47

of the ordinary. The

27:49

driver's side window was slightly ajar, allowing

27:52

the officers to reach inside and to

27:54

open it up. In

27:57

the glove box, they found Duncan

27:59

McPherson's passport. and uncashed travelers

28:01

checks. A

28:03

plastic bag of fruit sat rotting

28:06

on the back seat, along with

28:08

Duncan's backpack, a sweater, ice skates,

28:10

and a hand-drawn map. Duncan

28:14

himself was nowhere to be seen,

28:16

nor were there any signs that

28:18

a struggle had taken place. However,

28:22

an unsent letter to his

28:24

girlfriend provided a potential clue. In

28:28

the letter, Duncan mentioned that he'd

28:30

just bought a cool new pair

28:32

of Mephisto-brand walking shoes. The

28:35

shoes weren't in Duncan's car, which raised

28:38

the possibility that he might have warned

28:40

them to go hiking on one of

28:42

the nearby trails. Police

28:45

immediately made inquiries with the accommodation

28:48

providers in the area. Duncan

28:51

McPherson hadn't been registered as a

28:53

guest at any of the major

28:55

hotels or the small alpine hearts,

28:58

nor did anyone recognize him from

29:00

his photograph. Bob

29:05

and Linda McPherson arrived at the

29:07

Stubbe Glacier the day after Duncan's

29:09

car was found. Upon

29:11

learning that the vehicle had been in

29:13

the area for weeks, they were stunned.

29:17

The Stubbe Glacier is a major

29:19

tourist attraction bringing in millions of

29:21

dollars in revenue each year. Every

29:25

day, thousands of visitors and locals

29:27

used the parking lot, but

29:29

the glacier shut for business in the

29:31

evenings and the parking lot was virtually

29:34

emptied by 6pm. The

29:36

McPherson's wondered how Duncan's car could

29:38

have sat there for weeks without

29:40

it raising any alarms, especially when

29:42

police were aware that a tourist

29:45

had gone missing in the area.

29:49

The McPherson's checked into the nearby hotel

29:51

to join the search for their son.

29:55

As they were registering, a man

29:57

approached them. He

29:59

introduced himself as Walter Hinterhalsel,

30:02

a Stubbeigh Glacier snowboard instructor

30:04

who also worked at the

30:06

hotel part-time. Walter

30:09

said he'd just seen the missing

30:11

person poster taped to the window

30:13

of the McPherson's rental car and

30:16

recognized Duncan's photo. While

30:19

most of the ski runs on the Stubbeigh

30:21

Glacier were closed in August due to lack

30:23

of snow, one small bunny

30:26

hill with a rope tow lift

30:28

remained open, known as the Shuffle

30:30

Fannar. Walter

30:32

Hinterhalsel claimed that on the morning

30:34

of Tuesday, August 9, he

30:37

had given Duncan a two-hour snowboarding

30:39

lesson on the Shuffle Fannar. He'd

30:42

been impressed by how quickly Duncan had gotten

30:44

the hang of things and how well he

30:46

was able to control the board. After

30:50

the lesson, the two ate lunch together.

30:53

Duncan told Walter about his upcoming

30:56

coaching job in Scotland and his

30:58

desire to go windsurfing on Lake

31:00

Gardar before then. Walter

31:03

recommended that Duncan visit Austria's

31:06

Lake Arken instead. It

31:09

was less than an hour from Innsbruck and

31:11

would give Duncan more time before he had

31:13

to be back in Germany for his flight.

31:17

Duncan seemed pleased by this. He

31:20

told Walter he was going to spend the

31:22

rest of the afternoon testing out his new

31:24

snowboarding skills and might then go for a

31:27

hike on one of the surrounding trails. He

31:30

arranged to meet Walter again for a

31:32

follow-up lesson the next morning. The

31:37

jumper Duncan had been wearing was soaked through,

31:39

so he bought a new one from the

31:41

gift shop and hung his wet one out

31:43

to dry in Walter's office before hitting the

31:46

slope on his own. At

31:49

the end of the day, Walter returned

31:51

to his office only to find that

31:53

Duncan's jumper was still there. He

31:57

reasoned that Duncan would probably just pick

31:59

it up. after his lesson the next

32:01

morning, but he never showed

32:03

up and the jumper remained

32:06

unclaimed. The

32:12

Shuffle Fanners ski run was located 3,770 vertical

32:14

feet above the parking lot. The

32:20

only way to reach it was to ride

32:22

the gondola or hike it on foot. The

32:26

McPherson's rode the gondola up to

32:28

see the slope for themselves. It

32:31

was only a small area, its entire

32:33

surface visible from the base. The

32:36

ski run was clearly marked with a rope

32:39

cord and marking an out of bounds area

32:41

to the east. The

32:44

McPherson's knew there was no way something

32:46

bad could have happened to Duncan at

32:48

this spot. Not

32:50

only was the slope smoothed at the

32:52

end of each day by a snow

32:54

groomer machine, if Duncan had

32:57

accidentally gone off course, he would

32:59

have left behind an obvious trail.

33:02

He was also last seen wearing a

33:04

bright yellow ski jacket which would have

33:06

been very visible. A

33:10

search team combed the slope but

33:12

didn't find any trace of Duncan.

33:16

Walter Hinterhulsel's girlfriend, who was also

33:18

employed by the Stubei Glacier, recalled

33:20

seeing Duncan on the tow lift

33:23

at 2.30pm on Wednesday August 9,

33:26

shortly after he'd finished his lunch

33:28

with Walter. This

33:31

was the last confirmed sighting. Based

33:34

on Duncan's conversation with Walter, police

33:37

deduced that after practicing snowboarding for

33:39

a while, Duncan likely set out

33:41

on one of the hiking trails.

33:45

This would explain why his new shoes

33:47

were missing. Walter

33:50

had advised Duncan to avoid hiking

33:52

downhill because it would cause stress

33:54

on his knees, which were weak

33:56

from hockey injuries. One

33:59

Stubei Glacier in employee recalled seeing

34:01

a tall young man standing near

34:03

a waterfall below the glacier on

34:05

August 9. In

34:08

the summer, the melting ice created

34:10

deep whirlpools around the waterfall. Police

34:14

theorised that Duncan could have ignored

34:17

Walter's advice, hiking downhill to the

34:19

waterfall where he fell in and

34:21

drowned. They

34:24

searched the falls but found nothing to

34:26

indicate Duncan had been there. They

34:30

focused their search further up the

34:32

mountain instead, where snow continued to

34:34

fall. There

34:36

was no sign of Duncan there either. By

34:41

Monday, September 25, the

34:43

search for Duncan Macpherson at the

34:45

Shtubai Glacier reached its fifth fruitless

34:47

day. With

34:50

no confirmed sightings of him after

34:52

August 9, the police concluded that

34:54

he'd likely gotten lost or had

34:56

an accident on the mountain and

34:58

his body was concealed by snow.

