Scoops and Scrapes is contributed to the Daily Bulletin by Kimberley resident Brian Crowe. All material is courtesy of Brian Crowe and Teck Cominco Ltd.

This is a short follow-up on the 40 year old case of the disappearance of Philip Porter.

Last December, a few weeks ago, Gerry Warner from the Daily Townsman/Daily Bulletin, wanted to know what happened.

He was reading about the case and trial in 1972. The event or crime was committed in 1969. After his article, Tom Haverko wrote in and gave some great insight into what had happened in his memory.

Back in June of 1969, Kimberley Daily Bulletin editor Carolyn Grant wrote an extensive report and update on revisiting the crime, 40 years later.

Again... On June 26, 1969, 16 year old Philip Porter was reported missing at 1:30 pm. He was wearing a green ski coat, beige cord pants and black oxfords.

The investigation would begin when Mr. R.M. Porter received a telephone call, the day of their son's disappearance. Philip went to the grocery store downtown in Kimberley and never returned home to McDougall Townsite.

The caller asked for a ransom demand of $100,000.

It was determined that if the boy met foul play, it was an outside job.

At this time, Sgt. Fred Bodnaruck would be assigned to the case.

There was a report that persons were holding the boy in the Cranbrook area.

An around the clock search for the boy continued in the following days of June and July 1969.

Philip Porter's father, Robin Porter, had been the Manager of Kimberley Operations until he was transferred to an executive post at the Trail Operations. He would become President of Fording Coal.

It was understood that Philip was not happy about the family moving. Although he was excited about a party which would be given by friends in Kimberley.

Questionnaires circulated to 200 students to unravel the mystery of his disappearance.

Also at this time, July 1, 1969, a reward poster came out, to the tune of $2,000.

There were reports of sightings of the boy in Calgary, Banff, Lethbridge and other spots.

There was also a report that he was in a scuffle with some boys a few days prior to his disappearance, but it wasn't his nature.

On July 11, 1969, the reward would go to $5,000.

The call asking for the ransom did say the boy would be in Vancouver on the 28th of June, don't tell the police or we will kill him.

Did Philip Porter go up the Townsite stairs by the Presbyterian Church, or up the trail along side Sullivan Creek, or up the Nurses Trail? Did he get to the wooded wide trail just below his home on Giegrich road, which is now a part of McDougall Heights?

Two weeks later, a ransom letter shows up. Days later, a second letter saying where to drop the money off arrives.

Drop the money off in a shack behind a bus stop, six miles form Kimberley, to the south, on the old Cranbrook/Kimberley highway.

The drop would be made at night under police surveillance. Nobody shows. At 9 am the next morning, two young men drive up, get of their vehicle. But they didn't make the pickup. Both men were arrested, but they were not. They stopped to go to the bathroom, not knowing anything.

With the money removed and the note still there, later that evening at 9:35 pm, a rusty old truck drove up, a 50 year old got out and searched the bus stop.

The man drove towards Kimberley and was arrested near Marysville. The man is Earl. K. Bennett, a resident and close neighbour of the Porter family. He has the ransom note. Mr. Bennett admits writing the note, only for financial gain. There is not enough evidence for kidnapping.

The report was that Mr. Bennett was angry at Mr. Porter for threatening to fire him form his job at Cominco. He was a welder.

The accused neighbour would be charged with extortion, and pled guilty. He was sentenced in October of 1969 to three years.

Mr. Bennett was released as a model prisoner, and got a job at a mining operation in the Northwest Territories. On a flight to the mine site a few years later, the plane he was on crashed into a frozen water way. Mr. Bennett died that day in 1975.

Mr. Fred Bodnaruck, the police officer on the case, has long since been retired, living in Vancouver.

Mrs. Porter (Patricia) died in 2001.

Mr. Robin Porter had many major posts in his illustrious mining career. He passed away on November 17, 2009.

He was 94 years old. His last resting place was at Delta, BC (donations for his funeral would go to the Child Find BC).

I talked to Robin back in the last day of the Sullivan closure. He was a friend of my father, who worked for him at the Sullivan.

I never had the courage to ask him about Philip at that time. He talked about my father with great respect, though.

To note, there were reports later about a toque found on the suspects farm with hair like that of Philip Porter, but that was before DNA.

Someone in the Cranbrook Courthouse thew them out. It could have been used today for evidence to solve the case.

In the 1980's Mr. Bodnaruck and Mr. Porter hired a submersible dive into the deep waters of Moyie Lake. Nothing, too deep and dark.

Another story was that someone saw somebody packing another person out of the bush near Philip's house, it proved to be false. Just kids playing around.

Some say maybe they put Philip into a barrel and buried or rolled into Mill Pond.

It was also thought that he might have been put in or down a shaft in the old Moyie Mine.

On the day of the boy's disappearance, he and his mother were seen at Mrs. K's confectionery, wearing a yellow rainsuit, hat and all (Philip), in a pouring rainfall outside.

I remember Philip like it was yesterday. A simple little fellow who wouldn't hurt anybody. We would always say, "How old is your dog Philip?" And he would reply "40". We would say, "What happened to the other one?" And he would say, "Hanged himself."

Question, where did the toque come from in June? Why would Philip be wearing a ski coat in June?

The defence lawyer was Kimberley's Fred Barr. It has been 42 years since the boy form Townsite here in Kimberley went missing. Somebody had to see something that afternoon in June of 1969, and yes Mr. Warner, it was real.