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

[emeraldcity13]

There are a lot of comments here about the mom not working, surprise about calling the 16 month old a baby vs a toddler, and suspicion about her feeding the baby in her room.

In Canada, we can take subsidized maternity leave for 12-18 months. Most women will take at least a year off work after having a baby. Because we have more time at home, women breastfeed for longer in Canada than in the US where many people need to return to work when their child is only a few weeks old. It is possible she is still breastfeeding the 16 month old, and that’s why she was in her bedroom.

 

[Allabouttrial]

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.

<modsnip>

Are you sure it was the step-dad who mentioned autism? I know mum did in her interview, I can't recall him saying it but I may have missed it.

 

[Amy0077]

I can’t find anything about where the parents were

Sleeping until 10:00am

 

[Icanseeyou]

For all we know, the parents may have been up at 6:00 feeding and dressing the kids. No one has said that the parents hadn't been up yet all morning, just that at 10 am they were in the bedroom.

The father did say , they found nothing in the wooded search that belonged to the children, backpack, boots or Pull Up diaper..

 

[MistyWaters]

The cost of the search was high, so if someone has taken the children to protect them ... that's a lot of wasted resources.

However, I think your point is valid. Per your earlier comment, there are two other recent abductions of a child (Manitoba), and two children (Alberta), where the children were secretly abducted by family to allegedly protect them from a biological parent. Court applications, in both cases, resulted in what was viewed as a failure to protect the child(ren).

Are there any recent custody applications related to the children? Do NS Indigenous Peoples recognize the courts?

Yes and in the prior examples any and all charges pertaining to the ‘abduction’ were dropped. Did that set a precedent for similar actions of the future I wonder? Your questions are valid, the answers might point toward a possible direction.

 

[Icanseeyou]

That is not true.

The father said Lily had been in and out of the bedroom a couple of times in the morning.

 

[MistyWaters]

Does Canada release 911 calls?

No, not the recording like in the US. At best sometimes the media obtains a written transcript during a trial iirc.

 

[Ghostwheel]

So, why was Lily wearing a backpack? Did they "run away from home" because they were told the parents were sleeping, maybe? Or is the backpack just missing so they assume she has it? I get wanting to sleep late, what I don't get is wanting to sleep late and your children being able to just leave the house whenever they want. Is it something they do on a regular basis? Just walk out and not tell anyone they are leaving the house? Most of the articles I read are just the same words written a different way (or even the same words exactly) as the last article I read. Reporting is dead.

There is wandering, walking with a purpose (like "running away from home" as a child might do), abduction and even someone trying to help the children if they found them on the road. If the latter, someone would have said something by now you would think.

 

[MistyWaters]

There are a lot of comments here about the mom not working, surprise about calling the 16 month old a baby vs a toddler, and suspicion about her feeding the baby in her room.

In Canada, we can take subsidized maternity leave for 12-18 months. Most women will take at least a year off work after having a baby. Because we have more time at home, women breastfeed for longer in Canada than in the US where many people need to return to work when their child is only a few weeks old. It is possible she is still breastfeeding the 16 month old, and that’s why she was in her bedroom.

It’s possible but there’s too many different versions for a ‘one size fits all’ explanation’. The step-dad mentioned nothing about the youngest child breast-feeding or even eating, said the “baby” was sleeping.

‘The house is just silent’: Stepdad speaks out as exhaustive search for missing N.S. children enters fifth day

The stepfather of two missing children in a rural area of Nova Scotia’s Pictou County is speaking out as the exhaustive search for the children enters its fifth day.

www.ctvnews.ca

“We were in the room laying down -- me, Maleyha and the baby Meadow -- and Lily poked her head in a couple times. I seen that she’s wearing a pink T-shirt. And we usually don’t like them to be too loud, because they were going to wake up the baby. We want the baby to get as much sleep as possible,” he says.“

 

[Judy Sleuth]

I'm still mulling over this fence thing.
That was new info for me today (maybe I missed it previously)
Kids went out the back sliding doors, the space is completely fenced. Would two little kids attempt to climb over it and go into the scary woods? Have they done this before? Are they that adventurous to go explore in an unknown apparently difficult terrain, with possible wildlife?