35:02

His abandoned car hadn't raised any

35:04

alarms because hikers often left their

35:06

vehicles in the Shtubai Glacier parking

35:08

lot while heading out for extended

35:10

hiking trips, during which they camped

35:12

at the Alpine Huts along the

35:14

way. Police

35:17

reasoned that they hadn't patrolled the parking

35:19

lot because it was private property. They

35:23

called off the search, confident that

35:26

Duncan's body would eventually be recovered

35:28

by hikers or hunters in due

35:30

course. Bob

35:37

and Linda Macpherson were outraged by

35:39

this conclusion. Without

35:41

Duncan's body, how could the police be

35:43

sure that he was even dead, let

35:45

alone that he'd died by accident on

35:47

the mountain somewhere? As

35:50

far as his parents were concerned, Duncan

35:52

could be anywhere. He

35:55

might not even be dead. Disappointed

35:58

with the Innsbruck police investigation,

36:00

the McPherson's were dubious about

36:03

their claims that they'd found

36:05

no record of Duncan having

36:07

stayed anywhere in Innsbruck throughout

36:09

August. Bob

36:11

and Linda conducted their own inquiries

36:13

and discovered that Duncan had indeed

36:16

spent the night of Tuesday, August

36:18

8 in a youth hostel downtown

36:20

before checking out the next morning.

36:24

While this bolstered the police theory that

36:26

Duncan had disappeared on the same day

36:28

he was last seen, the McPherson's

36:30

couldn't help but wonder. If

36:33

the police had overlooked a simple

36:35

detail like Duncan's hostel registration, what

36:38

else had they missed? Ron

36:42

Dixon, the owner of the Dundee

36:44

Tigers ice hockey team, was confident

36:46

he'd spoken to Duncan on Thursday,

36:48

August 10, the day after

36:51

he'd been snowboarding at the Stubbe Glacier.

36:54

A recently purchased cassette tape found

36:56

in Duncan's car was traced to

36:59

a music store in Innsbruck where

37:01

an employee remembered serving Duncan. She

37:04

couldn't be sure exactly when,

37:07

but she remembered one distinct

37:09

detail. Duncan hadn't

37:11

been alone, but with the

37:13

dark-haired man. While

37:17

it pained Bob and Linda to imagine,

37:20

they considered whether Duncan might have

37:22

been abducted and was being held

37:24

captive. What if

37:26

he was out there somewhere, willing his

37:28

parents to find him? As

37:32

Bob later told Esquire magazine,

37:36

even though we knew in our hearts that

37:38

he probably wasn't alive, you always

37:40

think there's some chance. That's

37:43

what made us want to keep going. It's

37:46

amazing how much you hang on to

37:48

that thread, the tiniest bit

37:51

of hope. They

37:56

stewed over it for days before

37:58

the realisation dawned. on Linda. Walter

38:02

Hinterholzl, the snowboard instructor, had

38:04

told the McPherson's that Duncan had

38:06

rented a snowboard, gloves and

38:08

ski boots prior to their

38:10

lesson together. At

38:13

the time, there was only one ski shop

38:15

on the mountain. In

38:18

order to rent any equipment, customers had

38:20

to put a government issued ID or

38:22

credit card down as a deposit, which

38:24

would be returned to them when handing

38:26

over their gear at the end of

38:28

the day. It

38:31

occurred to Linda that staff at the shop

38:34

would be able to tell them whether or

38:36

not Duncan returned his gear. If

38:39

he hadn't, this would signify that he

38:41

might have had an accident while he

38:43

was out snowboarding instead of after. Linda

38:48

visited the rental shop and asked them

38:50

to check their records. The

38:53

staff told her they'd recently started a

38:55

new log and had therefore thrown the

38:57

old one away. While

38:59

none of the employees specifically recalled

39:02

Duncan returning his gear, no

39:04

snowboards were missing from their inventory,

39:06

so they reasoned that he must

39:09

have returned it. It

39:12

was protocol for staff to inform guards

39:14

of any rental equipment that hadn't been

39:16

returned, so they could check the slope

39:19

for any potential accidents. If

39:22

the police theory was correct and Duncan

39:25

really had perished while hiking in the

39:27

Stubbe Valley, his parents couldn't bear the

39:29

thought of his body being left out

39:31

there all alone. With

39:34

winter just around the corner, they

39:36

knew that time was of the

39:38

essence, as any search efforts would

39:40

be hindered completely once the heavy

39:42

snowfall began. A

39:46

Canadian businessman heard about the situation

39:48

and generously funded a Canadian search

39:50

and rescue team to fly to

39:52

Austria and continue the search themselves.

39:56

They arrived on Sunday October 8, the

39:59

beginning of the third month of

40:01

Duncan's disappearance. With

40:03

the help of some new computer

40:05

software and a sniffer dog, they

40:07

started from the Shtubay Glacier Resort

40:09

parking lot and searched outwards around

40:12

the valley from there. The

40:15

days ticked by with no breakthroughs,

40:18

and by Sunday October 15, the

40:21

team was forced to call off the search

40:23

on account of heavy snowfall. Defeated,

40:26

Bob and Linda McPherson felt there

40:28

was nothing more they could do.

40:32

They reluctantly returned to Canada, vowing

40:34

to come back as soon as

40:37

the snow melted. Around

40:43

at the same time that the McPherson's

40:45

left Austria, the manager of one of

40:47

the Alpine Huts in the Shtubay Valley

40:50

came across one of Duncan's missing posters

40:52

for the first time. Upon

40:55

seeing Duncan's face, he was reminded of

40:57

a strange incident that had occurred a

41:00

couple of weeks earlier. On

41:03

Monday, September 25, a

41:05

disheveled-looking English-speaking foreigner had shown up at

41:07

the hut in the middle of the

41:09

night. He'd

41:11

tracked there through the dark without

41:14

suitable hiking gear, not even a

41:16

flashlight. He

41:18

seemed a little disoriented and had

41:20

taken off again after breakfast the

41:22

next morning, heading towards the old

41:24

Smuggler's Trails into Italy. The

41:28

hut manager thought the man bore

41:30

a resemblance to Duncan McPherson. Bob

41:35

and Linda weren't sure what to make

41:37

of this. The

41:39

police had assured them that all the

41:41

hut managers had been notified of Duncan's

41:44

disappearance, so it seemed odd that such

41:46

an encounter could have occurred without it

41:48

raising suspicions at the time. Then

41:52

again, it gave them hope that Duncan

41:54

could be experiencing amnesia as a result

41:56

of his Lyme disease or an accident

41:58

and could be a problem. still be

42:01

alive after all. As

42:04

the months passed by, other potential

42:06

sightings of Duncan continued to trickle

42:08

in. One

42:10

Canadian tourist thought she spotted him at

42:12

a bar in Russia. Thinking

42:15

fast, she took a photo and sent

42:17

it to his family. But

42:20

it wasn't Duncan. The

42:24

McPherson's couldn't shake the feeling that Ron

42:26

Dixon, the man who'd offered Duncan the

42:28

coaching job, knew more about Duncan's disappearance

42:31

than he was letting on. Not

42:34

only did Ron claim to be one of

42:37

the last people to speak with Duncan before

42:39

he went missing, the McPherson's

42:41

found it odd that he hadn't

42:43

contacted them to let them know

42:45

Duncan never arrived in Scotland. He'd

42:48

never even reached out to offer any

42:51

support. The

42:53

McPherson's did some digging and discovered

42:55

that Ron Dixon had a shady

42:58

past. Rumours

43:00

swirled about his dodgy real estate

43:02

ventures and a criminal record that

43:04

included a prison sentence for manslaughter.

