Kenley Matheson - Kirsten Tomilson Statements - Deep Dive Article 2

Did Kirsten Tomilson enter Kenley Matheson's dorm room and see his nap sack, prior to Wednesday, September 23, 1992, when Kayrene Matheson and Mike Hussey enter his room to discover his nap sack is not there?

Kirsten Tomilson Photo credit: Missing Kenley

Deep Dive Article 2 into the disappearance of Kenley Matheson includes the CONFIRMED timeline, with new information derived from Kirsten Tomlinson's statements, added and highlighted in yellow. I will ask all questions that come to mind. If anyone has any answers or insight to these questions please contact me at wethemissing@gmail.com or on the Facebook page or Twitter account dedicated to finding Kenley Matheson. It has been almost 33 years since Kenley went missing so at this point we need to keep discussing what we know, ask questions and get answers. Keep his name out there! As of September 2023, there is no one in law enforcement actively working on his case.

In these deep dives, I am assuming that everyone coming forth with information is telling the truth. I am analyzing what we know, to the best of my ability, believing that if everyone is being truthful and accurate, everything should fall into the timeline of what we know without raising too many questions or suspicions.

Friday, September 18, 1992

• Kenley Matheson attends the Tower party. Kayrene does not attend as she was in Halifax for the weekend.

• Kirsten Tomlinson sees Kenley Matheson at the Tower Party and this is the last time she sees Kenley

Sunday, September 20, 1992

• 1:15 pm $20 is debited from Kenley's bank account at the ATM on Main Street

• 8 pm  Kayrene visits her brother in his dorm room (904 Crowell Tower). They chat about the weekend (including his behaviour at the Tower Party). They make plans to meet up the next night to do calculus homework.

***original reports said the time of this conversation was 8 pm, more recent reports give the time as 4 pm***

THIS IS THE LAST CONFIRMED SIGHTING OF KENLEY MATHESON

Monday, September 21, 1992

• Kenley does not attend classes Monday

• Sarah MacDonald, Kenley's mother, calls Kenley on the communal payphone of 9th floor Crowell Tower and leaves a message for Kenley to call her (this is at about 5 pm)

• Kayrene calls Kenley and leaves a message as well after he does not show up for the study session with her that night

• Kenley does not contact his mother or his sister and he does not show up for the study session with his sister that night

• time unknown $20 is deposited to Kenley's bank account at the Royal Bank ATM on Main Street

• According to Kirsten's statement in Missing Kenley, Tom, and Todd Barker enter Kenley's room in Crowell Tower (possibly Tuesday, September 22, 1992)

Tuesday, September 22, 1992

• Kenley does not attend classes on Tuesday (the calculus class he shared with Kayrene was from 8:30 am - 10 am)

• After calculus class, Kayrene goes to the 9th floor Crowell Tower and leaves a note on Kenley's door telling him to contact her immediately (their mother still has this note)

• According to Kirsten's statement in Missing Kenley, Tom, and Todd Barker enter Kenley's room in Crowell Tower (possibly Tuesday, September 22, 1992)

Wednesday, September 23, 1992

• Kenley does not attend classes on Wednesday

• Kayrene and Mike Hussey are let in to Kenley's room by the RA, Todd Barker (believed to be the first time anyone has entered his room since he went missing), after the Wednesday afternoon class, Kayrene and Mike took together

• According to Tom Gordon, via his journal entry on this date of, "Kirsten and I discuss the disappearance of Ken," this seems to be the first time he and Kirsten discuss Kenley's disappearance.

