Missing Kenley

What happened to Kenley Matheson in September 1992? A 5-episode docuseries now streaming on Amazon Prime, Google Play, Roku, Tubi, Vudu, and many others.

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

UPDATE: MEETING WITH MEDFORD GUPTILL

My sincere apologies at the outset in terms of the length of this post. However, given the nature of this case, it is my belief that it’s better to provide every detail that emerges with the public in hopes that someone might see something or make a new connection that helps move the investigation forward. I will have some recommendations at the very end as to what still needs to be done by investigators, and a way for us to hold them accountable (and also provide new leads).

To begin, one of the nagging loose ends for me in the Kenley Matheson case has always been Medford Guptill. His name (as well as the name Stanely Hiltz) was among those found in Kenley’s dorm room on 10 October 1992 (it should be noted that the piece of paper on which Guptill’s and Hiltz’s names were written was either never taken into evidence or was removed from the case file, for it seems to have disappeared, which is unfortunate because it prevents us from analyzing the handwriting). The typewritten Wolfville Police Timeline, which was created from the handwritten Continuation and Supplementary Reports, lists two names under the category of Other (O) on 8 April 1993 (some six months after Kenley went missing): Medford Guptill, from Hantsborder, Nova Scotia (“Name found in Kenley’s room.”); and Stanley E. Hiltz, from West Halls Harbour, Nova Scotia (“Name found in Kenley’s room.”). For the Guptill entry that’s all that is there. For Hiltz one, however, there is a little more information: “CPIC check on Hiltz. Noted in file. Drug related? No contact with Hiltz.” It has always been unclear to me whether or not the Wolfville police constables associated with this entry, Keith McKillop and John Goss, actually met or spoke with either man. Did “no contact with Hiltz” mean that they had been unsuccessful in contacting him? Or did it mean that they spoke with Hiltz and that he told them he’d had no contact with Kenley? And were McKillop and Goss successful in contacting Guptill? The timeline entry gives no indication.

When I interviewed RCMP constable Kerry Campbell in 2014, who was the lead investigator on the case at that time—and remained so until he was replaced by Troy Allen in 2016, when Allen’s double second cousin Erin Smith, formerly Jason Kenny, became a new person of interest following a Crime Stoppers tip—I was told that there was nothing in the case files linking either of these two individuals to Kenley’s disappearance. No one else I ever interviewed for Missing Kenley had any knowledge of them either, including the two former Wolfville constables who were directly involved with those specific entries, both of whom could not remember anything further about that cryptic note in the WPD timeline. Whatever the case, for years and years I wondered about these two names, and why Kenley had them in his dorm room. And for many years I tried to find both men but to no avail (Hiltz now lives in Ontario, I believe, and I have tried to contact him several times over the years, and also through his sister, and have never received a reply). When it came time for the docuseries to be released in September 2022, I very purposely and prominently juxtaposed the WPD timeline entry that showed these two names as B-roll over my interview with former Wolfville police constable Stephen VanHerk, when he mentioned jotting down some names found in Kenley’s room. It was my hope that someone, someday, might see that image and contact me via the Missing Kenley tipline.

My first tip on Medford Guptill, via an anonymous email, came in a month later, in October 2022. I was given a phone number for Guptill that turned out to be no longer in service. That was then followed up by an actual home address a couple months later, provided to me by this same anonymous tipster. On my next trip up to Nova Scotia (for the cadaver dog search of Melanson Mountain in May 2023), I went to the Hantsport address but was told that Medford Guptill no longer lived there. None of his neighbors I spoke with knew where he was currently living. It appeared to be another dead end, but then I received an anonymous email a few months later that gave me a new address in nearby Aylesford, presumably where he had moved to after leaving Hantsport. Life got in the way for quite a while, and I had to sit on that new lead until last summer, when I returned to Nova Scotia for the first time since the Melanson search (an important story in its own right, much of it documented in other posts). The first day I went to this new address, no one was home. But there were some indications that someone was living there. I also noticed, as I got back into my car, several security cameras mounted on the house and property. And so I assumed whoever lived there would soon see video of me and my vehicle (and its MA plates), perhaps wondering who it was, perhaps even figuring it out. In any case, the following morning, after thirteen long years of trying to find him, I finally stood face to face with the one and only Medford Guptill, now 79-year-old, the man whose name was found in Kenley’s dorm room thirty-three years earlier.

What follows is a strictly factual account of our meeting and what was said, and I will leave it to readers of this post to make their own inferences and draw their own conclusions (the description below is based on detailed notes I took in its immediate aftermath; some extraneous parts of the conversation have been left out for brevity’s sake):

When I arrived at Medford Guptill’s Aylesford Lake home on 1 August 2025, I parked on the road and walked up the driveway rather than driving straight in as I’d done the day before. When I knocked on the door, Medford Guptill opened it with a big smile and said, “HELLO!” I asked him, “Are you Medford?” He replied, “Yes, I am. Come on in!” He did not wait for me to introduce myself before inviting me into his house, and he did not ask me who I was before doing so. Once inside, I told him my name and said I was working on a missing persons case from the 1990s and trying to speak with anyone I could find who might know something. As we began discussing the case, he never once asked, “Why are you coming to me?” As will be demonstrated below, he already knew.

I began by asking him if he’d heard of Kenley Matheson or was familiar with his disappearance.

He said, “I’ve seen the posters, but that’s all I know about it.”

I then asked him if he knew a guy named Jason Kenny.

After a long pause, he said, “Jason Kenny…not that I can recall right now.”

I asked if he knew Jason’s father, Bill Kenny, who was a little better known in Wolfville.

He told me that he knew Kennys who were farmers, who had a farm at the end of Maple Avenue in Wolfville.

I asked him if he knew that family.

He said he knew of them, but not personally.

I asked him about where he lived and worked back in 1992.

He said that he lived in “Hantsport, Hants Border” and worked at “Keith’s Fiber” for many years and then in 1992 got a job working at the youth correctional center in Waterville as a guard. He said that he worked there for 11 years.

He then brought the conversation back to the Kennys, and said again, “I can’t say I do know any more Kennys.” Medford’s partner, Linda, in trying to figure out if her son may have known Jason Kenny, began wondering where he went to high school, at which point Medford asked her in a familiar tone, “Jason?” I then clarified that Jason did indeed go to Horton High School.

I then asked Medford if he owned any other properties besides his former residence in Hantsport.

He told me that he had owned some vacant land in West Brooklyn.

I asked him what he did with that land, and if he ever farmed or cultivated anything on that property. He told me his father did back about 75 years ago.

I then asked if he knew anybody up on Melanson Mountain back in the 1990s.

He said, “Yeah, all my relatives are up on Melanson.”

