Mathew Penney's mother thankful for arrests in son's death

A Nova Scotia mother, devastated by her son's death, was putting up posters appealing for help in solving his homicide as she learned Halifax Regional Police had arrested four people in the case.

Jane Penney said she learned later on Thursday that police had executed warrants in the morning and arrested four people in connection with the death of her son, Mathew Anthony Penney.

Those four people are now being questioned in Penney's death. The body of the 26-year-old father of two was found burned on New Year's Day in Oakfield Provincial Park, near Enfield.

"I didn't think it would ever happen. It was taking so long, since January," Jane Penney said Thursday, as she wept. "I'm happy that the police did their job and arrested somebody."

Police searched homes on Bras Dor Lane and Springhill Road in Dartmouth at around 8 a.m. Two men aged 27 and 23, along with two women aged 24 and 23, were arrested without incident.

Officers have worked hard on the case, Penney said, and she's thankful for their efforts.

She still finds it hard to believe her son is dead. Every time she hears footsteps in the hallway of her apartment building, she said she thinks it's her son coming home.

Mathew Penney was thoughtful, kind and helpful, his mother said, recalling how he would cheer her up when she was depressed after her mother's death.

Penney said she doesn't know how her son died.

"All I know he was alone and afraid and had no one," she said. "That's all I know and I have to think about that every day."

Penney and others have been putting up hundreds of posters since her son's death, hoping someone would finally come forward and talk to police.

"I just want people to know [Mathew] was a good person and he didn't deserve what happened to him," Penney said.

"Maybe he can have some peace now, so he can rest in peace."