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

[AcerPacer]

I think they may have a 'suspicion' of autism. Not sure about Canada but here in Scotland children are not typially diagnosed until school age or even 7+ in some cases. It isn't clear cut, especially given both children are verbal.

I am leaning toward their behaviours and this is why the step-dad thinks they are on the spectrum, perhaps and all IMO.

It kind of makes me wonder if he thought both kids were a 'challenge'......

It also has never been stated as fact that "stepfather" is himself autistic.. IMO a neurodiverse person can recognise traits in others that they have themselves.

 

[MistyWaters]

Clarification of a couple points which have been discussed. (The G&M is commonly paylocked but not right this moment).
- children last attended school on Tuesday of last week (Wed no school, Thursday sick, Friday sick/reported missing).
- mom claims the police told her not to talk (i suspect this is an excuse to keep the media away).

RCMP say it’s unlikely two children missing in rural Nova Scotia are alive as search efforts are scaled back

Search and rescue teams had been scouring woodland areas after siblings went missing from their home in Pictou County more than six days ago

www.theglobeandmail.com

Neither child had attended school that week since Tuesday, Mr. Martell told The Globe. He said they were kept home Thursday and Friday (Wednesday there was no school) because Lily had a cough.

Ms. Brooks-Murray has been staying with her mother in a nearby town since the children went missing, and Mr. Martell said he and his wife have had only sporadic contact since then.

Speaking to the Globe on Wednesday morning, Ms. Brooks-Murray’s mother Cyndy Murray said, “We’re not discussing anything right now. The police told us not to.”

 

[Andreee]

Clarification of a couple points which have been discussed. (The G&M is commonly paylocked but not right this moment).
- children last attended school on Tuesday of last week (Wed no school, Thursday sick, Friday sick/reported missing).
- mom claims the police told her not to talk (i suspect this is an excuse to keep the media away).

RCMP say it’s unlikely two children missing in rural Nova Scotia are alive as search efforts are scaled back

Search and rescue teams had been scouring woodland areas after siblings went missing from their home in Pictou County more than six days ago

www.theglobeandmail.com

Neither child had attended school that week since Tuesday, Mr. Martell told The Globe. He said they were kept home Thursday and Friday (Wednesday there was no school) because Lily had a cough.

Ms. Brooks-Murray has been staying with her mother in a nearby town since the children went missing, and Mr. Martell said he and his wife have had only sporadic contact since then.

Speaking to the Globe on Wednesday morning, Ms. Brooks-Murray’s mother Cyndy Murray said, “We’re not discussing anything right now. The police told us not to.”

Has it been said whose property it was that the mother and missing children have been living on in the mobile home?

 

[MistyWaters]

Link is still live, more, interesting.

RCMP say it’s unlikely two children missing in rural Nova Scotia are alive as search efforts are scaled back

Search and rescue teams had been scouring woodland areas after siblings went missing from their home in Pictou County more than six days ago

www.theglobeandmail.com

The stepfather, Daniel Martell, told the Globe that police interviewed him for four hours at the Pictou County RCMP detachment in the town of Stellarton Tuesday night, following a fifth day of scouring the woods for the siblings near their home.

Daniel Martell says police asked him to draw maps and locations where the children could possibly be.

Lily and Jack were reported missing around 10 a.m. Friday. Their mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, and Mr. Martell have said they awoke to a silent home and surmised the kids went out the sliding back door to play and wandered off. They haven’t been seen since.

“My story has been consistent. When you tell the truth it’s always consistent,” said Mr. Martell.

He said police asked him to walk them through step-by-step details of exactly what happened on May 2, the day the children were reported missing, and the previous few days. They asked him to draw maps and locations where the children could possibly be, he added.

 

[MistyWaters]

Has it been said whose property it was that the mother and missing children have been living on in the mobile home?

Yes way back it was reported the mom moved in with the boyfriend about 3 years ago. If he owned or rented we don’t know but it was also reported his mother and brother live on the same property,

 

[Andreee]

Yes way back it was reported the mom moved in with the boyfriend about 3 years ago. If he owned or rented we don’t know but it was also reported his mother and brother live on the same property,

Yes I thought so, just wanted to make sure. As it doesn't seem all that unusual to me then for the mother to get support by leaving the property and heading to family/friends nearby.

 

[Andreee]

dbm

 

[Gut_feeling]

This is not good.

"Ms. Brooks-Murray has been staying with her mother in a nearby town since the children went missing, and Mr. Martell said he and his wife have had only sporadic contact since then.

