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The investigation continues into the disappearance of two young children from their home in rural northeastern Nova Scotia more than three months ago.
Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, have not been heard from since May 2, when their mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, reported them missing from their rural home in Lansdowne Station, N.S.
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The children lived at the home with their mother, stepfather Daniel Martell, and infant sister on a property that included a trailer where Martell’s mother resided, about 140 kilometres northeast of Halifax.
Court applications filed by investigators seeking access to a variety of records including phone, banking records and video surveillance all related to the investigation provide a timeline of the events.
The documents were released Friday and include unproven statements made by police in support of those orders. The documents were released to a media consortium that includes The Canadian Press.
What follows is a timeline of events gleaned from those documents, official police updates and unproven statements by police.
Monday, April 28/Tuesday, April 29 — Both children attended school.
Wednesday, April 30 — The children stayed home due to a pedagogical day.
Thursday, May 1 — 6:18 a.m.: The children’s school is informed through an app that both children will stay home because of a cough.
2:25 p.m.: An RCMP investigation showed this is the last time the children were independently seen outside the home, caught on a surveillance video at a Dollarama location.
9 p.m.: Lilly and Jack were put to bed wearing the clothes they were in earlier in the day. Lilly was wearing a pink sweater and pink pyjamas with white shapes and a Barbie top. Lilly also had a corduroy cream coloured backpack adorned with strawberries. Jack was wearing black sweatpants, a T-shirt and a diaper, as he was not fully potty trained.
Friday, May 2 — 6:15 a.m.: An alarm went off and Malehya booked them off sick at school. At some point during the morning, the children woke up their baby sister but later there was silence in the house.
10:01 a.m.: Malehya Brooks-Murray reported Lilly and Jack missing and believed they had wandered away from the home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station. The mother told police that both children were possibly autistic and known to roam. Their boots were gone.
Daniel Martell, the children’s stepfather, told RCMP officers he ran outside, got in his car, and drove around, then ran around in the woods looking for the missing pair for hours. He mentioned to authorities that he did not look at the time or even take his phone during this period.
10:27 a.m.: Pictou County RCMP officers arrived at the home, according to dispatch information.
4 p.m.: Three people described as family members found a pink blanket in the woods in a tree on Lansdowne Station Road. The parents identified the blanket as Lilly’s through a photograph. RCMP officers went and seized the blanket, which was about one kilometre from the family home. But a subsequent dog search did not turn up a scent.
Saturday, May 3 — The mother told police that she and the stepfather have not spoken since she left him to go live with her mother. She has blocked him on social media and not responded to messages.
2:50 a.m.: Investigators met with Cody Sullivan, the children’s biological father after they collected statements questioning whether the children may have accompanied him to New Brunswick. Police say there was no proof but they wanted to check every possibility. Sullivan told officers he had not seen the children in approximately three years and confirmed they weren’t at the home.
Sunday, May 4 — 9:09 p.m.: The RCMP said they found another piece of the pink blanket near the family house, inside a trash bag at the end of the driveway. Police have said the blanket was being analyzed.
May 2 and May 7 — Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) conducted comprehensive search of area where Jack and Lilly went missing.
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.
May 8-9 — RCMP Underwater Recovery Team checked bodies of water in the area of the missing kids’ home. On May 8, three ponds were checked. On May 9, Lansdowne Lake was searched. Nothing was found.
May 12 — Daniel Martell and Malehya Brooks-Murray both underwent polygraph examination at Bible Hill RCMP detachment, and both were found to be truthful. In Brooks-Murray’s case, the polygraph was willingly agreed to eliminate herself as a suspect.
May 17-19 — GSAR conducted a secondary search in and around the residence, but “nothing was found related to Jack or Lilly.”
May 28 — Police confirmed during a media event that the children were last seen in public with family members one day before their disappearance — notably outside the dollar store.
June 10 — Janie MacKenzie, step-grandmother of the two missing children, underwent a polygraph exam at the Bible Hill detachment.
June 12 — Cody Sullivan, the children’s biological father, underwent a polygraph at an RCMP detachment whose location is redacted.
June 19 — The Nova Scotia government offered a reward of up to $150,000 for information about the missing children. The reward amount was dependent on the “investigative value” of the information.
July 2 — Cindy Murray, the children’s maternal grandmother, and her boyfriend, identified as Wade Paris, also underwent polygraph examinations and both were found to be truthful.
July 16 — Police confirmed that forensic testing was being done on the pink blanket and other unspecified items. An update on the case noted police were sifting through about 5,000 video files the public had provided. “At this point police are investigating every aspect of this,” a police spokesperson said.
Aug. 22 — The RCMP said in a statement they are still looking at “all scenarios” and are continuing to receive forensic analysis. To date, more than 760 tips and 8,000 video files have been reviewed by investigators.
Read more:
- Irene Scherban: Missing Saskatchewan teen ‘not forgotten’ 50 years later, says RCMP
- Health Canada approves updated COVID-19 vaccines for fall
- Carney announces that Canada is dropping many retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods
