Six days after two children went missing from a rural Pictou County home, RCMP say they are scaling back the search and have not ruled out that the case is suspicious.
Crews have been searching for Lily Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, since May 2, when police received a 911 call reporting that they had wandered away from their home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station, N.S.
Staff Sgt. Curtis MacKinnon confirmed during a news conference on Wednesday that the RCMP’s major crime unit has been involved in the investigation since May 3.
MacKinnon said all missing persons files “are treated as suspicious until our investigation leads us to determine otherwise.”
He said the active search is being scaled back, but “we’re not packing up and we’re not giving up.”
“I want to assure you that our missing persons investigation continues,” MacKinnon told reporters at the RCMP command centre set up close to the children’s home.
“Many of us have children of our own and want nothing more than to reunite Lily and Jack with their loved ones.”
RCMP scaling back search for missing N.S. children
Daniel Martell, the stepfather of the children, has said he believes the children slipped out their sliding back door while he and the children’s mother were in their bedroom with their one-year-old daughter.
In the days after the disappearance, Martell has remained at the home, receiving daily updates from search-and-rescue officials and speaking to the reporters who have descended upon the rural community.
The children’s mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, left the area with their one-year-old to be with her family in another part of the province.
The children’s grandmother, Cyndy Murray, spoke to The Canadian Press in a brief phone interview, adding that police have advised the family against speaking with the public.
“We’re just hoping and praying for the best — that’s it — for our babies to come home.”
Stepfather makes emotional plea for missing children
