Three weeks since two young children reported missing in rural Nova Scotia

LANSDOWNE STATION — It has been three weeks since two young children were reported missing from their rural home in northeastern Nova Scotia, and police have yet to say if they have found any evidence pointing to their whereabouts.

Police say they believe six-year-old Lilly Sullivan and her four-year-old brother Jack wandered away from their family’s home in Lansdowne Station, N.S., early on May 2. The RCMP have confirmed receiving a 911 call that day at 10 a.m.

During the next five days, an extensive search was conducted by as many as 160 trained volunteers, who were joined by tracking dogs, helicopter crews and police using aerial drones equipped with heat-seeking technology.

The search covered more than five square kilometres of the hilly, heavily wooded terrain around Gairloch Road, about 140 kilometres northeast of Halifax.

But on May 7, the search was scaled back as the RCMP announced there was little chance the siblings could have survived in the woods for that long. Later that day, Daniel Robert Martell, who has described himself as the missing children’s stepfather, told The Canadian Press that he had voluntarily attended a four-hour interview with major crime investigators.

“I’ve been 100 per cent co-operating,” he said in an interview at the time. “I gave them my phone. I offered drug tests. I offered them lie-detector tests.”

The Mounties say they searched ponds and streams around Lansdowne Station on May 8 and 9. And on May 13, the Mounties said some of the children’s relatives were among those identified for formal interviews. By that time, the RCMP said investigators had received more than 180 tips from the public, and officers had identified 35 people to formally interview, including residents of the local community.

Police have repeatedly said there is no evidence to suggest the children were abducted.

Last weekend, about 100 ground search and rescue volunteers returned to the woods to take a closer look at specific areas around the road where the family’s home is located.

Searchers have said the slow, hard work of scanning the forest floor was made more difficult by thick layers of toppled, interlocking trees left strewn across the region by hurricane Fiona in September 2022.

As the latest search ended on Sunday, police said the results would be carefully reviewed by investigators and search managers.

Meanwhile, the children’s disappearance has become a hot topic on social media, where speculation about their fate has become fodder for podcasts and commentaries.

The RCMP issued a statement Friday saying their investigation remains active with “a full complement of resources, tools and many investigators.”

The Mounties confirmed they had no immediate plans for further searches.

“As this is ongoing investigation, we’re not able to speak to specific evidence,” the statement said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 23, 2025.

The Canadian Press