RCMP working with units in Ontario, N.B. in disappearance of Sullivan children

CITYnews halifax / By Natasha O’Neill

Nova Scotia RCMP say they are conducting an ‘intensive’ search for Lilly and Jack Sullivan, who have been missing for more than two months, despite criticism on lack of updates to family.

The Mounties provided a brief update that they are still working through the “intensive” investigation of Lilly and Jack Sullivan after weeks of silence from officials.

The siblings disappeared more than two months ago on May 2, from a rural Pictou County community, and there have been no indications as to what happened to the six-year-old and four-year-old.

RCMP said in an update on July 16 that the case is continuing with assistance from its units in Ontario and New Brunswick, and help from the National Centre of Missing Persons and Canadian Centre for Child Protection. Further municipal and provincial policing agencies from Nova Scotia and in parts of the country are also helping.

“For example the forensics lab in Ottawa is supporting the investigation in partnership with forensic identification units here in Nova Scotia,” Cpl. Carlie McCann, RCMP media relations officer, said. “As well, there may be police detachments and units in other provinces who are conducting interviews with witnesses.”

The update comes after weeks of no communication from the RCMP, which said officers have been reviewing approximately 5,000 video files from cameras around Lansdowne Station, the area where the children were last seen.

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One of the policing units are working to examine materials located through these searches, including a pink blanket that officers found on Lansdowne Road. McCann confirms this is the same blanket found on May 2, and police said that the family confirmed the blanket belonged to Lilly.

“Police are investigating if and how it relates to her and her brother’s disappearance,” she said.

McCann did not elaborate on the other materials seized early in the case that police are using forensic testing on.

Over several weeks in May and June, ground searches combed through the rugged and difficult terrain looking for the young children. They went through the dense bush and creeks surrounding the home where the pair lives with their stepfather, Daniel Martell, and mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, on Gairloch Road.

Other information police have shared with the public include the 600 tips they are going through and how they have interviewed more than 60 people, some of which were given polygraph (lie detector) tests.

“Right now, there are more than 800 tasks associated to this investigation,” says Staff Sgt. Rob McCamon, Officer in Charge (acting), Major Crime and Behavioural Sciences. “A tremendous amount of careful, deliberate investigative work is underway by people here at home and in other parts of Canada; our collective efforts will continue every day until we determine with certainty the circumstances surrounding Lilly and Jack’s disappearance.”