I asked him if they were Guptills, to which he replied that they were Atwells.

I then asked him if he was related to Melissa Atwell [one of Jason Kenny’s girlfriends back in the 1990s; see separate posts about Jason Kenny’s assault charges against Melissa Atwell], and Guptill said she was probably one of his cousin’s daughters.

[As an aside here, and with an assist from a “Finding Kenley” FB member, I was able to confirm that Medford Guptill is related to Melissa Atwell. Medford’s mother Cora was an Atwell, and her brother Donald Atwell’s son, Darroll Atwell (aka “Big Darroll”), Medford’s cousin, is Melissa Atwell’s father. Also interesting is that Melissa’s brother is also named Darroll (aka “Little Darroll”). Several years ago, during the production of Missing Kenley, both Suzanne Saunders, Jason Kenny’s mother, and Toby Mae Saunders, Jason Kenny’s sister, told me about a friend Jason had back at the time of Kenley’s disappearance, someone named Darroll. In fact, they both joked on occasion about there being a Newhart-like “Daryl and Daryl” situation when it came to this person and some other friend(s) of Jason at that time. Toby Mae told me more than once that she always got a terrible feeling whenever this particular person was around, as did the Kenny family dog evidently. When I recently tried to find out if this “Daryl” was in fact Darroll Murray Atwell, Melissa Atwell’s brother, Toby Mae could not confirm it. It should be mentioned here as well that Darroll Murray Atwell has a long criminal record and is currently in prison, serving a 4.5-year sentence for his association with a West Hants homicide, where he was charged with, among other things, interfering with human remains and arson. Last summer, when I returned from Nova Scotia, I was able to pass along an idea I had regarding this situation to the current RCMP lead investigator on Kenley’s case, Ariel Hynes, where I suggested that they might want to consider approaching Darroll Atwell in prison and seeing if he had any credible information on Kenley Matheson’s disappearance, and if so, with the possibility of reducing his sentence if he shared it with investigators. As far as I know, this has not been attempted or considered, and to my knowledge this new investigator has done nothing with this new lead since receiving it back in August 2025.]

Now, back to the Medford Guptill meeting:

I then asked Medford if he ever knew someone named Stanley Hiltz.

He coughed, and then said that he knew a lot of Hiltzes, that there were a lot of Hiltzes up on West Brooklyn Mountain, but that he didn’t know a Stanley Hiltz.

I then returned to his comment regarding the missing posters, to confirm that this was the only thing he knew or remembered about the Kenley Matheson case. This was now about ten minutes into our meeting. He said yes, that was it, that was all he knew, but then quickly deflected the question by asking where Kenley was seen last, whether he had a habit of going anywhere, whether he went out swimming, whether he was someone who went biking, etc. And then he asked where Kenley grew up. I answered these questions, and then he asked, probing further to find out what else I knew, whether I checked out his friends, and whether “he was into drugs or anything like that.” I said, yes, he was, and that this was an interesting question, and then asked him directly if he ever dealt drugs. Medford said, rather faintly, “No.” Linda added, “I don’t think so. He was a security guard.” He then added that he’d never even had a beer in his whole life.

I turned to the issue at hand and asked him if the Wolfville police or the RCMP had ever talked to him in the 33 years since Kenley’s disappearance. He said no, and then quickly deflected by saying that he worked at the correctional center, and that they had a lot of drug dealers in there. And then he added that he did not remember Kenley’s name coming up while working there.

I then told him that one of the main reasons I wanted to talk to him was that his name was in the case file—that his name was found in Kenley’s room after he disappeared. As I said this he murmured “yeah” twice under his breath. I then asked, “How did that happen?” His first response was that he had a daughter who went to Acadia [Angela Guptill, who graduated in 1992]. After we established that she wasn’t there at the same time as Kenley, he said, “For the life of me, I don’t know why my name would be in the files.”

I then said that it was very odd that a twenty-year-old from Cape Breton, only two weeks into his time in Wolfville, would have the name Medford Guptill in his dorm room. And I asked him again: “How on earth did he end up with your name in his room?”

Before Medford could answer, Linda jumped in and mentioned that there was another name found in Kenley’s room, that she’d “read the story on that,” and asked if she was right in saying it was “Chad Hiltz.” I corrected her and told it was a Stanley Hiltz, and that the Wolfville police wondered if his name being in Kenley’s room was drug related, and then I told Medford that his name was right next to Stanley Hiltz’s in the Wolfville police notes and timeline.

Medford asked when this all took place, and I told him 1992. He then added that 1992 was when he went to work at the correctional center in Waterville, and asked if Kenley had ever been in there, “in the adult one.” I said that he hadn’t as far as I knew.

I then briefly described the September 1992 timeline and again mentioned that during the October 10th room search the Wolfville police found some hash, which interested them, and also found a few names, one of which was his. As I finished this sentence, he again said, “yeah,” and then deflected, asking why they let weeks go by before they did the room search. I explained that there had been an initial look around the room a few days after his disappearance. Medford added that given Kenley was in Wolfville only a couple weeks, “It didn’t give him much time to make a lot of friends.”

I told him about Kenley’s closest friends that semester and asked him if the name Tomilson meant anything to him. [Kirsten Tomilson was one of these friends; her father was Ralph Tomilson, host of the Corkums Island weekend that Kenley attended, and who also had a conviction record for marijuana cultivation.] In response, Medford whispered, “No.” I followed up, “Have you ever heard of Ralph Tomilson?” He looked down and whispered, “No.” I said, “Okay…” And then he looked up at me and said more firmly, “No.” I said, a bit dubiously, “Huh.” Medford perked up and said, “It’s a cold trail, isn’t it?”

Medford then asked if I was related to Kenley. I said that I was not, but that this part of the story had been itching at me for years, and that I had always wanted to meet him and ask him about it. He joked, “Well, you should have come here sooner.” I told him that he was a hard man to find, to which he replied that he’s moved around a lot, including a stint from 2005 to 2017 in New Brunswick (the reason I never found him in Nova Scotia during the years that I was producing the docuseries, although I do vaguely remember once placing a few calls to an M. Guptill in New Brunswick that were never picked up).

Linda then wondered aloud as to why the RCMP never interviewed Medford. And then Medford, after almost 20 minutes of stating that his only knowledge of Kenley was “from the posters,” finally said, “You know, someone, somewhere told me my name was connected to him…but I can’t remember who it was?” Linda then responded, “I did. I saw it on TV. Your name was on TV.” Medford acknowledged this as true, but then disingenuously asked, “How was it on TV?” Linda answered, “They did a program on it. They did a documentary on it.”