43:08

The McPherson's wondered if Duncan's job

43:10

offer seemed too good to be

43:12

true because something more sinister had

43:14

been at play. Regardless,

43:18

they weren't discounting the possibility that Duncan had

43:20

indeed died by accident around the Stubbe Glacier.

43:22

In the summer of 1990, they returned to

43:24

Austria, bringing Duncan's beloved

43:29

dog Jake with them. For weeks, they camped in

43:31

the Stubbe Valley and hiked the surrounding trails

43:36

on the lookout for any sign of Duncan. They

43:38

returned every summer for the next day. They

43:43

returned every summer for the next

43:45

three years, but came no closer

43:47

to finding him. In

43:55

late 1993, a German television

43:57

programme called Bittermelderdig aired segment

44:00

about Duncan's disappearance, urging anyone

44:02

with information about his whereabouts

44:04

to come forward. A

44:08

woman named Lena, not her real name,

44:10

was watching the show when something occurred

44:12

to her. Lena

44:15

lived in the Austrian city of Clergenford,

44:17

roughly 320 kilometres southeast

44:20

of Innsbruck. Four

44:22

years earlier, on Saturday, September 9, 1989, a

44:24

distressed and

44:27

malnourished young man had emerged from the

44:29

woods in a town about half an

44:31

hour from Clergenford. Speaking

44:34

only North American English, he had

44:36

no identification on him and claimed

44:38

he couldn't remember his name, where

44:40

he came from, or anything else

44:42

about his life. The

44:45

only thing he could remember was that

44:47

he'd once lived in New York. The

44:52

mystery man was arrested for vagrancy

44:54

before being transferred to a mental

44:56

health facility. Doctors

44:59

initially thought he might be suffering

45:01

from some type of neurological condition,

45:04

but when he didn't respond to any

45:06

of the treatments, it was determined that

45:08

he had a severe case of amnesia.

45:12

The man was given the green light to live

45:14

in Austria. He settled

45:16

in Clergenford, where he went by

45:18

the name Mark Schurfmann. Over

45:22

time, Lena became friends with Mark.

45:26

Other than the fact that he couldn't

45:28

remember his true identity, there was nothing

45:30

unusual about him. He

45:33

was a nice guy who lived an

45:35

otherwise normal life. But

45:39

when Lena saw the bitter

45:41

meldedique segment about Duncan McPherson's

45:43

disappearance, it gave her pause.

45:47

Mark Schurfmann had emerged from the

45:49

woods exactly one month after Duncan

45:51

McPherson was last seen at the

45:54

Stilbai Glacier, only a few hundred

45:56

kilometres away. Mark

45:59

had been wearing an American brand

46:01

of jeans just like Duncan had.

46:04

Duncan had had various surgeries on

46:06

his knees. Mark's

46:08

knees also had surgical scars on

46:10

them. Duncan's

46:13

front teeth had been knocked out during

46:15

a hockey match and had been replaced

46:17

with crowns. Mark's

46:19

front teeth had received similar

46:21

dental work. Looking

46:24

at Duncan's picture on the television,

46:27

Lena saw the similarities and wondered.

46:30

Could the two men be one and the

46:32

same? Lena

46:35

shared her suspicions with her boyfriend, who

46:37

managed to get a hold of the

46:40

McPherson's phone number. In

46:42

early February 1994, he

46:45

called them in Canada to pass on the

46:47

information. Bob

46:49

and Linda didn't know what to think.

46:53

Given Duncan's brush with Lyme disease

46:55

just before his trip to Europe,

46:58

the possibility that he was experiencing

47:00

amnesia seemed entirely plausible. And

47:03

what were the chances that two young

47:06

North American men could go missing within

47:08

such close proximity within just a few

47:10

weeks of one another? The

47:14

McPherson's contacted foreign affairs, who arranged

47:17

to have someone from the Canadian

47:19

Embassy in Austria visit Mark Schurfmann.

47:23

Everything Lena said was true.

47:26

Mark and Duncan did share

47:28

many similarities. The

47:30

embassy officials even took Mark to an

47:32

ice skating rink to put his skills

47:34

to the test. It

47:37

turned out he was a talented skater.

47:42

A picture of Mark was faxed to

47:44

the McPherson's in Canada. They

47:47

gathered around the fax machine

47:49

along with some of Duncan's

47:51

friends, anticipation soaring as the

47:53

image emerged. But

47:56

Mark Schurfmann looked nothing like

47:59

Duncan. His

48:01

loved ones considered every conceivable possibility

48:04

that Duncan's appearance could have changed

48:06

in the four years since his

48:08

disappearance, and embassy officials ordered a

48:10

comparison of the two men's dental

48:13

records. They

48:15

didn't match. A

48:18

former teammate of Duncan's who was living

48:20

in Austria went to visit Mark just

48:22

in case. But

48:25

to the crushing disappointment of many, he

48:27

confirmed that Mark Schurfmann and

48:30

Duncan Macpherson were definitely not

48:32

the same person. In

48:37

the summers that followed, Bob and

48:39

Linda spent their life savings returning

48:41

to Austria. They

48:44

refused to change their phone number or

48:46

move house just in case Duncan ever

48:48

tried to get in touch. By

48:51

2003, Duncan had been missing for 14 years. Bob

48:57

and Linda could no longer afford the

48:59

annual trips, and they did their best

49:02

to get on with their lives even

49:04

though their sun was never far from

49:06

their minds. That

49:10

summer, the temperature soared to record

49:12

heights in Innsbruck. So

49:15

much of the winter snow melted that

49:17

even the Schaffelfärner ski run had to

49:19

be closed down. On

49:22

Friday, July 18, 2003,

49:25

a Stubei Glacier employee was walking

49:27

along the empty ski run collecting

49:30

rubbish when they noticed something sticking

49:32

out of the snow approximately 35

49:35

metres east of the ski lift. At

49:39

the Macpherson's home in Saskatoon, the

49:42

phone rang the next day. It

49:45

was a friend of theirs from Innsbruck. They

49:50

found Duncan, he said. Case

50:01

file will be back shortly. Thank

50:03

you for supporting us by listening

50:06

to this episode's sponsors. We

50:09

all dread the what's for dinner question.