Thursday, September 24, 1992

• 6:30 pm Allan Matheson reports his son, Allan Kenley Matheson, missing to the Wolfville Police Department

Monday, February 15, 1993

• As per the Wolfville police Kenley Matheson investigation timeline, the first time police spoke with Kirsten and took a statement from her was Monday, February 15, 1993

Monday, March 2, 1993

• Kirsten returns Kenley's baseball cap to Const. MacKillop. He states "at station to give me Kenley's baseball cap which was left at Corkum's Island"

During the filming of Missing Kenley, Kirsten Tomlinson reveals that she remembers Todd Barker letting her, and Tom Gordon (she thinks) into Kenley's room on either Monday, September 21 or Tuesday, September 22, 1992. This would make them the first people to be in Kenley's room after his disappearance. Tom and Todd do not remember this happening. It is confirmed by Todd, Kayrene, and Mike that Todd Barker lets Kayrene and Mike Hussey into Kenley's room on Wednesday, September 23, 1992.

Kirsten, in Missing Kenley says, "I hadn't seen him since Friday, right? So at this point it's now getting into the school week and he's not participating in classes. We're not seeing him on campus. And so yeah, I think it was Tom and I that you know, we had spoke about it and yeah, Tom had said maybe he felt a bit of concern as well. So we went and approached Todd Barker, who was the RA at the time on Tower, on the 9th floor and expressed our concern to him as well. And you know, he took us very seriously, and you know, went through the proper channels to get us access to his room, so that we could at least just have a look there, and he opened the door and all you saw in that room really was just Kenley's nap sack. That to me just sticks out the most, as soon as he opened up the door and the nap sack is just sitting there beside his bed. You know, like I say, that nap sack is like his man purse. It had his personal things in there, you know, he always had that so for him to not take that, it just seems just very out of place to me. Again, that nap sack, just like it just stood out. Who goes somewhere without, you know, their belongings? You know, I think his wallet was in there. That's all I see you know, as I'm recalling this to you now, just seeing as they opened up the door and then having that moment of clarity where it's like, wow, why is that nap sack just sitting there. it's that nap sack. That nap sack just doesn't make any sense. That's the foreboding feeling I had. And that's what I always end up coming back to in terms of you know, where did he go?"

Reenactment from Missing Kenley of Kenley's nap sack containing his wallet potentially being seen in his room, Room 904 of Crowell Tower

In response to the filmmaker, Ron LaMothe, asking whether Kirsten and Tom seemed to have been the first to bring attention to Todd Barker about the fact that Kenley was missing Kirsten says, "Yeah, I think it was the first that Todd had heard about it. He seemed, you know, just as shocked as we were, you know, that he hadn't seen Kenley, you know, so I think he took that to be quite serious."

Remember that both Todd and Tom live on the 9th floor of Crowell Tower - the same floor as Kenley. Todd was the Resident Assistant of the floor. Kirsten did not live in the same residence as Kenley, but did live in a residence that was right across from him and so would run into him quite often crossing paths going to and from classes. The last time she saw Kenley was Friday night. By Monday/Tuesday, she would expect to cross paths with him going to and from class.

Monday, September 21, 1992, Tuesday, September 22, 1992 or Wednesday, September 23, 1992?

If Kirsten did ask Todd Barker if she could check Kenley's room, let's explore which day and what time of day this most likely occurred based on what we know from Tom and Todd's statements.

Todd Barker - Photo Credit: Missing Kenley

Todd insists he saw Kenley in his room around 9 or 10 pm on either Sunday, September 20, (as per his statement given in March 1995) or Monday, September 21 (as per his statement on September 28, 1992).

If Todd had actually seen Kenley on the night of Sunday, September 20, 1992, when Kirsten approaches Todd on Monday, September 21, 1992, worried about not having seen Kenley, there is no need to go into Kenley's room, as Todd could assure Kirsten, he had just seen him less than 24 hours ago. Tom's two sightings the next day, would have been a sure sign that there was no reason to worry about Kenley. Especially if Todd, then sees Kenley again later Monday night. 

Tom has always insisted it was the afternoon of Monday, September 21, 1992 that he saw Kenley. While the details and number of sightings change, the general timing does not.

Based on Tom and Todd's sightings of Kenley, the most probable time the trio would have entered Kenley's room, as described by Kirsten, would have been Monday morning/early afternoon, September 21, 1992.

