A “LAST DITCH” search effort is planned for mid-November to find missing Canadian siblings Jack, four, and Lilly, six.
The children went missing from their home in Lansdowne Station, Pictou County. Nova Scotiaon May 2.
Their mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, reported them missing after believing they had wandered away from the property.
Six months later, the search continues in earnest, but with winter approaching and temperatures expected to drop to minus 10 degrees, it will soon be impossible to continue operations.
“As a mother, I love my children more than life itself and I am so heartbroken that I cannot hug my two children, Lilly and Jack,” Brooks-Murray wrote on Facebook.
“The longing I have for them to come home to me is a greater feeling than I could ever imagine.
“Not a day, minute or second goes by that I’m not thinking about my children.”
The Canadian organization Please Bring Me Home is helping the organization’s volunteers assist in the search effort on November 15.
Chief executive Nick Oldrieve said the daily mail that while the group doesn’t typically get involved in missing persons cases this early, they felt compelled to help.
“We feel like there’s something we can do to help, and it’s probably the last ditch effort for these kids before the snow hits,” Oldrieve said.
“As fellow Canadians and as a group that conducts searches for missing persons, we offer our group to come and help. We have been on searches before and have been successful.”
Oldrieve said crews will search low-level waters in the area, looking for any signs of the missing brothers.
He explained that the organization was first contacted by the children’s paternal grandmother, Belynda Gray, as well as “associates” of their mother.
He Royal Canadian Mounted Police The (RCMP), he added, is expected to continue the search “in full force” come spring, as the warmer months provide the “best time to search for anyone.”
While theories about the children’s disappearance have circulated widely online, Oldrieve said his team is focusing on a single possibility.
This is the belief that Jack and Lilly moved away from their home, which they shared with their mother, stepfather Daniel Martell, and younger sister Meadow.
“We’re not really sure what exactly happened here,” he said.
“Right now we are just involved in an errant cutting misfortune effort. And that involves waterways. Therefore, ponds, lakes, standing waters and streams need to be checked.”
The main objectives during the operation will be to “scan the terrain for clothing items or anything that could be Jack and Lilly Sullivan.”
“We like to sit for about five kilometers because that way we ensure that you’re not in a hurry and that you’re not going to miss anything,” he said.
Oldrieve noted that the public’s willingness to help has been strong.
“I think the public is eager to get involved, and this will provide an opportunity for community members to come together and assist in the effort in an organized manner.”
Search parties will consist of approximately ten people, each led by someone with emergency response or search experience.
He also warned the volunteers “that if they are going to come searching, it is not to try to obtain information about possible criminal acts.”
“We look for misadventures and wanderings. That’s the theory we focused on that day.”
This warning comes as online speculation has intensified.
Two neighbors reported hearing a vehicle coming and going during the night of the children’s disappearance, fueling a number of different theories.
However, the RCMP said that after a “thorough review of surveillance footage” they found “no evidence of vehicle activity at this time.”
“No driver has been identified and the presence of a vehicle has not been corroborated as a key element in the investigation,” said RCMP communications advisor Allison Gerrard.
Court documents show two officers interviewed local resident Brad Wong on May 9.
Wong reported hearing a “loud vehicle” driving near the house in the early hours of May 2.
Corporal Charlene Curl of the RCMP wrote that Wong “said his residence is elevated from Daniel’s.” [Martell] residence and could see the lights of the vehicles over the tops of the trees.”
“He stated that the vehicle left three or four times after midnight and into the early hours of the morning. He stated that the vehicle was driving away into the distance and he could hear it stop and then return. He stated that it remained within earshot the entire time,” court documents state.
Another neighbor, Justin Smith, told investigators on May 17 that he heard a vehicle on Highway 289 turning next to the railroad tracks near the family’s home around 1:30 a.m.
“[Smith] He later spoke with Brad Wong, who informed him that Daniel’s vehicle came and went five or six times that night. “Wong said the car Smith heard was Daniel,” the officer added.
Martell told police he had gone to bed “pretty early” and didn’t wake up until the next morning.
Brooks-Murray told investigators that her partner said he stayed up cleaning, but that she wasn’t sure what he had done because “he wasn’t clean when he got up.”
Martell later told police that no one had left the house and that they had no visitors.
RCMP confirmed cadaver dogs were deployed to the area, but found no trace of the missing children.
Sergeant Rob McCamon said the case remains a missing persons investigation, with no evidence of criminal activity at this time.
Brooks-Murray wrote on Facebook: “I will never stop looking for my children until they are found and brought home safely.”
“Someone, somewhere knows something, so please bring my babies home.”