50:12

I know I do. Ordering takeout

50:15

is often the default option, but it's

50:17

hardly satisfying and you always end up

50:19

spending more. If you'd

50:21

rather enjoy a home cooked meal without

50:23

the stress of planning ahead, Home Chef

50:26

makes it simple and helps save you

50:28

money. Home Chef

50:30

brings fresh ingredients and easy chef-designed

50:32

recipes straight to your door. Whether

50:35

you want classic meal kits

50:38

with pre-portioned ingredients, 30-minute recipes

50:40

or quick microwave meals, Home

50:42

Chef makes it simple to

50:44

enjoy tasty, stress-free meals for

50:46

the whole family. Home

50:48

Chef offers over 30 meal choices

50:50

each week and caters to many

50:53

dietary needs. They

50:55

even have a tasty, kid-friendly menu

50:57

that's perfect for picky eaters, making

50:59

dinner time stress-free. Besides

51:02

being convenient, Home Chef is

51:04

also budget-friendly. Customers save an

51:06

average of $86 a month on groceries. Olivia

51:11

Lavois, host of Case File Presents

51:13

series The Bakersfield 3, is

51:15

loving Home Chef for its convenience and

51:18

the high quality of ingredients supplied. She

51:21

says it's also introduced her to new

51:23

recipes she wouldn't have otherwise made. For

51:26

a limited time, Home Chef is

51:28

offering my listeners 18 free meals

51:31

plus free dessert for life and

51:33

of course free shipping on your

51:35

first box. Go

51:38

to homechef.com/Case File.

51:42

That's homechef.com/Case File for

51:45

18 free meals and

51:47

free dessert for life.

51:51

You heard that right. homechef.com/Case

51:54

File. Must

51:57

be an active subscriber to receive free

51:59

dessert. Thank

52:02

you for listening to this episode's ads.

52:05

By supporting our sponsors, you

52:07

support Casefile to continue to

52:09

deliver quality content. It

52:21

didn't take long for the Innsbruck Police to

52:23

confirm that Duncan had died by accident. On

52:25

the same day he was last seen back

52:27

on Wednesday, August 9, 1989. His body had

52:29

been buried in a small

52:34

crevasse and was seemingly frozen

52:36

in time. Dressed

52:39

in the same bright yellow ski

52:41

jacket and the newly purchased jumper

52:43

he'd been wearing at the time

52:45

of his disappearance, his pockets still

52:47

held his wallet which contained essentials

52:49

for his European trip, including

52:52

his international driver's license and

52:54

a Canadian calling card. The

52:58

snowboard and ski boots he'd supposedly

53:00

returned to the rental shop were

53:03

also still with him. Similar

53:07

crevasses to the one Duncan's body

53:10

was found in crisscrossed all over

53:12

the Stubei Glacier. To

53:15

make the area safe for skiers, piston

53:17

bullies groomed the ski runs at the

53:19

end of each day, filling each of

53:21

the crevasses in with snow. Ungroomed

53:25

areas were cordoned off to make sure

53:27

skiers didn't veer out of bounds. The

53:31

ski lift operator insisted that the area

53:33

to the left and right of the

53:35

ski lift had been cordoned off at

53:37

the time Duncan went missing. Cravasses

53:41

like the one Duncan's body was

53:43

found in also moved naturally over

53:45

time. It

53:48

was therefore deduced that at the

53:50

time of Duncan's death, the crevasse

53:52

would have been about 40 metres

53:54

further uphill, just outside of the

53:56

designated ski run. Authorities

54:00

therefore theorised that Duncan could

54:02

have either ridden off course

54:04

while snowboarding or been riding

54:06

the ski lift when he fell off. It

54:10

wasn't possible to snowboard down the lift

54:12

route and they assumed Duncan would have

54:15

thought it was too difficult to climb

54:17

up. Instead,

54:19

they concluded that he likely took

54:22

a shortcut on foot across an

54:24

out-of-bounds area. The

54:27

air was thick with fog that day

54:29

and Duncan could have gotten lost before

54:32

falling into one of the crevasses too

54:34

far outside of the ski run for

54:36

anyone else to notice. Duncan's

54:41

frozen remains were removed using an

54:43

ice pick and transported to the

54:45

coroner where a pathologist was tasked

54:47

with formally identifying the body. In

54:51

Austria, autopsies aren't necessary if the

54:53

individual is determined to have died

54:55

as the result of an accident

54:58

and as such, no autopsy

55:00

was requested. Based

55:03

on the known facts, the pathologist

55:05

concluded that Duncan had likely fallen

55:08

into the crevasse and was unable

55:10

to climb out. He

55:12

would have managed to breathe some of

55:15

the air that was trapped in the

55:17

snow for a little while before running

55:19

out of oxygen and suffocating to death.

55:25

Bob and Linda McPherson promptly

55:27

arrived in Innsbruck to identify

55:29

Duncan's mummified body. His

55:32

remains were laid out in the forensic

55:34

institute covered in a white sheet with

55:36

only his face visible. Despite

55:40

his skin being black from oxidation,

55:42

Linda recognised her son right away.

55:47

Bob and Linda each took a moment

55:49

to say goodbye to their son. If

55:52

there was any consolation to be found after

55:54

14 agonising years, it

55:57

was that Duncan likely hadn't

55:59

suffered badly. The

56:02

forensic pathologist in charge, Dr. Walter

56:05

Rabble, told the McPherson's that survivors

56:07

of similar experiences had reported feeling

56:09

calm and happy in the moments

56:12

before they were rescued. While

56:16

the McPherson's were relieved to discover

56:18

that Duncan hadn't suffered any of

56:20

their worst case scenarios, something

56:23

didn't feel right. A

56:26

few days after identifying their son,

56:28

they returned to the Stubei Glacier

56:31

and rode the gondola up the

56:33

Schaufelferner like they'd done many times

56:35

before. Two

56:38

Glacier employees then drove them in

56:40

a snowcat to the location where Duncan's

56:42

body had been found. While

56:45

the McPherson's were anticipating the spot to

56:48

be off to the side in an

56:50

area that was obviously out of bounds,

56:52

they were shocked to see that it was right

56:54

in the middle of the ski run. In

56:58

fact, they'd passed by that very

57:00

spot themselves several times over the

57:02

years. Bob

57:05

had even taken a photo of

57:07

Linda standing nearby. It

57:10

struck them that for all the time

57:12

they'd spent worrying about their son, thousands

57:15

of people had been skiing practically

57:17

right over him. As

57:21

they tried to get their heads

57:23

around the reality of it all,

57:25

Bob looked into the recently disturbed

57:27

ice and noticed something black emerging

57:29

from the melting snow. He picked

57:32

it up. It

57:34

was a large piece of Duncan's

57:36

rented snowboard, clearly broken with the

57:38

serial number still visible. Bob

57:42

poked around further and

57:44

to his utter dismay, he found

57:47

several of Duncan's bones that the

57:49

recovery team had failed to retrieve.

