Director: Director: Biljana Petrović  | 2025 | 45 min

A young man, a skiing vacation, a mysterious death – True Stories embarks on a gripping search for clues in one of the most puzzling cases of the 1980s.

Duncan MacPherson, 23 years old, a former professional ice hockey player with big plans for the future, disappears without a trace on the Stubai Glacier in August 1989 during a trip to Europe. It is not until fourteen years later that his body is found under the ice – but the circumstances of his death raise more questions than they answer.

“We were sure that the authorities would finally investigate – even though they hadn’t done so for 14 years,” says Lynda MacPherson, the victim’s mother, levelling serious accusations against the Austrian authorities. Together with her husband, she has been fighting for over 35 years to find out the truth: Why was Duncan MacPherson’s body not discovered until 2003? Why was the investigation closed so early? And why are there so many contradictory statements about his disappearance?

American journalist John Leake, who spent four years meticulously researching the case, speaks openly of “wilful blindness” on the part of the authorities. In order to protect Austrian ski tourism, he says, the investigation was

A young man, a skiing vacation, a mysterious death – True Stories embarks on a gripping search for clues in one of the most puzzling cases of the 1980s.

Duncan MacPherson, 23 years old, a former professional ice hockey player with big plans for the future, disappears without a trace on the Stubai Glacier in August 1989 during a trip to Europe. It is not until fourteen years later that his body is found under the ice – but the circumstances of his death raise more questions than they answer.

“We were sure that the authorities would finally investigate – even though they hadn’t done so for 14 years,” says Lynda MacPherson, the victim’s mother, levelling serious accusations against the Austrian authorities. Together with her husband, she has been fighting for over 35 years to find out the truth: Why was Duncan MacPherson’s body not discovered until 2003? Why was the investigation closed so early? And why are there so many contradictory statements about his disappearance?

American journalist John Leake, who spent four years meticulously researching the case, speaks openly of “wilful blindness” on the part of the authorities. In order to protect Austrian ski tourism, he says, the investigation was deliberately negligent. His research sheds new light on the case: Was Duncan MacPherson possibly already dead before he fell into the crevasse? Do traces even point to a covered-up accident involving a snow groomer?

In “True Stories,” CT scans of the skeleton are analyzed by an independent team of experienced radiologists using the latest medical technology. The analysis raises further questions and provides new insights for reconstructing the events.

What do the cable car operators and the Innsbruck public prosecutor’s office have to say about the serious allegations? And can the case ever be fully resolved?

“True Stories: Death on the Glacier” – a documentary about doubt, silence, and the unwavering search for truth.