Speaking to the Globe on Wednesday morning, Ms. Brooks-Murray’s mother Cyndy Murray said, “We’re not discussing anything right now. The police told us not to.” "

 

[ilovepierre]

I'm unclear how someone might be a "little autistic" but either way, my best guess is that whatever Martell is conveying to the public he's already shared with LE looking for the kids. I presume the searchers are well trained and know that autistic kids tend to gravitate toward water.

Not directed at you, but the term “a little autistic” makes me cringe. A person is either autistic or they’re not.

 

[musicaljoke]

Parents do not usually feed babies in their bedrooms, so maybe the youngest is still being breastfed.

Yes, and maybe that's where the wee one has diaper changes and has a crib.

 

[Snoop Sister]

So all the volunteers are being sent home and the search has been scaled back. It is now basically a recovery search by the local RCMP. Also, it was stated on the pressor that cadaver dogs haven’t been employed as of yet in the search.

Btw, listening to the press conference, I didn’t get the impression that RCMP suspects an abduction has occurred.

PRESS CONFERENCE

 

[musicaljoke]

They weren't. The parents said they hadn't seen the children they only heard them - which means they were not given breakfast, changed pull-ups, dressed, brushed teeth, and gotten their day started. Interesting that the step-dad knows how the girl was dressed but no the boy. Probably just doing their best to guess & be helpful...

That is not true.

 

[Snoop Sister]

Not directed at you, but the term “a little autistic” makes me cringe. A person is either autistic or they’re not.

Too young to be diagnosed definitively one way or other but the signs might be there. It also, depends on where one lives, there is controversy about the age a child can be definitively diagnosed. I checked in DSM-5, and there is no age specified to diagnose Autistic Spectrum Disorder.

There may be other reasons for the development delays in Lily and Jack’s situation

 

[otto]

Sure they do! With a lack of sleep and being exhausted, I can attest to that. Plus with modern devices, new parents can have mini fridges & ways to warm the bottles right there and then. I've seen videos on utube of that as well lol.

The baby is 16 months old. Should he/she be sitting in a high chair at the table to eat?

 

[ttjo]

Standard corporate LE response. Nothing special.

Maybe, but it gave hope that theyre not just ending the search, they subtly said we're looking into other things.
Hey I'm Canadian, I gotta stick up for the mounties. lol

 

[Andreee]

The baby is 16 months old. Should he/she be sitting in a high chair at the table to eat?

I suppose so! I had not really thought of the baby's age.

 

[otto]

Assuming all those searchers, drones, dogs and RCMP have carefully scoured the land in any direction that the children would walk, and they have found nothing - no trace - I suppose the next question is: if not in the woods, what happened?

The people on the property were mom and stepdad. Children were last at school on Tuesday. Reported missing Friday at 10 AM.

Additional people on the property may be stepdad's mother and brother (lived on the property in separate trailer). A visitor may have been on the property and no one paid attention to a vehicle since mother and brother traffic maybe have been common.

Unlikely they were on the road, since (pointed out upthread), not a single person saw them. Only unlikely possibility is that the first vehicle to see them was an abductor. Very unlikely.

That limits the possibilities to step-dad, who jumped in his vehicle and drove around checking culverts (did he think they ran away and were hiding?), mom, who called 911, and perhaps other unknown visitors on the property. Mom and stepdad were in the bedroom and were apparently unaware of what was happening outside.

 

[seasideForest]

Why haven't the children's teachers and friends of the family spoken out? Or have they and I missed it?

They aren't required to! Especially not to satisfy our curiosity. I don't find the lack suspicious, but rather I personally am glad that the missing children and their family and the people connected to them (teachers, friends of family) are not being hounded by the press to give non-relevant information to the whole world. Possibly the RCMP is interviewing them all, but as others have said, they're tight-lipped in Canada.
MOO

 

[otto]

I suppose so! I had not really thought of the baby's age.

We're not talking about an infant. The child should be walking, a few words, sitting up, and eating cheerios from the high chair tray. Sixteen months old children should not be eating in bed.

 

[Snoop Sister]

We're not talking about an infant. The child should be walking, a few words, sitting up, and eating cheerios from the high chair tray. Sixteen months old children should not be eating in bed.

The father referred to the baby as being a one year old. In terms of development, there is a huge difference between a twelve month old and a sixteen month old. Seems to be conflicting info about the baby’s age.