57:53

Appalled by the careless recovery

57:55

efforts, the McPherson sought answers

57:57

from Dr. Walter Rabel, the

57:59

forensic pathologist. He

58:02

advised them that some of the items

58:04

such as Dunkin' Snowboard and clothing had

58:06

been encased in such a way that

58:08

it was impossible to remove them using

58:11

an ice pick. Instead,

58:13

the rescue crew had used a snow

58:16

grooming machine to dig them out, which

58:18

had resulted in some damage. Bob

58:22

was taken aback by this. He

58:25

was familiar with snow grooming machines

58:27

and knew that they didn't have

58:30

any excavation capabilities. The

58:32

tiller blade on the front, which

58:35

consists of a rapidly rotating shaft,

58:37

was used to push snow, not

58:40

deguise. Suspicions

58:43

raised, the McPherson's wanted to

58:45

have their own autopsy conducted.

58:47

But repatriating Dunkin's body back

58:49

to Canada was an expensive

58:52

endeavour and their relentless search

58:54

for him had already set

58:56

them back over 100,000 euros,

58:58

their entire retirement fund. They

59:02

simply didn't have the money. Besides,

59:06

Dr. Rabel advised them that given

59:08

how long Dunkin's body had spent

59:11

in the ice, an autopsy probably

59:13

wouldn't reveal much anyway. He

59:16

offered to have a computerised tomography

59:19

scan done of Dunkin's body instead.

59:23

It would produce two and three-dimensional

59:25

x-ray images of the remains. While

59:29

it wouldn't reveal how Dunkin had

59:31

died, it would show any injuries

59:33

he'd sustained. The

59:36

McPherson's agreed to go ahead with the

59:39

scan. A

59:41

few days later, Dr. Rabel told

59:43

them that while he hadn't yet

59:45

seen the scans himself, a colleague

59:47

in the radiology department said Dunkin

59:49

hadn't sustained any major injury that

59:51

would account for his death, bolstering

59:54

the theory that he'd died by

59:56

suffocation. parents

1:00:00

accepted the explanation for Duncan's

1:00:02

accidental death and consented to

1:00:04

have his body cremated. They

1:00:08

returned to Canada armed with nothing

1:00:10

more than his ashes, his ski

1:00:12

boots, and the remnants of

1:00:15

his broken snowboard. While

1:00:20

Duncan's case was officially closed, that

1:00:23

didn't stop his parents from seeking

1:00:25

answers. It

1:00:27

seemed unbelievable to them that Duncan

1:00:29

could have died right at the

1:00:31

spot where he was last seen

1:00:33

and then gone undetected for so

1:00:35

many years. The

1:00:38

last reported sighting of Duncan had occurred around 2.30pm

1:00:40

on Wednesday August 9 1989. The slope closed to

1:00:42

the public at 4pm, after which the

1:00:50

piston bullies came out to groom the snow

1:00:52

in preparation for the following day's run. What

1:00:56

the McPherson's couldn't understand was why

1:00:58

didn't anyone go looking for Duncan,

1:01:00

despite the fact his car sat

1:01:02

in the parking lot, his rental

1:01:04

gear hadn't been returned to the

1:01:06

ski shop, and his wet clothing

1:01:08

sat hanging in Walter Hinterhosel's office.

1:01:12

For many years, the Innsbruck police had

1:01:14

told the McPherson's there had never been

1:01:17

any fatal accidents on the shelf or

1:01:19

Fairness ski run. But

1:01:21

as the McPherson's soon discovered, this

1:01:24

wasn't the case. In

1:01:27

fact, almost one year to the

1:01:29

day before Duncan went missing, international

1:01:31

student Chung Yinchu had been skiing

1:01:33

the shelf or Fairner when he

1:01:35

fell from the ski lift. He

1:01:38

then took a shortcut across the Cordon

1:01:40

D'off area and fell into a crevasse.

1:01:44

Unlike Duncan, Chung was visiting with friends

1:01:46

who raised the alarm when he failed

1:01:48

to surface at the end of the

1:01:50

day. Rescue

1:01:53

workers found Chung in the ice,

1:01:55

his body temperature so low that

1:01:57

he was barely clinging to life.

1:01:59

He was was transported to hospital

1:02:01

where he passed away due to

1:02:03

complications from hypothermia. During

1:02:07

the McPherson's tireless search for Duncan,

1:02:09

the possibility that he could have

1:02:11

fallen down a crevasse had never

1:02:14

once been suggested by officials, even

1:02:16

though he was last sighted in the

1:02:18

very area where Cheng Yinchu had died

1:02:21

a year earlier, and

1:02:23

the same police officer had

1:02:25

overseen both searches. Not

1:02:28

only did this raise some serious red

1:02:31

flags for the McPherson's, they also took

1:02:33

issue with the suggestion that if Duncan

1:02:35

had fallen off the ski lift, he

1:02:37

might have found it too difficult to

1:02:39

climb back up the slope, and that's

1:02:41

why he took the shortcut through the

1:02:44

cordoned-off area. Duncan

1:02:46

was a fit, strong professional athlete

1:02:49

who was also very safety conscious.

1:02:52

Back in 1993, snowboarding instructor

1:02:55

Walter Hinterhosel had even told

1:02:57

the German television show Bittermeldedig

1:03:00

that Duncan had been particularly

1:03:02

cautious around the slope boundaries.

1:03:06

So if he had indeed fallen off

1:03:08

the ski lifts, the McPherson's found it

1:03:11

hard to believe that he would have

1:03:13

taken the risky shortcut instead of simply

1:03:15

climbing back up the mountain. In

1:03:20

September 2003, the Innsbruck police

1:03:22

released their final official report

1:03:24

into Duncan McPherson's death. While

1:03:28

they acknowledged that they could only speculate

1:03:30

about the cause of the accident, a

1:03:33

statement from the police read, Mountain

1:03:36

accidents, primarily falls into crevasses

1:03:39

or ice breaks in glacier

1:03:41

areas, happen regularly. Staying

1:03:44

on the glacier outside of

1:03:46

the secured ski area without

1:03:48

appropriate safety equipment carries, among

1:03:50

other things, a high risk

1:03:52

of falling into a crevasse.

