Nova Scotia Missing Kids – “They gave a clue and they said no abduction” – Missing for 25 days
What is up, everybody? So, there’s a new article posted on globalnews.ca about the missing children from Nova Scotia. But before we jump into it, I just—I don’t understand. If it was an adult that vanished, sure, strange, sure, but it happens. Like, you can jump on a plane, a train, a boat, anything, and just go away as an adult and just go to a different province, go to a different country, and you’re just not heard from again because you don’t want to be heard from again.

But how do these two children, Lily and Jack Sullivan—Lily is six, Jack is four—just up and vanish without a trace? If they did indeed go into the woods, you would think you would find something, any little speck of anything. But, like this article talks about, the police don’t believe they were abducted. They talked about that early on, but I just cannot comprehend in my little brain how two kids just up and vanish without a trace.

It’s been a little bit now since any information has come out in this case whatsoever. It’s just… it’s all… I know most of you out there feel the same way, just judging by the comments and everything. It’s heartbreaking that these two kids are just seemingly gone. How does that happen? It’s just… I don’t know.

But let’s go into this article here: Nova Scotia Missing Kids: Retired Police Detective on Big Statement Made in the Case.

Developments in the vanishing of the two children in Nova Scotia’s Picto County have seemingly stalled, as no new information is being shared with the public. It’s been 24 days—today’s the 27th, and they went missing on the 2nd. So, I think that’s 25 days, but whatever. It’s been 24 days since Lily and Jack Sullivan, ages 6 and 4, were reported missing from their home in Lansdowne Station, Nova Scotia. Their disappearance launched a multi-day search that involved upwards of 160 people, including volunteers and agencies from around the province.

Searchers were back to the woods near their home a week ago, but there have been no significant updates since. Family members, including the children’s stepfather, have speculated they were taken, but police have remained adamant that they do not believe the siblings were abducted. That’s left some criminal experts to weigh in on why this case is raising alarm bells nationwide and beyond.

“They gave a clue and they said no abduction. That’s a big statement to make at this early in the game,” said Jim Hoskins, a retired Halifax police officer and former major crimes staff sergeant who is not working on the Sullivan case. Nova Scotia’s recently updated policy standards defines abduction as an incident where a reasonable belief exists that a child under the age of 18 or a vulnerable person with an established mental or physical disability is removed from their environment without permission of the legal guardian or representative.

He also states, in his opinion as someone who isn’t privy to information regarding the RCMP’s ongoing investigation, he can only see two remaining possibilities. He believes that either the children legitimately got lost in the woods (which is definitely possible), but “I don’t see a four-year-old in a pull-up diaper just going into the dense woods that are in the area.” The second possibility, he says, is criminal involvement.

He says he also finds it striking that the two siblings went missing—an unlikely probability in his opinion. “It’s bizarre. If you asked me what was bizarre, I’d say in this case, two are gone.”

A spokesperson from the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service told Global News they can’t say if RCMP has been in touch with them in the high-profile case. The Sullivan children’s disappearance has sparked massive interest and is driving public obsession with the case, especially online.

Dr. Sky Stevens, a clinical forensic psychologist, says it’s evident there’s the public desire to reach a resolution in this case. “I think many people are putting themselves in, like, as parents, as caring individuals just wanting two kids to be okay.” People have children, and their heart breaks thinking, “What if this was my kid? What if my kid just disappeared?” That’s why there’s so, in my opinion, so much public desire in this case is because it involves two young kids.

Canada, in 2024, had just over 30,000 cases of missing children. That’s 30,000 missing children—too many. The vast majority of those cases involve runaways or they involve teens, said Stevens. Actually, about 90% of those cases are resolved within one week. So, anytime cases deviate from that, I think it’s going to draw in the public.

Although Stevens can’t comment on individual cases, she says when children, in particular, go missing, it tends to be harder for the public to digest. “I think it taps into a lot of the fears that, for example, parents might hold about the safety of their children.” I 100% agree with that.

But it’s really important to remember that, of those, for example, 30,000 cases, only 0.1% were cases of stranger or parental abduction. Despite rumors online of criminal motives or cover-ups, Lily and Jack’s stepfather, Daniel Martell, has refuted all claims of his involvement.

The disappearance has sparked rampant speculation on social media, much of it targeting Martell and the children’s mother. Martell calls it nonsense. “It will never be enough for people online. Everywhere I go, people stare. That’s something I have to live with until the truth makes its way out. And the truth always makes its way out,” he told Global News.

When asked if he had anything to do with the children’s disappearance, he was adamant in his answer: “I 100% did not, and I will hold that to my last day on this planet.”

Martell told the Canadian Press that he voluntarily attended a 4-hour interview with Major Crimes Investigation.

Meanwhile, Hoskins says he believes there is still a chance the children are close by. “You can’t write it off and say they’re definitely not in the woods. I can still say you can overlook bodies.”

So, that’s the newest update. Just talking about how strange it is that two siblings go missing together in the woods. The whole thing is bizarre. The stepfather said last week, I believe it was, that he was willing to take a lie detector test. I know they’re not admissible in court, but it could lead to some clues or speculation about where to look or not to look. It could help the police use it to rule him out.

It’s not admissible, but it is a useful tool to help, you know, lead the investigation or at least help focus the search somewhere.

I don’t know. The whole thing’s heartbreaking. The whole thing is insane. I live in Nova Scotia. I live not too far from where this happened. One of my best friends lives in Picto County with two young children. It’s all… like, it sucks when this happens anywhere, but it sucks even more when it happens this close to home. I don’t know. I sure hope that somehow, someway, these kids are found and they’re okay. That’s the only resolution I want. That’s the only resolution anybody wants.