I then attempted to show Medford a copy on my phone of the actual Wolfville police timeline where his name is mentioned. He did not seem interested and barely glanced at it. I said, “You don’t remember that?” He said, “No, nobody talked to me. No police ever talked to me about it.” I said, okay, that it was kind of a head scratcher, to which Medford agreed, that it was weird.

[From what information I have been able to gather, and as inexplicable as it may seem, it may indeed be true that no one in law enforcement over the past 33 years has ever spoken to Medford Guptill about his name being found in Kenley’s room. Recently, Kenley’s sister Kayrene and I were trying to get information on the actual handwritten Supplementary Report pages that generated the 8 April 1993 entry in the WPD timeline. These Supplementary Report entries were either redacted or not provided when the RCMP released several thousand pages of case file documents to Kenley’s family in 2019. We put in a request to the current lead investigator, Ariel Hynes, for these specific pages, or at least a description of what was contained in them, in order to see if anyone on the Wolfville police force actually spoke to Medford Guptill in April 1993—or indeed if any WPD or RCMP investigator ever spoke with him then or otherwise. According to Hynes, these missing or redacted pages do not relate to either Medford Guptill or Stanley Hiltz, and after her review of the entire case file she states that there is no indication that anyone has ever spoken to either of them. What this means in real terms is that, if true, not a single investigator in the 33-year history of the Kenley Matheson case has ever thought to locate and interview Medford Guptill, who was a middle-aged local man and prison guard in 1992, and whose name somehow Kenley—having just arrived in Wolfville—had in his dorm room. It is truly mind boggling if this is indeed the case.]

I then brought up Medford’s age at the time of Kenley’s disappearance, which I told him never made sense to me. I said it was one thing for Kenley to have the name of some 20-year-old Wolfville local that he met during those first couple weeks, but that he, Medford, was nearing 50-years-old at the time [Medford Guptill was either 46 or 47 in September of 1992]. And I asked pointedly, “Why would a 20-year-old kid just arrived from Cape Breton have a 50-year-old guy from Hantsport’s name in his room?” He had no answer. He said that he didn’t “have the faintest idea” how his name got there, and that he wished he did.

Circling back to Stanley Hiltz, I asked what Hiltzes he knew. He said he knew a Dale Hiltz, a Gerald Hiltz, and a Randy Hiltz. He stopped the list there, but then Linda asked, “Isn’t there a Howie Hiltz?” Medford then reluctantly conceded that there was a Howard Hiltz, who was his neighbor in West Brooklyn [there are actually a couple of West Brooklyn real estate transactions between the two of them that can be found in the Land Registration Office in Kentville, Nova Scotia; one can also find in this same office a 1990 record of the above mentioned Cora (née Atwell) Guptill as granting a lot of land to Medford Guptill, “situate at Horton on the Mountain Road, near Avonport,” a property that Medford’s cousin Darroll Atwell likely knew about].

Medford made an explicit point of asking me if I had spoken to all the persons of interest, such as Jason Kenny. And I said yes. At this point Linda asked for my phone number, which I gave her, as well as my name, and told them that I was the creator the program they had mentioned earlier.

I then brought up the belief that Kenley had been killed and buried up on Melanson Mountain. Medford said, “Yeah, I heard that.” And then seeing the surprised look on my face—given what he’d said earlier about the posters being the only thing he knew about Kenley’s disappearance—he quickly added, “I can’t remember where.”

I then asked him if he’d ever heard of something called the “Bear Caves.” He coughed for only the second time in the interview (the first time being when I asked him if he knew Stanley Hiltz). He paused, and then, barely audible and under his breath, said, “No.”

Linda then began asking Medford about a cave down “by the falls” on West Brooklyn Mountain. He said, yes, there was a big cave down by the falls inside the big bank, but he quickly added that no one has been to that location—that he knew of—for forty years. I inquired further about the exact location of “The Cave,” as they used to call it, and Medford said that it was really hard to get at and that he didn’t think there would be anything there, and that again he hadn’t been down there for 40 or 50 years. He gave me a few more specifics but then emphasized, “You’ll never find it now.”

[The next day I hiked out to this location on West Brooklyn Mountain. It was not very hard to get to and I found it fairly easily. Medford was right, though, in terms of what was there. Indeed, I found multiple “caves” in the banks of Curry Brook, some of which are more cave-like than anything I’ve ever seen on Melanson Mountain.]

I then asked him about what the drug scene was like up on Melanson Mountain back in the 1990s. I said that I knew people were cultivating drugs up on Melanson in the fields, to which he agreed, but said it was probably the same as anywhere. He said that he was not in the drug scene, so he wouldn’t have any inside information, but added, unless it was at the correctional center. Medford said he knew that a lot of drug-related guys came in there, and he mentioned the name “Grant Lockard” as a big drug dealer that he dealt with a lot.

I asked him to speculate on what he thought may have happened to Kenley. Medford said that if Kenley was associated with drugs, he may have owed some drug dealer money or something, and that “they just got rid of him, and hid his body.”

I ended the meeting by saying that it was unfortunate, even after talking to him, that we still didn’t have an answer as to why his name was in Kenley’s room. And I added how bizarre it was that the Wolfville police had his name in the timeline as someone they were going to contact, but that apparently they never did. He repeated, “No, they didn't,” and added, “I wish they did.” It should be noted that during this last part of this meeting, while discussing the drugs and through to the end, Medford’s body language began to change. His jaw tensed up. His eyes became reddish and a little watery. His arms were crossed, and he began moving slightly backward and away from me.

I thanked Medford and Linda for their time and returned to Wolfville.

Now, in terms of what still needs to be done by investigators:

1. Investigators (Ariel Hynes, lead RCMP investigator, [email protected]) should try to get to the bottom of why Medford Guptill’s and Stanley Hiltz’s names were in Kenley’s room. Investigators should interview both men and consider polygraphing them.

2. Investigators—or people who know him, if investigators are unwilling to do it—should talk to Darroll Murray Atwell and see what, if anything, he knows about Kenley’s disappearance, perhaps incentivizing him with a potential reduction in his sentence if the information is legitimate and helps advance the case.