1:03:55

Such accidents are almost always the

1:03:57

result of careless behaviour on the

1:04:00

part of those involved. The

1:04:06

McPherson's were eager to see the results

1:04:08

of Duncan's computerised tomography scan for themselves,

1:04:11

but it took them several months of

1:04:13

going back and forth with Dr Walter

1:04:15

Rabel in Innsbruck before they finally got

1:04:17

a hold of them. The

1:04:20

scan left Bob and Linda

1:04:22

stunned. That

1:04:25

being told that Duncan hadn't sustained

1:04:27

any fatal injuries, it appeared on

1:04:29

the scan that he'd been decapitated.

1:04:33

Both of his forearms were fractured and

1:04:35

had been completely separated from his body.

1:04:39

His left leg also appeared to

1:04:41

have been amputated in two places,

1:04:43

and the lower part of his

1:04:45

left leg was completely shattered. Dr

1:04:49

Rabel explained that the injuries to

1:04:52

Duncan's forearms likely occurred when he

1:04:54

fell into the crevasse and presumably

1:04:56

tried to break his fall. As

1:05:00

for the other injuries, he said these

1:05:02

had been caused by the natural movement

1:05:04

of the ice over the years. He'd

1:05:07

examined many corpses that had been

1:05:10

stuck in glaciers and had observed

1:05:12

similar injuries, with the glacier essentially

1:05:14

breaking up the bodies over time.

1:05:19

Linda and Bob weren't convinced. Here

1:05:23

to get all the information they could, they

1:05:25

successfully petitioned to get a copy of

1:05:27

the 2003 case file

1:05:29

from Canadian Foreign Affairs. Reports

1:05:33

and photos of the recovery mission

1:05:35

revealed that Duncan's body had been

1:05:38

retrieved by two Shtubay Glacier employees,

1:05:40

with their rescue workers hovering in

1:05:42

a helicopter overhead. No

1:05:45

police officers or a coroner were

1:05:48

present. Not

1:05:50

only did this seem grossly inadequate,

1:05:52

the photos of Duncan's body as

1:05:54

it lay in the ice also

1:05:56

raised some serious questions. Lastly,

1:06:00

Duncan's body lay horizontally on

1:06:02

its left-hand side, not vertically

1:06:04

like most people who die

1:06:07

from similar falls. His

1:06:10

left leg was completely shattered, while

1:06:12

his right leg, which lay directly

1:06:14

on top of the left, was

1:06:16

perfectly intact. If

1:06:19

the damage to Duncan's body was caused

1:06:21

by the natural movement of the ice

1:06:23

over the years, how could one leg

1:06:26

be fine and the other so badly

1:06:28

damaged? The

1:06:30

McPherson's were also told that damage

1:06:33

to Duncan's clothing and snowboard had

1:06:35

been done during the recovery process,

1:06:37

but it was clear from the photos that

1:06:40

this wasn't the case. Some

1:06:43

of his clothing was already torn to shreds

1:06:45

and bunched together in a way that didn't

1:06:47

look like a natural occurrence. Duncan's

1:06:51

left ski boot also sat by

1:06:53

his side, perfectly intact and filled

1:06:55

with snow. Its

1:06:58

insular lining was found elsewhere,

1:07:00

shredded and covered with V-shaped

1:07:02

puncture marks, consistent with the

1:07:04

damage to his left leg.

1:07:09

This meant that Duncan hadn't been wearing

1:07:11

the boots at the time he died,

1:07:13

which meant he'd unstrapped them from his

1:07:15

snowboard. The

1:07:18

McPherson's wondered whether he could have survived

1:07:20

the fall into the crevasse and had

1:07:22

enough room to take the boots off

1:07:24

and attempt to climb out. But

1:07:27

if that had been the case, the boots

1:07:29

would have gone further down into the crevasse,

1:07:32

not remained right next to his body. But

1:07:37

what really shocked the McPherson's

1:07:39

was the snowboard itself. When

1:07:43

they'd been given the broken board, red

1:07:45

paint marks were visible in the wood,

1:07:47

which had been explained as having

1:07:49

occurred during the recovery mission. Examining

1:07:53

the photos, the McPherson's could see

1:07:55

that the red paint marks were

1:07:58

visible on the snowboard when Duncan's

1:08:00

left. body was initially found, indicating

1:08:02

that damage had occurred earlier on.

1:08:07

Bob retrieved the broken snowboard

1:08:09

from his basement and examined

1:08:11

it closely. He noticed that

1:08:14

the damaged parts of the board

1:08:16

featured the exact same amount of

1:08:18

heavy weathering and rust as the

1:08:21

undamaged parts. The

1:08:23

only explanation Bob could find for this

1:08:25

was that the board must have been

1:08:27

broken and exposed to the elements long

1:08:30

before the recovery in 2003. And if

1:08:32

the board had

1:08:36

been torn up by machinery before it was

1:08:38

buried in the ice, then

1:08:40

what did this mean for Duncan? The

1:08:46

McPherson sent the scans to a

1:08:48

medical professional in Canada who raised

1:08:50

the possibility that Duncan might have

1:08:53

been run over by a snow-grimming

1:08:55

machine. Two

1:08:57

renowned forensic experts who had first-hand

1:08:59

experience in examining corpses that had

1:09:02

been retrieved from the ice independently

1:09:05

agreed. The

1:09:07

damage to Duncan's body wasn't caused

1:09:10

by movements in the glacier, but

1:09:12

by contact with heavy machinery.

1:09:17

In Innsbruck, Dr. Walter

1:09:19

Rabel discounted this possibility.

1:09:22

He said that such an incident

1:09:25

wouldn't have severed Duncan's limbs but

1:09:27

caused the damage to his ribs,

1:09:29

pelvis, and organs. It

1:09:32

also didn't explain how he'd ended up

1:09:34

in the crevasse. If

1:09:37

Duncan was run over by a snow-grimming machine, Dr.

1:09:39

Rabel said someone would have had to drive back

1:09:41

and push him into the crevasse after the fact.

1:09:43

Bob and Delinda had always been dubious about

1:09:49

the claim that no snowboards had been missing from

1:09:51

the rental shop on the afternoon Duncan

1:09:54

went missing. They noted that one of the

1:09:57

most important things

1:09:59

to know was that he had While Duncan's

1:10:01

international driver's license and calling card had been

1:10:03

returned to them, his Canadian

1:10:06

driver's license had not. They

1:10:09

wondered whether this was because Duncan had

1:10:11

left the license with the rental shop

1:10:14

as a deposit for his equipment, along

1:10:16

with his shoes, which also hadn't been

1:10:18

returned to his family. When

1:10:21

Duncan failed to return at the end

1:10:23

of the day, someone got rid of

1:10:26

the license, his shoes, and any record

1:10:28

of his hire. If

1:10:31

this was the case, it meant something

1:10:33

had to have happened to Duncan on

1:10:35

Wednesday, August 9 that

1:10:38

Shtubaya Glacier personnel were aware of.

