CANADA Canada - Jack, 4 & Lilly Sullivan, 6, Vulnerable, wandered from home 10am, Gairloch Rd, Landsdowne Station, Pictou County, NS, 2 May 2025 #2

[Warden23]

Could someone please post the link showing that the stepfather and mother have been named as people of interest?

There is none.

 

[Ontario Mom]

Could someone please post the link showing that the stepfather and mother have been named as people of interest?

No, because they haven't.

 

[otto]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>

What stood out for me is that she first says that they looked outside for the children. We've all had children that are noisy and suddenly silent. We know that means they're into mischief, but it doesn't mean that they are outside or missing. When they realized that the children were quiet, they went outside to look for them, but they didn't know that they were playing outside.

It strikes me as though the parents thought that they were not allowed to let children play outside in their backyard without supervision. They shouldn't be sleeping, and they should keep an eye on children, but it's normal for children to play in their yard while parents are indoors.

Statement from Mom:
CTV News Video

"What happened was that we woke up I heard them playing in the next room beside us and I was drifting in and out of sleep, and they're not the type of kids that we tell them not to go outside on their own. We always make sure that we're out there with them, watching them, then they happened to just get out that sliding door and we can't hear it when it opens and they were outside playing, but we weren't aware of it at the time and the next thing we knew the [lurt-unknown] like it was quiet and we get up and I tell him, my partner, Daniel, I tell him "do you hear the kids" and he says "no" and we get up instantly, we're looking outside, we're looking everywhere, yelling for them and I instantly just called 911, as j-unknown I had the instinct I need to call."

 

[seasideForest]

Further to your point, the helicopter would have had been using infrared to scan the terrain for body warmth. It would have picked up two ‘live’ children - if their missing time was accurate. They wouldn’t have gotten that far given the reports about how dense and difficult those woods are.

They were absent from school for a couple of days? May 2nd was a Friday. Jack was four so would not have started school yet? (NS starts Kindergarten (Primary) at 5 years; but, I see now they have a voluntary “pre-primary” program.) So was Jack enrolled in pre-primary? Lily was six. Was that a PD day? If no, there is no mention of the kids being sick/the mom calling the school, only them sleeping in and the kids playing in the room next to them.

So the last time Lily (at least) was in school was Tuesday. And her mom called 911 at 10am Friday morning.

This article explains why infrared might not have worked in this particular case. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/missing-person-expert-lansdowne-station-search-1.7531338
It also explains how the children could have been missed by searchers and how the children could get into and even travel spaces an adult wouldn't see or get into.

The school absences (including PD day or not) and whether the children were at proper school or pre-primary has all been covered in this thread or thread no.1.

 

[MistyWaters]

This interview with an expert on lost people who created the app used by searchers in Lansdowne Stn is extremely informative.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/missing-person-expert-lansdowne-station-search-1.7531338

<just a snippet>
And you mentioned at the start [of the interview] that sometimes there is criminality involved. What percentage of the time is that the case?

So looking at my database, if it is an urban search … four per cent of the time there's criminality. If it is a wilderness or rural search, it's one-third of one per cent, so relatively rare.

 

[Warden23]

No. It’s a fact the mother and step dad did not stand together and provide a unified front. It is a fact her statement to the press is out of order and full of excuses. (She doesn’t say anything about the kids or worry for their safety or if they are ok.) She left part way into the very first briefing with LE and after some time sitting in an ambulance, left with her mother to her family’s home and has not been seen or heard from since. It’s a fact that the last time anyone saw Lilly was Tuesday when she got off of the bus after school and aside from the national holiday, the mom called her in absent from school. The father is 100% cooperative and very loud about it. Mother has ghosted step-father. Father is on record he cannot have any time with his daughter via third party. Red flag x2. Father is insisting on poly and says they have to fly someone in for this. He wants to be officially and publicly cleared. I do not believe they woke up together that morning. Three kids under six in a trailer and both parents dozing until i.e., 9 or 9:30am and neither hear the kids leaving the home? That is a stretch, in my book. Also, where is bio dad??

