Death certificate of missing man Donald Buckley leaves family wanting closure

The death certificate of a man missing for more than 70 years should have given his family closure, but instead, it’s uncovered more questions.

Donald Gordon Buckley was last seen in Warwick Farm in 1953.

The death certificate of a man missing for more than 70 years should have given his family closure, but instead, it’s uncovered more questions.

Donald Gordon Buckley was 24 when he left the family home at Warwick Farm, in the city’s south-west in 1953, and was not heard from again.

NSW Police today said a member of the public had come forward with information about Mr Buckley after a recent appeal for information about the historic disappearance, and the case was now closed.

“An historic missing person’s case has been resolved...Inquiries have subsequently established that the man changed his identity and died from natural causes in 1980 at Moree,” NSW Police said in a statement.

But Mr Buckley’s granddaughter Donna Truscott said his death certificate contained seven different names he used prior to his death.

Death certificate of missing man Donald Gordon Buckley which revealed he had seven different names. Pic supplied by family

“I’m looking at a death certificate with seven names on it,” Ms Truscott said.

“How can police say it’s a closed case when the person was known by seven names...How do I know that’s definitely my grandfather in the grave in Moree?” she said.

The Sydney woman began searching for her missing grandfather about seven years ago, after her father Donald Jnr said he would like to know what ever happened to his dad, who walked out on his family when Mr Buckley Jnr was a child.

“Dad had put an ad in a paper years earlier asking for information about his missing father, and someone rang him and said ‘oh yeah, he was my mate, he was found dead on a riverbank in Moree and he’s buried there’,” she said.

As Truscott was trawling archives and Moree cemetery records, she saw an appeal from police for people to submit to a DNA test to try and solve missing person cases, and help identify the more than 700 unidentified remains in Australian morgues.

Pics of Donald Gordon Buckley who went missing in 1953. Police have closed the case and said he died from natural causes, but his granddaughter Donna Truscott revealed his death certificate had seven different names on it, and questions what really happened to him. Photo: Supplied by family

In July last year, Ms Truscott went to her local police station and did a DNA test, and made a formal missing persons report about her grandfather.

“My grandfather is today officially listed as a missing person and I provided volunteer DNA for cross-matching of unclaimed human remains,” she posted on social media at the time.

In a bizarre twist, the DNA matched with the remains of a woman found in Brisbane apartment block in December 2022, and were used to identify her as Tanya Lee Glover.

But it wasn’t until about six weeks ago when Mr Buckley was formally placed on the missing person’s register and she was able to access his death certificate, that more questions were unearthed.

Ms Truscott now hopes the NSW Coroner will be able to give the family answers and closure.

“It’s up to the Coroner now, the matter is not closed like police said...and we just hope that an inquiry will get us the answers we have been searching for,” Ms Truscott said.