PICTOU COUNTY
Mother still searching for answers to murder of Kevin Martin
For 27 years, Bonnie Thomas has waited for answers, but found none.
May 19, 1994 was the last time she saw her son Kevin Martin alive and there isn’t a day that’s passed she doesn’t think of him and long for justice
Kevin was just 13-yearsold when he ran away from his house on MacKay Street in Stellarton. It wasn’t the first time he had left home without permission and his family had no reason to believe it would be his last.
For six long years, Thomas knew nothing of her son’s fate and was left to only guess and hope.
But then on Nov. 13, 2000 loggers working in the Burnside area of Colchester County found a body buried in a shallow grave. It was Kevin’s remains. Police concluded he had been murdered.
While it brought closure, it gave little else to the grieving family and since then they have waited for some break in the case to bring answers and ultimately justice.
Thomas has received tips from people over the years, which she always forwards to police. She believes she knows who killed her son and gave that information to the RCMP, but she says nothing seems to have come from it.
“They’re still able to walk the streets and live their life for the last 27 years. I feel like our families were the prisoners. Our life was just a standstill. Life went on but at the same time it was still a standstill because there was nothing.”
She admits there are times she’s felt like all her efforts were useless.
“It’s hard sometimes. I think to myself, ‘Kevin’s never going to get justice.’ Then I come back to reality and say that his life to us meant something.”
Cpl. Chris Marshall, a public information officer with Nova Scotia RCMP confirmed the Northeast Nova Major Crime Unit is still leading the investigation of Kevin’s homicide.
“All information and leads that have been provided to investigators have been extensively followed up on,” he stated. “Any new information or leads that come in are assigned to an investigator who will then follow up to determine if there are any new investigative avenues to be explored.”
He noted that the homicide has been added to the Nova Scotia Reward for Major Unsolved Crimes Program, which offers up to $150,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in certain cases.
Police encourage anyone with information regarding this investigation to contact the Northeast Nova Major Crime Unit at (902) 8936820.
While she waits for justice, Thomas remains committed to keeping Kevin’s memory alive. Typically she comes back to Stellarton from where she’s living in P.E.I. to visit her son’s grave, but this past year she was prevented because of COVID. Unless case counts improve enough to open the Atlantic Bubble this year, she worries she will miss the anniversary again this year.
She has been collecting donations though to give to Scotia Glen Camp in Kevin’s memory and will be bringing those over as soon as she can.
To others who are in a similar situation, she says, don’t give up.
“You just have to give and fight for justice for your child and hopefully something will come out of it. For 27 years that’s all I’ve been doing."
She hopes and prays for justice.
“Maybe this year will be the year something happens.”