3. Investigators—or people who know them, if investigators are unwilling to do it—should interview associates of Jason Kenny circa 1992 and others affiliated with Melanson Mountain during that time, individuals who might have information to advance the case. The below list includes some of the names given to me over the years as people who might potentially know something (and this list by no means suggests that any one of these individuals had anything at all to do with Kenley’s disappearance, or has any knowledge that they are withholding; it is simply a suggestion list of potential interview subjects for investigators):

Melissa Atwell (Jason Kenny’s ex-girlfriend)

Sharleen Smith (Jason Kenny’s ex-wife)

the so-called “Mountain Boys” (associated names that sources have provided: Joe Keddy, Cory Smith, Mike Wallace, Robbie Peters, Sean Gurtridge, and someone known as “Rooster” or “Chicken”)

Brian Saunders (friend of Jason Kenny in 1992, who according to one source lived secretly in Jason’s room at one point)

Ross Forrest (Jason Kenny “drug friend” according to one source)

Mike MacDonald (close friend of Jason Kenny in the fall of 1992, who was an Acadia engineering student)

F. Chris Giles (a source told me that Giles once told a story about a huge fight Jason had over a girl)

Adam Munroe (aka Adam Collicutt, a Melanson friend of Jason Kenny according to one source)

All individuals affiliated with the garage referred to by Jason Kenny’s uncle in the MISSING KENLEY docuseries, when he said that Jason “would be out in a garage, maybe on the mountain somewhere and they'd be taking a motor out of a vehicle.” Whose garage on Melanson Mountain is he talking about? Those associates should be interviewed.

As always, any tips are welcome: [email protected]

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

Missing Kenley, and thinking of his family, on what would have been his 53rd birthday today.

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

Thinking of Kenley today on the 32nd anniversary of his disappearance.

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

Another birthday passes and we're still missing Kenley. He would have been 52 years old today.

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

31 years ago today Kenley Matheson was reported missing. #MIssingKenley

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

We would just like to inform our @MissingKenley followers that as of right now there is no one in the RCMP actually working on the Kenley Matheson case. As we understand it from our inside sources, the lead investigator—and similar to what happened with the former lead investigator as well as the current Head of Major Crime for Southwest Nova—was recently on medical leave and has now been taken off the case entirely, reassigned to a new position at RCMP Nova Scotia Headquarters in Dartmouth.

#MissingKenley

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

Mark Zaki, our composer for the Missing Kenley docuseries, released a soundtrack today that includes music taken from and inspired by his original score. It's now available on Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes, Amazon, and Deezer:

https://t.co/zpr8Z4MCwM

Mark and I go back some twenty years, when we first worked together on my 2004 film The Political Dr. Seuss. Collaborating with him again for Missing Kenley was a truly amazing experience, and the range of music he created for the series was incredible, and exactly what I was hoping for when we first started talking about it back in 2020 during post-production.

According to Mark, since there’s no accompanying video, the cues on the soundtrack have been reworked and remixed so they can stand on their own as a dramatic and musical listening experience. And so they do!

Congrats & kudos, MZ!

RL

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

Earlier today the RCMP released an update on the Melanson search stating that “no human remains were located” and that the search team “did not locate any evidence that suggested that human remains had been deposited at the site.”

We knew that this was a possible outcome, cautioning everyone back in May that despite the promising nature of the cadaver dog search, “we cannot be sure what if anything is located there.” Be that as it may, this is surely disappointing news, especially for Kenley’s family.

What is unfortunate, however, is that not only did it take a full 3 months to get this search underway, but that by all accounts the search team was unable to truly do its job and fully process the entire site. Probably about 90% of the area that needed to be searched was ignored, and thus the actual search—which should have taken weeks—only took a single day. This may be in part what contributed to the friction that evidently emerged between the Medical Examiner’s office and the lead anthropologist.

According to several sources who were there on site, the more experienced Dr. Moira McLaughlin from St. Thomas University wanted to keep digging and continue the search, but she was shut down by the M.E.’s office leadership, who were calling the shots on site, and who admitted to those attending that they had little to no experience in this kind of forensic dig.

And so it was that first thing the following morning, after only one day, they pulled up the RCMP command center vehicle and left, declaring the search was officially over.

Moreover, we have also heard that no soil samples were taken last week for further forensic evaluation. Often, even when a body is moved, there remain microbes in the soil from decomposition, some of which may even contain mitochondrial DNA. Indeed, evidently Rifle was hitting more on the topsoil than in the underlying layers of clay, suggesting microbial evidence of remains as a possibility. It should be noted that this possibility also fits within a scenario described by Jane Doe in the Missing Kenley docuseries (from Episode 5 and mentioned in previous Tweets).

We have heard a rumor that there may have been some soil analysis done back in July, but one wonders why there weren’t any additional soil samples collected from the site last week, that could be further analyzed in the lab?

Some background on the abovementioned search area that was ignored: Back on May 24th during the original cadaver dog search, we were there on site and actually witnessed when Rifle picked up a scent of human remains on the far northern end of the area identified by two locals as the “Bear Caves.” It was our assumption at the time—given its location on the very edge of the “Bear Caves,” which are not actual caves but more a case of local lore—that this spot was not the actual, likely location where Kenley was buried. Rather, it immediately seemed to us that it might be a location where one of his bones, perhaps even something as small as a tooth, had been taken there from a nearby burial site by some kind of critter.

And so it seemed paramount to us, coming out of that cadaver dog search, that whoever conducted the forensics work needed to expand a bit southward and fully process the areas along the narrow but navigable ledge that make the rest of the cliff face accessible. For example, there are several distinct recesses in the rock wall, some of which might resemble “caves” from a short distance, that when we saw them in May were closed up and covered in piles of rocks and dirt, as well as flatter areas with their own rock piles, all of which could be potential—and more plausible—burial sites where a body “will never be found,” which is what Jason Kenny allegedly told his uncle Randy Saunders according to the statement Saunders made to investigators in 2016. Unfortunately, not one of these more plausible locations at the site were processed during last week’s forensics search.

We also believe, if indeed Kenley’s remains are not to be found at this site, it is important that RCMP investigators conduct cadaver dog searches in other locations as well, both on Melanson Mountain and in Wolfville itself. In terms of the latter, and especially if the statement that Kenley was buried “in the bear caves on Melanson Mountain” was said to obfuscate or misdirect, another potential important location has already been identified by investigators and in Missing Kenley interviews: the so-called “chicken pit” area on the Kenny Farm property, an area which was not covered during the one hour and ten minute RCMP-led cadaver dog search in the spring of 2017.

In terms of other possible locations on Melanson Mountain, moving forward RCMP investigators will need to do the kind of human intelligence work that they have failed to do over the past seven years—questioning any and all of this POI’s associates from 1992, especially those with connections to Melanson, those same individuals with whom “he would be out in a garage, maybe on the mountain somewhere and they'd be taking a motor out of a vehicle,” according to another uncle.

In fact, since the release of the docuseries last September, we have uncovered several dozen names of individuals who should be fully investigated by authorities. It is quite likely there were accomplices, and also likely there are individuals who were told details about Kenley’s murder and where he was buried. These people need to be found and interviewed—and any evidence they provide followed up on—in order for the final puzzle pieces to emerge that will Bring Kenley Home.

