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

[ASipowicz]

Is it normal for a non biological parent to do all the talking? Honestly curious. Is he the spokesman for the family? Thanks.

Early on Mom did speak out one time. Here is the link: Mother of missing Nova Scotia children pleads for safe return

JMO - I find it strange that Mom and the BF never spoke to the media together, standing side by side in support of each other. Someone could have been found to watch over the 16 month old child so that Mom and the BF could speak out together.

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[Lucy6226]

So sad to hear the search has been scaled back, although I understand the reasoning. Whatever happened these children, they are too young to survive out in the elements for this long

Breastfeeding a 16mth old and a 4 year old being in pull ups is considered normal imo, especially if the 4yr old is on the ASD spectrum, although we don't know that for sure.

I do find it strange however that the mother and step father aren't showing a united front as we usually see from parents with missing children. The fact the mother has reportedly not spoken to the step father since speaks volumes imo

 

[ChatteringBirds]

That's kind of odd, to ask for maps of where the kids might be, 4 days after the fact. They didn't ask them that on day one?

I assume they probably did go out with him on day one.

But if you think about it, it makes perfect sense that LE would want this information from him again, in written form, especially now when they want to focus on searching specific areas. They needed to know which sections of that forest he was familiar with. IMO.

 

[Kittypoo]

It’s not outside the realm of normality (early childhood educator here), boys especially can some times need longer to develop control over their bladder. The fact that he’s known to remove it though, when it’s wet, suggests to me that he was ready to potty train if someone had chosen to focus on it— assuming he didn’t have related medical needs. But for me the pull-up is in line with the parents not being up with them and not mentioning getting them breakfast that morning. I know some people in the comments wanted to normalize that but I don’t think it’s a good look at all to not mention having fed your ill 6 year old and 4 year old and I think good parents make sure there’s an adult up with their young children at least checking in regularly.

Hi I agree with everything you have said. I worked in nursery/early years setting for several years UK based.
What I would say is that standards slipped and acceptance of older children in nappies (diapers ) happened. Whilst mine had to be out of them when starting nursery (age 3) more and more kids were starting school still in them or having regular accidents. Teachers and support staff here do not have the time to potty train 30 kids. It’s just laziness
Obviously special needs children are the exception

 

[LostSeeker]

If the kids were absent the whole week of school prior to their disappearance, that's a huge red flag. I also heard some past tense verbiage in the stepdad's interviews, which is also disconcerting.

If the kids did wander off on their own, how far could they realistically get from the house that's in frigid forested Nova Scotia? A mile? Two miles? It's been 5 days. They couldn't survive in the wild that long.

Regarding school and Jack, at four years old, still wearing a diaper.. I thought children had to be potty trained before they could go to pre-school, or is it different in Canada?

Can only speak for the UK but if children have SEN, schools are more lenient. My lg is autistic and was in pull-ups til 4.5. She could use a potty/toilet, was dry at night etc, but would get really distressed and insisted on nappies/pullups. I had told her primary school that I didn’t think she’d be out of pull-ups before she started and they were fine about it. Then, out of nowhere, she decided she wanted to try wearing knickers and within a day or two she was out of pullups for good and it wasn’t an issue when she started school.

TLDR: Jack is allegedly autistic so it wouldn’t be unusual to still be in pullups. All ASD kids are different obvs, but my lg found comfort in nappies/pullups, even when she was capable of using a potty etc, and was not motivated by what other’s thought/ being a ‘big girl’ etc.

 

[ApartoftheNarrative]

Is it normal for a four-year-old to be wearing a diaper of any kind, unless they had medical issues?

If not, has there been any explanation of why Jack was wearing one?

Sounded like he was wearing a pull-up. Not unheard of at 4 to wear them overnight while accidents can still happen.

 

[Notascreenname]

A few observations as a mother of a 7yo girl and 4yo boy

Yeah they wear the weirdest stuff to go out into the garden. Wellies in the summer, flip flops in the winter. A captain America costume. They have an idea of how they wanna dress and they just go for it!

Nappies/diapers - my son is 4 and wears one in the night. Jack's diaper could have been unchanged from the night before if the parents hadn't yet got out of bed to change him out of his diaper. 4 year olds being in diapers is not lazy as someone suggested and I know 7 year olds with ASD who are still in pull ups all day every day.

If they are anything like my 2 kids they think the absolute world of eachother and wouldn't leave the other behind. If on the off-chance they did in fact wander off, I'd expect them to be found together.

 

[Skigh]

Sounded like he was wearing a pull-up. Not unheard of at 4 to wear them overnight while accidents can still happen.

It is concerning that neither adult changed him in the morning if he did wear an overnight pull up.

 

[Mauig’ma]

I’m completely baffled by this case. How in the world can 2 small kids disappear that fast and not leave any trace behind? I know kids are fast and curious. Where are the kids? Praying for their families..

 

[Sarahlou]

I’m completely baffled by this case. How in the world can 2 small kids disappear that fast and not leave any trace behind? I know kids are fast and curious. Where are the kids? Praying for their families..

