{"id":256932,"date":"2025-11-02T15:31:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-02T15:31:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/256932\/"},"modified":"2025-11-02T15:31:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-02T15:31:06","slug":"where-are-lilly-and-jack-questions-remain-6-months-after-n-s-kids-go-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/256932\/","title":{"rendered":"Where are Lilly and Jack? Questions remain 6 months after N.S. kids go missing"},"content":{"rendered":"

For six months, a county in Nova Scotia, the province, and the whole country have wondered: what happened to Lilly and Jack Sullivan?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The six and five-year-old siblings were reported missing from their Lansdowne Station, N.S., home in rural Pictou County on May 2.<\/p>\n

The children\u2019s family has told media \u2014\u00a0and police, according to court documents<\/a> \u2014 that the brother and sister wandered away that morning.<\/p>\n

Here are some key updates in the investigation:<\/p>\n

Children reported missing<\/p>\n

The family reported that six-year-old Lilly and then-four-year-old Jack had left their home on Gairloch Road in the early morning hours of May 2.<\/p>\n

The children\u2019s stepfather, Daniel Martell, told Global News<\/a> that Lilly and Jack were home that morning with him, his partner and their baby. When they noticed the children were missing, he said the family immediately ran outside to look for them.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Police launched an extensive search involving agencies from across the region \u2014 by ground, air and on water \u2014 using search and rescue volunteers, drones, police dogs and helicopters. The search covered four square kilometres of heavy-wooded rural terrain.<\/p>\n

Six days in, RCMP said they were scaling back the search because the likelihood the children were alive was \u201cvery low.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not packing up and we\u2019re not giving up,\u201d Staff Sgt. Curtis MacKinnon, District Commander for Pictou County District RCMP, said on May 7.<\/p>\n

The provincial government has offered a reward of up to $150,000 for information that leads to the children being found. The disappearance has been added to the province\u2019s Major Unsolved Crimes Program, which the province says is a \u201ctool to help police in major unsolved crime cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:11
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMissing N.S. kids spotted day before disappearance, stepfather says he\u2019s taken polygraph\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tPolygraphs and pieces of blanket<\/p>\n

Police confirmed Lilly and Jack were last seen in public with family members<\/a> on May 1 based on eyewitness accounts and video evidence.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Court documents released in August included initial impressions by police of polygraphs given to Martell and the children\u2019s mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Get<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet daily National news<\/p>\n

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.<\/p>\n

RCMP conducted at least four polygraphs during their investigation. Martell\u2019s polygraph \u201cindicated he was truthful.\u201d The test for Brooks-Murray found she was truthful when answering specific questions, although the list of questions is redacted in the document.<\/p>\n

An unidentified investigator\u2019s comment included at the end of a section on the results of both of those polygraphs says, \u201cAt this point in the investigation Jack and Lilly\u2019s disappearance is not believed to be criminal in nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Canada
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

The documents also confirmed that investigators found a second piece of a pink blanket that belonged to Lilly<\/a>\u00a0in the trash. The first piece was found a kilometre from the family home in a tree on May 2.<\/p>\n

On May 4, another piece of blanket was seized by police after it was found inside a trash bag at the end of the driveway of the children\u2019s home, according to police.<\/p>\n

In a June update, RCMP said \u201call scenarios are being considered.\u201d<\/p>\n

There were 11 units working on the case, including the Behavioural Sciences Group and the Criminal Analysis Service, in addition to the National Centre of Missing Persons and the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re committed to doing what is necessary to locate Lilly and Jack and advance the investigation, which may take longer than we all hoped,\u201d said Cpl. Sandy Matharu, investigation lead with the Northeast Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit.<\/p>\n

Cadaver dogs brought in<\/p>\n

In September, two RCMP police dogs specifically trained in the detection of human remains were brought in to search a 40-kilometre area near the home.<\/p>\n

It marked the first time cadaver dogs were used in the investigation.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month,\u00a0RCMP said those dogs did not find any remains.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe dogs are highly trained to detect and indicate the scent of human remains, therefore, if the dogs did not alert their handlers, it suggests the dogs were never in the presence of human remains odour,\u201d said Staff Sgt. Stephen Pike with RCMP Police Dog Services.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, this doesn\u2019t definitively rule out the presence of remains in the areas that were searched. It means either the odour is there and couldn\u2019t be detected or the odour isn\u2019t there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tFDA restricts use of kids\u2019 fluoride supplements citing emerging health risks\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tCFL suspends Alouettes\u2019 Oakman \u2018indefinitely\u2019 for policy breach\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:14
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSearch by RCMP cadaver dogs fail to turn up human remains in missing N.S. kids case\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

RCMP said that their Northeast Nova Major Crime Unit is still following up and assessing more than 860 tips, 8,060 video files and forensic testing.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\t\t\tMother\u2019s statement<\/p>\n

Brooks-Murray told Global News in the days after the children\u2019s disappearance she was advised by police not to speak to media.<\/p>\n

A volunteer missing persons group, Please Bring Me Home, announced <\/a>in mid-October it was joining the search for the siblings, and issued a statement on behalf of Brooks-Murray.<\/p>\n

In the statement, she writes, \u201cI will never stop searching for my children until they are found and brought home safe and sound. Someone, somewhere knows something so please bring my babies home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nick Oldrieve, the co-founder of the not-for-profit group, said their goal was to \u201cshake the tree\u201d when it comes to the investigation.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it implores somebody to send in a tip if they know something \u2026 or the search efforts continue and they\u2019re in those woods,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stepfather says he believes \u2018they\u2019re not in the woods\u2019<\/p>\n

At a vigil Oct. 29 to mark Jack\u2019s fifth birthday, his stepfather said he no longer believes the children are in the woods near the home.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI believe at this point in the case that they\u2019re not in the woods and they didn\u2019t wander into the woods,\u201d Martell said.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

He said in light of all the searches and efforts, it doesn\u2019t seem feasible the children are in that area.<\/p>\n

He also vowed to keep speaking out and updating the public on the case despite accusations and online rumours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think with all the accusations and allegations thrown out there and people don\u2019t see me as \u2026 the most liked person, I guess. Hatred runs wild and speculations run wild against me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSpeculations run wild. But I\u2019d like everybody to know that I\u2019m working with (the RCMP\u2019s) major crimes (unit) almost every day, just trying to figure stuff out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 with a file from The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:10
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Everything\u2019s been searched\u2019: Stepfather of missing NS kids doesn\u2019t believe they are in the woods\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For six months, a county in Nova Scotia, the province, and the whole country have wondered: what happened…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":256933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,919,44,99922],"class_list":{"0":"post-256932","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-lilly-and-jack-sullivan","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-ns-missing-kids"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}