LANSDOWNE STATION — The stepfather of two young children reported missing from their rural Nova Scotia home since Friday says he's hopeful six-year-old Lily Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan will be found safe after he met Tuesday morning with the RCMP.
“It’s all I’ve got after five long days,” Daniel Martell said immediately after an RCMP briefing inside a command post near his home in the community of Lansdowne Station. “They’re doing the best they can. They have helicopters up there right now. They have 100 searchers and still nothing yet.”
Martell confirmed that on Monday night, the Mounties showed him shirts, a blanket and a water bottle found during the search near Gairloch Road, but he said none of the items belongs to either child.
Earlier on Tuesday, an RCMP spokesperson issued a brief statement saying that during the search Monday night, the police force used four remotely operated aerial drones equipped with heat-seeking technology. RCMP Cpl. Carlie McCann said each of the drones was using forward-looking infrared radar, which can spot the heat signatures of humans.
McCann says specially trained ground search teams combed through the heavily wooded area on Monday night.
Meanwhile, the children's maternal grandmother said she, too, is holding on to hope the children will be found safe.
"We're just hoping and praying for the best — that's it — for our babies to come home," Cyndy Murray said in a brief phone interview, adding that police have advised the family against speaking with the public. Murray's daughter is the children's mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray.
Police have said that for four days ground teams have meticulously searched several kilometres in a heavily wooded area about 25 kilometres southwest of New Glasgow.
On Monday, Martell said he was worried the children may have been abducted, but police say there is no evidence the children were taken and that investigators are acting under the belief both kids wandered from their home.
Martell said that after the disappearance, the children's mother left to be with her family in another part of the province and has blocked him on social media.
RCMP describe Lily Sullivan as having shoulder-length, light brown hair with bangs, and they say she might be wearing a pink sweater, pink pants and pink boots; Jack Sullivan has short, blond hair and is wearing blue dinosaur boots.
Up to 140 people at a time have been searching for the children, with the help of police dogs and drones.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2025.
The Canadian Press