#MissingKenley

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

The RCMP are now set up on Melanson Mountain and a forensics team is going in today to begin processing the location where cadaver dog Rifle indicated the existence of human remains. #MissingKenley

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

A few thoughts while waiting—2 months now—for the RCMP and their partners to begin searching the site on Melanson Mountain where cadaver dog Rifle of Teeft K9 indicated the existence of human remains:

For one, the RCMP press release about it on July 14th, especially the “Background” section, was an omissive, revisionist spin on what’s actually happened in the case over the past seven years. The statement jumps from 2012, when Kenley Matheson’s name went on the DOJ’s Reward for Major Unsolved Crimes Program, straight to 2017, when they released an age progression sketch of him. There is no mention whatsoever of 2016, when they received a Crime Stoppers tip with information about Kenley’s alleged murder, and later that year gained direct testimony from the new POI’s mother about her son having stated that Kenley was buried in the “bear caves” on Melanson Mountain. Not a word.

They then write: “In September 2022, corresponding with a documentary about Kenley Matheson's disappearance, the Southwest Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit made another public plea for information in the hopes of generating new tips to advance the investigation. Unfortunately, investigators did not receive any new information.”

This is complete nonsense. They already had the information that could have “advanced the investigation” and led to this current forensics search—they’d had it in the Kenley Matheson case file for seven years! They specifically chose to ignore it. And then, adding insult to injury, that September they re-released the age progression sketch of all things. As well, that same month, they chose to ignore all of the new leads and new information that emerged from the Missing Kenley docuseries, followed by another seven months where they still chose not to pursue any of these new leads or further investigate the ones they already had in the file.

Moreover, the RCMP’s May–June 2023 timeline conveniently leaves out the fact that they were apparently leaning in the direction of not doing a search at all (supported by the fact that the Head of the Southwest Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit asked Kenley’s family three times in their initial meeting this spring what they would do if an RCMP-led forensics search was not conducted; btw, we’ve learned that this individual is now on medical leave, same as the former lead investigator, who went on medical leave last fall soon after it was discovered he was the new POI’s second cousin). Indeed, it was only after the Major Crime Unit in New Minas received a letter of concern from the RCMP Commissioner in Ottawa that things began to move in the right direction.

Related, there is no mention whatsoever in the RCMP press release as to why the May 23–24 cadaver dog search took place on Melanson Mountain in the first place and/or how this specific location may relate to the case. Rather, it reads as if this was the very first time investigators had ever heard anything at all about Melanson as a possible location of Kenley’s remains.

Unfortunately, the entire Canadian media uncritically allowed the RCMP to get away with this revisionist and omissive version of events. Although there were several news reports and stories printed, not a single media source that we've seen raised any of these questions or mentioned any of these now publicly known facts in any detail. Instead, they simply parroted the RCMP’s face-saving propaganda, many of them reprinting the RCMP’s statement nearly verbatim, passing it off as journalism. No mention of the family secret that came forth in 2016. No mention of the revelations in the Missing Kenley docuseries or here @MissingKenley. No mention of the public criticism of how long it was taking them to get a forensics team up on Melanson. Nothing but stories framing the situation exactly how the RCMP wanted it to be seen. And it begs the question: Are there any real journalists left in Canada? For the sake of Kenley, and the chances for justice in this case, we really hope so.

#MissingKenley

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

The Globe & Mail just published this story on the search: https://t.co/0tT3i7DTtR

RCMP to conduct search for remains of Nova Scotia man missing for over 30 years

by Lindsay Jones

RCMP and a team of experts assembled Friday at a remote wooded area near Wolfville, N.S., to co-ordinate a search in connection with an Acadia University student who mysteriously disappeared more than 30 years ago. Kenley Matheson went missing a few weeks after starting his first year of university in September, 1992, and hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

This spring, The Globe and Mail commissioned a two-day search by an International Police Work Dog Association certified dog and his handlers, Cathy and Doug Teeft. Their dog, a four-year-old German shepherd named Rifle, is trained to track cadaver scents. On May 24, under the guidance of his handlers, Rifle “indicated” or showed an expression of interest, a clue that could be a sign of human remains nearby, said Mr. Teeft, a member of the Nova Scotia K9 Rescue Team, a local ground search and rescue group, who volunteered to search the area upon request from The Globe.

The search was also attended by Ron Lamothe whose docuseries, Missing Kenley, includes interviews from witnesses who pinpointed the area as a location where Mr. Matheson’s remains might be found.

After Mr. Teeft wrote his report, The Globe shared it with RCMP Corporal Benjamin Kershaw and alerted the force’s commissioner, Mike Duheme, in Ottawa.

The area where Rifle showed interest for human remains is on a steep embankment near a ravine that locals refer to as the “bear caves.”

Along with Mr. Teeft, the Mounties’ Southwest Nova Major Crime Unit, and members from Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service Office, St. Thomas University’s anthropology department and Acadia University’s earth and environmental science department visited the site on Melanson Mountain near Wolfville on Friday.

“Based on the information obtained, the RCMP and our partners are making plans with regard to the best and most effective way to process the site both thoroughly and safely,” RCMP Corporal Chris Marshall said in a press release.

This week, the RCMP sent some members of the public a letter, signed by Nova Scotia RCMP Commanding Officer Dennis Daley, saying police were planning to complete a search of the area as soon as possible. “Our goal is to bring Kenley home to his family,” he wrote.

Mr. Matheson’s relatives are encouraged by the new information. “The ultimate goal for me is just to be able to find Kenley’s remains and put him to rest,” Mr. Matheson’s sister, Kayrene Matheson, said in an interview. “We’re just very, very hopeful that he will be found.”

Ms. Matheson recently launched the Bring Kenley Home mission, a walking challenge to raise awareness about the memory of her beloved brother.

RCMP have said that during Mr. Matheson’s first two weeks of university, the 20-year-old travelled with friends to Corkums Island in Lunenburg County for the weekend. He returned to Acadia and attended a campus party on Sept. 18, 1992, where he was seen by his sister and others at Crowell Tower on Sept. 20.

Mr. Matheson was last spotted by a friend walking on Main Street in Wolfville the next day, wearing blue jeans, a purple T-shirt, a red-and-black backpack and a ball cap. He has not been in contact with family or friends and there has been no activity on his bank account since.

RCMP have classified Mr. Matheson as a missing person, though in 2012 his case was added to a provincial reward program for major unsolved crimes that offers up to $150,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction.

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

The Southwest Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit just released the following statement:
https://t.co/xvTkijkWl5

#MissingKenley

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

It has come to our attention that everyone who wrote the RCMP Commissioner in the wake of our 6/24/23 Tweet received the following letter yesterday (attached). Again, thanks to all of you who took action and pressured the RCMP to get moving on the Melanson Mountain forensics search—you helped make this happen!

