Dark Poutine Podcast - True Crime & Dark History
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True crime & dark history from a Canadian perspective
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: michael.duheme@rcmp-grc.gc.ca Terry Faulkner, head of the SW Nova Major Crime Unit: terry.faulkner@rcmp-grc.gc.ca Ben Kershaw, lead investigator in the case: benjamin.kershaw@rcmp-grc.gc.ca #MissingKenley
