Volunteers Renew Search Along Middle River for Missing Siblings Lilly and Jack Sullivan
Dozens of volunteers are preparing to conduct a renewed search effort in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, in hopes of finding new clues in the disappearance of Lilly and Jack Sullivan, who went missing more than six months ago.
The operation is being led by Bring Me Home, an Ontario-based nonprofit organization specializing in long-term missing persons investigations. Co-founder Nick Oldrieve confirmed that the upcoming effort will focus on the banks of the Middle River.
“I think that if those children wound up in the Middle River of Pictou, then there’s a high possibility we locate them on Saturday,” Oldrieve said. “We’re going to do the best we can to locate these kids.”
Lilly, 6, and Jack, 4, were reported missing on May 2 from their home in Lansdowne Station, a heavily wooded region. Family members said the siblings wandered away early that morning from the property.
In September, RCMP deployed two human remains detection dogs to examine a 40-kilometre area near the home. Despite extensive search operations throughout spring and summer, no trace of the children was found.
Oldrieve said approximately 40 local residents will take part in Saturday’s search, which will begin at dawn and continue until dusk, with the possibility of extending into Sunday. Due to shifting water levels in recent months, he believes certain areas need to be examined again.
“If they were underwater at the time of the initial searching along that river, they would have surfaced and they would’ve gone downriver a bit,” he said. “It’s not so much that it’s a tactic (previous searchers) haven’t used. It’s maybe a tactic that they haven’t revisited since that initial time.”
Pictou County councillor Donald Parker welcomed the renewed volunteer efforts.
“The RCMP have done everything they can here, and the search and rescue have done a tremendous job and they just couldn’t find them,” Parker said. “But if we can get other searchers coming in and whether they find them or not, I don’t know, but at least they’re trying.”
At a vigil marking Jack’s fifth birthday on Oct. 29, stepfather Daniel Martell said he no longer believes the children are in the nearby woods.
“I believe at this point in the case that they’re not in the woods and they didn’t wander into the woods,” he said. “Speculations run wild. But I’d like everybody to know that I’m working with (the RCMP’s) major crimes (unit) almost every day, just trying to figure stuff out.”
The organization Bring Me Home also shared a message from the children’s mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray.
“I will never stop searching for my children until they are found and brought home safe and sound. Someone, somewhere knows something so please bring my babies home.”
RCMP said they continue to analyze forensic evidence, more than 860 public tips, and thousands of video files as the investigation remains active.
Source: Global News
