Police check new information in search of missing Acadia college student

RCMP in Kings County says they are investigating new leads brought to them 30 years ago in the investigation into the disappearance of an Acadia University student.

Copl. Chris Marshall said police have been receiving information about the case from outside sources in recent months.

“The information provided to our investigators is being acted upon,” Marshall said.

He said information has been received intermittently since then Kenley Matheson went missing in September 1992. There has been no sign of him since then.

“More recently, in recent months, we have received information for new avenues of investigation to pursue, and that is being done at this time.”

He said he cannot talk about the details of the new leads received due to “the potential loss of evidence and people getting involved in potential crime scenes and potentially infectious evidence, so I would just say that all the information we have has been assigned… to verify and validate the information that has come in and to attempt to confirm that information. If it can lead to a new research route, then we will continue to follow it on that path.

He said he knows some people object to the speed of that process.

“There has been a lot of commentary regarding the way the investigation is being conducted and the steps our members are taking,” he said. “A lot of opinions are expressed, but at the end of the day, as the information is provided, our researchers follow up. We must operate within the boundaries of the law.”

For example, he said that if police want to search a property to look for evidence, they should have reasons to get a search warrant.

“We should have verified information that we can confirm and provide to a justice of the peace or a judge and say that ‘we believe… this particular area will provide evidence, and these are our reasons why we need you to get permission to give a search of that property.”

Police must also ensure that the information they use to obtain the warrant will withstand scrutiny in court.

Property owners have a legal right to privacy, he said, and police cannot enter private property because it could further an investigation without a warrant or permission from the owner, Marshall said. If there is evidence that a crime has been committed, any evidence found may be inadmissible in court if not obtained legally.

He said that while an alternative to a warrant is to enter the land with the owner’s permission, that also takes time. The owner must be found and spoken to in person.

“It’s not something we can do over the phone,” he said. “It’s not just a matter of a quick phone call… (The owner) can revoke that permission at any time, so it’s difficult to search a property without an owner present to revoke that permission at any time if they want to. If they’re not on that property, how can they easily revoke that permission if they want to? That is what I mean by the limits of the law.”

He said there is a lot of legality surrounding what the police can and cannot do.

“We keep following. We will continue to do our due diligence with the investigation,” he said.