Thursday marked the first day of the scaled back search for two missing children in rural Nova Scotia.
Lily and Jack Sullivan have been gone since the morning of Friday, May 2, after allegedly wandering away from home on Gairloch Road near Lansdown Station in Pictou County.
Photo: Google Maps
RCMP announced Wednesday afternoon, after six full days, the search will now be based on information that comes in.
Ground Search and Rescue Teams have been cleared out.
Staff Sergeant Curtis MacKinnon said they want to “circle back to increase the probability that all clues have been found.”
He added, the probability of survival is taken into consideration.
Tens of thousands of search hours have been dedicated to finding the two children who are six and four-years-old.
MacKinnon said, it has been an “all hands-on deck effort, using every available resource and tool,” covering about four square kilometers of “heavy wooded rural terrain”.
Taken its toll
Teams of more than 160 people were involved in the search, and according to MacKinnon, they can’t thank them enough.
“A lot of them have been here since day one. Some have taken time off work. Some have left their families behind, and we can’t thank them enough for that,” said MacKinnon.
It was not an easy search.
Amy Hanson with Colechester Ground Search and Rescue said the woods are not only thick, but there is also still a lot of damage from Hurricane Fiona.
“We’ve had teams struggling to get through areas,’ said Hanson. “They’re pushing through all of these areas, going through all of these dead falls, going through waterways and anything possible just to cover their search areas.”
“We are exhausting people. We are starting to see more injuries coming back the last couple of days.”
Hanson added, you can even see from the air all of the trees that were tagged, indicating how thorough the searches have been.
Stepfather exhausted
Stepfather of Jack and Lily, Daniel Martell, got emotional after speaking to rescue team officials Tuesday morning, but he said they were doing everything they can.
Martell says the boy was wearing a diaper and the girl had on a backpack when they went missing.
Daniel Martell, step father to Lily and Jack Sullivan, says he’s holding onto hope they will be found. (Jacob Moore/Acadia Broadcasting)
Community support
As the search for Lily and Jack continued on, the community showed its support.
The Salvation Army was making food for the search and rescue workers, as well as emotional and moral support.
Daniel Roode represents the Pictou County branch of the group, and he said the whole community feels for Jack and Lily’s family.
They’re going out of their way to help however they can, offering the team free coffee when he went to buy some.
“Even if it’s a cup of coffee, even if it’s some meat, even if it’s cookies or whatever it is, they want to do something because they so much care.”
He said he also visited a grocery store when the meat cutter had gone home. But once a woman working there knew Roode and his team were making food for the search crews, she offered to cut the meat they needed.
People can imagine what it would be like if their own children were missing, he said, and that’s part of the reason they want to help.
Daniel Roode with the Pictou County branch of the Salvation Army (right) and Joe Kippax, volunteer lead, talk to reporters on May 6, 2025. (Jacob Moore/Acadia Broadcasting)
Investigation
The major crimes unit has been involved since the children went missing.
Staff Srgt. Rob MacCamon, acting officer in charge of Major Crime and Behavioral Sciences Group left details few but did say some “specialized knowledge and skill sets” were brought in to help with decision making.
However, RCMP would not speculate on the investigation, which continues to be treated as a missing person’s case.
Spokesperson for the RCMP Corporal Carlie McCann said there is no evidence to suggest the children were abducted. Because of this, she explained, an Amber Alert was not issued.
However, a vulnerable person’s alert was issued Friday and again Saturday, in an expanded area including Antigonish County, Colchester County and Pictou County.
