Canadian ice hockey player Duncan MacPherson, who vanished in 1989 just before signing with Dundee's Tayside Tigers, was found perfectly preserved in an Austrian glacier 14 years later. The 23-year-old's remains were discovered in 2003 with multiple fractures and a crushed leg, but the circumstances of his death remain unexplained.
MacPherson had claimed to be a CIA operative, and his family accused Austrian authorities of a cover-up. They spent their life savings on ten trips to Austria and pursued the case at the European Court of Human Rights, which ruled that authorities had done everything within their power.
MacPherson was last seen on August 9, 1989, on the Stubaier Glacier in Austria. He had called his future boss days earlier, saying he would arrive in Dundee in two days. His remains were found by a worker operating snow-grooming equipment on a busy ski slope.
A Canadian forensic anthropologist argued that the pattern of bone fractures suggested contact with substantial machinery, not just a fall into a crevasse as Austrian officials claimed. The MacPhersons alleged that Austrian officials suppressed the truth, but the authorities insisted they conducted a thorough investigation.