#MissingKenley #BringKenleyHome

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

Earlier today it was made public that the RCMP and the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner are now putting together a team to assess the site identified by Doug and Cathy Teeft’s cadaver dog Rifle as a possible location of Kenley Matheson’s remains. We would like to thank all of you who contacted the RCMP last week—your emails helped make this happen. We remain optimistic but would again caution everyone that until the forensics team processes the site, we cannot be sure what if anything is located there.

We also wanted to remind people that tomorrow (7/6) is the in-person start date of Bring Kenley Home. Led by Kenley Matheson’s sister Kayrene Willis, the 15km walk will leave Acadia University at 10:30am from the sign. It will head down Main Street, follow Maple Avenue to Melanson Road to Gaspereau River Road, and then continue on to Grand Pre Road and Fielding Road, ending at Anstrum’s Farm Market in Hantsport around 2pm.

#MissingKenley

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

DAY 34

We have a few immediate thoughts on the RCMP’s lame—yet predictable—public response to all of your emails of concern regarding their handling of the Kenley Matheson case.

Our first thought: Horsefeathers!

In the article (see link below), Cpl. Chris Marshall states that “over the past number of months, we’ve received information for new investigative avenues that we can pursue.” What exactly does this mean? If they’re talking about the outcome of our recent cadaver dog search of Melanson Mountain, and its connection to what Jason Kenny allegedly said back when Kenley disappeared, this is not a “new investigative avenue.” This is an old investigative avenue that they ignored—and buried—several years ago, when they chose to not follow up on information and leads that they themselves collected relating to the possible location of Kenley’s remains, and not conduct their own cadaver dog search of Melanson Mountain.

Further RCMP doublespeak by Cpl. Marshall came in the line: “I would just say that any information that we have been getting is assigned…to verify and validate the information that has come in and try to corroborate that information.” What exactly about what Jason Kenny purportedly said upon Kenley’s disappearance needs to be verified and validated and corroborated? This is not new. The RCMP itself collected this very information back in 2016 when they interviewed Suzanne Saunders. What about Doug Teeft’s search report, which the RCMP received on June 5th, needs to be verified and validated and corroborated? They have the report, and have also met with Teeft (who happens to be one of the top dog handlers in Nova Scotia and has worked with the RCMP for many years).

As for Cpl. Marshall’s excuses as to why it’s taking them so long to get a forensics team onto the site, these also seem rather weak and don’t hold up to scrutiny (btw, who wrote this unattributed article? whoever it was failed as a journalist to ask any of these pertinent follow-up questions). Marshall suggests—contrary to all the accumulated evidence detailed in Missing Kenley and previous Tweets—that they don’t have sufficient grounds to apply for a search warrant. Per Section 487 of Canada’s Criminal Code, “reasonable grounds” for a search warrant are that a property contain “anything on or in respect of which any offence against this Act or any other Act of Parliament has been or is suspected to have been committed” (i.e. anything related to a criminal act that has been committed) or “anything that there are reasonable grounds to believe will afford evidence with respect to the commission of an offence.” Multiple individuals have stated that they were told Kenley was murdered and that he was buried in the “Bear Caves” on Melanson Mountain. A professionally qualified search team was led to the location of the “Bear Caves” on Melanson Mountain. This search team has identified a specific site at this location where its cadaver dog indicated three consecutive times the potential location of human remains. How are these not “reasonable grounds” for the issuance of a search warrant, or at least “reasonable grounds” to pursue one?

Even more laughable, in regard to the alternative of receiving consent from the property owner for the forensics work, Cpl. Marshall told the reporter that this also takes time and that the owner must be found and spoken to in person: “It’s not something we can do over the phone..it’s not just a matter of one quick phone call.” Okay, then, how about this? When you received the property owner’s name from Kenley’s family three weeks ago on June 5th, why not that same day look up his address through his driver’s license (or via some other database/real estate records), call one of your fellow 1,083 RCMP officers in Ontario (where he lives), and ask them to take a drive out to his residence that same day to ask for his consent? Shouldn’t that only take a few hours? Instead of doing this, they made no effort to contact the property owner until two weeks later, when on 6/19/23 the lead investigator circled back with the family and asked if they had any contact info for this individual. Seriously? Again it begs the question: Is this lack of urgency simply ineptitude or somehow intentional?

From all of the above one might think the RCMP are not very motivated to solve this case. Maybe even disincentivized given the conflict of interest and potential obstruction of justice that took place from 2016–2019 (see our Op-Ed tweeted on 3/12/23). Indeed, it is incredibly reminiscent of 2016, when the previous lead RCMP investigator took 8 weeks before he was able to locate and speak with the new POI who had emerged that summer with the revelation of a 24-year-old family secret (a POI who happened to be his second cousin, never disclosed to Kenley’s family).

To sum up: Horsefeathers, RCMP damage control spokesperson and SaltWire stooge, absolute horsefeathers!

SaltWire story link: https://t.co/iEVLvqGLbp

#MissingKenley

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

DAY 33

Today marks 33 days since cadaver dog Rifle indicated the existence of human remains on Melanson Mountain.

Two quick notes:

1. We were remiss in our last Tweet by failing to mention another member of the 2-day Kenley Search. Although Jonathan Guy, expert Nova Scotian caver, was not able to be with us on the morning of the 24th, he did participate on Day 1 of the search and also generously shared both his knowledge and relevant sources during the research we conducted in preparation for it.

2. We would also like to bring your attention to an ongoing effort led by Kenley’s sister Kayrene to “Bring Kenley Home.” There is both a virtual mission (see link below) and in-person version. The latter will take place from July 6–8th, beginning at Acadia University (and in fact heading up Melanson Road toward the mountain) and ending in Port Hawkesbury, Cape Breton. More info to follow.

The virtual mission site:

https://t.co/Zy7sqjzC34

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

We have some very significant and promising news to break this morning regarding the Kenley Matheson case: A cadaver dog has indicated the existence of human remains at the “Bear Caves” on Melanson Mountain.

However, we have some disturbing news as well: As of today it’s been a full month since this incredible discovery and yet the site has still not been processed by the RCMP and Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service.

Some background: On May 23rd & 24th, the director-producer of Missing Kenley, along with a reporter and photographer for The Globe and Mail, participated in a two-day cadaver dog search of Melanson Mountain led by Doug and Cathy Teeft of Nova Scotia K9 Rescue Team. On the second day of the search our team was led by two local residents to the spot on the mountain known as the “Bear Caves” (see attached redacted page of Kenley Search report). Soon thereafter, at 10:08 a.m. on 5/24/23, “Rifle,” a cadaver dog trained specifically to find human remains, “showed a heightened expression of interest, casting and gridding,” according to the search report. Twenty minutes later, returning to the same spot, the “K-9’s body posture became tense as a pre-alert stage.” At this point the “K-9 downed and started at K-9 Handler who was close by, in direct sightline of K-9” and “then barked to confirm indication” (the K-9 handler discouraged trained ‘pop-up’ indication due to the dangerous terrain). Again, for a third time, at 10:53 a.m. the “K-9 downed and started at K-9 Handler and barked to confirm indication in same location as above.”

