Lily & Jack Sullivan: The Footprint’s Deadly Secret—What Lies Along the Pipeline?
Countless orange and pink ribbons mark the grounds covered in the search for six-year-old Lily and four-year-old Jack Sullivan.

The siblings have been missing from their Pictou County home since May 2nd.

This weekend, searchers were back—looking for some sign of the children—covering more ground and focusing on Gearlock Road near their home.

“There were fewer of the higher-probability areas around waterways and stuff like that that we put teams back in around.”

In the shadow of Nova Scotia’s Nearline Pipeline Trail, a single footprint waits—
Small. Fleeting.
Ignored for weeks.

On May 2nd, 2025, six-year-old Lily Sullivan and four-year-old Jack vanished from their Gearlock Road trailer.
Their pink and dinosaur boots—gone.

For 30 days, Landown Station has clung to hope.

But on May 31st, the RCMP returned to that footprint, scouring the pipeline’s edge.

Why now? What deadly secret does it hold?
A New Glasgow sighting.
Unshared trail cams.
A stepfather’s unverified polygraph.
A mother’s chilling silence.

Every clue points to a truth buried where no one dared look.

In cases like these, the smallest mark can scream the loudest lie.
This footprint isn’t just a clue.
It’s a confession waiting to break.

Where does the trail begin?

Dawn on May 2nd, 2025, was like any other in Landown Station—
Until it wasn’t.

At 10:00 a.m., a 911 call shattered the quiet.
Lily Sullivan, six, and Jack, four—gone.
Their trailer’s sliding door hung open.
No signs of a struggle.
Just absence.

Lily’s pink boots. Her strawberry backpack.
Jack’s blue dinosaur boots—missing.

Their mother, Maleia Brooks-Murray, told police she heard them playing. Then—silence.

Within hours, 160 volunteers, canines, drones, and helicopters swept 5.5 km of hurricane-scarred woods—steep ravines, tangled roots—no trace.

A footprint near Landsdown Lake, spotted May 3rd, sparked hope.
But it led nowhere.

By May 7th, the RCMP scaled back. Their words were grim.
Survival seemed unlikely.

But what’s missing often speaks louder than what’s found.

Why no scent? Why no debris?
Was the forest hiding them—or something else?

The empty trail suggests the kids never wandered far—
Or never wandered at all.

A forgotten clue resurfaces.

On May 31st, 2025, the Nearline Pipeline Trail—a narrow, brush-choked corridor near Gearlock Road—came alive again.

Over 115 volunteers joined the RCMP, zeroing in on a footprint found May 3rd—dismissed weeks ago.

Why return now?
The RCMP cites new leads, but shares nothing more.

That print near Landsdown Lake and the pipeline didn’t match Lily’s pink boots or Jack’s dinosaur ones.
Was it theirs? A stranger’s? Or a red herring?

The pipeline’s seclusion—accessible yet hidden—makes it a perfect stage for secrets.

Lost-person data shows 95% of kids aged 4 to 6 are found within 6.5 km.
Yet Lily and Jack vanished beyond this radius.

Or did they?

The RCMP’s delay raises alarms.
If the footprint mattered, why wait 28 days?

When mysteries deepen, timing isn’t just evidence.
It’s intent.

That footprint whispers a truth the RCMP ignored too long.

Another sighting shifts the puzzle.

“Based on details gathered so far, we have confirmed that Lily and Jack were observed in public with family members on the afternoon of May 1st.”

On May 28th, the RCMP dropped a bombshell:
Lily and Jack were seen alive on May 1st at 3:17 p.m. in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia—30 kilometers from Landown—with family members.

Surveillance captured them.
But the RCMP won’t name the location, the companions, or the children’s state.
Were they healthy? Distressed? Or simply present?

This sighting—the last verified—shrinks the disappearance window to 19 hours, rewriting an earlier April 29th timeline.

Why the secrecy?

The RCMP collected hours of video from Gearlock and New Glasgow—yet they plea for dashcam footage from April 28th to May 2nd.

If the kids were in public, why no Amber Alert?

In true crime, withheld details aren’t protection.
They’re leverage.

Was the sighting a lead—or a diversion?

The 24 hours that followed are a black hole, swallowing the truth of what happened next.

The New Glasgow sighting is either a clue—
Or a carefully placed lie.

Technology holds the key.

In missing persons cases, phones don’t just connect.
They confess.

From April 28th to May 2nd, the RCMP dissected the Sullivan family’s digital footprint: GPS coordinates, call logs, social media—every ping, every possible witness.

Who did they contact?
Where did they drive?
What did they search?

By May 15th, 355 tips and 50 interviews painted a partial picture.
But the RCMP guards the details like a vault.

Maleia Brooks-Murray’s phone.
Daniel Martell’s.
Each holds a timeline—yet neither has spoken publicly about it.

In 2024, digital forensics solved 60% of missing persons cases in Canada.

Why not here?

The RCMP’s silence suggests the data points somewhere uncomfortable.
Perhaps to the pipeline.
Or closer to home.