Yeah, if my kids were missing and announced to be unlikely to be alive, I'd probably have to go to the hospital, too.
<modsnip>
ETAX2: nobody owes the publlic bio dad info.

 

[otto]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed> ... surprised by decisions that were made when two children were quiet for a while. Mom assumed they were outside and instantly called 911. Posted upthread, step-dad jump in his car and drove around. When he came home, he looked around the yard and surrounding area.

It's all backwards from what I would expect. That is, first search the house, then search the yard, then check the little cabins, then check with the other two people living mere feet from the back door. Then drive a short distance to see whether the children were walking down the road. Finally, as a couple, and after exhausting all possibilities, make the joint decision to call 911.

 

[MistyWaters]

What stood out for me is that she first says that they looked outside for the children. We've all had children that are noisy and suddenly silent. We know that means they're into mischief, but it doesn't mean that they are outside or missing. When they realized that the children were quiet, they went outside to look for them, but they didn't know that they were playing outside.

It strikes me as though the parents thought that they were not allowed to let children play outside in their backyard without supervision. They shouldn't be sleeping, and they should keep an eye on children, but it's normal for children to play in their yard while parents are indoors.

Statement from Mom:
CTV News Video

"What happened was that we woke up I heard them playing in the next room beside us and I was drifting in and out of sleep, and they're not the type of kids that we tell them not to go outside on their own. We always make sure that we're out there with them, watching them, then they happened to just get out that sliding door and we can't hear it when it opens and they were outside playing, but we weren't aware of it at the time and the next thing we knew the [lurt-unknown] like it was quiet and we get up and I tell him, my partner, Daniel, I tell him "do you hear the kids" and he says "no" and we get up instantly, we're looking outside, we're looking everywhere, yelling for them and I instantly just called 911, as j-unknown I had the instinct I need to call."

I wonder how she can possibly know “they were outside playing”…”if they weren’t aware at the time” they were outside playing? Did someone come forward who claimed to have seen them out there?

 

[Tilly23]

April 30 was not a national holiday. It was a "Professional Development" day at the school, so there were no classes.

link to school calendar:
https://www.hrce.ca/sites/default/files/2024-06/Year-at-a-Glance Calendar 2024-2025_FINAL.pdf

 

[Warden23]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed> ... surprised by decisions that were made when two children were quiet for a while. Mom assumed they were outside and instantly called 911. Posted upthread, step-dad jump in his car and drove around. When he came home, he looked around the yard and surrounding area.

It's all backwards from what I would expect. That is, first search the house, then search the yard, then check the little cabins, then check with the other two people living mere feet from the back door. Then drive a short distance to see whether the children were walking down the road. Finally, as a couple, and after exhausting all possibilities, make the joint decision to call 911.

Getting a 911 response out here takes literally hours. I assume they checked the immediate property, then did the call and broader search. <modsnip>

 

[MistyWaters]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>This is an issue for many people in rural areas, which is why I have a hard time believing 911 was called at 10am and the partner search organized by the RCMP was on site and active within minutes.

 

[Warden23]

This is an issue for many people in rural areas, which is why I have a hard time believing 911 was called at 10am and the partner search organized by the RCMP was on site and active within minutes.

Where are you getting that info?

 

[iamafiusny]

Getting a 911 response out here takes literally hours. I assume they checked the immediate property, then did the call and broader search. <modsnip>

I live on a mountain, 45 minutes from any shops, etc.

I know how 911 is, we were always taught if we can get ourselves to the hospital, do it. It's much faster than anyone can get to you.

Which is exactly why I'd immediately be at neighbors asking if they'd seen anything and I can guarantee every one of my neighbors would come out and help.

There were several adults on that property that could have been performing differently tasks (911, neighbor knocks, driving around) all at once.

