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While admitting to possible lapses in communication with the family of an Alberta boy who went missing decades ago, Mounties say they haven’t given up on the case.
RCMP Chief Supt. Gary Graham, officer in charge of the Mounties’ eastern Alberta district, said at a virtual news conference Wednesday that police are still investigating the nearly 43-year-old disappearance of Jeffrey Dupres from Slave Lake, a town about 240 km northwest of Edmonton.
On April 24, 1980, three-year-old Dupres vanished shortly after leaving home to visit his friend next door. His mother, Denise McKee, has since criticized the initial search effort and recently commissioned a forensic artist to create an age-progression image of her son at 43 years old, prompting RCMP to circulate the image and breathe new life into the investigation.
Two suspects in the wind
“We had the help of civilians, community members, aircraft, helicopters, fixed-wing pilots — even members of the local citizens’ band radio club,” Graham said, adding that the effort involved five systematic searches in the first nine days. “Every resident, every building, every vehicle that we could find — that entire town was scrutinized and reviewed.”
During initial door-to-door inquiries, multiple people believed they saw Dupres approached and picked up by a female passenger of a blue and then-newer model Chevrolet or GMC pickup truck driven by a man, Graham said.
“To this date, we have been unable to locate that vehicle or these two people,” he said.
McKee has suggested a wildfire in the area may have affected the investigation at the time. Graham confirmed the fire, as well as the death of a pilot following an airplane crash at the time, that required RCMP investigative resources.
Moreover, Mounties proceeded to investigate Dupres’s mother as part of an investigative strategy to narrow down potential suspects, which involved the use of a polygraph machine (often referred to as a lie-detector test) and found no indication that she was involved in the boy’s disappearance, Graham said.
A tentative apology
McKee told the Ottawa Citizen that it took more than 20 years before she was told she was no longer a suspect. Graham said he hasn’t spoken to the mother on this point and offered a tentative apology.
“On my review and the feedback I’ve received, the RCMP have not done as good a job as would be expected in communicating key components of the investigation to the family,” he said. “I would say that if that has happened — and on the balance of probability, maybe it did — that, of course, we would apologize that she’s had to deal with that for the last 40 years.”
Graham ended by suggesting Dupres may have moved around since the time of his disappearance and may not be aware of his origins. RCMP believe the boy had external tibial torsion, which the Boston Children’s Hospital describes as the twisting of a child’s shinbones so the legs turn outward.
Mounties ask anyone with information about Dupres or his whereabouts to call Slave Lake RCMP at 780-849-3999. Tipsters seeking anonymity can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or submit a tip online at www.p3tips.com.
McKee has also started a crowdsourcing campaign for information and a tip line at recoveragency.com.