The following excerpt is from the summary review of the search:

Due to the extreme difficulty of accessing the location, it was decided by Team Leader Teeft to proceed and climb to the area with K-9 Rifle. As Teeft came across the face of that location, K9 Rifle showed a very intense interest to check one location. He tried to put his nose into the crevices of the rocks attempting to obtain a better sample of what was of interest to him.

K-9 Rifle then moved to the right side of that spot approximately eight (8) feet and showed a mild expression of interest. K-9 Rifle then became frustrated trying to get an exact location spot attempting to look up over his head. K-9 Rifle then climbed the bank and attempted to reach over the top overhang just above the spot he just climbed up from.

This behavior was consistent with his training and how he would indicate a location of strong interest. Ron Lamothe and Team Leader Teeft attempted to see if there was anything out of the ordinary obvious but could not tell if the rock formation had been altered in any way. We exited the immediate area and called K-9 handler to send her dog in on a second search. K-9 Rifle returned to the exact same area and gave his handler a full trained indication. This indication consisted of the dog downing, looking at his handler and barking.

At this point we want to caution everyone here and make absolutely clear that until a qualified forensics team fully processes the site, we cannot be sure what if anything is located there.

However, the following three facts are undisputed:

1. Suzanne Saunders told the RCMP in 2016 that sometime after Kenley Matheson’s disappearance her son Jason Kenny said that Matheson was buried in the “Bear Caves” on Melanson Mountain. Suzanne Saunders also told Missing Kenley director Ron Lamothe this same information off-camera the following year. As well, Toby Mae Saunders told Lamothe on multiple occasions both off camera and during her 2017 sit-down interview that she heard her brother Jason say that Kenley Matheson was buried in a “bear cave” on Melanson Mountain. These statements of Suzanne Saunders and Toby Mae Saunders are further corroborated by the Jane Doe correspondence sent to Lamothe in 2017. In that email, Jane Doe wrote that in 2016 Suzanne Saunders told her that at the time of Kenley’s disappearance her son said his body was located “in the bear caves on Melanson Mountain outside of Wolfville.” (See Missing Kenley Episode 5)

2. On the morning of 5/24/23 two local residents led our search team to a specific location on Melanson Mountain that they indicated are the “Bear Caves.”

3. Within half an hour a professionally trained cadaver dog, led by expert handlers Doug & Cathy Teeft (see attached photo), indicated the existence of human remains at this very spot.

Further background: The Kenley Search came together this past spring in response to several years of further inattention to the case by the RCMP. Although they have known since 2016 that Melanson Mountain was a possible location of Kenley’s remains, in the intervening years they never once stepped foot on the mountain or pursued any leads that may have helped them locate the burial site. And even in the wake of the Missing Kenley docuseries release in the fall of 2022, and the new evidence that emerged from it, they still did absolutely nothing (other than re-release an age progression sketch of Kenley on the anniversary date of his 1992 disappearance).

Now this latest chapter: The findings of our search team were first reported to the RCMP Commissioner in Ottawa, Ontario, on May 29th. That same week this same information was provided to the RCMP Southwest Nova Major Crimes Unit in New Minas, Nova Scotia. That whole week nothing was done. Kenley’s family met with the RCMP in New Minas the following Monday (6/5/23) to request that the site be secured and processed as soon as possible by the Medical Examiner’s forensics team. In this meeting, the head of Major Crimes for Southwest Nova asked Kenley’s family—three times—what they would do if the RCMP chose not to do a search to recover the remains, to which he was told they would hire a private forensics team to process the site. And here we are now, three weeks later—a full month since the cadaver dog search—and the site has still not been processed by the Medical Examiner’s forensics unit. The RCMP lead investigator in Kenley’s case says they are actively trying to “track down” the property owner—who lives in Ontario and should be very easy to locate—for his consent to search the site, but as of today they still haven’t done so. The RCMP are also stalling the forensics work by claiming that there are insufficient grounds to obtain a search warrant.

This family has been waiting for this moment for over 30 years. What is happening here—not unlike what happened in 2016—is unconscionable. And it’s not only negligent, it’s cruel. Kenley Matheson’s family deserves answers. Right now.

RCMP, DO YOUR JOB! GET UP TO MELANSON MOUNTAIN TODAY. SECURE THE SITE NOW. GET A FORENSICS TEAM IN THERE IMMEDIATELY.

And so this morning we are encouraging our followers and the Canadian media to hold the RCMP accountable, letting them know that anything short of an immediate and exhaustive forensics processing of the entire site by the Medical Examiner Service is unacceptable. And we need to also let them know that we are watching, and that if they merely go through the motions in order to dismiss the site, and the accumulated evidence pointing toward Kenley’s murder, all to further cover it up, we will call them out on it.

RCMP contact info:

RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme:
[email protected]

Terry Faulkner, head of the SW Nova Major Crime Unit:
[email protected]

Ben Kershaw, lead investigator in the case:
[email protected]

#MissingKenley

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

@TerynnBoulton It makes no mention of Kenley.

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

As a reminder, and as stated previously, we decided that it is in the public interest to get as much information as possible about Kenley’s 1992 disappearance out into the world, and to share out some of the documents & details related to the case that we’ve collected over the past 12 years (sticking to the FACTS & progressing in chronological order). We’ve now reached Sunday the 20th of September 1992:

On Sunday 9/20/92 at 1:15 p.m. Kenley Matheson made an ATM withdrawal of $20 from the Royal Bank in downtown Wolfville (see attachment from WPD continuation report). Kayrene went to Kenley’s room in the late afternoon/early evening and spoke with him about the Friday night Tower Party (several documentary sources say 4 p.m. but the original police report says “approx. 8:00 pm”). According to Kayrene (from her 2010 interview with Tom Martin), Kenley was embarrassed and “kinda beaten down, not chipper…body language was withdrawn.” Before she left, they made plans to work on their calculus homework together the following evening.

Later that night, at 9 or 10 o’clock, Resident Assistant Todd Barker knocked on Kenley’s door in order to have him sign an Acadia room agreement form of some sort. According to the notes of private investigators Fred Horne and Tom Martin (see attachment from Horne's 1996 report), which were based on conversations with the Wolfville police and direct access to the case file, Barker told Constable MacKillop on March 31, 1995 (see attached WPD timeline) that in response to his knock, “Kenley opened the door, but only about nine or ten inches.” Barker told investigators that he did not enter the room, but “passed a paper in through the open door for Kenley to sign.” In this same statement, per Horne’s notes, Barker also told MacKillop, “Kenley may have been doing something like ironing a shirt.” Per Martin’s notes, Barker “never received the form back” [and it remains unknown if this form was found in Kenley’s room following his disappearance or if it was ever taken into evidence by the WPD/RCMP].

