Cadaver dogs did not find the remains last month of two young children who went missing more than five months ago from their home in rural northeastern Nova Scotia.
The RCMP is continuing “to explore all possible scenarios in its efforts to locate (six-year-old Lilly Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan) after searches in Lansdowne Station (in late September) didn’t result in finding human remains,” the force said Wednesday in a news release.
Insp. Luke Rettie and his police dog, Narc, as well as Sgt. Dave Whalen and his police dog, Kitt, searched a total area of 40 kilometres, it said.
“The teams, specially trained in detecting human remains, searched at the property from which the children went missing, along the pipeline and intersecting trails, and in an area where a pink blanket was previously found — all locations where there was the highest probability of finding the children. However, the teams did not locate any remains.”
The “dogs are highly trained to detect and indicate the scent of human remains,” Staff.-Sgt. Stephen Pike, who trains the animals, said in the release. “If the dogs did not alert their handlers, it suggests the dogs were never in the presence of human remains odour.”
That does not “definitively rule out the presence of remains in the areas that were searched,” Pike said. “It means either the odour is there and couldn’t be detected or the odour isn’t there.”
Mounties say investigators continue to “assess and follow up on information that has been gleaned from the more than 860 tips received to date, 8,060 video files that have been reviewed, and forensic testing that continues.”
The probe has multiple prongs, said the release.
“Each piece of information, including the results from the search teams, helps inform our next steps,” Staff-Sgt. Rob McCamon, a major crime investigator, said in the release.
“With support from agencies across Canada, the investigative team is working to validate or eliminate leads and follow the evidence wherever it takes us. At this stage, and as we’ve said all along, we’re considering all possibilities. We’ll keep going until we determine, with certainty, the circumstances of the children’s disappearance and they’re found.”
The children were first reported missing by their mother Malehya Brooks-Murray at 10:01 a.m. on May 2.
Brooks-Murray told police she believed the two children had wandered away from their home in rural Lansdowne Station, N.S. Police arrived 26 minutes later.
Searchers scoured the area around Lansdowne Station after the children vanished. Police dogs were employed early on that can pick up human scent, including that of recent remains. But last month marked the first time specialized cadaver dogs joined the hunt for the missing kids.
Jack and Lilly’s family mobile home sits along a gravel road surrounded by dense woods. The house also has a back patio, with a sliding glass door, which is most likely how the children got out that morning.
Court documents investigators used to obtain search warrants in the case indicate “the last time the children were seen outside their home was on May 1, when they were captured by video surveillance at a local Dollarama store with Brooks-Murray and Daniel Martell, their stepfather.”
RCMP conducted at least four polygraphs during their investigation. The first two were on May 12 with the children’s parents. Martell’s polygraph “indicated he was truthful,” as did the test for Brooks-Murray. She was found truthful when answering specific questions.
On June 10, the children’s step-grandmother, Janie MacKenzie, underwent a polygraph examination but another document notes that her “physiology was not suitable for analysis and an opinion on the polygraph examination was not rendered.”
The children’s biological father, Cody Sullivan, underwent a polygraph on June 12, and he passed the examination, with his answers found to be “truthful.”
In July, the Mounties said they were running forensic tests on a pink blanket found during the search of the heavily wooded areas near the children’s home. Police said at the time that the family had confirmed the blanket belonged to Lilly, but investigators released few details.
Later, police dispatched a sniffer dog to the area where the blanket was found, but the animal was unable to pick up a scent of Lilly or Jack, according to information police filed in court to get search warrants.
The children’s mother told police at one point that their biological father might have picked them up and taken them to New Brunswick. But investigators met with Sullivan on May 22.
“He said he did not know what happened to Jack and Lilly,” police noted. “He was home on May 2, 2025, and never goes anywhere. He has not been anywhere other than his house recently and has had no contact with Malehya since the children went missing.”
Police received lots of tips in the case, including one from a witness who said she was travelling with her sons on the morning of May 2 and saw two children walking along the side of the road. She told police she saw the children that morning walking toward a Caucasian female of about 50 to 60 years old who was waiting next to the passenger side of an older model tan or gold sedan with the back door open.
Investigators urge anyone with information about Lilly and Jack’s whereabouts to call the Northeast Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit at 902-896-5060 or to 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.
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