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National Post
11-06-2025
- National Post
'All scenarios are being considered,' RCMP say, as search continues for missing N.S. siblings
Article content Mounties have also obtained search warrants 'to seize and examine materials and devices that may provide information useful to the investigation,' it said. Article content 'We're accessing, evaluating and analyzing a significant volume of information from a variety of sources. We have a very coordinated and deliberate approach to make certain all information is meticulously scrutinized, prioritized and actioned to ensure nothing is missed,' Cpl. Sandy Matharu, investigation lead with the Northeast Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit, said in the release. 'We're committed to doing what is necessary to locate Lilly and Jack and advance the investigation, which may take longer than we all hoped.' Article content Daniel Robert Martell, who identifies as the children's stepfather, told The Chronicle Herald earlier last month that he and the children's mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, last heard Jack and Lily on the morning of May 2, as they lay in bed with their baby. Article content 'The sun was already up and Lily came into the (bedroom),' said Martell. Article content 'She had a pink shirt on. We could hear Jackie in the kitchen. A few minutes later we didn't hear them so I went out to check. The sliding door was closed. Their boots were gone.' Article content Article content Martell said when they noticed the two children were missing May 2, he immediately jumped in the car and searched neighbouring roads, looking in culverts. By the time he returned home, the RCMP were there, having been called by the children's mother. Article content Martell is not Jack and Lily's father. He's been Brooks-Murray's partner for three years, though after the children disappeared she reportedly left him and the county with their baby and is staying with family. Article content Martell has said that he had been working with Northeast Nova Major Crime, had provided the RCMP with his cellphone and had agreed to take a lie detector test. Martell told CBC he passed that test, so 'you really can't point fingers at me anymore.' Article content On the weekend after they vanished, Brooks-Murray told CTV that Jack and Lilly are not typically the type of children who would go outside on their own. 'I just want to remain hopeful, but there's always in a mother's mind, you're always thinking the worst,' Brooks-Murray said at the time. Article content Article content A large scale-ground search began immediately after the children were reported missing. Hundreds of volunteers, multiple dogs, drones, an underwater recovery team and several aircraft scoured a heavily wooded 5.5-square-kilometre area before search efforts were scaled back on May 7. Article content Several additional searches have taken place since, many of them on weekends. Article content 'The terrain here in Nova Scotia is very rugged in that area,' Tremblay said. Article content On Wednesday, Mounties said the information they have gathered to this point has not identified new search areas. Article content Police want anyone with information on the whereabouts of the missing children to call the Northeast Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit at 902-896-5060. To remain anonymous, contact Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers, toll-free, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at or use the P3 Tips app. Article content
Globe and Mail
23-05-2025
- Globe and Mail
Three weeks since two young children reported missing in rural Nova Scotia
It has been three weeks since two young children were reported missing from their rural home in northeastern Nova Scotia, and police have yet to say if they have found any evidence pointing to their whereabouts. Police say they believe six-year-old Lilly Sullivan and her four-year-old brother Jack wandered away from their family's home in Lansdowne Station, N.S., early on May 2. The RCMP have confirmed receiving a 911 call that day at 10 a.m. During the next five days, an extensive search was conducted by as many as 160 trained volunteers, who were joined by tracking dogs, helicopter crews and police using aerial drones equipped with heat-seeking technology. The search covered more than five square kilometres of the hilly, heavily wooded terrain around Gairloch Road, about 140 kilometres northeast of Halifax. But on May 7, the search was scaled back as the RCMP announced there was little chance the siblings could have survived in the woods for that long. Later that day, Daniel Robert Martell, who has described himself as the missing children's stepfather, told The Canadian Press that he had voluntarily attended a four-hour interview with major crime investigators. 'I've been 100 per cent co-operating,' he said in an interview at the time. 'I gave them my phone. I offered drug tests. I offered them lie detector tests.' The Mounties say they searched ponds and streams around Lansdowne Station on May 8 and 9. And on May 13, the Mounties said some of the children's relatives were among those identified for formal interviews. By that time, the RCMP said investigators had received more than 180 tips from the public, and officers had identified 35 people to formally interview, including residents of the local community. Police have repeatedly said there is no evidence to suggest the children were abducted. Last weekend, about 100 ground search and rescue volunteers returned to the woods to take a closer look at specific areas around the road where the family's home is located. Searchers have said the slow, hard work of scanning the forest floor was made more difficult by thick layers of toppled, interlocking trees left strewn across the region by hurricane Fiona in September 2022. As the latest search ended on Sunday, police said the results would be carefully reviewed by investigators and search managers. Meanwhile, the children's disappearance has become a hot topic on social media, where speculation about their fate has become fodder for podcasts and commentaries. The RCMP did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday.
