Kenley Matheson cold case attracts documentary filmmaker

The sister of a Cape Breton man who's been missing for 21 years is hoping a proposed documentary could shed light on his cold case.

Kenley Matheson disappeared without a trace in September 1992, just two weeks into his first year at Acadia University. The 20-year-old lived on the ninth floor of Crowell Tower and was last seen walking along Wolfville's Main Street.

Now, a U.S. filmmaker is interested in his story and is fundraising to produce and film a documentary.

Kayrene Willis, Matheson's sister, was at Acadia University with her brother in 1992 and was one of the last people to see him before he disappeared. She said she wonders about what happened every day and believes a film about her brother could uncover some answers.

"I've gone through every possible scenario and I think someone knows something," she told CBC News.

"I hope that it can come to light with time and even 20 years later, I hope that answers can come to us."

The filmmaker interested in Matheson's story is Ron Lamothe, an independent filmmaker based in Massachusetts. His last film was Call of the Wild in 2007, a movie about a young man who died in the backwoods of Alaska.

Lamothe said by all accounts, Matheson was a lively, intelligent and adventurous person and he thinks the story is intriguing.

"His bank account which had about $4,000 in it goes untouched. No body is ever found and it remains a mystery what happened to him that Sunday night, to this very day," he said.

Lamothe said for now, the challenge is finding people to back a film about a little known cold case. He's using the crowdsourcing website Kickstarter to look for donors.

"This story is challenging in terms of fundraising. It's not a humanities project, it's not a social or political issue," said Lamouthe.

"It's a 20-something-year-old cold case that few people outside of Nova Scotia really know about. That's a tough one and fortunately there is the crowdsourcing platform Kickstarter, which we have high hopes for."

So far, Lamouthe has raised about $13,500 of the $78,000 he needs to make the film, which is to be calledMissing Kenley.

Last year, Nova Scotia's Department of Justice put Matheson's case on their list of Major Unsolved Crimes Program, offering up to $150,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for his disappearance.