Moo

 

[Andromeda]

It strikes me as though the parents thought that they were not allowed to let children play outside in their backyard without supervision. They shouldn't be sleeping, and they should keep an eye on children, but it's normal for children to play in their yard while parents are indoors.

Yes, because she said, ‘we always make sure we are out there with them, watching them…”
When you’re making sure of something it’s usually because you’re following instructions. Not only did she say she made sure “they” were outside with them, she also added, ‘watching them’. So, I would ask her if there has been reports/neighbour concerns of the kids being outside wandering/walking up the road, etc., without parental supervision.

She doesn’t say, “I" woke up, I heard them playing in the next room beside us, and drifted in and out of sleep.” She said, “we” woke up, ,then I drifted. It’s very subtle, but both may wake up because of the alarm and everyone is up. Or the kids woke them up, playing, he got up and she dozed, etc. There was no alarm. There was no work and no school. So, hearing the kids through her reverie, imo she should have said, “I” woke up. That change in pronoun is a change in reality. Kids use “we” when spreading blame. Not only does she use “we” when waking up on Friday morning, she uses the pronoun “we” when having to be outside at the same time as the kids *and* watch them. She’s a fulltime mom. His vocation is offsite, fulltime when there is enough work. So, she’s mostly doing the lion’s share of child minding in the daytime while stepdad was at work.

Also note, she is telling him if he hears the kids. She doesn’t say, “ask”. Telling someone to do something implies some level of hostility/ordering. Asking is polite, easy going. I don’t doubt “they" got up instantly when it was determined the kids were not in the trailer or yard. jmo

 

[Warden23]

I get it-but they are her kids and now she’s away from where they disappeared. She and her mom care more about the two missing children than Daniel and his mother do. I have a feeling I know what happened to these kids, but I’ll keep it to myself for right now.

Truro is like, 30 minutes away.
ETA 20 minutes, if you speed, like literally everyone on that road lol
It's not like she's left the country.

 

[Jmoose]

<modsnip - quoted post was removed>

I’ve spent more than a couple of minutes trying to figure out why someone would use the word “instinct” when calling 911 after looking everywhere but failing to find one’s children. Any idea?

‘We just want them home’: Mother of missing children in Nova Scotia’s Pictou County pleads for safe return

The mother of two missing children in Nova Scotia’s Pictou County is pleading for their safe return.

www.ctvnews.ca

BBM
“We get up and look outside. We’re looking everywhere, yelling for them, and I instantly just called 911. I just had the instinct I needed to call.”

I have the same problem with this statement

 

[Jmoose]

This doesn't make sense.
The mom and her mother are accusing the stepdad of having something to do with the kids' disappearance.
But it is clear from the beginning that the mom and stepdad were together in the bedroom when the kids slipped out through the sliding doors. (they said)
So how can they accuse stepdad of having something to do with their disappearance ? Mom was present! Mom is contradicting herself.

Well…maybe the first statement that Mom made wasn’t accurate, exactly. Maybe they weren’t both in the bedroom the entire time?

 

[Jmoose]

It is similar but not the same. It's a gut thing on my part and I can't quite put it into words.

I'm imagining one of my loved ones going missing and I can't imagine saying I will search for them until I die. It feels very unnatural to me.

I can, however, imagine saying I will search for them until they are found.

Again, JMO.

Same here-I would say “until they’re found”.

 

[Jmoose]

That is what i had thought she might have meant. Intuition as opposed to instinct but

I think she used the word “instinct” interchangeably with “intuition”. I don’t have a problem with her choice of words-I do have a problem with that notion, though.

 

[Andromeda]

<modsnip>

They are in reservation territory. I’m looking for the name of the Reservation and can’t put my fingers on it, yet. Their LE was first involved and responded. Then the case was handed over, officially, to the RCMP. Don’t quote me, but this is my understanding per the recent update I read about the RCMP taking over.