From my experience covering true crime cases, whenever a specific narrative is being pushed—especially without matching behaviors to support those words—it usually means that’s not what actually happened, and that person likely knows far more than they’re letting on.

Take the mother in the case of Lily and Jack Sullivan, for example. From the very beginning, she has been pushing the abduction theory—almost too aggressively, in my opinion. I don’t believe for a second that someone drove up, grabbed the kids, put them in a car, and drove off. Just look at the area: it’s a long stretch of road with houses spread far apart. Jack and Lily’s home was isolated, surrounded by trees and dense forest.

Police don’t believe they were abducted either, and they didn’t issue an Amber Alert. There is no concrete evidence suggesting that the children were taken. Despite this, the mother immediately began pushing the idea that the kids would willingly go with a stranger because, according to her, they were so friendly and talkative—they didn’t understand “stranger danger.”

She kept repeating that they were “go-lucky,” sweet, and would “talk your ear off” to anyone in a store, essentially building a case for them being easily lured away. The stepfather, Daniel, added that the kids didn’t like getting muddy or wet, so they wouldn’t have wandered into the woods—again subtly trying to steer the story away from the “wandering off” theory and toward abduction.

They both wanted an Amber Alert to be issued, not just for a possible abduction, but—as she stated—”just to let everyone know that the children are missing.” She said people were texting her saying they didn’t even know the kids were missing until someone else told them, and it would’ve been helpful if everyone had been alerted.

Daniel even wanted police presence at airports and borders, in case someone was trying to flee with the children.

To be honest, as time goes by, I find the mother’s behavior more questionable than the stepfather’s. She has chosen to stay silent while he speaks to the media and actively engages with the public. These are her children, and yet she left the last place they were seen. She claims the police advised her not to talk to the media, but even so, her silence is unsettling.

The biggest red flag, though, is this: neither the mother nor the stepfather has ever made a public plea to the supposed abductor to bring the children back safely. If you truly believe someone has taken your children, why wouldn’t you beg for their safe return?

According to their account, the kids were outside playing, but they weren’t aware of it at the time. Then suddenly, everything got quiet. The mother told her partner, Daniel, “Do you hear the kids?” and he said, “No.” They both immediately jumped up, started looking outside and yelling for them, and she says she instinctively called 911 right away.