A photo of Allan Kenley Matheson from shortly before his disappearance, and an age progression sketch of what he may look like today. (CONTRIBUTED / Herald composite)

SYDNEY — The sister of a Glendale, Inverness County man who disappeared in Wolfville 25 years ago is still feeling the pain of her loss but now is focusing on her brother’s life, not his disappearance.

Kayrene Willis, a high school teacher in Scottsdale, Ariz., is the sister of Allan Kenley Matheson, who went missing on Sept. 21, 1992, in Wolfville at the age of 20, while attending Acadia University. She said it was his hope to major in biology.

She said that although she still grieves the loss of her brother, she wants to remember how he was.

“I have to look at the fact that he has been gone for 25 years and I was the closest with him out of anyone in my life and it’s still very painful but I have to find the joy in every day and not focus on his disappearance but focus on the time we had together,” said Willis.

On Sept. 7, 1992, Matheson and Willis, who was 18 at the time, began their first year of university at Acadia. Matheson had taken two years off after his high school graduation in Cape Breton to drive a motorcycle across the country, plant trees in British Columbia, try to save the rainforests in South America, and visit Guatemala and Belize.

RCMP say he had travelled with some friends to Corkum’s Island in Lunenburg County and upon his return to Acadia the weekend of Sept. 18, he attended a party on campus. He was later seen by his sister and others at Crowell Tower (Acadia University) on Sept. 20. He was last seen by a friend walking on Main Street in Wolfville on Sept. 21, wearing blue jeans, a purple T-shirt, a red and black backpack and a ball cap. His passport, clothes, and toiletries were left behind. There has been no contact with family members or friends and there has been no activity on his bank account.

On Thursday, the RCMP released an age progression sketch of what Kenley may look like today. Police and Kenley’s family are asking for the public’s help in hopes of obtaining new information to assist in the investigation.

“Not knowing what happened to my son has been devastating for our family and has made it extremely difficult to move forward,” says Sarah MacDonald, Kenley Matheson’s mother. “I believe someone out there knows something that may help piece together what happened. I’m urging anyone who remembers anything, regardless of how insignificant it may seem, to please come forward.”

Willis said that she and her family believe the investigation wasn’t handled properly.

“Things weren’t handled properly from the beginning and it wasn’t seen as a crime at that time. I believe that it is, I believe that there was foul play involved,” said Willis “I don’t believe that he just took off and that part has been hard for my family, especially my mom. She’s always wanted it to be investigated thoroughly.

“It’s still a shock and it’s still a mystery, even recently my parents and I were talking about it and we don’t feel any closer to the answers than we did 25 years ago.”

In 2013, documentary filmmaker Ron Lamothe started a Kickstarter campaign to make a film about Kenley’s disappearance. Willis said when she was recently in Nova Scotia she got a chance to meet with Lamothe. She said the documentary is still in production and is scheduled to be released sometime in 2019.

In 2012, the case was added to the Nova Scotia Department of Justice’s Reward for Major Unsolved Crimes Program. Anyone with information is asked to contact the RCMP at 902-679-5561, or contact Crime Stoppers by calling toll-free 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or texting a tip - Tip 202 + your message to 274637.

N.S. RCMP release age progression sketch of student who disappeared in 1992

For the family of Allan Kenley Matheson the last 20 years has been a nightmare, as they wonder what happened to the 20-year-old Acadia University student, who went missing from Wolfville in September 1992. (ERIC WYNNE / Staff / File)

Just 13 days into the 1992-93 school year, Acadia University student Allan Kenley Matheson vanished. His disappearance has never been solved.

My second life started on Monday, Sept. 21, 1992.

I last saw Kenley in his dorm room at Crowell Tower on Sunday, Sept. 20, 1992; I didn’t know that would be the last time I saw him. For the next three days my apprehension grew steadily until the shocking realization, on Wednesday night, that he was gone.

My brother, Allan Kenley Matheson, was an adventurer. When he graduated from high school in 1990 he bought a motorcycle and drove it across Canada to Banff, where he worked until the fall.

Over the next two years, Kenley’s desire for adventure led him to plant trees in British Columbia, where he made many friends, to the southern United States on a walk to save the rainforests in South America, then to Guatemala and Belize, back to British Columbia and always, somehow, he ended up back in Cape Breton.

The summer of 1992 followed my graduation from high school, and Kenley and I made plans to head to Acadia University in Wolfville that September. He would major in biology and planned to pursue his passion of helping to save the environment. I intended to major in chemistry.

We shared calculus class together on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and planned to work together to get through it. I did not have a class with him Monday morning but as he was leaving his chemistry class at Elliott Hall I was going into mine.

I did not see him that Monday and our friend Jill, who shared the class with him, did not see him either. (Mental note, “That’s odd”.) Called him that night and left a message.

I went to calculus class on Tuesday morning. He was not there. I went to Crowell Tower and left a note on the door: “Call me immediately. As soon as you walk in the door. Love, Kay.” My mom still has this note.