1:10:42

A Glacier official claimed that the

1:10:44

Cordon D'off area had been searched

1:10:46

during the initial search in late

1:10:48

September 1989, but

1:10:50

it had been snowing at the time,

1:10:52

and therefore the crevasse Duncan was in

1:10:54

would have been covered with snow. Bob

1:10:59

and Linda had been there at the time

1:11:01

in question. It

1:11:03

hadn't been snowing, nor was

1:11:05

there any fresh snow on the ground.

1:11:10

Shtubaya Glacier staff also claimed that

1:11:12

on the day Duncan went missing,

1:11:14

all known crevasses on the ski

1:11:16

run had been filled in, and

1:11:18

those that hadn't had been cordoned

1:11:20

off. The

1:11:22

police had taken photos of the Shelfall

1:11:25

Fannis ski run during the search for

1:11:27

Duncan in 1989, but

1:11:29

despite numerous requests from Duncan's

1:11:31

family, they refused to hand

1:11:34

these over. Without

1:11:37

the photos, there was no way to

1:11:39

know for sure if the dangerous areas

1:11:41

had indeed been cordoned off. Convinced

1:11:45

that something more sinister than a

1:11:47

tragic accident was at play, the

1:11:49

McPherson's to

1:11:52

have Duncan's case reinvestigated. But

1:11:56

Innsbruck police maintained that it was an

1:11:58

open and shut accidental death. death and

1:12:00

the case would remain closed. Over

1:12:04

the following years, the McPherson's tried everything

1:12:06

they could think of to have Duncan's

1:12:09

case reviewed. They

1:12:11

filed numerous complaints with the Austrian

1:12:13

authorities, submitted a formal complaint to

1:12:15

the Ministry of Justice, and even

1:12:17

tried their luck with the European

1:12:19

Court of Human Rights. All

1:12:22

of their appeals were rejected. According

1:12:29

to Let It Go, Bob and Linda

1:12:31

began working with California-based author John Leake

1:12:34

who had taken an interest in Duncan's

1:12:36

case. John

1:12:38

had lived in Austria while investigating

1:12:41

the crimes of serial killer Jack

1:12:43

Unterweger as covered in episode 197

1:12:46

of Case File, and he had a

1:12:48

good understanding of Austrian culture. John

1:12:52

spent several years getting to know

1:12:54

the McPherson's and the intricate details

1:12:56

of their story. After

1:12:59

reviewing all of the evidence for

1:13:01

himself, John consulted with numerous specialists,

1:13:04

including Dick Pennerman, an American expert

1:13:06

in ski slope accidents. Dick

1:13:09

took one look at the snowboard and

1:13:12

injuries to Duncan's leg and immediately knew

1:13:14

the damage was caused by a snow

1:13:16

grooming tiller. Not

1:13:19

only are the bones broken in pieces,

1:13:21

Dick explained, but the flesh

1:13:23

around the bones has also been chopped up.

1:13:26

A crevasse fall could break bones,

1:13:29

but it couldn't grind meat.

1:13:34

Given that Duncan's boots were no longer

1:13:36

on his feet, the theory was raised

1:13:39

that he might have fallen into the

1:13:41

crevasse, survived the fall, and then managed

1:13:43

to climb out on his own. While

1:13:47

he was hanging on the edge with

1:13:49

one hand and a leg, the snow

1:13:52

groomer came along and drove over him,

1:13:54

mangling the exposed limb before burying him

1:13:56

in the ice. Duncan's

1:14:00

body had only been mangled and

1:14:02

not fully run over. It

1:14:04

raised the question of how Duncan's

1:14:06

body and his snowboarding equipment ended

1:14:08

up so deep into the crevasse

1:14:10

and not just on the surface.

1:14:14

As far as Dick Pennerman was

1:14:16

concerned, not one but two separate

1:14:19

events had resulted in Duncan's death.

1:14:23

An alternative theory was that Duncan could

1:14:26

have suffered an injury, perhaps a broken

1:14:28

leg which would explain why he unstrapped

1:14:30

his board and took his left boot

1:14:32

off. Perhaps

1:14:35

he was lying in a semi-fetal position

1:14:37

as he waited for help to arrive,

1:14:39

unable to walk himself. Unable

1:14:43

to see him through the fog, a

1:14:45

snow groomer accidentally hit him, dragging his

1:14:47

limbs into the tiller and killing him.

1:14:51

Realising what they'd done and the impact

1:14:54

this would have on tourism, one

1:14:56

or more employees removed his body from

1:14:58

the tiller. They

1:15:00

threw Duncan's body in the crevasse,

1:15:03

which was concealed with snow. The

1:15:08

McPherson's took their concerns to

1:15:10

the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation who

1:15:12

aired two episodes about Duncan's

1:15:15

case for the long-running investigative

1:15:17

documentary programme The Fifth Estate.

