RCMP scaling back search for missing N.S. children
Aly Thomson | CBC News | Posted: May 7, 2025 10:50 AM | Last Updated: May 8
The search for Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, was launched on May 2
Six days after two children were reported missing from a rural home in Nova Scotia's Pictou County, RCMP say they are scaling back the search and have not ruled out that the case is suspicious.
Crews have been searching for Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, since May 2, when police received a 911 call reporting that they had wandered away from their home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station.
Staff Sgt. Curtis MacKinnon confirmed during a news conference Wednesday that the RCMP's major crime unit has been involved in the investigation since May 3.
MacKinnon said all missing persons files "are treated as suspicious until our investigation leads us to determine otherwise." He said there have been no confirmed sightings of the children.
WATCH | RCMP are scaling back their search, saying it's unlikely the children survived:
He said the active search is being scaled back, but "we're not packing up and we're not giving up."
"I want to assure you that our missing persons investigation continues," MacKinnon told reporters at an RCMP command centre set up near the children's home, about 25 kilometres southwest of New Glasgow.
"Our investigation is broad and it won't end until we know where Lilly and Jack are and can bring them home."
WATCH | RCMP Staff Sgt. Curtis MacKinnon on why the search is being scaled back:
MacKinnon said when transitioning from an active search to one that's scaled back, the probability of survival is taken into consideration.
Upward of 160 people have been scouring the heavily wooded area surround the children's home each day and night, as helicopters and drones surveyed from overhead.
MacKinnon said searchers have covered a four-square-kilometre area, roughly the size of Halifax's downtown. It is heavily wooded, with many downed trees from when a powerful tropical cyclone blew through the area in 2022.
He said teams will now be returning to ground that has already been covered.
"We want to circle back to increase the probability that all clues have been found," said MacKinnon, flanked by large posters of the children.
WATCH | Searchers have been struggling to get through some wooded areas:
Daniel Martell, the stepfather of the children, has said he believes the children slipped out their sliding back door while he and the children's mother were in their bedroom with their one-year-old daughter.
In the days after the disappearance, Martell has remained at the home, receiving daily updates from search and rescue officials and speaking to the reporters who have descended upon the rural community.
On Wednesday, Martell said he was "absolutely exhausted."
"I know everybody that was trying their hardest and searching.... I know they can't go forever," said Martell in an interview at his home following the media briefing. "We're still holding out hope."
The children's mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, left the area with their one-year-old to be with her family in another part of the province.
The children's grandmother, Cyndy Murray, spoke to The Canadian Press earlier this week in a brief phone interview, adding that police have advised the family against speaking with the public.
"We're just hoping and praying for the best — that's it — for our babies to come home."
WATCH | RCMP provide update on search for missing children:
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