{"id":415049,"date":"2026-01-17T09:47:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415049\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T09:47:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T09:47:27","slug":"n-s-missing-kids-stepfather-denies-abuse-allegations-says-he-puts-full-trust-in-rcmp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415049\/","title":{"rendered":"N.S. missing kids: Stepfather denies abuse allegations, says he puts \u2018full trust\u2019 in RCMP"},"content":{"rendered":"

The stepfather of two young Nova Scotia siblings who disappeared eight months ago denies he\u2019s ever been physically abusive to the children\u2019s mother, as alleged in recently-unsealed court documents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been very open and honest this whole way through and I don\u2019t see no reason to stop now,\u201d said Daniel Martell in an interview with Global News on Friday.<\/p>\n

Lilly and Jack Sullivan \u2014 aged six and four at the time \u2014 were reported missing on May 2, 2025, from their home in Lansdowne Station, N.S., in Pictou County.<\/p>\n

They were living with Martell and their mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, at the time.<\/p>\n

The children\u2019s family had called 911 and said the siblings wandered away that morning from the home, which is situated in a heavily-wooded area.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

Despite repeated and extensive searches involving police, volunteers and cadaver dogs, the children have not been found.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLilly Sullivan, 6 and her brother Jack Sullivan, 4, were reported missing May 2 from their home in Lansdowne Station, N.S. in Pictou County.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tProvided\/Province of Nova Scotia\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Among the documents unsealed this week is an interview with police in May 2025 where Brooks-Murray discussed her relationship with Martell.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/The documents were filed to support applications for search warrants, and none of the allegations have been tested in court.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen asked if Daniel was physically abusive, Malehya said he would try to block her, hold her down and once he pushed her,\u201d the document read.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cShe said he would also take her phone from her when she tried to call her mom, which would sometimes be physical and hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n

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

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

For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n

In response, Martell said the allegations were part of a \u201cnarrative\u201d that is meant to paint him as \u201cevil and a monster.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was always, \u2018Daniel\u2019s evil, Daniel\u2019s a monster,\u2019 and with that painted narrative, the public automatically will just jump to the belief of guilty,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Global News reached out to Brooks-Murray, who declined an interview.<\/p>\n

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

Martell said he was supportive of unredacting the court documents and has nothing to hide.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never physically abused Malehya,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Our fights were about) just typical things, you know, ups and downs that happen in relationships. Everybody has them, but it never turned to physical in any way.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he\u2019s been candid and open with police and the media and willingly submitted blood samples for DNA analysis.<\/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\tWhat China\u2019s \u2018alignment\u2019 with Carney on Greenland says of \u2018new world order\u2019\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\tWestJet will reverse cramped seat configuration after widespread backlash\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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

According to Martell, the blood testing was in regards to the piece of pink blanket that officers seized<\/a> and have confirmed belonged to Lilly.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd they didn\u2019t need a warrant to have my DNA, so I was willing to do it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\t\t\tMartell says puts \u2018full trust\u2019 in RCMP<\/p>\n

In a year-end interview with Global News, Chief Supt. Dan Morrow with Nova Scotia RCMP\u2019s criminal operations division called the case \u201cextremely rare.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

He said police have received about 1,030 tips, conducted 86 formal interviews, reviewed 8,100 video files, and conducted seven polygraph exams.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s been a lot of work conducted behind the scenes,\u201d Morrow said.<\/p>\n

In June 2025, the children\u2019s disappearance was added to the province\u2019s Major Unsolved Crimes Program, <\/a>which offers a reward of up to $150,000 for information in the case.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Martell said he doesn\u2019t want to \u201cthrow any theories out there or accusations\u201d and he\u2019s limited his activity on social media. He said he puts his \u201cfull trust\u201d in the RCMP and their major crimes unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to believe what the RCMP believe and whatever they believe or whatever evidence that they have,\u201d said Martell.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can only go based on what they have because they\u2019re the trained professionals. They have the resources for the case and they\u2019re ones working the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 with a file from Ella MacDonald<\/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\t7:28
\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\tN.S. RCMP investigator calls case of missing kids \u2018extremely rare\u2019\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The stepfather of two young Nova Scotia siblings who disappeared eight months ago denies he\u2019s ever been physically…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415050,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,919,44,99922],"class_list":{"0":"post-415049","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\/415049","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=415049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415049\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}