Two weeks after two younger siblings vanished with out a hint in rural Nova Scotia, specialists are pointing to anomalies in what they are saying is an unprecedented case that deviates from a typical lacking youngsters investigation.
Lilly Sullivan, 6, and brother Jack Sullivan, 4, have been lacking since Might 2. That’s when police acquired a 911 name reporting that they’d wandered away from their dwelling in Lansdowne Station, a sparsely populated space about 140 kilometres northeast of Halifax.
Nova Scotia RCMP then launched a search that included floor search and rescue officers, canine groups, drones and helicopters. However after six days of scouring the closely wooded areas surrounding the house, there was no signal of the kids and the search was referred to as off.
Police have mentioned they don’t imagine the kids had been kidnapped, however haven’t dominated out that the case is suspicious.
The 2 youngsters had been reported lacking from this dwelling on Gairloch Highway in Lansdowne Station, about 25 kilometres southwest of New Glasgow. (Josh Hoffman/CBC)
Michelle Jeanis, an affiliate professor within the prison justice division at College of Louisiana at Lafayette, mentioned the information of the case and obvious lack of proof makes it an “anomaly.”
“It doesn’t meet a lot of the normal criteria for what we would see for these types of cases,” mentioned Jeanis, whose analysis areas embrace lacking individuals and juvenile justice.
“Usually there is evidence in some way that would suggest something nefarious has happened. It mirrors … those adult missing persons cases where we call it ‘quiet disappearances.’ There’s no evidence.”
A couple of particulars stand out to Jeanis as uncommon, together with the kids’s absence from college that week.
“It could just be incredibly bad timing that they had 48 hours unaccounted for before the disappearance. But that’s just one of the things that stands out in my head,” she mentioned.
The household’s property in Lansdowne Station is proven from the air. (Tyson Koschik/CBC)
Police is not going to say if anybody else had contact or noticed the kids within the days main as much as the day they went lacking.
Jeanis mentioned she believes police needs to be contemplating whether or not an individual performed a component.
In a stereotypical kidnapping by a stranger, the offender doesn’t often goal a particular little one or youngsters, they create a plan and whoever is within the atmosphere on the time falls sufferer, mentioned Jeanis.
“It doesn’t seem like that would be the case here because … what we know is they were in their backyard in a rural community, so it’s not like they were walking to school or to the gas station or something where it can be an easy snatch situation,” she mentioned.
“So, if it was a stereotypical stranger kidnapping, it would have had to have been somebody who said, ‘I want those kids in particular.”
Nova Scotia RCMP mentioned on Tuesday they had been following up on greater than 180 ideas from members of the general public and exploring all avenues within the investigation.
WATCH | 2 weeks later, RCMP say their investigation continues:
RCMP proceed investigation 2 weeks after Nova Scotia youngsters disappeared
It’s been two weeks since siblings Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, vanished with out a hint in rural Nova Scotia. The RCMP are persevering with their investigation and say there’s no proof of an abduction.
The Mounties mentioned 35 folks had been recognized for formal interviews, together with group members and people closest to the kids.
Michael Arntfield, a criminologist at Western College in London, Ont., referred to as the case “unprecedented,” saying it’s extremely unlikely for 2 siblings who reside collectively to fade when a mother or father is just not concerned.
“And there’s no evidence of that. If that had been the case, I think we would have heard about that very quickly,” he mentioned.
“This case, when you overlay it on a hundred other missing children cases, it just doesn’t add up at many levels.”
Arntfield mentioned he thinks police might be extra forthcoming with details about the case, given the general public is being solicited for data. He mentioned following up on 180 ideas requires quite a lot of assets.
“Police can’t be everywhere, so they rely in cases like this on the eyes and ears of the public. And that needs to be a two-way street in terms of information,” he mentioned.
“Otherwise they’re just going to get tips that really just bogged down the investigation and aren’t necessarily of any substantive value.”
Stuffed animals and flowers relaxation on a submit outdoors the RCMP detachment in Stellarton, N.S., in honour of Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4. (Sarah Leavitt)
He additionally mentioned police ought to have mentioned publicly within the early days of the search whether or not the case was thought-about suspicious.
“I’m giving them the benefit of the doubt that there is some active lead being worked and they don’t want to upset the equilibrium that they’re in,” mentioned Arntfield.
“But based on appearances, this went in the wrong direction early on and key momentum and leads were lost when they were out in the fields looking for kids that maybe were never there.”
RCMP mentioned Friday that every one lacking individuals instances “are treated as suspicious until our investigation leads us to determine otherwise.”
Martell didn’t return a request for remark Friday.
Search and rescue crews and different responders are seen on Might 5, 2025, through the ongoing seek for Lilly and Jack Sullivan in Nova Scotia’s Pictou County. (Truro & Colchester Code 1 Protection/Fb)
The kids’s maternal grandmother, Cyndy Murray, has mentioned police have suggested the household towards chatting with the media.
Nova Scotia RCMP declined an interview request and wouldn’t reply particular questions concerning the case.
In a press release, spokesperson Cpl. Carlie McCann mentioned police have spoken to the vast majority of folks recognized as doubtlessly having data to help the investigation, and different interviews are scheduled to happen within the coming days and weeks.
“Officers involved are also continuing to follow up on all new tips that come in,” mentioned McCann, including that to make sure the integrity of the investigation, no additional particulars shall be launched.
McCann declined to supply extra details about why police imagine the kids weren’t kidnapped.
On Friday, Kevin MacLean of Colchester Floor Search and Rescue mentioned searchers shall be again within the woods on Saturday and Sunday with volunteers from a number of search and rescue groups.
A plan is being ready to outline the search space, MacLean mentioned.