While I was worried, I was trying not to overreact. After all, he had travelled over two continents and here we are, living in a town of 3,500 with a practically non-existent crime rate.

What is the worst that could happen?

We had arrived at Acadia around Labour Day that year, Sept. 7. We had a few days of student orientation before classes started. Kenley was apprehensive about the frosh activities and anything to do with initiation. Being two years older than most of the other first year students he took the chance to escape the first weekend with some new friends. They went to a place near Lunenburg called Corkum’s Island.

He returned from the South Shore safe and sound on Sunday, Sept. 13.

We went to classes the first full week and saw each other several times. It seemed like a good start. I had to go to Halifax the following weekend and there was a big party at his residence on Saturday night.

Upon my return from Halifax on Sunday, I went to see him around 4 p.m. He was in his room, slightly withdrawn, perhaps due to the festivities the night before. We planned to get together the next night to work on our calculus.

He had only been at Acadia for about 13 days.

A lot of people wonder how we have gotten through this. Those of you who knew Kenley and me know that there was not a brother and sister who were closer.

If this were a movie, you would be seeing my mind flash back to happy memories of our childhood. If someone had told me before this happened how our lives would unfold I would have collapsed, unable to go on.

This terrible experience has taught me a lot, perhaps most importantly to not judge people until you have walked a mile in their shoes. I have never before felt the need to express my grief publicly; I know what Kenley meant to me and what he still means to me. The closest I can come to describing the experience is to tell you that it’s probably like losing a limb — like my arm was severed and 9/10ths of my heart was taken with it.

I have been living 20 years with this deficiency.

Do people who have tragic accidents learn to cope and move on with living? Do people who lose loved ones move on with living? Do people who suffer severe trauma move on with living?

The answer is yes. They still have a magical cup of coffee, a sunset that makes them believe in God, a friend who picks them up and makes them smile, a husband who seems like a gift from God, a cat that wants its head scratched.

Every single person on this Earth manages to find joy in their day to keep moving forward.

Yet to be honest, I have stumbled through the past 20 years. I don’t feel as much as I would like because part of me is dead. I get angry that Kenley is no longer with me and my family. I cry when I see his friends who have children and realize I will never be a loving aunt to his children. I don’t feel like an only child because my early years were spent with a wonderful brother who was supportive, caring, loyal, funny, smart and fun to be around.

But I often do feel alone.

He was my mom’s little boy, my dad’s little hockey and baseball player. They were so proud of who he was — fiercely independent and confident.

We all ask ourselves, how did this happen? Why did this happen?

The problem is that we don’t have answers. This mystery remains unsolved. When his RA let me into Kenley’s room on that Wednesday 20 years ago, it was empty. He had $3,000 in the bank from tree planting — it was not touched. He did not have his passport. He did not take any toiletries. He did not leave a note.

I know he would not have simply left. I met with a psychic last year on several occasions (one of many over the years). She told me Kenley knew he would not live a long life. She told me he is no longer with his bones and teeth in the woods. While this mental picture is extremely disturbing it actually makes sense to me. I never believed that he just took off, or that he took his own life. I think he ran into the wrong person, or people, at the wrong time in the wrong place.

It took me a long time to say I think he is dead; the first time was 2011. I felt that if I said this it would mean I had given up hope. And for people with missing family members, there is always that glimmer of hope.

It has been an incredibly difficult, painful, heart-wrenching, and confusing time, but along the way my family has stayed strong. I am very close to my mother, father and stepmother. I still have my wonderful friends from high school who continue to reach out and help to ease the pain. I am still protective about Kenley and have a hard time when strangers talk about him or what we have gone through.

What I have realized, however, is that everyone can relate. All of the people in our town and community have their own memories of Kenley which are special to them. My only words of advice are to appreciate those you love, enjoy the small things in life and don’t waste your time judging others. Endeavour to see that most people are trying to do their best.

As my mom says, the past 20 years have been a roller coaster. She has been the most persistent investigator, advocate, and heroine in this story. She stood up for us when we were little and has stood behind her son since the day he disappeared. While she might not announce her role in this mystery, let it be known that there is not a day that goes by that she is not working to find answers. Despite every setback, she continues to be the light that leads the way.

My mother, father and stepmother all hope an answer will come, but realize we may never know what really happened on the evening of Sept. 20, 1992 at Acadia University.

I secretly feel that if everyone puts forth a concerted positive prayer or thought of peace maybe something will break in this mystery.

Many people will ask why it has taken so long for Kenley to be placed on the list of 63 unsolved Nova Scotia investigations.

Because of his age and adventurous tendencies I don’t think it was ever viewed as a possible homicide. But with the help of the RCMP, our investigator Tom Martin and my mother, it has finally happened and we, Kenley’s family, are ecstatic. It has taken a few years. Because Kenley was not a four-year-old child, it seemed he did not get the same attention at the time of his disappearance.

