Developments in the vanishing of two children in Nova Scotia’s Pictou County have seemingly stalled, as no new information is being shared with the public.
It’s been 24 days since Lilly and Jack Sullivan — aged six and four — were reported missing from their home in Lansdowne Station, N.S.
Their disappearance launched a multi-day search that involved upwards of 160 people, including volunteers and agencies from around the province.
Searchers were back to the woods near the home a week ago, but there have have been no significant updates since.
Family members, including the children’s stepfather, have speculated they were taken but police have remained adamant they do not believe the siblings were abducted.
That’s left some criminal experts to weigh in on why this case is raising alarm bells nationwide and beyond.
“They gave a clue and they said no abduction. That’s a big statement to make at this early in the game,” said Jim Hoskins, a retired Halifax Regional Police officer and former Major Crimes staff sergeant who is not working on the Sullivan case.
Nova Scotia’s recently updated policing standards defines abduction as “an incident where a reasonable belief exists that a child under the age of 18 years or a vulnerable person with an established mental or physical disability is removed from their environment without permission of the legal guardian or representative.”
Hoskins says in his opinion — as someone who isn’t privy to information regarding RCMP’s ongoing investigation — he can only see two remaining possibilities. He believes the children either “legitimately got lost in the woods” or there’s “criminal involvement.”
He says he also finds it striking that two siblings went missing — an unlikely probability in his opinion.
“It’s bizarre. If you asked me what was bizarre, I’d say in this case, two with this particular family, two are gone,” he said.
READ FULL STORY: https://globalnews.ca/news/11197196/pictou-ns-missing-kids-crime-experts/
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