Search for missing N.S. kids reaches one-week mark

Jack and Lily Sullivan from Nova Scotia have been missing for a week.

It has been one week since six-year-old Lily Sullivan and her four-year-old brother Jack disappeared, last believed to have wandered into the woods near their home in Lansdowne Station, N.S.

The intense ground and water search lasted six days and involved 160 people from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

On Wednesday RCMP announced it was scaling back the search, saying there was little chance the siblings could have survived in the wooded area.

The children’s stepfather Daniel Martell said the past week has left the family exhausted, but still determined.

“I’m fighting to stay awake at this point. I’m just so drained,” he said. “But the fight goes on. Fight will always go on.”

Martell said the last time he saw RCMP in the area was Friday morning near Lansdowne Lake.

“I talked to the last of RCMP in the area that I’ve seen. They were at Lansdowne Lake and they told me they scoured the lake with divers and [used] sonar [technology] in the lake and there’s no evidence at all. I don’t know what to think. If they were in this area, they would have found them. My family is still searching, and we’re never going to give hope. We’re going to continue to look, and probably continue to look for the rest of my life,” he said.

He also shared his frustration over social media rumours and strangers showing up near the family’s home.

“I just try not to read it. It’s just opinions of people that don’t know absolutely anything. They don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “Driving by slowly, some people stop. Some people snap pictures. People just almost have no respect.”

With the search stretching to a week now, he said he is doing his best to remain hopeful.

“I don’t know [what to think] at this point,” he said. “It’s hard to stay positive because I’m just not hearing anything positive.

“I’m working closely with the RCMP and major crime units. Trying to get everything we can, all the information. Those guys have been really good to work with.”

Since the children have been reported missing, a memorial has grown outside the Stellarton RCMP detachment, with stuffed animals, candles and handwritten notes from the nearby community.

Martell said the growing memorial is painful, but also a sign that people care.

“It’s sad that there is a memorial, but there are people out there that care and that the most important thing,” he said. “There’s people out there online commenting, but there’s people that actually care and that’s beautiful to see.”

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