When something like this happens to a family there is no manual on the correct steps to take. Not for the family or, perhaps surprising, for the police. There is no team of “Criminal Minds” investigators who fly in to solve the mystery.

Although at the time of this writing I was shocked to discover that no-one had ever claimed a standing $150,000 reward for cracking one of the 63 unsolved Nova Scotia mysteries, two have recently been resolved.

I hope Kenley’s will be the next.

Kayrene (Matheson) Willis, a chemical engineer, married in 2003 and now lives with her family in Arizona.

N.S. adds missing Wolfville student to rewards list

June 1, 2012 - 4:46pm By IAN FAIRCLOUGH

Mother yearns for answers about her missing son; 20-year case added to $150k rewards program

Every May 8, the mother of Allen Kenley Matheson goes for a walk to mark the missing man’s birthday.

“I just sort of think about him, meditate on him, plead with him, ‘please will you give me some sign here of what I need to do to come up with information on how to solve this,’” Sarah MacDonald said Friday of her son, who disappeared without a trace almost 20 years ago.

The Department of Justice added the 20-year-old Acadia University biology student’s case to its Rewards for Major Unsolved Crimes program on Friday. The department is offering a cash reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to the arrest of anyone responsible for his disappearance in September 1992.

Matheson, who went by his middle name, was seen by his sister and other students at Acadia’s Crowell Tower residence on Sept. 20 of that year, and by a friend walking on Main Street in Wolfville the next day. He hasn’t been seen or heard from since.

MacDonald said Friday was a “phenomenal day” for her because Matheson’s name was making the rewards list.

“What I want is for people is to go back to that week at Acadia University and on the ninth floor of Crowell Tower, and just go through the information you have in your head and take it apart and look at it from a different perspective,” she said in an interview at RCMP headquarters in Halifax, sitting next to a table of mementos from Matheson’s life.

Those included year books, novels, pictures, hockey medals, and a Rubiks cube. All are items that have been kept in his room virtually untouched since his disappearance.

There was also a note that her daughter had left on MacDonald’s dorm room door. She put it there after he didn’t show up for a Sept. 21 evening study session they had scheduled the day before.

“Kenley, Call me as soon at you step foot in the door. Immediately!!!" the note said.

MacDonald said she’s urging anyone who knows anything about her son’s disappearance to come forward.

“(I) plead with them... that little bit bit of information might be the piece we’re looking for. I can’t say how much it would mean to us for somebody to come forward.”

The past 20 years “have been like a roller coaster of highs and lows and highs and lows,” MacDonald said. “We get some information and we think ‘this is it and this is what’s going to be what solves the case,’ and then nothing. That has gone on regularly. There might be several years where there’s no information and then things are stuck and something will come out, but it will be the same.”

She said her son enjoyed reading and was rarely without a book. He played minor hockey and baseball and liked camping.

“He liked the outdoors. He wanted to do something for the environment, he wanted to do something that would mean something to the world and change it in some way,” she said.

Police say they believe there are people who have information that could lead to an arrest and possible charges in the case.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Scott MacRae said police think some kind of foul play may have been involved in Matheson’s disappearance and hope the cash reward might prompt someone to come forward.

“As the investigating police agency, we want this to hopefully generate information in the public because we truly feel there are people out there (who know something),” he said.

He said after 20 years people may be in a different place in their lives and inclined to share information they’ve kept to themselves or that they didn’t know at the time may be important.

“That one little tidbit of information may be what brings the police that much closer to finding answers for the family,” MacRae said.

“It’s one of those cases,” he said. “We don’t have a body. Nothing happened in broad daylight. This is a tough one.”

Police had made another search in the Wolfville area six or seven years ago without finding any new clues, MacRae said.

When last seen, Matheson was wearing blue jeans, a purple T-shirt, blue coat, dark brown suede loafers a purpse ball cap. He wore a gold hoop earring in his left ear.

Anyone with information can call 1-888-710-9090. Those who come forward will be expected to provide their name and contact information and may be called to testify in court. All calls are recorded. More information on the case can be found at www.gov.ns.ca/just. HERE

$150K for help solving 20-year-old cold case

Kenley Matheson disappeared in 1992, he was last seen walking along Wolfville's Main Street CBC News Posted: Jun 1, 2012 10:38 PM AT Last Updated: Jun 1, 2012 10:59 PM AT

The province's Department of Justice announced Friday it is offering up to $150,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for 1992 disappearance of 20-year-old Kenley Matheson.

Cpl. Scott MacRae, the spokesman for the Halifax RCMP, hopes the money will entice someone to come forward with information.

"With that monetary component, as a police agency, we feel that just might be the incentive to bring anybody, who may have information, to bring (that information) forth to the police," MacRae said.

There are 63 unsolved cases in the province's Rewards for Major Unsolved Crimes Program.

Matheson's family is hoping someone will come forward with information to crack the cold case.

Sarah MacDonald, Matheson's mother, said it would give the family closure.

"My biggest thing is to just find his body," MacDonald said.