Janie Mackenzie said she heard Lilly and Jack playing the morning they disappeared. About 20 minutes later, she heard her son yelling for them

The step-grandmother of two young children who vanished from a rural Nova Scotia home almost three months ago is pleading with the public to stop spreading rumours about the children’s disappearance.

In an interview with CBC News, Janie Mackenzie described the chaotic days that unfolded after six-year-old Lily Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan went missing from their home in Lansdowne Station, Pictou County, on May 2.

The siblings were last seen that morning at the home they shared with their mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, and their stepfather, Daniel Martell, Mackenzie’s son. The mobile home sits along a gravel road surrounded by dense woods, with an RV parked nearby, where Mackenzie was staying at the time. The house also has a back patio, with a sliding glass door, which is most likely how the children got out that morning.

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Near the RV there is a fenced-in play set with swings and a slide, where the children would play. It is also where Mackenzie said she heard the kids playing the morning they disappeared. About 20 minutes later, she heard her son yelling for them.

“I blame myself for not getting up that morning to see the kids because … this would have never happened,” Mackenzie told CBC.

I blame myself for not getting up that morning to see the kids because … this would have never happened

In the days since, search teams combed through the thick woods and the family’s property, uncovering only minimal clues, including what appeared to be two small footprints and a piece of a pink blanket, which is confirmed to be Lilly’s. Since then, the investigation has expanded, drawing in multiple RCMP divisions, including major crimes, but, so far, not much is known.

In an update last week, police said the Northeast Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit is leading the investigation and that officials are examining thousands of videos.

In the weeks following their disappearance, Mackenzie and her family have cooperated with the investigation, she told CBC/ Apart from one instance in the first days of search, where Mackenzie says she stopped an officer from checking her trailer to secure her dog, both the mobile home and trailer have been thoroughly searched, multiple times, by RCMP and ground crews. The septic tank and well were also searched, she said, along with drones flown underneath the mobile home. Her son also passed a polygraph test, as he has previously told the media.

However, Mackenzie and her son have been accused on social media of harming the children and burying them on the property, she said.

“A heart don’t lie, and my heart is telling me that my kid did not have nothing to do with this, and I had nothing to do with this,” Mackenzie told CBC.

Before the disappearance thrust her family into the public eye, Mackenzie lived a quiet, private life. Now, her life is always in the spotlight, she said. Cars slow down as they pass by, drones frequently hover overhead, and media outlets show up at her door.

If she goes out, she said she keeps her head down because she doesn’t want to be recognized. “It’s not because I’m hiding from anybody,” she said. “I’m just a quiet person that just wants to be left alone.”

Despite the months of uncertainty, Mackenzie holds onto hope. She said she hasn’t felt the kind of sinking dread that usually signals something terrible has happened.

“Deep down in my heart, I do believe Jack and Lilly are alive,” she told CBC.