Four-year-old Jack Sullivan, left, and six-year-old Lily Sullivan, right, were last seen Friday morning in the community of Lansdowne Station.HO/The Canadian Press
It’s unlikely that the two missing children in rural Nova Scotia are still alive, the RCMP said as the force called off search and rescue teams that had spent the past six days scouring thick woods for the siblings.
Staff Sergeant Curtis MacKinnon, District Commander for Pictou County District RCMP, acknowledged that the chances of survival for six-year-old Lily Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan are slim after this much time, but said police were still hopeful the children could be found. He said officers would be rechecking previously searched areas.
“We’re not packing up and we’re not giving up,” he told reporters gathered at a command post near the children’s home.
“It has been an all-hands-on-deck effort, using every available resource and tool. We’re transitioning from a full-scale search to searches in smaller, more specific areas. We’ll be retracing our steps to ensure all clues have been found.”
There have been no reported sightings of the children. The only clue in the ground search was a possible child’s boot print, though it’s unconfirmed whether it belonged to one of the two missing children. Cadaver dogs may be called in, Staff Sgt. MacKinnon added.
More than 160 people, aided by helicopters, drones and tracking dogs, had been combing a densely wooded swath of the province around Lansdowne Station, a rural hamlet northeast of Halifax, since the children were reported missing last Friday morning.
Two young Nova Scotia children still missing from remote wooded community in Pictou County
Police initially said they believed that the pair had wandered off while their stepfather and mother were sleeping, but the Mounties’ major crimes unit is also investigating the possibility of a criminal act – but declined to say if they suspect foul play.
The stepfather, Daniel Martell, told The Globe and Mail that police interviewed him for four hours at the Pictou County RCMP detachment in the town of Stellarton Tuesday night. On Wednesday morning, officers returned and asked him to hand over his phone, which he says he did. He said he offered to do a polygraph test and a drug test to address speculation on social media.
“It’s absolutely sad and heartbreaking, but I’m doing everything I can,” he said, standing in the dooryard of the mobile home.
RCMP Staff Sgt. Robert McCamon, acting officer in charge of the major crimes and behavioural sciences group, said the force‘s major crimes unit has been involved in the case since Saturday, but said he wouldn’t speculate on what may have happened to the children. He said that, given the conditions outdoors and length of time the children have been missing, the investigation needs to shift focus.
“The likelihood they’re alive right now is very low,” he said.
Police have scaled back a search for two children reported missing from their home in northeastern Nova Scotia, saying there's little chance they could have survived after six days in the densely wooded area. (May 7, 2025)
The Canadian Press
Both the stepfather and the children’s mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, have called for an Amber Alert, which police can activate in cases of child abduction. But the RCMP said it has no information to believe that’s the case.
“If we had any information that led that way and we felt that we could provide anything with the public, we would’ve done that,” said Staff Sgt. McCamon. “We would’ve got that information out. We’re working very closely with the family, and we will pursue every avenue.”
Mr. Martell said he understands why search and rescue teams were sent home on Wednesday. “I mean they can only go for so long. Everybody needs sleep. The searchers are probably exhausted,” he said.
Later, he told The Globe that police advised him that they were going to bring in RCMP divers Thursday to search nearby Lansdowne Lake.
Daniel Martell says police asked him to draw maps and locations where the children could possibly be.Chris Donovan/The Globe and Mail
Lily and Jack were reported missing around 10 a.m. Friday. Mr. Martell said he saw Lily come and go from the bedroom that morning where the couple dozed with their 16-month-old. Ms. Brooks-Murray and Mr. Martell have said they awoke to a silent home and surmised that the kids went out the sliding back door to play and wandered off. They haven’t been seen since.
Mr. Martell said police asked him to walk them through step-by-step details of exactly what happened on May 2, the day the children were reported missing, and the previous few days. They asked him to draw maps and locations where the children could possibly be, he added.
“My story has been consistent,” he said. “When you tell the truth, it’s always consistent.”
Neither child had attended school that week since Tuesday, Mr. Martell told The Globe. He said they were kept home Thursday and Friday (Wednesday, there was no school) because Lily had a cough.
Ms. Brooks-Murray has been staying with her mother in another county since the children went missing, and Mr. Martell said they’ve had essentially no contact since.
Ms. Brooks-Murray’s mother, Cyndy Murray, said, “We’re not discussing anything right now. The police told us not to.”
Dozens of search and rescue volunteers gathered for the Wednesday briefing held on a remote dirt road near the children’s home, looking on with sombre faces and some breaking down into tears and leaving.
Search manager Amy Hansen of Colchester County Ground Search and Rescue said volunteers have been wading through waterways and struggling to get through areas with dead fallen trees to cover the search area.
“Everything has been thoroughly searched,” she said. “It’s time to, as they say, scale back. We were exhausting people and starting to see more injuries.”