BOMBSHELL COURT DOCS REVEAL: Mother of Missing Nova Scotia Siblings Accused Stepfather of Physical Abuse – ‘He Pushed Me, Held Me Down, Took My Phone’
In a gut-wrenching revelation that has reignited fury and heartbreak in the agonizing search for little Lilly Sullivan, 6, and her brother Jack Sullivan, 4, newly unsealed court documents expose shocking allegations from their mother about the stepfather‘s violent behavior in the home.
Malehya Brooks-Murray, the devastated mom who frantically called 911 on May 2, 2025, to report her children missing from their isolated rural property in Lansdowne Station, Nova Scotia, told police in a May 9, 2025, interview that Daniel Martell had repeatedly tried to control and physically restrain her.
The explosive details — blacked out for months but made public in January 2026 after media pressure forced the Nova Scotia Judiciary to lift redactions — paint a disturbing picture of the household dynamics just before the siblings vanished without a trace.
According to the unsealed RCMP documents, when investigators directly asked Brooks-Murray if Martell had ever been physically abusive during their roughly three-year relationship, she didn’t hold back.
“Malehya said he would try to block her, hold her down and once he pushed her,” the court filing reads. “She said he would also take her phone from her when she tried to call her mom, which would sometimes be physical and hurt.”
These chilling claims emerged as part of affidavits supporting search warrants in the early days of the massive missing persons probe. Brooks-Murray described moving in with Martell around August 2023 on his mother’s property in the remote community — a two-hour drive northeast of Halifax — where the couple lived with Lilly, Jack, and their infant daughter.
The allegations add yet another layer of torment to a case that has haunted Canada for nine long months. Lilly, with her light brown hair and hazel eyes, and little Jack, with his dark blonde locks and infectious smile, were last seen the night before their disappearance. Brooks-Murray reported them missing the next morning, insisting they’d wandered into the thick, unforgiving woods surrounding Gairloch Road.
What unfolded was an unprecedented search: thousands of volunteers, RCMP teams, drones, helicopters, and cadaver dogs combed over 8.5 square kilometers of dense forest. Searchers logged more than 12,000 grueling hours, discovering eerie clues like a pink blanket — believed to be Lilly’s favorite — hanging from a tree a kilometer away, fragments of the same blanket in a trash bag at the driveway, and small child-sized boot prints nearby. But no bodies. No definitive answers.
Martell, now 34, has consistently denied any involvement in the children’s disappearance. He submitted to a polygraph, provided DNA samples, and in interviews claimed the vanishing was “criminal.” He has also flat-out denied the abuse allegations leveled by Brooks-Murray.
In a January 2026 interview with Global News following the unsealing of the documents, Martell insisted he’d been “very open and honest” throughout and put “full trust” in the RCMP. He rejected claims of physical violence toward Brooks-Murray, describing their relationship as having normal “ups and downs like any couple.”
Yet the timing of these revelations — coming amid Martell’s separate January 26, 2026, arrest on charges of sexual assault, assault, and forcible confinement involving an adult victim (unrelated to the children, police emphasize) — has only fueled public suspicion and online speculation.
The Province of Nova Scotia still offers a $150,000 reward for information leading to answers. RCMP insist the investigation remains intensely active: “This is not going to be a cold case,” one officer declared. Forensic testing on the pink blanket and other evidence continues behind closed doors.
Friends of Brooks-Murray say she’s enduring the nightmare “day by day,” heartbroken but refusing to give up hope. Family photos capture the innocence now lost forever: Lilly beaming with joy, Jack giggling playfully — frozen moments that haunt missing posters across the province.
As these unsealed documents lay bare alleged controlling and violent behavior in the home, the question that torments everyone grows louder: What really happened behind those closed doors on that quiet rural property? Did domestic tensions play any role in the tragedy? Or is the truth still buried deep in those endless woods?
The pink blanket sways like a ghost in the wind. Boot prints lead nowhere. And two little children remain missing.
The search for Lilly and Jack — and for justice — presses on amid the pain.
Bring them home.
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