'Where's Jeffrey?': Mom renews effort to find son who disappeared from Slave Lake, Alta., in 1980

Jeffrey Dupres in 1980 and an age-progression image of what he might look like now (Credit: Denise McKee.)

It's been 42 years since Jeffrey Dupres disappeared from his home in northern Alberta.

He was just three years old and living in Slave Lake, Alta., at the time.

His mom Denise McKee hasn't given up, recently releasing an age-progression photo of what Jeffrey might look like as a middle-aged man.

There's also a new tip line and a $5,000 reward for any information that helps find him.

"It's absurd. I'm old, I'm handicapped. But he's still my kid, right?" she told CTV News Edmonton.

"I would just like to find out, what did happen?"

The last time McKee saw her first-born child was on April 24, 1980, just before 1 p.m.

The family had recently moved to Alberta, where Jeffrey's dad had taken a job with a local First Nation.

His mom says Jeffrey seemed to be enjoying the adventure and found a friend in a next-door neighbour boy named Rodney.

"He was amazing. He was a very bright, energetic guy," McKee said of Jeffrey.

On that day, the boys were playing in the front yard. McKee was also outside when Rodney's dad told his son to go in the house and wash his face after lunch.

"I was gonna go back in the house and I asked Jeffrey what he was gonna do and he said, 'Can I go into Rodney's too?' and I said, 'Oh sure,'" she recalled.

"I went in to change a load of laundry and 15 minutes later Rodney came to the door and said 'Where's Jeffrey?'"

Jeffrey Dupres and his mom Denise McKee in 1980 (Credit: Denise McKee.)

McKee describes what happened in the days and weeks that followed as a "circus" that involved both an outpouring of support and more than a little bit of suspicion aimed her way.

She is still grateful to the people of Slave Lake who, she feels, did everything they could to help, including damming the local creek to searching it for Jeffrey.

"The next morning hundreds of people joined hands and literally walked through the town. He wasn't there," she remembered.

The RCMP, McKee said, were less helpful. She was a suspect, so she said the police questioned her several times and gave her a lie-detector test.

"There were members of the force who literally believed I had to have done it," she said.

"One of them, he spent, I don't know how long it seemed like a month, describing to me what the different animals and creatures [in the bush] would have done to his body. Yeah, well, that was a less than pleasant experience."

Even now she says RCMP are keeping her in the dark.

In 2010, McKee said she had plans to review the file with police in Edmonton. She had a flight booked from Ottawa, where she now lives, but officers cancelled just days prior.

"It's like it boggles the mind. It's like, well, if you haven't done anything, what is it you're afraid we're going to see and it's maybe that they haven't done anything. But that's kinda circular logic, isn't it?" McKee said.

There were some clues at the time, including a witness who claimed they saw Jeffrey being coaxed into a blue 1978-1980 GMC or Chevrolet short-box pickup with chrome wheels.

There was also a wildfire on the outskirts of town that day, an incident that some on a Facebook group dedicated to finding Dupres and other missing person sites believe could have been a diversion created for an abduction.

With efforts to find Jeffrey now renewed, McKee has been "blown away" by the response of people wanting to help and donate. She is hoping someone will remember something, or recognize her son.

"I think someone took him. I don't think there's another way that he could have gone from there," she said. "But obviously we don't know."

CTV News Edmonton reached out to RCMP for an update on the case, but all a spokesperson would say is that "all of our missing person files remain open and active."

The family has started a GoFundMe in an attempt to hire an investigator, pay for the tip line and buy advertisements.