What’s next in the search for Lilly & Jack Sullivan?
It is Tuesday morning, the 20th of May. In this video, I’m continuing the coverage into the disappearance of six-year-old Lily and four-year-old Jack Sullivan from Lansdown Station, Pictou County, Nova Scotia, Canada.

As you know, if you’ve been following the case, they were reported missing around 10:00 a.m. by their mother on May 2nd. What I want to do in this video is clarify something that I think a lot of people misunderstood from yesterday’s video, which was titled “Latest Search for Lily and Jack Sullivan Is Over.”

Some people thought that was clickbait. No. So, we’re going to talk about that, but I’m going to try and clarify what that search has looked like behind the scenes since May 2nd. Let’s go.

Quick reminder on what has happened so far:

Again, they were reported missing around 10:00 a.m. on May 2nd, which was a Friday. Lily and Jack had not been in school the Thursday and then, of course, the Friday, because Lily had a cough. School was out on Wednesday. So the last time we know anybody saw Lily and Jack—apart from family—was Tuesday afternoon when they got off the school bus.

There was an interview (I covered it in a video on this channel) from Mr. Ward, who is the bus driver. He was the last person we know of outside of the family to see them when they got off the bus at the end of their drive. Now, there may have been other people that the RCMP are aware of, but we are not aware of that.

Timeline Recap:

May 7th: After six full days of searching (including May 2nd), RCMP said that they were scaling down the search in favor of more targeted searches. So, they’re not going to stop searching, but they’re going to target their searches in favor of an investigative approach.

May 8th and 9th: Targeted searching of waterways, including Lansdown Lake, which didn’t reveal any evidence—as far as we know.

Then there was nothing—everything went quiet—until May 17th, when 115 searchers from a variety of different organizations did a two-day search (17th and 18th). That’s what I talked about in yesterday’s video. That ended the latest search for Lily and Jack. It was over.

It doesn’t mean the investigation is over. And I think that’s what people perhaps misunderstood. That particular search might be over because the majority of people in those search organizations are volunteers. So they have jobs, they have lives. They can’t go out every single day. It’s just too arduous, and they won’t have the manpower for that every single day—however much they want to carry on. They can’t.

But the RCMP are paid for this. This is what their job is, right?

Once you get over that initial first few days—when they are hoping that they’re able to recover Lily and Jack alive—they throw everything at it. There were 160 searchers out on a daily basis, including police and a whole bunch of search and rescue teams. That included ground searches, dogs, drones, the helicopter, etc.

But once they conclude that this is now a recovery rather than a rescue, that’s when the number of resources used is scaled back—scaled right back again. It’s all about resources.

RCMP Press Release Highlights:

This is from the RCMP about the weekend’s search:

Ground and air search efforts were conducted May 17th and 18th in Pictou County as the missing person’s investigation into the disappearance of Lily and Jack Sullivan continues.
More than 115 volunteer searchers from Colchester, East Hants, Eastern Shore, Halifax, Musquodoboit Valley (did I say that right?), Pictou County, Pugwash, Springhill, Strait Area, Valley, and West Hants Ground Search and Rescue, and the Civil Air Guard Rescue Association, focused on specific areas around Gerlock Road.

Lily and Jack live on Gerlock Road. The effort was in an attempt to locate them and advance the RCMP investigation.

This search was supported by Nova Scotia Public Safety Field Communications and EHS Emergency Preparedness Special Operations.

The press release said:

“We extend our sincere appreciation to the search and rescue volunteers who have selflessly given up over 10,000 hours of their time since the search began. Their tireless commitment in truly grueling conditions is appreciated by both the RCMP and the greater community.”
— Sergeant Curtis McKinnon, Pictou County District RCMP

The woods are bad. They’re treacherous. There’s a lot of areas with downed trees from the hurricane that went through a couple of years ago. It’s just full of flies and ticks. Searchers were getting covered in ticks. The dogs, too. Just really bad. And the terrain—there’s some vertical drops.

You might think, “How on earth have Lily and Jack gotten any ways at all through those woods?” Well, not all the woods are like that. There are trails in there—deer tracks and stuff. If Lily and Jack are used to playing in those woods—and we know they are because Daniel, their stepdad, built forts and little dens for them near the property—then they might be able to get a ways at least.

You’ve got to entertain the possibility that they could have walked out of the search area, either through the woods or via the road.

A major concern:

As far as we know, there’s no dog track—the live scent tracker dogs have not been able to track Lily and Jack in those woods. That really concerns me. On a natural surface (grass, mud), scent should last for days. The longest known successful track was 13 days. A bloodhound tracked and found two hikers—sadly, deceased—but still found them.

Lily and Jack—dogs were out within the first few hours. Apparently, they tracked them down the drive but nothing else. So, if they went into the woods through the back of the property, how come the dogs didn’t pick up that track?

Unless the RCMP knows something we don’t. There must be a reason why they believe the kids wandered off, rather than being abducted. But we don’t know what that reason is.

Could it be foul play?

I have a problem with the inconsistencies from the parents. They said the kids were missing for 20 minutes—but on the dispatch audio, it says 8:00 a.m., two hours before the 911 call. That concerns me. No one outside the family saw them after Tuesday evening. They could’ve been missing longer than reported.

Something’s not right here. I’ve said from the outset: something else is going on.

RCMP are tight-lipped. So we have to piece together what we can. That’s why speculation happens. But the point is:

The weekend search will be carefully reviewed and assessed to help plan further ground and air searches. It doesn’t guarantee more searches—only if needed.

They’ll be reviewing:

Drone footage

Maps

Coverage gaps

Statistical models of how far the kids could have gone

In the early days (May 2–7), the search covered 5.5 square km (3.4 sq mi)—about a mile radius from the house, but not evenly.

Two parallel paths in any case like this:

Search and rescue (or recovery)

Investigation

The investigation starts right away—interviews, surveillance, neighborhood canvassing, etc.

35 formal interviews

Multiple searches of the home

Review of surveillance footage

Drone and map analysis

After May 7, the search slowed. Investigation ramped up. That continues. New leads, follow-ups—all that continues. But over time, if leads dry up, the investigation can dwindle into a sliver… and that’s when it becomes a cold case.

Let’s hope that doesn’t happen here.

Hopefully, Lily and Jack are found soon. Whether alive or not, hopefully they can be found, and we can understand what happened to them.

Thanks for watching. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. See you in the next video.