‘This has been a hellish journey’: Wife of missing Cowichan Valley father speaks out

Searchers were out Monday looking for any sign of a Cowichan Valley father who disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

Ben Kilmer was last seen on May 16.

“This has been a hellish journey, I’m not going to lie,” wife Tonya Kilmer said.

“It’s been very, very difficult and now this is unfathomably difficult. I never imagined I’d be living in this nightmare.”

Tonya says the disappearance is deeply out of character for the 41-year-old father of two.

“It’s a mystery because he would never leave us,” she said.

Surveillance video showed him at a job site. His work van was later found abandoned along Cowichan Lake Road with the engine running. Adding to the mystery, a small amount of blood was found inside the vehicle.

Tonya said Ben is a good outdoorsman who values his family above all else, but they had recently been going through an exciting but stressful time.

“We’ve been going through some stress,” she said. “He started his own business, he’s building us a dream home.”

She said the support they’ve received from the community is comforting, but they want him home.

“I know he feels me, I know he’s hanging on, I know he’s fighting,” Tonya said. “Hang on, baby. We’re going to find you.”