I don't think they wandered away from home. JMO.

 

[ApartoftheNarrative]

It is concerning that neither adult changed him in the morning if he did wear an overnight pull up.

That I do agree with. Diaper/Pull Up rash can be nasty if left for a while.

 

[Mauig’ma]

I don't think they wandered away from home. JMO.

That’s what I’m starting to think too. But it doesn’t make sense for the mom & stepdad splitting up rn in the middle of all this. If something nefarious happened & they both know abt it why would they abandon one another? I would think it would be wise for them to stick together. Imo

 

[wvmoonangel]

I don't think they wandered away from home. JMO.

I honestly feel it to.

 

[FansBlowing]

Their house looks like a mobile home so there is crawl space underneath it, most likely. I would hope the police and family have already looked there.

 

[Belly]

I’m completely baffled by this case. How in the world can 2 small kids disappear that fast and not leave any trace behind? I know kids are fast and curious. Where are the kids? Praying for their families..

The door they say they left through was fenced in, so unlikely in my opinion.

 

[RandyMcDonald]

<modsnip: Quoted post was removed>I think it also important to emphasize the amount of damage caused by Fiona. When I went back to Prince Edward Island to visit in September of 2023, a year later, I was shocked by the number of trees that were knocked down even in the middle of Charlottetown. So many were uprooted that only those that had to be moved, that were dangerous or that were blocking vehicle or pedestrian traffic, were removed.

What I saw of forests and woodlands on PEI was shocking. Even now, years later, things are bad. There are so many dead trees know that everyone is quietly terrified when dry seasons come for fear that it might all go up.

I cannot imagine what things must be like on the wilder mainland, especially in areas like peninsular Nova Scotia which--unlike PEI--have much denser forests, even primary forests. (PEI levelled most of its forests for farmland in the 19th century.) The forests must literally be a three-dimensional maze, full of a practical infinity of hiding places.

 

[Momma]

For context, here are arial photos of the property that Lily (6) and Jack (4) were reported to have wandered off from, as their mother and her boyfriend slept on Friday morning of last week.

There are two dwellings occupied on the property.
The home that Daniel, mom, baby, Lily and Jack occupied has blue siding on the back and the fenced backyard (white on the side facing the road) The silent sliding door that they reportedly left by is on the back of the house (blue side).

They also have chickens, so there's a coop with an enclosure.

The camper/trailer is where Daniel's mother resides.

** Copied from a Facebook Group called "Maritime Happenings"

Providing these photos for context as there have been questions posed about the setup of the property, and its proximity to the road.

 

[FansBlowing]

This is the first I am seeing that the police have the step-father's phone..

"Martell said Wednesday he gave a four-hour interview with two officers with the major crimes unit, providing details “step-by-step, minute-by-minute through this whole thing.”

The 33-year-old said he drew them maps of the areas around the house where he thought the children might have gone. “I’ve been 100 per cent co-operating. I gave them my (smart)phone, I offered them drug tests. I offered them lie detector tests. I offered them everything,” he said.
“I wasn’t treated as a suspect or anything like that.”

N.S. police scale back search for two children, say little chance they are alive

Six-year-old Lily Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan were last seen Friday morning in the community of Lansdowne Station.

www.thestar.com

 

[starlightstarbright]

This whole, not getting up yet, feeding the baby in the bedroom until 10am bit. This makes perfect sense with a baby under, say, 3 months. Ever tried to contain a 16 month old in a bedroom until 10am to sleep because you’re exhausted and have been up all night? It’s not easy.

Most 16 month olds are walking. They aren’t babies, they are toddlers. They are at the very least crawling and pulling up and possibly climbing out of playpens. They wake at 5:30/6am and have their first nap around 10am. They probably have a milk feed (cup of cow’s milk or a breastfeed) but they also eat breakfast and possibly another cup of milk and a snack before that 10am nap. They tend to need a lot of entertainment in those 4 hours. They don’t just feed and sleep constantly like a newborn. Despite my best hopes, none of mine have ever allowed me to stay in my bedroom until 10am at that age. JMO

 

[Vern_S]

Sadly, I believe the children are probably in water. There is plenty of areas where the children could have slipped or fell into water downhill from the home. If the boy is Autistic, he could be attracted to water like many with Autism. Recently in separate instances in Northeast Florida, 2 autistic children wandered from their home and both were found in retention ponds in the apartment complexes where they lived. The boy could have went in and the sister tried to pull him out. They were both wearing mud boots, which when filled with water, would have pulled them under.

Areas in red are the higher possibility, yellow across the road a lesser probability.

These areas around the home are very inaccessible to search boats. They would need divers and even then the search would be difficult especially if the water is murky.

They probably scaled back the search to bring in HRD K9's. You want to run the dog's without any distractions. HRD K9's can pick up human remains in water. The gases and scents bubble up to the surface. If they get hits around a water area, they will bring in water search teams and divers to that area. With as small as the children are, a float cycle is not a sure thing.