William Andersen was 40 when he vanished on June 27, 1980, during fieldwork for the 1980 North American Peregrine Falcon Survey in the remote Churchill, Manitoba region. He and a coworker were travelling by canoe through the Churchill River system near Indian Lake when they encountered extremely turbulent water and the canoe overturned. Andersen disappeared after the craft capsized and was not seen again.

Searchers examined the area but were unable to locate him or recover evidence that definitively explains his final moments; he has long been presumed drowned, yet no body or conclusive physical evidence has been publicly reported. Andersen was a chemistry professor at Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colorado, who founded an Ornithology Research Center and was remembered for his work rehabilitating and teaching about raptors. The William C. Andersen Award was created two years after his disappearance to honor student achievement in raptor research.

Did anyone involved in the 1980 survey or who worked on the Churchill River remember details of the search or the trip itself?