Latest news with #NortheastNova
National Post
2 days ago
- 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
CBC
2 days ago
- CBC
'All scenarios are being considered,' RCMP say 5 weeks after N.S. children disappeared
A member of the RCMP's major crime unit says it's taking "longer than we hoped" to advance the investigation into two missing Nova Scotia children who vanished from a rural community more than five weeks ago. In a news release Wednesday, RCMP provided an update into the case, detailing the investigative tools that have been employed, the areas that have been searched and the various units and agencies now involved in the case. Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, were reported missing from their home in Lansdowne Station on May 2, sparking an extensive six-day search through mostly dense woods that included up to 160 search and rescue officials, dogs, helicopters and drones. The Mounties say more than 11 units are working on the investigation, including the major crime unit, digital forensic services, police dog services and its behavioural sciences group, criminal analysis service and truth verification section. It's also working with the National Centre for Missing Persons, Canadian Centre for Child Protection, and provincial and municipal police agencies from Nova Scotia and other parts of Canada. "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," said Cpl. Sandy Matharu, the investigation lead with the Northeast Nova RCMP major crime unit. "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." The RCMP said they have extensively searched the Pictou County property where the children went missing, including the home, grounds, outbuildings and nearby septic systems, wells, mine shafts and culverts. Investigators have collected hundreds of hours of video from areas surrounding Lansdowne Station, including footage taken along Gairloch Road — where the children's home is located — between April 28 and May 2. They have formally interviewed 54 people, and in some cases polygraph tests were administered. The Mounties have been following up on 488 tips they've received from the public and have been granted numerous judicial authorizations to seize and examine materials and devices that may provide information useful to the investigation. Staff Sgt. Rob McCamon, officer in charge of major crime and behavioural sciences, said all scenarios are being considered. "We've engaged every tool and resource at our disposal," he said in the news release. "The investigation is being led by a tenacious, committed group of investigators who are gathering and assessing information daily to learn more about the circumstances of Lilly and Jack's disappearance so we can find them." The wide-scale search was scaled back on May 7, but subsequent searches have taken place, including ground searches around the children's home on Gairloch Road, underwater searches of bodies of water in the region, and a pipeline trail, where a boot print was previously located. RCMP said the information gathered so far in the investigation, including the ground search and rescue efforts, has not identified new search areas.
Globe and Mail
13-05-2025
- Globe and Mail
RCMP investigating tips from public on missing Nova Scotia children
Nova Scotia RCMP say they're working around the clock with specialized major crime and forensic investigators to find out what happened to Lilly and Jack Sullivan, and are asking the public to contact them with any tips about the two young children who were reported missing in a rural hamlet of Pictou County a week and a half ago. So far, police say they have received and are following up on more than 180 tips from the public, interviewed 35 people, including community members and those closest to the six- and four-year-old children, and scoured lakes and waterways with RCMP dive teams late last week. 'We're exploring all avenues in this missing persons investigation,' said Staff Sgt. Curtis MacKinnon of the Pictou County District RCMP in a news release Tuesday afternoon. 'We have officers from multiple disciplines dedicated to finding Lilly and Jack, including highly trained RCMP major crime and forensic investigators.' 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. 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 due to their age, weather and length of time they've been missing. 'We continue to work day and night on this file,' said Staff Sgt. MacKinnon in the news release. 'Like all Nova Scotians, we want answers, and we want to know what happened to these children.' On May 2, at approximately 10 a.m., RCMP received a report that Lilly, 6, and Jack, 4, were missing. They were believed to have wandered away from their home in the rural community of Lansdowne, which has no cellular service. 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. Daniel Martell, who says he's the children's stepfather, and their mother Malehya Brooks-Murray 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. They believe the two put on their boots, slid open the back sliding door, and escaped from the fenced backyard. When the children were reported missing, RCMP issued a vulnerable missing persons alert in Pictou County. The following day, RCMP sent out a broadcast intrusive alert to cellphones advising people in Antigonish, Colchester and Pictou counties of the missing children and the Mounties' major crimes unit became involved. 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.
