Items discovered during volunteer search for missing N.S. children not relevant: RCMP

After a grueling day wading through rushing river waters and climbing through dense woods, some family members of two missing Nova Scotia children were left disappointed that their last-ditch search for the siblings before the snow flies did not result in a breakthrough.

A few items of interest were discovered during the search for Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 5, on Saturday in Lansdowne, N.S., but RCMP say none of the items hold any relevance to the disappearance of the two children.

About 30 volunteers descended upon the sparsely populated community to scour for any signs of the siblings, who vanished more than six months ago.

Many had hoped they would find the children.

“That’s not what happened today," said 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 were reported missing on May 2, when their mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, called 911 and reported they had wandered away from their home, which borders thick woods.

Their disappearance sparked an extensive grid search that spanned 8.5 square kilometres of mostly dense woods and involved about 160 ground search and rescue volunteers, service dogs, drones and helicopters.

RCMP cadaver dogs also searched a total of 40 kilometres over three days in late September.

Saturday’s search was led by the Ontario-based non-profit Please Bring Me Home. Volunteers —many of them family and friends of the children — gathered at the Union Centre Community Hall and were split into six groups, destined to cover roughly five kilometres each along the banks of the Middle River of Pictou.

Nick Oldrieve, executive director of the organization, said the search was to focus on waterways that may have moved or concealed clues during earlier searches.

“Enough time has passed now that revisiting these waterways … it’s a high probability that they are there, if the theory is that they wandered off,” said Oldrieve, who drove 18 hours from his home in Ontario to manage the search.

His organization also ran a search on Friday in the Springhill area for Jessie Morrissey, who has been missing since February 2022.

Oldrieve said Please Bring Me Home has helped locate more than 50 missing people since 2018. Last year, they located the remains of Eric Spencer in Honey Harbour, Ont., who had been missing for six years.