It occurred in minutes. Three-year-old Jeffrey Dupres was taking part in outdoors his household’s new residence within the small city of Slave Lake when he disappeared.
The toddler requested his mom if he may go play with a neighbor and he or she agreed. She went into the home to alter the laundry from the washer to the dryer, then she heard a knock on the door.
It was Jeffrey’s good friend, the one he stated he was going to play with. Denise McKee was confused — weren’t the boys collectively?
Jeffrey Dupres at age three, the identical yr he went lacking.
Slave Lake RCMP
That confusion rapidly turned to panic, as she went round asking neighbors if they’d seen Jeffrey. With no sightings, McKee contacted the RCMP.
“They stated we could not come as a result of we had been busy. So speak to your neighbors,” McKee recollects.
That day, a wildfire invaded the city of 5,000 and McKee knew it was a critical state of affairs.
She gathered neighbors and reached out to a bunch known as the Slave Lake Catastrophe Committee. They rallied round her and her husband and arranged a search.
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“They held arm in arm and walked via city to ensure they did not miss something. They knew Jeffrey wasn’t there. They searched the creek,” she stated.
“They stated: ‘We all know he isn’t on the town.’
Then McKee stated the search committee beneficial wanting within the woods that surrounded the city — the Dupres’ new residence was additionally on the sting of city.
They thought the navy would possibly have the ability to assist and the RCMP may coordinate.
So McKee stated she went again to the RCMP once more and requested for assist discovering her boy.
Once more, she stated she was refused, and that an officer laughed at her for suggesting the navy become involved.
This upset the 26-year-old lady, and he or she determined to take issues into her personal fingers.
She remembers holding a information convention and telling native media that the RCMP weren’t serving to to seek for Jeffrey. As a result of she was politically concerned, she additionally enlisted the assistance of politicians from all corners of the political panorama.
This, she says, earned her the wrath of the native RCMP, who she says started accusing her of killing her personal son.
“They usually latched onto me as a suspect to excuse the truth that they actually did not search for Jeffrey for a full yr,” she stated.
Because the years handed with no signal of Jeffrey, McKee and her husband had two extra sons.
Each grew up figuring out of Jeffrey’s disappearance. One even has a tattoo on his chest that marks the lack of his older brother, McKee stated.
She stated her son’s disappearance rocked the group of Slave Lake for years, however McKee stated the RCMP saved her largely at nighttime about what they had been doing to seek out the boy.
McKee, now 70 years outdated and battling a number of sclerosis, is as soon as once more attempting to lift consciousness about Jeffrey’s disappearance.
“I can die figuring out that I did one thing. I attempted.”
A reporter, Anna J. James, who had as soon as lined Jeffrey’s case within the media and had since turn into a personal investigator, supplied to report the file.
“I simply made a promise to Denise to go away no stone unturned,” James stated.
Slave Lake RCMP have launched age development photographs of Jeffrey Dupres, who went lacking in 1980 on the age of three.
Slave Lake RCMP
Over the many years, organizations have had a number of age-progression photographs arrange in hopes of discovering Jeffrey. James had simply had a brand new one executed and was attempting to think about what Jeffrey would seem like right now, on the age of 45.
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This was just lately despatched to native media by the Slave Lake RCMP.
The RCMP declined an interview, however stated of their press launch that Jeffrey could have a distinct identify, and could also be on the unfastened.
McKee stated when he was a child, he had inserts in his footwear for an issue together with his hip and leg.
James hopes the brand new picture will assist jog recollections.
“I actually imagine that somebody someplace is aware of one thing. We all the time say that. And I feel it is solely a matter of time earlier than somebody comes ahead.”
The personal investigator additionally arrange a tip line that goes on to her as a result of she stated some individuals do not need to speak to legislation enforcement.
There’s additionally a $5,000 reward supplied for data resulting in Jeffrey’s whereabouts.
A GoFundMe has been began to assist pay for issues like posters and billboard advertisements, and James hopes volunteers with completely different abilities will step ahead to provide their time and experience to the trigger.
She stated she has spoken with retired RCMP investigators who imagine Jeffrey’s case will be solved.
James believes he is nonetheless alive — primarily based partially on a tip RCMP have shared over time, involving a sighting of a lady, Jeffrey, in a blue Chevrolet truck with a person inside. appeal to
“They may very well be a household that misplaced a baby and it was against the law of alternative,” James surmised.
The PI can be attempting new avenues of investigation, together with advances in genealogical tracing.
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“We uploaded Denise’s DNA into 23 and Me and Ancestry.com and several other different databases and there have been no hits. There have been no hits for Jeffrey. Nothing shut sufficient to be like a son or perhaps a grandchild. That stated, there’s nonetheless hope,” James stated.
“Greater than 2 million profiles are uploaded every day, so issues can change.”
Through the years, about half a dozen males have come to McKee and stated they thought they is perhaps Jeffrey — however to date, nobody has come ahead.
“If anybody believes they’re Jeffrey, contact us via Get better Company or on our Fb web page and we’ll truly ship you a DNA check. In case you’re not Jeffrey, then we’ll truly work with you to seek out your loved ones.”
James is now in search of outdated Fb suggestions which have are available in over the previous decade, and plans to interview a number of the authentic witnesses and residents residing close to Jeffrey when he went lacking.
Denise poses with a photograph of her lacking son Jeffrey Dupres.
Courtesy: Anna J. James
As for McKee, she believes that Jeffrey will look much like her two residing sons – as a result of as kids the three regarded comparable.
Though she will’t say for positive if Jeffrey is alive, she nonetheless holds out hope.
“At this level I simply need to know what occurred. I need to know why this occurred,” she stated.
“Higher late than by no means. And we have got all of the geese in a row now. So if anybody has the dumbest concept, it is not silly. Please ship it to Anna.”
