Dogs specially trained to detect the scent of human remains have failed to find two children who have been missing in rural Nova Scotia for more than five months, the RCMP announced Wednesday as they renewed calls for information into the disappearance of Lilly and Jack Sullivan.
Lilly, 6, and Jack, 4, were reported missing on May 2, when police received a 911 call from their mother saying they had wandered away from their home in Lansdowne, a sparsely populated community in Pictou County, about 140 kilometers northeast of Halifax.
Sgt. Rob McCamon said two dog teams traveling from British Columbia searched a total of 40 kilometers over three days in late September.
Insp. Luke Rettie and his police dog, Narc, as well as Sgt. Dave Whalen and his police dog, Kitt, searched the property from which the children went missing, along with a nearby pipeline and intersecting trails, and the area where a pink blanket was previously found.
McCamon, the officer in charge of chief crime and behavioral sciences in Nova Scotia, said those locations had the greatest chance of finding the children, but they were not found.
“This doesn’t necessarily mean there’s no possibility that there might not be human remains there,” McCamon said in an interview Wednesday. “But we feel like we’ve exhausted the areas as best we can.”
The disappearance of the children in early May previously It triggered an extensive networked search that spanned 8.5 square kilometers of mostly dense forest and involved about 160 ground search and rescue volunteers, service dogs, drones and helicopters.
The mysterious nature of the case, fueled by a lack of answers, has attracted international attention.
RCMP say the Northeast Nova major crimes unit continues to follow up on information that has been obtained from more than 860 tips, 8,060 video files that have been reviewed and forensic evidence. Multiple units are working on the case and have been since May, McCamon said.
He said the case is still being investigated under the Missing Persons Act and is not a criminal case.
McCamon also renewed calls for information from the public, noting that people may have information they consider insignificant, but “it’s all important to us.”
“We can make the decision about how relevant it is and how much effort is needed for its validity and follow-up,” McCamon said.
He added that the RCMP is still considering all possibilities, but will not discuss its investigative theories.
“This is not something we have stopped working on…WWe are working as hard as we can,” said.
“There are a lot of legitimate public concerns about how two children go missing and we can’t find them. So we’ll continue until we have answers.”
McCamon said you could always call the dogs if new information or evidence suggests that it would be beneficial to the research.
In an interview Wednesday, the children’s stepfather, Daniel Martell, detailed how dog teams searched around the property and inside the home during the week of Sept. 22.
“They ran around the house waiting for the dogs to bark or pick up a scent. Nothing was located. Same with the entire property. There was no sign of anything,” Martell said.
Martell said at one point he had a tense interaction with one of the managers who asked him if something had happened the day before the children went missing, accusing him of “doing something to the children on Thursday night.”
He said the handler also told him he didn’t provide enough details about that day.
“And I told him… Thursday was a normal day until I woke up Friday morning. And that’s when life changed,” Martell said.
“It was kind of heartbreaking and sad to hear the words that came out of his mouth.”
Martell said he cooperated fully with the dog teams, as he has with all police since the children disappeared.
He said he communicates with police periodically for updates on the case.
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