Tom Gordon - Photo Credit: Missing Kenley

According to Tom's journal entry, he had a very busy Monday morning/early afternoon - all the way past lunch. If Tom did attend all of his classes and adhere to the activities he laid out in his journal on Monday, he would not have had a lot of time to check Kenley's room, but it would not have been impossible. To be fair, in Kirsten's statement, she was not certain it was Tom with whom she had approached Todd. Tom also states in Missing Kenley that he does not recall entering Kenley's room with Kirsten and Todd Barker. So maybe Tom did not enter Kenley's room on Monday, September 21, 1992.

Todd also denies Kirsten approaching him about Kenley, or entering Kenley's room prior to Wednesday, September 23, 1992 when he enters with Kayrene and Mike Hussey. Did Kirsten enter Kenley's room on her own? Did she enter with people other than Todd and Tom? As we will see during my deep dive into Todd Barker's statements in an upcoming article, it was easy to break into dorm rooms in Crowell Tower in 1992. Kirsten would not need Todd Barker's key to enter Kenley's room. Given this information, it is possible that Todd did not enter Kenley's room prior to entering with Kayrene and Mike Hussey.

If Kirsten did not approach Todd and Tom and enter Kenley's room with them, Kirsten would not know that both of them had seen Kenley on Monday. Without this information, it makes sense that Kirsten would be extremely concerned about Kenley and entered his room on her own, or with others on Monday, Tuesday, or even Wednesday morning before Kayrene and Mike entered his room that afternoon. If Tom was the last person to have seen Kenley on Monday, September 21, 1992, then Kenley would have been missing with his nap sack, meaning Kirsten would have had to have entered Kenley's room on Monday September 21, 1992 before he is seen by Tom.

But what if Todd saw Kenley on Monday night at 10 pm back at his dorm room? That would explain his nap sack making it back to his room to possibly be seen by Kirsten on Tuesday or Wednesday. We know that Kayrene and Mike do not see his nap sack in his room on Wednesday afternoon so Kenley had to have gone missing with his nap sack (or someone removed it from his room after he went missing, which is a whole other scenario). In order for Kirsten to have seen Kenley's nap sack in his room on Tuesday or Wednesday, Kenley would have had to have managed to avoid being seen by anyone all day Tuesday until he disappeared with his nap sack sometime that day or on Wednesday, just before Kayrene and Mike entered his room. Impossible, no. Probable, no.

Kirsten's insistence that she saw Kenley's nap sack in his room, does seem truthful to me.

Why she did not mention this prior to filming Missing Kenley, raises questions and suspicions for sure.

September 23, 1992 - Tom Gordon's journal entry, clip taken from Missing Kenley

According to Tom's journal entry, the first time he and Kirsten discuss Kenley's disappearance was on Wednesday, September 23, 1992. We do not know the details that were discussed other than that their conclusion, as per Tom's journal entry, was that Kenley had just taken off somewhere (of his own accord). With Kirsten describing Kenley's nap sack as his man purse that he never went anywhere without, it would be logical to assume that in order to conclude Kenley had left on his own, Kirsten would believe him to have his nap sack with him. It would also be logical to conclude that she would be confident that he did have his nap sack with him if Tom told Kirsten he had seen Kenley with his nap sack on Monday afternoon. If Kirsten had seen his nap sack on Monday in his room, she may have decided not to tell anyone else that she had been in his dorm room, not because she had anything to do with his disappearance, but because she still did something she should not have. As she was not interviewed by police for a statement until February of 1993, she could have forgotten or still been too scared to say that she was in Kenley's room. And given that Tom had seen Kenley afterwards, Kirsten could have decided that it was not relevant to Kenley's disappearance.

But did Tom tell her that Wednesday that he saw Kenley on Monday afternoon/early evening WITH his nap sack?

