'Nobody is giving up yet': N.S. crews spend 5th day searching for missing children
It's believed Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, wandered from their rural home
Helicopters were back in the sky Tuesday as upward of 150 searchers scoured the wooded areas below for two children who are believed to have wandered away from their home in Nova Scotia's Pictou County five days ago.
The search started last Friday morning, when it's believed six-year-old Lilly Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan strayed from their home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station, about 25 kilometres southwest of New Glasgow.
"Police are pursuing all investigative avenues and there's a variety of teams involved who are applying the tools and the skills and the expertise needed to locate and and bring Lilly and Jack home," RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Carlie McCann told reporters Tuesday afternoon.
"This does remain a missing person investigation."
McCann would not say if there's been any sign of the children, but she stressed that police were "following up on all information as it comes in."
RCMP said drones were in the air late Monday and into Tuesday in the rural community in the province's northeast.
McCann said drones are effective at night because they use "forward-looking infrared technology" to spot differences in temperature, which can point people toward specific areas for ground searches.
As the drones zipped overhead in the night sky, roughly 60 specially trained ground search and rescue members were combing the area below. The number of searchers swells to roughly 150 during the daytime hours.
Police dogs have been assisting in the search, and it's also the first time the Nova Scotia Guard — a provincially organized volunteer group — has been deployed. The public has been asked to stay away as crews conduct their work.
Daniel Martell, the stepfather of the children, has said the last time he saw the children was Friday morning when he and their mother were in their bedroom with their one-year-old baby.
The 33-year-old man said Lilly came into the bedroom several times and he could hear Jack in the kitchen. The children must have opened the sliding back door, which is almost silent, and left, he said.
The home borders a heavily wooded area with steep banks and thick brush.
Martell said investigators with the RCMP's major crimes unit spoke with him a few days ago, and spoke with members of his family on Monday. Martell has said he believes the children were abducted.
"[The RCMP were] taking statements from the very start. They just want to rule everything out before they switch … concerns from being, you know, search and rescue to abduction," he said in an interview Tuesday.
Police said on Friday there is no evidence the children were abducted, so no Amber Alert was issued. But the RCMP issued a vulnerable missing persons alert for Antigonish, Colchester and Pictou counties late Saturday afternoon.
When asked on Tuesday if the major crimes unit is involved, an RCMP spokesperson said a "variety of teams" are working on the missing persons investigation "in order to provide tools, skills and resources as necessary."
Martell said that after the disappearance, the children's mother left the area to be with her family in another part of the province and has blocked him on social media.
He said there was an argument between the two families out in the yard of the home that day.
"My mother had to kick … some people off the property 'cause they were saying that I did it, I had something to do with it, and I'm the only one here fighting for them, which is sad," he said.
The children's mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, spoke to CTV News on Saturday, saying that she was trying to stay hopeful.
"I want to hold them and I want them home," she told CTV.
Robert Parker, the warden of the Municipality of Pictou County, said everyone is hoping and praying for good news, but as the days pass, "we're wondering what's going to happen next."
He described the mood in the region of roughly 43,000 people as "tense."
"Nobody is giving up yet," Parker told CBC's Information Morning Nova Scotia on Tuesday morning. "These children have almost become everybody's children in this county."
Parker noted that it's human nature to jump to conclusions, but he urged the public to temper their comments, especially on social media.
"There's always people who want to say something that's hurtful," he said. "We have to remember kindness."
Martell has said Jack is in pre-primary and Lilly is in primary. He said they were not at school on Friday because Lilly had a cough, and they were also home sick from school on Thursday.
He said Brooks-Murray is a stay-at-home mom and he works at a local sawmill, but work has slowed down there in recent weeks and he was not at work on Friday.
The pair have a young daughter together, who Martell said is currently with her mother.
He said Jack and Lilly are not just siblings — "they're like best friends." Jack loves bugs and dinosaurs, and Lilly loves "girly things."
A spokesperson for the Chignecto Central Regional Centre for Education confirmed on Monday that the children attend Salt Springs Elementary in Salt Springs.
"During this difficult time, the school has additional support staff on site ready to help staff and students with questions and provide calm coping strategies," Jennifer Rodgers wrote in an email.
"The school has also shared a message with its families which included a resource guide for parents."
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With files from Brett Ruskin, Information Morning and Preston Mulligan
