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N.S. RCMP mark missing persons day with Sullivan children disappearance

In News
February 04, 2026

The Nova Scotia RCMP said they are marking National Missing Persons Day with the disappearance of two young children.

The story has captured people across the country, and seen amateur online sleuths play a role in the speculation about what happened. The case of Lilly, 6 and Jack (now 5) Sullivan has not had many willing updates in the last several months, but on Feb. 3 RCMP provided a few details about their efforts.

According to the press release, investigators have received 1,111 tips. Officers are involved in 1,400 investigative tasks as part of the ongoing efforts.

“Our team remains fully committed to establishing the circumstances of what happened to Lilly and Jack,” S/Sgt. Rob McCamon, Officer in Charge, Major Crime and Behavioural Sciences, said. “We’re pursuing every lead, applying every resource, and still working tirelessly to move this file forward.”

It is believed that the two young children wandered away from their home on Gairloch Road in rural Lansdowne Station in Pictou County on May 2, 2025.

Redacted documents the only insight into the case

The public and the media have been scrapping every inch of the case, hoping to understand more of what the RCMP have been doing behind closed doors.

Near the end of 2025, several documents were released detailing more about what investigators have been chasing.

In October, Mounties agreed to release some information on the interviews conducted with those closest to the children and from witness accounts who say they heard a vehicle going back and forth hours before the pair disappeared.

The documents say one of those residents, Brad Wong, told police on May 9 that in the early hours of May 2, he heard a loud vehicle coming and going from the family’s home on Gairloch Road.

Wong told police his house is at an elevated position from Martell’s home, and he could also see vehicle lights over the treetops that night, the police documents say. Wong also said the vehicle left their address three or four times after midnight and into the early morning hours, according to the documents.


A photo of Malehya Brooks-Murray and Daniel Martell. (Facebook)

About a week after they spoke to Wong, police say they spoke to Justin Smith, the other nearby resident. Police say Smith told them on May 17 that he had spoken to Wong about the vehicle and that he also heard it in the early hours of the morning on May 2.

Newly unsealed court documents detailed the relationship between Martell and Brooks-Murry.

It includes excerpts from police interviews and unproven allegations from Brooks-Murray. They were filed to support applications for search warrants, revealing that on May 9, Brooks-Murray was specifically asked if the children’s stepfather, Martell, was physically abusive.

“Malehya said he would try to block her, hold her down and once he pushed her,” the document reads. “She said he would also take her phone from her when she tried to call her mom, which would sometimes be physical and hurt.”

On Jan. 29, RCMP charged Martell, 34, with assault, forcible confinement and sexual assault of an adult victim.

It is the last related movement in the disappearance of the Sullivan children.

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