The fact that Kirsten still feels such a strong foreboding reaction to seeing his nap sack as late as 2014-2017 (during filming of Missing Kenley), leads me to think she must still be under the impression that when Kenley went missing, he did not have his nap sack. Maybe Tom did not mention seeing Kenley during their discussion on Wednesday, September 27. But why not? We know Kirsten and Tom continued to hang out after Kenley went missing, including another trip together to Corkum's Island in October of 1992. Would the nap sack not have come up in their conversations? Would Kirsten have not learned at some point, even from newspaper articles or missing posters about Kenley, that he is believed to have had his nap sack with him when he went missing?

So far, there is nothing that leads me to conclude that Tom was involved in the possible entry into Kenley's room. But there is something Todd Barker says in his Missing Kenley interview, that makes me believe that he, too, entered Kenley's room before Wednesday, September 23, 1992. And that he too, saw the nap sack in Kenley Matheson's room.

When Ron Lamothe asks Todd in Missing Kenley, "Speaking of Kayrene, as you remembered it when I talked to you last time, you were saying that she was the first indication to you that something was amiss."

Todd answers with, "Yeah, she came and sought me out 'cause she said she hadn't seen him. The room was as if he had just, and that he was coming back. His book bag was there. His sister checked to see if his clothes were there. His clothes were there. There were some textbooks on his desk, if I recall."

Clip from Missing Kenley - Reenactment of Kenley's nap sack potentially being in his room when Todd Barker entered his room, possibly prior to Wednesday September 23, 1992 with Kayrene Matheson and Mike Hussey

Kenley had both a hiking back pack and a book bag/nap sack. When Kayrene entered the room with Todd and Mike on Wednesday, only his hiking backpack was there. In 1992, I highly doubt Todd would have referred to a hiking back pack as a book bag, but given that so much had time had passed, I believe it is possible that when being interviewed for Missing Kenley, that what Todd is referring to as Kenley's book bag could really be the hiking back pack he saw in Kenley's room.

In Missing Kenley Kirsten states, "Yeah, I think it was the first time that Todd had heard about it. He seemed, you know, just as shocked as we were, you know, that he hadn't seen Kenley, you know, so, I think he took that to be quite serious."

If Kirsten's feeling about this being the first time Todd had heard about Kenley's disappearance, Todd could not have seen Kenley on Sunday night. This would mean they would have had to have entered Kenley's room on the Monday, before Todd saw him Monday night. So he could have seen Kenley's nap sack in his room, like Kirsten did. In Missing Kenley, when he states that he saw Kenley's back pack in his room, he could be being truthful, but confusing seeing it, intentionally or not, with his entrance into the room with Kayrene and Mike.

IN CONCLUSION:

I tried to sum up in one or two paragraphs how everything could be true without raising more suspicions or questions. I can almost do it, but just as I think I have it, where all can be true, there is a but...and I have to begin an entirely new scenario, all of which I have gone through in detail above. Perhaps I am just not making the correct connections (I have to admit my head is spinning and I can only imagine yours is as you read this), or perhaps it is because we do not have all of the information we need for it to make sense. Is it deceit, unreliable human memories, or a combination of both?

So did Kirsten enter Kenley's room before the afternoon of Wednesday, September 23, 1992? Did she involve Todd Barker, Tom Gordon, or both? Did she enter with other people? Did Kenley Matheson go missing with his nap sack or was it left in his room, and removed? If so, when and by who?

This is why I am deep diving - thinking out loud - so we can hash this all out, make sense of it, and hopefully find Kenley!

LEARN MORE ABOUT KENLEY'S DISAPPEARANCE:

Ron LaMothe has brought Kenley's disappearance back into the spotlight with his excellent documentary called Missing Kenley. Ron also runs an X (Twitter) account that includes information that was not included in the documentary. Ron continues to search for answers. There is a Facebook Group called Finding Kenley that is very active. There is a group of people who met on this Facebook page who are physically searching for Kenley's remains based on information uncovered by Ron during the filming of Missing Kenley.