'All scenarios are being considered,' RCMP say, as search continues for missing N.S. siblings

Mounties searching for two young Nova Scotia siblings who went missing more than a month ago say they’ve administered lie detector tests, collected hundreds of hours of surveillance video from the area around the children’s home, fielded 488 tips and formally interviewed 54 people. But they still haven’t found Lilly and Jack Sullivan. “This investigation is being led by seasoned investigators committed to gathering information about the disappearance of Lilly and Jack,” RCMP Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay said Wednesday. “All scenarios are being considered and every resource and tools are at their disposal.” Mounties have previously said there is no evidence the children were abducted. Tremblay would not say Wednesday if investigators still believe that to be the case, and he would not get into whether or not police believe the children are still alive. “We’re leaving no stones unturned in this case,” Tremblay said. He wouldn’t say how many people have been subjected to lie detector tests during the hunt for the missing children. “Experts are examining every question and answer that those individuals are providing,” Tremblay said. “And it could guide the investigation.” Mounties won’t say if they have any suspects in the case. “I can’t speak to persons of interests at this time,” Tremblay said. “It would compromise the investigation that’s ongoing.” Mounties first got the call on Friday, May 2 at 10 a.m. that Lilly, 6, and Jack, 4, were missing from their trailer home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station, Pictou County. Their mother and stepfather told police the children must have slipped out while they were in bed with their baby. Late last month, the RCMP said the children were seen in public with family members one day earlier. Mounties appear to have pulled out all the stops in the search for the pair. “More than 11 Nova Scotia RCMP units are working on the missing persons investigation, some of which include the Northeast Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit, Pictou County District RCMP, Digital Forensic Services, Truth Verification Section, Legal Application Support Team, Police Dog Services, Underwater Recovery Team, Behavioural Sciences Group, and the Criminal Analysis Service,” the force said Wednesday in a news release. “They are joined in their investigational efforts by the National Centre of Missing Persons, Canadian Centre for Child Protection, and provincial and municipal police agencies from Nova Scotia and other parts of Canada.” Police have “extensively searched the property from which the children went missing, including every aspect of the home, grounds, outbuildings and nearby septic systems, wells, mineshafts and culverts,” said the news release. Mounties have also obtained search warrants “to seize and examine materials and devices that may provide information useful to the investigation,” it said. “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.” 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. “The sun was already up and Lily came into the (bedroom),” said Martell. “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.” He surmised the children slipped outside through a sliding door. 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. 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. 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.”  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. 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. Several additional searches have taken place since, many of them on weekends. “The terrain here in Nova Scotia is very rugged in that area,” Tremblay said. On Wednesday, Mounties said the information they have gathered to this point has not identified new search areas. 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 www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips app.

• Missing Nova Scotia siblings, Lilly and Jack, were seen with family the day before they disappeared
• Stepfather of missing N.S. kids reportedly says mother's grief worsening due to online speculation

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