logo
ENع
#

Latest news with #SullivanFamily

Neighbour hands RCMP days of footage leading up to disappearance of N.S. children
Neighbour hands RCMP days of footage leading up to disappearance of N.S. children

Yahoo

time23-05-2025

  • Yahoo

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." MORE TOP STORIES

'It's just really strange': Retired dog handler weighs in on search for missing N.S. children
'It's just really strange': Retired dog handler weighs in on search for missing N.S. children

CBC

time21-05-2025

  • General
  • CBC

'It's just really strange': Retired dog handler weighs in on search for missing N.S. children

Social Sharing As search and rescue crews once again depart a rural Nova Scotia community without finding two children who disappeared more than two weeks ago, a retired RCMP dog handler says it is baffling the siblings are still missing after such wide-scale searches. Lilly Sullivan, 6, and brother Jack Sullivan, 4, have been missing since May 2, when police received a 911 call reporting they had wandered away from their home in Lansdowne Station, a sparsely populated area about 140 kilometres northeast of Halifax. The children's disappearance set off a massive operation that included upward of 160 ground search and rescue officials, dog teams, drones and helicopters. But after six days of scouring the heavily wooded areas surrounding the siblings' home, covering 5.5 square kilometres, there was no sign of the children and RCMP announced the search was being scaled back. Search and rescue crews were called back to Lansdowne Station on Saturday and Sunday for yet another search, focusing on specific areas around Gairloch Road. An RCMP spokesperson said officials would be reviewing the information collected and determining next steps. Glenn Brown, who worked as an operational dog handler in the RCMP in several provinces for 26 years, said the fact the Sullivan children haven't been found "is just really strange." "I find it hard to believe that a six- and four-year-old would just disappear like that," said Brown, who was involved in hundreds of searches during his career. "I can guarantee you if I was still working today, it would be the thing to be racing around your mind all the time. Where would they have gone? We have done everything." Robert Koester, a search mission co-ordinator with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management in the United States, said it's rare to never find the subject of a search — it only happens in about five per cent of cases. That statistic is based on a database he compiled of a half-million search and rescue incidents from around the world. Koester said there are a few possible reasons the subject or subjects might not be found during a search, including that the search area wasn't large enough or that a team was assigned to an area, but never made it there. "The final reason is, it can just be darn hard to spot people out in the woods sometimes," said Koester, who wrote the book Lost Person Behavior: A Search and Rescue Guide on Where to Look — for Land, Air and Water. "All it can take is a second or two of looking to your left when you needed to be looking to your right.... Especially with children, they can crawl into small, tight spaces that are obscured from view, so they can be very difficult to find." While RCMP would not say what prompted them to return to the area over the weekend, Brown said it's not uncommon to bring searchers back in such investigations. In general, there are several factors that may prompt police to restart a missing persons search, he said. If police had received a tip or evidence, the substance of that information likely was not known by the searchers or even officers on the ground, given that the RCMP's major crime unit is involved. WATCH | Here's a timeline of the investigation into Lilly and Jack's diappearance: Everything we know about the search for Lilly and Jack so far 5 days ago Duration 4:49 It's been two weeks since two young children vanished without a trace in rural Nova Scotia. The search for the siblings, six-year-old Lilly Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan, is expected to resume on Saturday. Here's everything we know about what's happened since their disappearance. "They may tell them, 'We got a tip and we just want you to go in that area and search and see if you find anything,'" said Brown. "They don't even tell their own people that unless you are in the know, unless you're in that investigative group." He added that it's possible evidence has been found during the course of the investigation, but RCMP are not releasing that information publicly. As well, Brown said investigators may have reviewed information that warrants re-examining an area, or perhaps there were weather or wildlife concerns that prevented them from searching a particular area before. Regardless of why they returned Lansdowne Station on Saturday, Brown said he knows from experience that those search and rescue officials and police officers are carrying Lilly and Jack with them every step. "They look at their own kids and look at their grandchildren and their nieces and nephews and they're probably wanting to go back in [and search]," he said. "It's such a heart-wrenching situation." RCMP have said they have not ruled out the case is suspicious, and the major crime unit has been involved since the day after the disappearance. The Mounties would not answer specific questions about the latest search and declined a request for an interview Tuesday.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store