Two weeks have passed since siblings Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, disappeared without a trace in rural Nova Scotia, and experts are now raising concerns about unusual elements in what they describe as a highly unusual case, unlike typical missing child investigations.
The children were last seen on May 2, when a 911 call reported that they had wandered away from their home in Lansdowne Station, a remote area roughly 140 kilometres northeast of Halifax.
In response, the Nova Scotia RCMP launched an extensive search operation involving ground crews, search dogs, drones, and helicopters. Despite six days of intensive efforts combing the dense woods near the family’s home, no trace of the children was found, and the official search was suspended.
Police have stated they do not believe the children were abducted, though they have not ruled out the possibility of suspicious circumstances.
The children were reported missing from a mobile home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station, located about 25 kilometres southwest of New Glasgow. A photo shows the home nestled in a wooded area, with three vehicles parked in the driveway.
Michelle Jeanis, an associate professor in the criminal justice department at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, called the case an “anomaly” due to the unusual facts and lack of physical evidence.
“This case doesn’t fit the typical pattern we see in child disappearances,” said Jeanis, who specializes in missing persons and juvenile justice. “There’s usually some form of evidence suggesting foul play. This resembles what we call ‘quiet disappearances’ in adult missing persons cases — where there’s simply nothing to go on.”
A few aspects of the case strike Jeanis as particularly unusual, including the children’s absence from school in the days leading up to their disappearance.
According to the children’s stepfather, Daniel Martell, they were not in school on the Thursday or Friday — the day they went missing — due to illness. Additionally, they were off on Wednesday because of a professional development day.
“It might just be a case of really unfortunate timing that they were unaccounted for during those 48 hours before they vanished,” Jeanis said. “But that’s one detail that really stands out to me.”
Police have not disclosed whether anyone else saw or interacted with the children in the days leading up to their disappearance.
Jeanis believes investigators should be seriously considering the possibility of human involvement in the case. In typical stranger abduction scenarios, she explained, the perpetrator usually doesn’t target specific children, but rather seizes an opportunity when a child happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
“That doesn’t seem to fit this situation,” Jeanis noted. “From what we know, the children were in their backyard in a remote, rural area — not walking to school or passing through a public space where a quick abduction might occur.”
“For it to be a classic stranger abduction, the person would’ve had to deliberately choose those children,” she added.
The Nova Scotia RCMP reported on Tuesday that they are following up on over 180 public tips and are pursuing all possible leads in the ongoing investigation.
Two weeks have passed since siblings Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, disappeared without a trace in rural Nova Scotia. The RCMP continue to investigate and maintain that there is no evidence pointing to an abduction.
As part of the investigation, police have identified 35 individuals for formal interviews, including local residents and people closely connected to the children.