Police have made a surprising breakthrough in the search for a young father missing for 70 years in Sydney’s west.
Donald Gordon Buckley, a 24-year-old laborer and father of three, was last seen at Warwick Farm in 1953.
Despite extensive investigations, the case remained cold until Buckley’s granddaughter Donna Truscott reported him missing again in early 2023.
Following a call, police were contacted by a member of the public and it has since been revealed that Mr Buckley had changed his identity six times.
Police believe Mr Buckley died of natural causes in Moree in 1980, when he would have been 51 years old.
Donald Gordon Buckley was last seen by his family in south-west Sydney in 1953
Despite an extensive police investigation in the 1950s, officers were unable to track down Mr Buckley.
After his disappearance, he exchanged a small amount of correspondence with his family before suddenly breaking off contact in 1954.
At the time, he had two young boys, ages two and four, and a baby, but was reportedly having marital problems.
After his disappearance in 1953, he continued to pay child support, but this also stopped in 1954.
Ms Truscott said it was her father Donald Buckley Jr’s dying wish in 2016. was to locate Mr. Buckley, whom he had last seen at the age of four.
‘Being an alcoholic, having problems and having so many children at such a young age. I think he just didn’t want to be himself,” Ms Truscott said the ABC.
Donna Truscott has filed a missing persons report in an attempt to find out what happened to her grandfather
Police said Mr Buckley Sr assumed a new identity before dying of natural causes in the NSW town of Moree in 1980.
‘There were six names on his death certificate. He didn’t just change his name when he was using six different aliases,” Ms Truscott said,
“There were also three changes to his age on the certificate.”
Ms Truscott has called on the NSW coroner to confirm the man buried in Moree cemetery is her grandfather.
In a strange twist, Ms Truscott’s decision to take a DNA test and upload it to a genealogy website in 2017 to track down her grandfather led to another missing woman being identified.
Tanya Lee Glover has been identified as the remains discovered in a Brisbane garage late last year
After reading about a nationwide call for people to submit their DNA to police for a national database, Ms Truscott has provided hers to NSW Police in a bid to help her track down her grandfather.
But when Queensland Police contacted Ms Truscott in June this year, they did not expect the reason for her call.
“The officer said, ‘I’m actually calling you in relation to the body of a woman that was found under a unit complex in Alderley in Queensland last year,'” Ms Truscott said.
The officer explained to Ms Truscott that the DNA she had uploaded via GEDMatch in 2017 matched an unidentified woman found at the unit complex in Brisbane.
“Their genealogist could see a maternal link, through my mother, my aunt, my sister and I,” Ms Truscott said.
‘She is very distantly related, but there was enough DNA present to map it out unmistakably.’
Nine months later, Queensland Police were finally able to confirm that the skeletal remains discovered were those of Tanya Lee Glover, who would have been approximately 38 years old at the time of her death.
Although Ms Glover’s identity was a huge step forward, police are still investigating how she died and who may be responsible.
Donald Buckley Jr. holding his daughter Donna Truscott in 1979. His dying wish was to find the father who abandoned him when he was a child
Ms Glover was not formally known to Queensland Police and no missing persons reports had ever been made regarding her welfare.
When Ms Glover’s parents discovered her identity, they were informed of her death by police.
It is understood she moved to Queensland from NSW in 2006 and lived in the Fortitude Valley area until 2010.
She was visually impaired and hearing impaired.
No arrests have been made or charges filed in connection with her death or disappearance.
Chief Inspector Massingham said investigators were still trying to determine her cause of death but there were signs of trauma.
“This information is very timely at this stage,” Chief Inspector Massingham said.
Mr Buckley Sr assumed a new identity before dying of natural causes in the NSW town of Moree in 1980
Police have concluded that this plaque belongs to Donald Buckley (pictured), who died in Moree in 1980
‘A number of objects in the form of wrapping paper and the like that I spoke about at the time were found at the scene. These are still the subject of ongoing DNA research and also of ongoing forensic research.
Ms Glover is described as white, between 155cm and 165cm tall, and had dark brown hair.
As the investigation continues, Ms Truscott said her family were “honoured to have helped Tanya get her identity back”.
“I’d like to say we’ve played a major role in that, but the police have done all the work, they’ve built up a huge three-generation family tree with potentially hundreds of people,” Ms Truscott said.
‘How incredible that for science, for DNA, for unsolved murder victims, the evolution of this is absolutely remarkable.
‘It’s a good thing I don’t regret uploading the DNA.
“You never thought that your DNA would never in a million years solve the identity of someone like Tanya.”