There is a discrepancy in terms of whether this interaction between Todd Barker and Kenley Matheson took place on Sunday (9/20/92) or Monday (9/21/92). According to a WPD continuation report (see attached), on 9/28/92 they were “[i]nformed by Kayrene that the ARC of Crowell Tower [Todd Barker] saw Kenley at 10PM Sept 21/92.” And this—at the time the last known sighting—was how Kenley’s disappearance was originally reported on by the media, and how it was discussed by investigators until Barker made his first official statement in March 1995.

Two years later, in August 1997, when the Halifax Regional Police Service’s Major Crimes Unit was asked to consult on the investigation, Sgt. Michael Spurr concluded: “At this time I don’t see anything in Todd BARKER’S statement that is questionable. The discrepancy in the sighting of September 21st is more that [sic] likely a recording or honest error.” When asked about it for Missing Kenley, Barker stated: “If I had to get a room agreement signed from him, we had our resident assistant meetings on Sunday. Because think about it, there was always a football game on Saturday, right? So everything going up until that week, the Don, Steve Hassapis, was completely occupied with football. So if I had to have him sign a room agreement, it would have been after that meeting on Sunday.”

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

9/21/92 PART 4:

At around 5:00 p.m. that Monday Sarah MacDonald tried to call her son Kenley on the 9th floor communal payphone. According to Sarah, “Whoever answered said, ‘Oh, he went down for supper.’ I think around 7:00-ish I talked to Kayrene. He was coming to do math that evening. I told her to tell him to call me.” Soon thereafter Kayrene attempted to call her brother about the calculus study session they had planned for that night. She was unable to get a hold of him. [According to Kayrene, when she went to Kenley’s dorm room two days later, there were notes on the door that said “call your mom” and “call your sister.”]

[Missing Kenley @MissingKenley]

9/21/92 PART 3:

In August 1997, when the Halifax Regional Police Service’s Major Crimes Unit was asked to consult on the investigation, Sgt. Michael Spurr wrote the following about this 9/21/92 Gordon sighting of Kenley Matheson in a letter to the Wolfville Police Department (see attached; presumably based on this initial 9/27/92 statement, as well as the statement Gordon made to Constable MacKillop on 10/10/92 and the taped statement he made to the Wolfville police on 3/2/93): “Neither myself nor Cst. MacDonald were comfortable with the statement given by Thomas GORDON.” In that letter, within point 4 of “what seems disturbing about his statement,” Sgt. Spurr wrote: “Of all the people that could have seen Mr. MATHESON the day he disappeared it is Mr. GORDON who sees him last (coincidentally just after he made his last recorded transaction at the Royal Bank) Mr. GORDON then places himself going in the opposite direction of travel to Mr. Matheson (Mr. Matheson past the gym towards Nowlands [sic, Nowlan’s] Canteen and Mr. GORDON into the gym).” Within point 5 Spurr wrote: “When asked if there is anything Mr. GORDON might do to locate Mr. MATHESON he suggests to the investigator to look in South America.” In the questions section of Sgt. Spurr’s letter, he asked: “Mr. GORDON sees Mr. MATHESON literally as he disappears from the face of the earth and then excuses himself from further observations by placing himself inside the gym. What are the chances of that and at the same time being able to recall what he was wearing? Does Mr. GORDON use this departure point as a reference because he knows a transaction has been recorded at the bank? Did Mr. GORDON ever go to the GYM? Does Mr. GORDON’S memory for Mr. MATHESON’S clothing and description come from closer observations?”

In Missing Kenley Tom Gordon stated in regard to the 9/21/92 sighting: “So I had most likely three classes that day. Um, they would have all been up until around lunchtime, and then I went and had lunch with Frank [Trenholm]. And uh, we probably would have gone either to Wheelock Hall or to one of the other halls—there was one more, where you could eat lunch. After lunch uh, there was a tennis tournament that was taking place, the Intramural Tennis Tournament. So I wanted to get some practice in for that, so Griz, myself—Griz [Michael Crocker] was a guy on the ninth floor of Crowell Tower. We uh, decided to play a game after lunch, got some practice in, um [presumably at Acadia’s tennis courts next to Crowell Tower], and I had some time free until my evening class [IDST 2506: Perspectives on Canada]. So I came down here [Royal Bank ATM on Main Street] to uh, to get money out of the ATM.”

Gordon’s 9/21/92 journal entry mentions the three daytime classes, the lunch with Frank Trenholm, the tennis with Michael “Griz” Crocker, and several details on the evening Perspectives on Canada class, but it makes no mention of going to the ATM in town or going down to the gym at any point.

Tom Gordon stated in Missing Kenley that on his way back from the ATM that Monday he saw Kenley “on the other side of the street walking into town this way [eastward on Main Street toward the Al Whittle Theatre]” and not in the Royal Bank/Wade’s parking lot [per his 9/27/92 statement to Cst. Van Herk]. Gordon also stated in the docuseries that he “gave him [Kenley] a wave only…didn't have a uh, personal catch-up; I just gave him a wave and that was all,” and was not [per his 9/27/92 statement to Cst. Van Herk] “speaking to Kenley for a short period of time.” In addition, he stated in Missing Kenley that Kenley “was wearing his trademark [Lakers] baseball cap and just sort of casual clothes, jeans and stuff,” adding that “I can't remember if he was carrying a backpack or anything.”

Gordon was asked by the filmmaker, “So you only saw him on that one time on the Monday, you didn't see him two separate occasions? [per his 1992 & 1993 statements]” He answered, “Not as I remember it, just that one time down—down here on Main Street.” In follow-up, he was asked, “There are some that have you seeing him walking toward Nowlan's Canteen, like down by the athletics center—does that make any sense?” Gordon responded, “My memory certainly being back here is—is coming back. It's bringing it back a little clearer. Um, my memory is definitely of seeing him here on Main Street.” He later confirms this, stating, “My memory is of seeing him here on Main Street and as I recall it him coming the other way, um, heading into town [eastward rather than westward as described in his 1992 & 1993 statements].” He was then asked, “As you recall, you only saw him one time that day?” His response was, “As I recall it, I, I only saw him the one time during that day and that would be down here on Main Street. Um, if I reread the diary and if I think back to that day, I can't recall seeing him a second time.” (to be continued in 9/21/92 PART 4)