Cadaver dogs to search for Jack and Lilly for the first time since N.S. siblings went missing

This is the first time dogs ‘specifically trained in human remains detection have conducted searches in relation to this investigation’

Lilly and Jack Sullivan. Photo by Handout

For the first time, Mounties intend to bring in specialized cadaver dogs to search for two young children who went missing more than four months ago from their home in rural northeastern Nova Scotia.

The RCMP said in a news release Friday that members of its Police Dog Services Human Remains Detection Team “will be conducting searches as part of the investigation into the disappearance” of six-year-old Lilly Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan.

The children were first reported missing by their mother Malehya Brooks-Murray at 10:01 a.m. on May 2.

Brooks-Murray told police she believed the two children had wandered away from their home in rural Lansdowne Station, N.S. Police arrived 26 minutes later.

“In the early days of the investigation, the area around Lansdowne Station was being scoured by trained search and rescue teams. And, Police Dog Services, which was deployed, does have the ability to pick up human scent, including that of recent remains,” Cindy Bayers, a spokesperson for the RCMP, said Friday in an email.

“This is, however, the first time Police Dog Services teams specifically trained in human remains detection have conducted searches in relation to this investigation.”

Mounties currently have between six and eight of the specialized dogs that are operational across the country. The only one on the east coast right now is based in Prince Edward Island and its handler is out of commission for medical reasons.

RCMP spokesman Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay couldn’t say Friday whether investigators wanted to use cadaver dogs earlier in the search for Jack and Lilly.

“What’s important to remember is at this time we don’t have any definitive information to support that the children are deceased, but we have to keep our minds open and look at all investigative avenues,” Tremblay said.

Mounties faced questions Friday about how long the smell of human remains can linger after death.

“I think I’d be very confident if we can get our dogs in the right area. If it’s been a hot, dry summer, it should be fine for us,” said Sgt. Dave Whalen, a human remains dog handler based in Vancouver who, along with his dog Kitt, will be part of the search for the two missing children.

RCMP Insp. Luke Rettie and his dog Narc will also take part in the search for human remains. Mounties wouldn’t say Friday where the search will take place or how long it might last.

The specialized dogs can find buried human remains under 60 centimetres of soil, Whalen said.

According to Staff-Sgt. Stephen Pike, who heads the RCMP’s training program for dogs in Alberta, cadaver dogs on exercises in the United States have detected remains three times that deep.

They can find burnt human remains and remains in water, Pike said.

They can also detect “dirty dirt,” that’s come in contact with human remains, he said. “If the presence of human remains decomposition material is there, our dogs will indicate.”

Whalen said he put a tablespoon of dirt that had been in contact with leg bones in the middle of a parking lot Thursday to test his dog’s ability. “He went and found this dirt in the middle of a huge parking lot.”

Searchers have combed through about 8.5 square kilometres of terrain in the probe.

“We definitely did search thoroughly,” Tremblay said. “Could we have missed something because of the foliage, because of a downed tree, because of the weather, because of daylight hours? Absolutely.”

Jack and Lilly’s family mobile home sits along a gravel road surrounded by dense woods. The house also has a back patio, with a sliding glass door, which is most likely how the children got out that morning.

In the days since they vanished, search teams combed through the thick woods and the family’s property, uncovering only minimal clues, including what appeared to be two small footprints and a piece of a pink blanket, which has been confirmed to be Lilly’s.

Court documents investigators used to obtain search warrants in the case indicate “the last time the children were seen outside their home was on May 1, when they were captured by video surveillance at a local Dollarama store with Brooks-Murray and Daniel Martell, their stepfather.”

RCMP conducted at least four polygraphs during their investigation. The first two were on May 12 with the children’s parents. Martell’s polygraph “indicated he was truthful,” as did the test for Brooks-Murray. She was found truthful when answering specific questions.

Lilly and Jack Sullivan have been missing since May 2, 2025. Photo by RCMP

On June 10, the children’s step-grandmother, Janie MacKenzie, underwent a polygraph examination but another document notes that her “physiology was not suitable for analysis and an opinion on the polygraph examination was not rendered.”

The children’s biological father, Cody Sullivan, underwent a polygraph on June 12, and he passed the examination, with his answers found to be “truthful.”

In July, the Mounties said they were running forensic tests on a pink blanket found during the search of the heavily wooded areas near the children’s home. Police said at the time that the family had confirmed the blanket belonged to Lilly, but investigators released few details.

Later, police dispatched a sniffer dog to the area where the blanket was found, but the animal was unable to pick up a scent of Lilly or Jack, according to information police filed in court to get search warrants.

The children’s mother told police at one point that their biological father might have picked them up and taken them to New Brunswick. But investigators met with Sullivan on May 22.

“He said he did not know what happened to Jack and Lilly,” police noted. “He was home on May 2, 2025, and never goes anywhere. He has not been anywhere other than his house recently and has had no contact with Malehya since the children went missing.”

Police received hundreds of tips in the case, including one from a witness who said she was travelling with her sons on the morning of May 2 and saw two children walking along the side of the road. She told police she saw the children that morning walking toward a Caucasian female of about 50 to 60 years old who was waiting next to the passenger side of an older model tan or gold sedan with the back door open.