Four-year-old Jack Sullivan, left, and six-year-old Lilly Sullivan, right, were last seen May 2, 2025, in the community of Lansdowne.HO/The Canadian Press
Nova Scotia RCMP‘s major crime investigators are advising police to return to specific areas around the home of Lilly and Jack Sullivan in a rural hamlet of Pictou County, to try and figure out what happened to the children who went missing without a trace a week and a half ago.
In a news release Tuesday, Nova Scotia RCMP said they have interviewed 35 people, including those closest to the two children, as well as community members. Police said they received and are following up on more than 180 tips from the public.
Local RCMP are being assisted by the Northeast Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit, a branch of the Mounties that investigates homicides, suspicious deaths and missing persons cases where foul play is suspected.
Staff Sergeant Curtis MacKinnon of the Pictou County District RCMP said in an interview Tuesday that police are executing plans right now based on input from major crime investigators, including re-examining various areas of interest near the trailer where the children were reported missing.
“They may include culverts, wells or areas around the residence that need to be re-looked at,” he said. “It will probably be the third or fourth time.”
At a recent news conference, RCMP would not confirm whether they believe the children are victims of foul play, but they did say it’s unlikely the children are still alive owing to their age, weather and length of time they’ve been missing.
“We’ll continue to work all day and all night on this file until we try and get the answers that we need,” Staff Sgt. MacKinnon said during the interview.
“Hopefully we can get those answers sooner than later.”
Late last week, police divers scoured nearby lakes and waterways. Police asked the public to contact them with any tips about Lilly, 6, and her brother Jack, 4.
Their mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, called 911 around 10 a.m. on May 2 and reported the children missing from their home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne.
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Both she and Daniel Martell, who describes himself as the children’s stepfather, have told the media that they were asleep in the bedroom with their 16-month-old daughter Meadow when Lilly and Jack slipped out of the home without their knowledge.
The parents have said they believe the two children put on their boots, slid open the back sliding door and escaped from the fenced backyard. Police have said they are believed to have wandered away from their home.
Staff Sgt. MacKinnon said the force is exploring all avenues. The investigation is still considered to be a missing persons case, he added, with highly trained major crime and forensic investigators.
“Like all Nova Scotians, we want answers, and we want to know what happened to these children,” he said in Tuesday’s press release.
For six days, police and hundreds of search and rescue volunteers assisted by helicopters, drones and tracking dogs combed 5.5 square kilometres of dense forest, steep terrain and swamps that surround the trailer from where the children went missing. No trace of the kids has been found.
Last week, Mr. Martell said he was interviewed by RCMP for four hours. He said he also willingly handed over his cellphone and a wireless router from his home to police. He said he planned to do a polygraph test this week.
When the children were reported missing, RCMP issued a vulnerable missing persons alert in Pictou County. The following day, RCMP engaged major crimes investigators, and sent out a broadcast intrusive alert to cellphones advising people in Antigonish, Colchester and Pictou counties of the missing children.
Police have defended their decision not to issue an Amber Alert for abducted children because they say abduction appears unlikely and the case does not meet the necessary criteria.