RCMP begin searching N.S. mountain as part of Kenley Matheson disappearance case

The Nova Scotia RCMP said a search is underway at Melanson Mountain in Kings County as part of the decades-old Kenley Matheson disappearance case.

In a release Thursday, police said a team that included RCMP officers, the Nova Scotia medical examiner’s office, St. Thomas University’s anthropology department and Acadia University’s earth and environmental science department began searching a site on the mountain that was identified by a cadaver dog.

The search began Wednesday and is expected to conclude Friday, the release said.

“Further details regarding findings and next steps will be shared once the site processing has been completed,” it said.

Matheson was 20 years old and a student at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S., when he was last seen on Sept. 21, 1992.

The Cape Breton man was just two weeks into his first semester when he disappeared “without a trace,” according to his younger sister Kayrene.

“It has been very difficult. Kenley and I were very close,” Kayrene told Global News last month.

In 2017, 25 years after his disappearance, the RCMP released an age progression sketch of Matheson, showing what he may look like in recent years.

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The case was also added to the province’s Rewards for Major Unsolved Crimes Program and is the subject of a documentary series called Missing Kenley, which is available on Amazon Prime and Google Play.

RCMP made another public plea for information in September 2022 to coincide with that documentary, but did not receive new information.

However, RCMP said in May of this year, they were told a search commissioned by the Globe and Mail had taken place on Melanson Mountain with the use of a cadaver dog.

“The dog indicated an area of interest; however, no human remains were located,” RCMP said in a release last month.

Police said their own officers and the cadaver dog team visited the Melanson Mountain site on June 13 and found that the area “is on very steep terrain, and any search or excavation efforts would require safety precautions.”

They then asked the Nova Scotia Medical Examiner’s Office to assist and received permission from the property owner to conduct the search.

On Thursday, the RCMP said it has maintained regular contact with Matheson’s family.

“We would like to thank Kenley’s family for their continued support of the investigation,” the release said.

In July, Matheson’s family and friends held a march in Wolfville — beginning at Acadia University — to bring attention to his case once again.

In an interview, his sister that all they wanted was to “bring Kenley home.” She said the family was hopeful that the search for remains in Melanson Mountain would be successful.

“It’s going on 31 years, so we’re just hoping and praying that this is it,” she said.

“With a missing person, it is a very difficult journey because … you don’t have that closure.”