For investigators, what’s deleted is often what matters most.

A neighbor’s cameras watch in silence.

On May 20th, Melissa Scott, a neighbor 8 kilometers from Gearlock Road, handed the RCMP five days of footage from seven trail cameras—some in woods, one on her driveway near the pipeline corridor.

She saw nothing unusual.
But the RCMP’s Major Crime Unit—active since May 3rd—wanted it all.

Why footage predating the May 1st sighting?

Are they tracing a vehicle? A shadow?
Or the footprint’s maker?

The pipeline’s proximity to train tracks and clearings makes it a smuggler’s dream—
Or a criminal’s grave.

The RCMP won’t reveal what they found.

When mysteries deepen, cameras don’t lie.
But people do.

Could these frames hold the moment Lily and Jack’s trail went cold?

The trail cams could expose a secret the pipeline’s been guarding.

Why won’t they act?

“The last of RCMP in the area that I’ve seen—they were at Landown Lake. They told me they scoured the lake, divers and sonar, and there’s no evidence at all. If they were in this area, they would have found them.”

On May 3rd—just 24 hours after Lily and Jack vanished—the RCMP declared no abduction.

They issued a Vulnerable Person’s Alert, not an Amber Alert, claiming no foul play.

Yet the May 1st New Glasgow sighting proved the kids were mobile.

Why not alert Nova Scotia?

Amber Alerts resolve 85% of abduction cases in Canada.

The RCMP’s stance—reiterated May 15th—clashes with their Major Crime Unit’s involvement since May 3rd.

In cases like these, early decisions shape outcomes.
Was this caution—or a misstep?

The community’s vigils, with candles and prayers, scream for action.

A missed alert could mean a missed chance to bring Lily and Jack home.

The absent Amber Alert is a wound that won’t heal.

A polygraph stirs suspicion.

Daniel Martell, Lily and Jack’s stepfather, told reporters he took a polygraph and passed—offering to prove his innocence.

In some interviews, possibly early ones, he appeared to tear up—his voice breaking as he spoke of hope.

Yet the RCMP, leading the investigation, won’t confirm the test happened.

No results.
No statement.
No proof.

Polygraphs are double-edged.

Ted Bundy passed one.
So did Gary Ridgway.

They measure stress, not truth—and skilled liars don’t flinch.

Was Daniel’s test real?
Conducted by police?
Or a private stunt to sway perception?

His demeanor—often calm, focused on his story—contrasts with grieving parents in cleared cases, like Seth Rogers’s mother, whose raw pain was undeniable.

Even with tears, Daniel’s narrative feels rehearsed.
A tale to control.

Why no RCMP backing?

In missing persons cases, silence isn’t clearance.
It’s a shadow.

Daniel’s polygraph is either a shield—
Or a smokescreen.

A mother’s absence speaks louder.

On May 3rd, one day after her children vanished, Maleia Brooks-Murray left Landown Station with her infant—severing ties with Daniel Martell.

She blocked him online, hired a lawyer, and vanished from public view.

No vigils.
No words.

For investigators, apparent silence is a signal.

The RCMP says she’s cooperating privately—
But her absence screams louder.

Why flee?
Was it grief?
Fear?
Or guilt?

In cleared cases, parents like Maëlys de Araujo’s mother begged for help—raw and relentless.

Maleia’s retreat, paired with digital silence, suggests a fracture—within the family, or with the truth.

Did she see something in that trailer?

When mysteries deepen, those who run often carry the heaviest secrets.

Maleia’s silence isn’t escape.
It’s a clue.

The community refuses to forget.

Since May 2nd, when Lily and Jack went missing, people in Pictou County are still struggling to understand what happened—
And why there are still no answers.

“Every day I go by the RCMP… it’s just so tragic. I just feel so bad for their whole family. I’m hoping that they find them. It doesn’t look good—but I hope I’m wrong.”

The warden of Pictou County says many people are on edge.
Children are worried about playing outside.

“It’s mostly a mood of anxiety, maybe frustration. They can’t believe there’s not an answer after this long and this many people looking.”

Landown Station refuses to let Lily and Jack fade.

On May 31st, 115 volunteers scoured the pipeline trail, chasing a footprint’s promise.

Vigils light the nights—giraffes for Lily, dinosaurs for Jack—at Stellarton’s memorial.

Over 10,000 search hours.
Police received over 800 tips.
Yet—no answers.

The RCMP’s silence on trail cams, digital data, and the pipeline fuels anger.

Pictou’s Warden, Robert Bowen, voiced it.

Families are sleepless—
Not just from grief, but betrayal.

In a case like this, communities don’t just mourn.
They demand.

Why no police? Why now?

The pipeline’s shadows hold something:
Lily’s sparkles.
Jack’s bugs.
Or a darker secret.

The community’s fight is the last light in this darkness.

One call could end the nightmare.

30 days after Lily and Jack vanished, a footprint near the Nearline Pipeline begs for answers.

The police’s silence—on New Glasgow, trail cams, polygraphs—hides a secret.