Tonya Kilmer made an emotional appeal Friday seeking anyone who knows anything about the disappearance of her husband, Ben Kilmer.
“How can a man, 190 pounds, a man who is so strong and who has such love and devotion for his family just not be seen?” asked Tonya Kilmer at a news conference.
“Somebody out there knows something, and I just pray they see this and hear me and do the right thing,” she said. “Please, come forward.”
Her husband, a 41-year-old electrician living in Cobble Hill, was reported missing on May 16. He works for Norpac Power and was spotted on a job site video security camera that morning.
His white work van, marked with the Norpac name and logo, was found that afternoon, engine running, parked on Cowichan Lake Road, in the Sahtlam area west of Duncan.
Despite extensive searches by RCMP, search-and-rescue teams and volunteers, sometimes totalling more than 200 people, no trace has been found.
RCMP Cpl. Tammy Douglas said at the news conference that investigators are especially interested in hearing from anybody who was driving along the 4000-block of Cowichan Lake Road on May 16.
Douglas said people might have dash-camera video of that day that could help. “Sometimes even a small piece of evidence might be very important to an investigation like this,” she said. “Even if people think it’s insignificant, we are asking them to bring that information forward.”
Douglas asked people in the area to check out-buildings on their properties. They can look under brush piles, protective tarpaulins pulled over boat cockpits or just walk over their surroundings for any sign Ben Kilmer was there.
Tonya Kilmer said the time her husband has been gone has been shattering for her and their two children. The couple has a five-year-old girl and a three-year-old boy.
“We are devastated,” she said. “We are broken without this man.
“Ben was our everything, the core of our family,” she said.
“I need our love to shake you so no one remains silent.”
Ben Kilmer is described as five-foot-10, 190 pounds, with short brown hair and blue eyes. When he was last seen, he was clean-shaven, wearing light-grey pants, a black shirt and steel-toed work boots.
Anyone with information is asked to contact North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP at 250-748-5522. To make a report without giving your name, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
A Facebook page has been created with pictures, leads and testimonials at at facebook.com/find benkilmer.