1:15:21

Speaking about the possibility of

1:15:23

third-party involvement, John Lake said,

1:15:27

How did this wreck on the surface of

1:15:29

the slope wind up in a neat package

1:15:31

in a shallow crevasse? Those

1:15:34

two actions do not go together, and

1:15:37

I've talked to 20 different

1:15:39

people who know glaciers and

1:15:41

crevasses and physics and everything

1:15:43

else, and no one can

1:15:45

explain to me how those can

1:15:47

happen without an intermediate

1:15:50

action of someone. on

1:16:00

the Stilbai Glacier with her family on

1:16:02

the very same day that Duncan went

1:16:04

missing. As far

1:16:06

as Judy recalled, there had been no

1:16:08

signs or barriers on the ski run

1:16:11

to indicate any potential dangers. If

1:16:14

she'd known about the crevasse hazards, she

1:16:16

would have never let her children go

1:16:18

skiing there. Unsettled

1:16:21

by this thought, Judy tracked down

1:16:23

her old travel notes from Wednesday,

1:16:26

August 9,

1:16:29

1989. She had recorded the conditions that day

1:16:31

as being quote, pretty

1:16:33

awful, mostly white out

1:16:36

and slushy snow. Judy

1:16:39

wrote that it was so overcast they

1:16:41

could hardly see the mountains. She

1:16:44

also recalled that the ski shop had

1:16:46

been very disorganized, and it had been

1:16:48

a challenge to get her whole family

1:16:51

outfitted for the day. Judy

1:16:54

reached out to Bob and Linda McPherson

1:16:56

with this information and sent them the

1:16:59

few photos that she'd snapped on the

1:17:01

ski run that day. The

1:17:04

ski lift on the main hill where

1:17:06

Duncan was last seen was clearly visible

1:17:08

in one of them. There

1:17:10

was no fence or cordoned off area

1:17:13

to be seen. After

1:17:19

researching Duncan's case for several years,

1:17:21

John Leake released his findings in

1:17:24

a book titled, Cold a Long

1:17:26

Time, an Alpine Mystery. John

1:17:30

ultimately believed that Shtubaya Glacier personnel

1:17:32

likely knew from the get-go that

1:17:34

Duncan had died in a crevasse

1:17:36

on Wednesday, August 9, 1989,

1:17:40

but had withheld this information, knowing

1:17:42

that his parents would have demanded

1:17:44

a wide-scale excavation of the crevasses

1:17:46

until their son was found. Not

1:17:50

wanting to shut the glacier down in the

1:17:52

middle of peak season or suffer the bad

1:17:54

publicity that would go with it, they

1:17:57

said Duncan had returned his rental

1:17:59

equipment to cover up the truth

1:18:01

and redirect the investigations elsewhere. While

1:18:06

it was possible that only the driver

1:18:08

of the snow groomer and perhaps some

1:18:10

of his co-workers knew exactly how the

1:18:13

disaster happened, John wrote, "...after

1:18:17

systematically analyzing the facts with Dick

1:18:19

Pennerman, we realized that only one

1:18:21

conclusion could be drawn. One

1:18:25

had intentionally concealed Duncan's body

1:18:27

in the crevasse." The

1:18:32

McPherson's contemplated taking legal action

1:18:34

against the Stuber Glacier but

1:18:36

were dissuaded by both the

1:18:38

Innsbruck pathologist and some independent

1:18:40

lawyers. Because

1:18:43

the exact cause of Duncan's death

1:18:45

remained unclear, they were told there

1:18:47

was little chance of proving any

1:18:49

misconduct by the Stuber Glacier staff.

1:18:53

Instead, they sought reimbursement from

1:18:55

the Stuber Glacier founder Heinrich

1:18:57

Klier for the costs they'd

1:18:59

incurred during their search for

1:19:01

Duncan on the basis that

1:19:03

his employees had given them

1:19:05

misleading information. Their

1:19:08

claim was rejected by Klier's insurance

1:19:11

provider, who stated the Glacier company

1:19:13

was not at fault for their

1:19:15

son's death. While

1:19:18

Bob and Linda ultimately accepted that

1:19:20

whatever happened to Duncan had been

1:19:23

an accident, they believed

1:19:25

that both the Stuber Glacier

1:19:27

staff and Innsbruck police had

1:19:29

acted negligently. Not

1:19:32

only had this caused the McPherson's 14

1:19:35

years of undue angst and

1:19:37

financial hardship, it also put

1:19:39

the lives of other skiers at risk. Linda

1:19:43

told a journalist for German

1:19:45

magazine Datum, The

1:19:48

only crime for us is the way

1:19:50

in which this case was investigated. When

1:19:54

asked on the Fifth Estate how she

1:19:56

would react if someone finally came forward

1:19:58

and took accountability Linda responded,

1:20:01

I don't

1:20:03

think I'd be able to speak. I'd

1:20:05

just be so happy that I'd cry. It

1:20:08

would restore my faith in humanity.

1:20:14

August 2024 marked the 35-year anniversary of

1:20:18

Duncan McPherson's death. Bob

1:20:20

and Linda are now in their

1:20:23

80s and they remain convinced that

1:20:25

Duncan's death was covered up to

1:20:27

protect the Stubei Valley's valuable tourism

1:20:30

industry. While

1:20:32

they have come to accept that they

1:20:34

will never get the justice they so

1:20:36

desperately desire from officials in Austria, they

1:20:39

still refuse to stay quiet. In

1:20:43

August 2024, Linda

1:20:45

told CTV News that without anyone

1:20:47

coming forward to take responsibility, quote,

1:20:52

my next and only choice is to

1:20:54

expose the corruption. I

1:20:56

won't quit. There's always a way

1:20:58

to move it along. A

1:21:02

British documentary about Duncan's case is

1:21:04

supposedly in the works, with

1:21:06

the couple vowing to continue their

1:21:08

quest for justice until they die.

1:21:13

While it's essential for Linda that someone

1:21:15

be held accountable for the failures in

1:21:17

her son's case, she only

1:21:20

has to think of Duncan's warm and

1:21:22

generous nature to be reminded of the

1:21:24

good in people. When

1:21:27

Linda had arrived in Innsbruck to identify

1:21:29

her son's remains, she asked for a

1:21:31

moment alone with him. Looking

1:21:34

at Duncan's face, she knew

1:21:36

straight away that something wasn't

1:21:38

right, but she focused on

1:21:41

farewelling him as best she could. Linda

1:21:44

told Duncan, I'm

1:21:47

sorry you died so young, but I

1:21:49

know you had a good life and

1:21:52

you died doing something you loved. And

1:21:55

that gives me some peace. I

1:22:17

can hear the explosions. I didn't

1:22:19

know what was happening. I'm Vicky

1:22:21

Petradis. And I'm Emily Webb. We

1:22:23

are true crime authors and podcasters

1:22:25

with a long history of

1:22:28

interviewing people who've experienced

1:22:30

unthinkable events. The next

1:22:32

guy had this Molotov cocktail in his hand and

1:22:34

I just saw him lighting it. Are

1:22:36

you listening? Pay attention. We're at Link

1:22:38

Cafe. A gentleman has taken us hostage.

1:22:40

He's got a gun and he's got

1:22:42

a bomb. But he'd turned towards

1:22:44

me and he had this demonic look

1:22:47

on his face and just

1:22:49

came at me. These stories will have

1:22:51

you on the edge of your seats.

1:22:53

My showman wasn't there anymore. It was

1:22:55

me by myself. I had no protection.

1:22:57

We are going to die now. Who could get

1:22:59

out of that situation? I can hear the

1:23:01

explosions. I didn't know what was happening. It's

1:23:04

just a matter of self-preservation. Get myself out of there.

1:23:06

We get to ask questions that most

1:23:08

would never ask. And because of

1:23:10

that, we get told things most

1:23:12

would never hear about. And

1:23:15

I couldn't get my gun out. I'm sort of

1:23:17

fighting with him. He's stabbing me. Maybe he

1:23:19

just hit his head on the ground when he went down.

1:23:21

Maybe he's okay. I saw that she wasn't

1:23:23

in a very good way. Yeah, this will be difficult

1:23:25

for me to talk about. What draws us

1:23:28

to these stories is the

1:23:30

strength of the people coming out the other

1:23:32

side of what they've been through. But

1:23:34

it was eight years before I processed

1:23:37

what happened in the siege. There

1:23:39

is a way. It's not going to be

1:23:41

easy. You might have pitfalls, but you've got

1:23:43

to keep going. I'm not going to let

1:23:46

it beat me or define me. So

1:23:48

even though these are stories of the

1:23:50

unthinkable, they are also stories of

1:23:52

hope. You've got to be the best

1:23:54

for you first before you can be the best for someone

1:23:56

else. The Unthinkable is

1:23:59

available now. Be sure

1:24:01

to download and follow The Unthinkable

1:24:03

wherever you get your podcasts.