‘The house is just silent’: Stepdad speaks out as exhaustive search for missing N.S. children enters fifth day

The search for Lily and Jack Sullivan entered its fifth day on Tuesday.

The stepfather of two missing children in a rural area of Nova Scotia’s Pictou County is speaking out as the exhaustive search for the children enters its fifth day.

Lily Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, were reported missing around 10 a.m. Friday. They were last seen on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station.

Police believe the siblings wandered away from their home and say there is no information to suggest they were abducted. However, the children’s stepfather is starting to think otherwise.

“Hardly any evidence at all since the first day. It’s mind boggling that nothing else was found,” said Daniel Martell.

Martell has been dating the children’s mother for three years and they have an 18-month-old together.

Martell says Lily and Jack never go into the woods by themselves. He describes them as vulnerable and autistic.

“We never cross the road. We have cabins we built up in the woods, and that’s where, usually, as far as we take them,” he says.

Martell says he and Malehya Brooks-Murray asked Lily and Jack to quiet down on Friday morning to let the baby sleep.

“We were in the room laying down -- me, Maleyha and the baby Meadow -- and Lily poked her head in a couple times. I seen that she’s wearing a pink T-shirt. And we usually don’t like them to be too loud, because they were going to wake up the baby. We want the baby to get as much sleep as possible,” he says.

He estimates it took up to 20 minutes to notice the two children were gone.

“She went out of the room and I could hear Jack out in the kitchen. A few minutes went by, I heard nothing. Got up, went out in the kitchen, checked everything, I seen they weren’t there. Checked their bedrooms and they weren’t there,” he says.

“So I looked out the backyard, that’s the only other place they would go, and their boots were gone. The door, the sliding door, was closed. Usually they don’t close the door, I usually have to remind them, remind them to close the door over and over.”

Martell says he then jumped in his vehicle and started looking for them.

“I searched every dirt road and searched every culvert as fast as I could until I got back and seen the RCMP there, and they wouldn’t let me back in the woods until there was a guy dressed in military gear, he allowed me to jump back into the woods, so I jumped the back fence and continued my search,” he says.

“The house is just silent. There’s no magic in the air. It’s just silence. That’s really all I can say.”

Martell says the only concrete clue so far is a bootprint that was found on the edge of the property. RCMP hasn’t shared any additional evidence.

Brooks-Murray spoke with CTV Atlantic over the weekend and pleaded for their safe return.

She said they’re not typically the type of children who would go outside on their own.

“I just want to remain hopeful, but there’s always in a mother’s mind, you’re always thinking the worst,” said Brooks-Murray.

According to Martell, Brooks-Murray is now staying with family outside of the county. He says she hasn’t spoken to him since leaving.

Crews focused their search on a 3.5-kilometre radius of a wooded area over the weekend. Police said the search zone was expanded Monday, with more than 120 people looking on foot and from above with drones and helicopters.

Ribbons are being used to track the ground that has been covered.

Multiple agencies are taking part in the search, including ground search and rescue (GSAR) teams, the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, the Department of Natural Resources’ Air Services, the Nova Scotia Guard and several RCMP units.

However, RCMP would not confirm if the Major Crimes unit is part of the investigation.

“I can’t comment on what any of the specific teams are beyond what’s involved in the search on the ground here,” said Nova Scotia RCMP Cpl. Carlie McCann during an interview with CTV Atlantic Tuesday.

Searchers have dealt with challenging conditions, including rough terrain, thick brush and fluctuating weather, including rain and fog.

“You’ve got water pouring down on your head. This terrain is not flat; it is uphill and downhill, there’s holes and crevices and bogs,” said RCMP incident commander Josh Wiese. “It’s a lot of work. It’s physical exhaustion for these searchers when they’re out there doing their thing.

“They’re tired and they’re optimistic. They’re trying to stay on mission. We want to bring these two children home to their parents.”

Four RCMP drone operators worked overnight Tuesday in Pictou County as part of the ongoing search.

Police say the drones are effective at night because they use infrared technology which can spot differences in temperature.

Pictou County Coun. Donnie Parker says the whole community is concerned for the children.

“That’s all that’s on anyone’s mind. Just hoping for the best,” he said.

“It’s not something that happens very often and you just hope and pray they find them as soon as they can.”

The RCMP describes Lily as having shoulder-length light brown hair with bangs. The force said she might be wearing a pink sweater, pink pants, and pink boots.

Jack has short blondish hair and was wearing blue dinosaur boots. Police have said no other clothing description is available.

The Pictou County District RCMP is asking anyone with information on the children’s whereabouts to call them at 902-485-4333 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Hafsa Arif.

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