Neighbour hands RCMP days of footage leading up to disappearance of N.S. children
As RCMP remain tight-lipped about the investigation into the disappearance of two young Nova Scotia children, a resident who lives near their rural home says she has turned over trail camera footage at the request of police spanning five days before they were reported missing.
Lilly Sullivan, 6, and her brother Jack Sullivan, 4, have been missing since May 2, when police received a 911 call from their mother and stepfather. Police say they were told the children had wandered away from their home in Lansdowne Station, a sparsely populated area about 140 kilometres northeast of Halifax.
That sparked an extensive six-day search through 5.5 square kilometres of mostly dense woods.
Search and rescue officials were then called back to the community over the weekend, focusing on specific areas around the children's home, but police have not said what prompted them to return and haven't revealed if any evidence was discovered.
RCMP have not ruled out that the case is suspicious. They've confirmed the major crime unit has been involved since the day after the disappearance, but have been guarded about the details of the investigation.
Melissa Scott, 44, said she was visited on May 20 by two officers from the RCMP's major crime unit, who inquired if she had any trail cameras set up on her 16-hectare property in Glengarry Station, near the children's home.
Scott told police she has seven trail cameras in total on her property. One points down her driveway, another is positioned near the house and the rest are scattered throughout the woods. It takes about an hour to walk between them.
"I did mention to [investigators] that I was very happy to see them and glad that they were canvassing a little further and looking at trail cam footage," Scott told CBC News in an interview Wednesday outside her home.
"They did respond saying they probably should have been around earlier."
Scott said she was given a USB drive to load her trail camera footage onto. She was initially asked to give them her footage from May 1 to May 3, but they later expanded their request to include April 27 to May 3.
She said she handed over hours of footage on Thursday afternoon.
Her Glengarry Station property is a roughly eight-kilometre drive from Lansdowne Station down dirt roads, but is also connected to it by train tracks and clearings for utility lines. It's roughly five kilometres east of the children's home as the crow flies.
Driving distance and direct route between Glengarry Station and Lansdowne Station:
Scott said she posted in a private community Facebook group asking her neighbours if they, too, had been visited by the RCMP. She said two other people responded that they had also been approached for footage.
CBC News spoke to one neighbour who did not want to be named but confirmed they were asked by investigators for trail camera or security footage.
Scott said she was also asked to confirm information about her family's vehicles, in order to "rule out local traffic" on the footage.
CBC News requested an interview with RCMP and asked specific questions including why they are seeking trail camera footage from prior to the children's disappearance and why they are identifying local vehicles.
The RCMP declined the interview request and a spokesperson pointed to the most recent news release from May 18, which provided some details of the latest search efforts.
"To ensure the integrity of the investigation, no further details will be released at this time," said Cpl. Carlie McCann.
WATCH | Here's a timeline of the investigation into Lilly and Jack's disappearance:
On May 5, as helicopters buzzed overhead in the search for Lilly and Jack, Scott checked her trail cameras but didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
"But they're welcome to have it and maybe they'll see something I didn't," said Scott, who has a 10-year-old daughter and a nine-year-old son.
"I'm glad they've expanded because if there is anything to be found anywhere, I really hope they find it."
Scott said she normally lets her children have free rein of the woods, but has been keeping them closer to home.
"It's scary, especially not knowing what happened," she said. "We really don't know much concrete evidence and there's so many possibilities and that's the scary part."
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