Following a strenuous day navigating river waters and dense woods, relatives of two missing children from Nova Scotia expressed disappointment after their final effort to find the siblings before winter yielded no breakthrough.
Although a few items of interest were found during the search for Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 5, in Lansdowne, N.S., the RCMP stated that none of these items are relevant to the disappearance of the children.
Approximately 30 volunteers gathered in the thinly populated community to comb for any signs of the siblings who disappeared over six months ago.
Many had hoped for a different outcome.
“That’s not what happened today,” remarked Angeline Maloney-Arsenault, a childhood friend of the children’s mother. “I do feel that we have more questions, especially with finding things throughout the woods.
“I do feel disappointed.”
Lilly and Jack went missing on May 2 when their mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, reported to 911 that they had wandered away from their home bordering dense woods.
Their disappearance prompted an extensive grid search covering 8.5 square kilometers of mostly thick woods, involving about 160 ground search and rescue volunteers, service dogs, drones, and helicopters.
RCMP cadaver dogs also conducted a search covering a total of 40 kilometers over three days in late September.
Volunteers rallied together to comb the woods of Lansdowne, N.S. on Saturday, where five-year-old Jack Sullivan and his six-year-old sister Lilly were reported missing on May 2. The CBC’s Angela MacIvor reports.
The search on Saturday was orchestrated by the Ontario-based non-profit Please Bring Me Home. Volunteers —many of whom were family and friends of the children — gathered at the Union Centre Community Hall and were divided into six groups assigned to cover about five kilometers each along the Middle River of Pictou.
Nick Oldrieve, the organization’s executive director, mentioned that the search focused on waterways that may have shifted or hidden clues during previous searches.
“Enough time has elapsed now that revisiting these waterways … it’s highly likely that they are there, if the assumption is that they wandered off,” Oldrieve stated. He drove 18 hours from Ontario to manage the search.