I wish somebody had asked about the fence at the PC, whether it's intact, or any sign of disturbance somewhere along it.

There was a comment from the stepdad at some point that the family had some small cabins (2, I think) up in the woods where they - including the kids - would go sometimes. So to me it's plausible that the kids - bored but energetic - thought they could go to the cabins on their own. It seems like the kind of thing a 6-year-old might think they could do, stretching their independence a little but not too much, and the 4-year-old would "me, too!" along.

And the issue of the backpack also seems plausible in this setting: using it to take things she thought they would need on their little visit to the cabins (snacks? a flashlight if cabins had no windows and that was a typical thing the family used? stuffed animal friends for a "tea party"? etc.) Sadly, I'm afraid these children will be found in some natural setting (sinkhole? lake/pond?) that has claimed their lives.

All speculation on my part...

 

[branmuffin]

Update: Multi-agency search for missing children in Pictou County scales back | Royal Canadian Mounted Police

May 7, 2025
Lansdowne Station, Nova Scotia
News release
As of today, a multi-agency search for two missing children, six-year-old Lily Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan, will be scaled back.

Lily and Jack were reported missing on May 2, at approximately 10 a.m. It's believed they wandered away from their home on Gairloch Rd. in Lansdown Station, Pictou County.

This search has included many agencies, including volunteer ground search and rescue teams from all surrounding areas and New Brunswick, the Civil Air Search and Rescue Association, the Nova Scotia Guard, the Salvation Army, the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre, Department of Natural Resources Air Services, Nova Scotia Public Safety and Field Communications, Canada Heavy Urban Search and Rescue Task Force 5, and several RCMP units, including Police Dog Services, drone operators, and our Major Crime Unit.

"It has been an all-hands-on-deck effort, using every available resource and tool," says Staff Sergeant Curtis MacKinnon, District Commander for Pictou County District RCMP. "We're transitioning from a full-scale search to searches in smaller, more specific areas; we'll be retracing our steps to ensure all clues have been found."

Since the search began on May 2, it has been concentrated in the Gairloch Rd. area and has covered four square kilometres of heavily wooded, rural terrain. Up to 160 trained volunteer searchers, along with many others, have been involved in the search each day. Tens of thousands of search hours have been dedicated to scouring the area, and GSAR has confirmed that over 100 tracks have been laid using GPS and grid searches.

Efforts to locate Lily and Jack have also included two vulnerable missing persons alerts. One was issued in Pictou County on May 2. And on May 3, a broadcast intrusive alert was issued to Antigonish, Colchester, and Pictou counties.

"I want to assure Nova Scotians that our missing persons investigation continues," says Staff Sergeant MacKinnon. "Our focus remains on finding Lily and Jack. Our best investigators are working every aspect of this file, and our work won't stop until we know where Lily and Jack are and can bring them home."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Pictou County District RCMP at 902-485-4333. To remain anonymous, call Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers, toll-free, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submit a secure web tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or use the P3 Tips app.

Our thoughts are with the children's loved ones and the community at this difficult time.

File #: 2025-583775

Four square kilometres is a huge area but there have been quite a few searches in the past couple of years where children younger than these two as well as around the same age that traveled incredible distances. One most recently was seven miles away from his starting point. According to one psychiatrist, who spoke about an American child found nearly 5 miles from home, said children that age have no concept of turning back so they just keep moving forward. I'm trying to find the link but it's escaping me. It was a little boy who was Hispanic who went missing about 3 years ago in the US.

 

[branmuffin]

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

I know what you mean but I also know two kids who were friends with my granddaughter who were diagnosed on the spectrum and joke they have a 'touch of the 'tism' because they are somewhere on the spectrum.

