Missing children Lily and Jack Sullivan. The siblings were reported missing on May 2 and a search is underway in Pictou County, where they are believed to have wandered away from home.Nova Scotia RCMP/Supplied
For the third day, searchers combed the thick forest in rural Nova Scotia for two young children that police suspect wandered away from their home.
Lily Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, were last seen at their home on Gairloch Road in Landsdowne Station, a remote wooded community in Pictou County, an hour and a half northeast of Halifax, RCMP say.
The children’s stepfather, Daniel Martell, told The Globe and Mail that he and Malehya Brooks-Murray, his partner and the children’s mother, and the couple’s 16-month-old baby had been dozing in the bedroom on Friday morning as Lily came and went, while Jack could be heard playing in the next room. When the family awoke, the house was quiet.
“The boots were right beside the door, and they proceeded, I’m guessing, to play outside,” said Mr. Martell, 33, who works at a hardwood sawmill and has been helping raise the kids for the past three years. “They must’ve got out through the back fence. And then they were gone.”
Mr. Martell said he ran outside, jumped in the car and began scouring nearby dirt roads, culverts, rivers and streams, while Ms. Brooks-Murray called 911. Ten minutes later, he said he returned home and set out on foot, running into the woods, frantically calling for the children.
He said police told him that the only signs of the children were boot prints three metres from the house.
The children were reported missing Friday at 10 a.m., according to RCMP. Since then search-and-rescue teams have been scouring the dense woodland and steep terrain on foot and by air in helicopters, with canine units and thermal drones which can detect body heat.
“When two children are missing, it tugs at the heart strings of everyone,” Pictou County RCMP Corporal Sally Rice said.
Foggy and damp weather, as well as thick brush and ticks hindered search efforts on Sunday, though teams were expecting to continue searching overnight into Monday.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Ms. Brooks-Murray called on police to issue an Amber Alert, a national public alert to help locate abducted children.
Search-and-rescue teams have been scouring the dense woodland and steep terrain on foot and by air in helicopters for the two children since Friday morning.Supplied
“I want my babies home! My children are not shy to strangers and will go with anyone. They don’t understand stranger danger!” she wrote.
But Cpl. Rice said Sunday that the missing children do not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert.
“We’re not ruling out anything – we’re continuing to investigate anything that comes in over the phone or otherwise.
“Until we have any information to change the direction of the search, the priorities or any avenues, it’s currently a search and it will continue a search until something triggers something else or we have leads to lead us in a different direction.”
She said police were following up on the boot prints near the children’s home, arranging a thorough grid search near that area.
Police initially issued a vulnerable missing person’s alert for the county when the children were reported missing. When they weren’t found by the next day, RCMP sent out an emergency alert to three local counties, Corporal Carlie McCann said. She did not respond to a question about why it took so long to issue that emergency alert.
On the weekend, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, who lives in Pictou County, attended the search-and-rescue headquarters to offer support to those assisting with the operation, including members of the Nova Scotia Guard, a volunteer emergency organization introduced last year in response to the deadly flash flood in the summer of 2023. During that tragedy, four people, including three children died, prompting criticism about delays in sending out the emergency alert.
The missing children are the Nova Scotia Guard’s first assignment. Volunteers spent the weekend working shifts to provide food, security, parking assistance and directions to first responders, Mr. Houston said in a statement on X.
“People in Pictou County and across Nova Scotia are praying for a positive outcome for two missing children,” he said. “During this time of worry, please know that our first responders and volunteers are working tirelessly during this 24/7 operation.”
The children belong to the Mi’kmaq First Nation community of Sipekne’katik, Chief Michelle Glasgow said in a social-media post. She also called for an Amber Alert in a separate social-media post.
Lily is described as having shoulder-length light brown hair with bangs. She may be wearing a pink sweater, pink pants and pink boots, RCMP said.
Jack has short blondish hair and is wearing a pair of blue dinosaur boots.
Municipality of Pictou County Councillor Donald Parker said in an interview he’s doing everything he can to assist, checking in with search-and-rescue headquarters, providing gas to searchers, and visiting the children’s mother.
“Everybody’s concerned and worried here in the community,” he said. “We’re holding out hope.”