Sask. hockey player Duncan MacPherson died in Austria 35 years ago. His parents still search for answers.

Anyone who was around Saskatoon in 1989 may remember the name of a local hockey player, Duncan MacPherson, whose story gripped the city.

“In some ways it seems like yesterday!”

For mom Lynda MacPherson, dealing with her son Duncan’s death, has been a decades-long battle. Both her and her husband Bob have been trying for decades to get someone to admit what really happened, but even with that, it’s also been a labour of love for their son.

Twenty-three-year-old Duncan planned to do some sightseeing before starting a new job playing and coaching hockey in Europe. He made a stop at a popular ski resort in Austria – a fact they would discover later.

(Courtesy: Lynda and Bob MacPherson)

“The team manager in Dundee, Scotland phoned me and said, ‘where is Duncan?’ I said, ‘well, he was supposed to be in Scotland on the 14th, I'm sure he's there,’ and he said, ‘no, he's not. That’s why I’m phoning you. He never, he never arrived,’ ” Lynda MacPherson recalls, vividly.

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Fearing for the worst about Duncan, who played for the Saskatoon Blades then briefly for the New York Islanders.

“We knew right then that if he wasn't dead, he was in serious trouble, because he phoned all the time,” she said.

For the next 14 years, the couple travelled to Austria looking for answers. Not speaking the language, they found it difficult to navigate. There were red flags when the car he was using was spotted at the ski resort – parked in the lot for over a month without anyone reporting it missing, and despite notices going out about the disappearance.

The doors that were slammed in their face raised even more suspicion.

According to the pair, the ski resort claimed his snowboarding equipment was returned at the end of the ski day. Still the Saskatoon parents persisted, frustrated because they were getting limited help from authorities.

In 2003, Duncan’s body surfaced on that ski hill during a thaw. It was not too far from the lift and in a visible area. Local officials claim he simply fell into a crevasse in 1989.

The ski resort let the pair keep the snowboard he used that day. They claim it was in the hope that they would be satisfied and go away.

Bob stores the board in a box in the basement of their Saskatoon home. The same house where Duncan was raised in the River Heights neighbourhood. He dug it out for our interview. Carefully unpacking it from bubble wrap and laying it on the floor of their living room.

“You can see, the cuts in the board. You can tell something was rotating when it gouged the wood right out,” Bob MacPherson said.

The couple have many questions about the damage to the board, despite being told by Austrian authorities that it was the result of a fall.

They never accepted the cause of death.

“I think he was hit by the snow grooming machine, but who are we to say?”

After 21 years of trying to get the Austrian authorities to examine his death, Lynda MacPherson is confident “there will be no justice in Austria.”

The couple’s doubts are valid and accurate according to a forensic anthropologist from McMaster University in Ontario, who got involved three years after Duncan’s body was found.

Dr. Myriam Nafte, who has worked with law enforcement for 25 years helping to identify human remains for forensic purposes, admits this is one that sticks out in her mind.

“There was no investigation and that was highly problematic. From the beginning, when I was involved and I was given the details, I was shocked at the level of injustice and incompetence that had been shown not only this family, but Duncan MacPherson's remains,” Nafte told CTV News.

She was troubled by the lack of an autopsy or coroner’s involvement.

The explanation by Austrian authorities that the damage to the snowboard was consistent with a fall into an icy crevasse didn’t sit well with her. Her examination of the photos of Duncan’s body, with severe injuries to his left leg, brought to mind the work of “machinery” and not falling or ice movement.

“You don't die with that sort of trauma to the body by falling into a crevasse. They were not consistent with what their explanations were,” she says.

Nafte read details of the case from Austrian authorities.

“So in that case things should have been done differently. If it had had been done here, there would have been hell to pay.”

Through their own investigation and desire to find the truth, the MacPherson’s suspect their son fell victim to a tourist destination protecting their valued industry, but they don’t expect to hear that from any officials in Austria.

“I don't think that's going to happen so my next and only choice is to expose the corruption,” Lynda said.

She hopes a possible upcoming documentary out of England will help expose the truth.

The documentary follows a book and two other investigative documentaries done over the years.

The MacPhersons have looked into legal action against those involved but learned that because the Austrian investigation was so limited, it will be tough to prove. Lynda, 81, and Bob, 86, vow to continue the quest for justice until they die.

“I won't quit. I mean, no, there's always a way to move it along,” Lynda said.

“There’s nothing that's going to bring Duncan back. There never was.”