 

[Snoopster]

I'm having trouble believing they were abducted. They live in a VERY rural area. So the chance that an opportunistic abductor happened upon them would be slim IMO.

Mom said that the kids went out to play....but she also said she didn't hear them go out. So why did she state that they did?

The area, as many people have pointed out, is very rough bush. There would be so many ways they could get lost.

 

[Mauig’ma]

Correct me if I’m wrong but wouldn’t be easy for a sniffer dog to pick up a scent of a soiled pull up? Edit to add maybe they have tracked the kids’ scent and I have missed it. Anyone know? Tyia

 

[CreepingButtercup]

As a local, this is breaking everyone's heart.

In case it's helpful for understanding our forested areas, we had Hurricane Fiona pass through in 2022. She brought down so many trees, to this day the volume of dead fall in northern & central Nova Scotia is astonishing. The forest in my back yard is full of half fallen trees caught on the trunks or crowns of those still standing while their fully fallen neighbours lay in twisted piles.

I can't imagine how hard this has been for the responding Ground Search and Rescue teams. Add the speed and depth of local waterways in spring, the hard rains we've had in the last few days, and the rough terrain; these highly skilled and dedicated volunteers out searching are truly the best of us.

This cbc article published after the storm highlights the tangled mess left in the Pictou County woods:

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/storm-fiona-impact-foresters-farmers-1.6606843

 

[Chimera]

Sleeping until 10:00am

Once the kids are up, you are also up. Generally speaking ?
Imo.

 

[Stunned]

I'm still mulling over this fence thing.
That was new info for me today (maybe I missed it previously)
Kids went out the back sliding doors, the space is completely fenced. Would two little kids attempt to climb over it and go into the scary woods? Have they done this before? Are they that adventurous to go explore in an unknown apparently difficult terrain, with possible wildlife?

I wish somebody had asked about the fence at the PC, whether it's intact, or any sign of disturbance somewhere along it.

Somewhere I remember it being reported that the boyfriend said there was a hole in the fence.

 

[Chimera]

bringing from @Palisades post above

‘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

SNIPPED:
She told CTV News when she woke up Friday, she heard them playing in the next room and she drifted back to sleep. She said they’re not typically the type of kids who would go outside on their own.
“We always make sure that we’re out there with them, watching them, and they happen 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 it was quiet,” said Brooks-Murray.
She said she and her partner Daniel then began looking for them.
“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.

Rbm.

So, only the mother drifted back to sleep -- or both of them ?

With a young baby the parents/stepparent would be exhausted at times.. but I'm assuming the stepdad was up and busy doing something ?
What time did the littles eat and who helped them dress and use the bathroom, etc. ?
So many questions.

Hope they're found soon and safe, but the longer this drags on ....
I'm not feeling that there was a kidnapping.
I'm assuming bio-dad has been checked out --so they're not with him, then ?
Imo.
Omo.

 

[TenaciousTBacon]

Dbm

 

[dotr]

Four square kilometres is a huge area but there have been quite a few searches in the past couple of years where children younger than these two as well as around the same age that traveled incredible distances. One most recently was seven miles away from his starting point. According to one psychiatrist, who spoke about an American child found nearly 5 miles from home, said children that age have no concept of turning back so they just keep moving forward. I'm trying to find the link but it's escaping me. It was a little boy who was Hispanic who went missing about 3 years ago in the US.

There is this very recent case, fwiw.
April 16, 2025,

Missing toddler who walked 7 miles alone through Arizona wilderness led to safety by rancher's dog

The rancher traced the boy’s steps and discovered that Buford, an Anatolian Pyrenees who normally patrols his land and wards off coyotes, had escorted the 2-year-old for at least a mile.

www.nbcnews.com

A 2-year-old boy who spent the night alone in the remote Arizona wilderness and walked 7 miles through mountain lion territory was led to safety by a rancher's dog, authorities said Tuesday.