Lilly & Jack Sullivan’s parents on their disappearance: The inconsistencies in their own words 
I’m just staying as hopeful as possible.
I want them home. I want to hold them, and I want them home.

What happened was: we woke up. I heard them playing in the next room beside us, and I was drifting in and out of sleep. They’re not the type of kids that we tell not to go outside on their own—we always make sure that we’re out there with them, watching them.

And they happened to just get out that sliding door, and we can’t hear it when it opens. They were outside playing, but we weren’t aware of it at the time. The next thing we knew, the room—it was quiet. We got up, and I told him, my partner Daniel, “Do you hear the kids?” And he says, “No.”

We got up instantly. We were looking outside, we were looking everywhere, yelling for them. I instantly just called 911—just had the instinct that I needed to call.

They’re both really go-lucky children. They’re so sweet. They talk to anyone—they’ll talk your ear off. They will speak to anyone in a store. Everyone—they’re just extremely sweet kids.

I appreciate the huge search effort going on right now, but we’ve been pushing for an Amber Alert, which hasn’t been issued. Not just because they could possibly be abducted—which is a possibility—but just an alert to let everyone know they are missing.

We had people text me saying they weren’t aware until someone else let them know the kids were missing. It would just be nice if everyone could be alerted.

We thought maybe we found tracks, but it’s still uncertain. It’s been raining, and they’re probably soaking wet—but with the sun today, I’m hopeful they were feeling warm.

We’re all filled with pain and sorrow because we just want them found. We want them home. Everyone loves them.

They are definitely verbal and may have possible autism, but it’s not extreme autism. It’s just that they have issues with school and don’t quite catch up with the other kids. I’m just… I just want to remain hopeful. But there’s always—in a mother’s mind—you’re always thinking the worst.

Last night was one of the worst nights because I didn’t have them in their beds, and I don’t want to go through another night without them.

May 4th
Mr. Martell speaks to The Globe and Mail about what happened on the morning the children went missing.

Lily came into the room multiple times—I saw her that morning. Jack was out playing in the kitchen, I’m guessing. They opened the back sliding door—it’s almost silent when it slides. The boots were right beside the door, and they proceeded, I’m guessing, to play outside.

They must have gotten out through the back fence, and then they were gone. As soon as I saw they were gone, I immediately jumped in the car—did all the dirt roads, culverts, checked over the rivers and streams.

As soon as I got home 10 minutes later, I headed out on foot.

Good morning, Heather.
Search efforts are continuing this morning for these two missing children here in Nova Scotia: six-year-old Lily Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan. They went missing on Friday morning.

Now, we heard from the children’s stepfather recently. Here’s what he had to say:

“Last few days have been very stressful. Ever since Friday morning when we noticed the children were gone, I immediately jumped in the vehicle, surveyed as many dirt roads and culverts as I could, and waited for the police to get there.”

So again, the search began with family members and has now expanded to dozens of search and rescue volunteers. About 160 people were on the ground yesterday.

There were dogs brought in to try to catch a scent of the children. There were eight drone units in the sky searching, as well as a couple of helicopters—each one equipped with infrared sensors and cameras.

Police talked about some of the challenging conditions. Here’s what they said:

“With the wet weather, it makes things a little more complicated for our searchers. Given they’re in the woods—it’s wet, things are slippery, footing is not the greatest. The water’s not ideal, but they’re still trudging through, working hard at doing the job.”