Stepdad of missing N.S. kids says he hopes 'something positive' will come from renewed search

Meig Campbell · CBC News

· Posted: May 17, 2025 4:37 PM EDT | Last Updated: 3 minutes ago

The stepdad of 2 missing kids successful agrarian Pictou County, N.S., says helium hopes the crushed hunt and rescue cognition that resumed Saturday volition bring Lilly and Jack Sullivan backmost home. 

"I'm truly hopeful that they find something," said Daniel Martell. "I'm grateful for each and everyone of them that instrumentality the clip retired present to spell done achromatic flies and spell done … these forests are perfectly truthful dense."

The siblings went missing from their location successful Lansdowne Station connected May 2. On May 7, aft an extended effort to find the kids, RCMP announced they would beryllium scaling backmost the search. 

Ground hunt crews departed the assemblage a time aft the RCMP announcement. 

More than 100 radical from 5 antithetic hunt and rescue teams were astatine enactment connected Saturday.

"I'm conscionable hoping for thing positive, a affirmative result that's bringing the kids home," Martell said. "That's the main extremity here. It's the main goal. It's conscionable to find the truth."

Martell said rampant online speculation has been hard for his household to woody with for the past 2 weeks.  

"It's hard connected everyone. It's hard connected me, it's hard connected Malehya [the children's mother], it's hard connected the families," helium said. "I mean, it's been hard connected the hunt and rescue guys origin they don't privation to consciousness similar they're failing america for not uncovering anything."

Since the kids went missing, Martell has said helium asked constabulary to springiness him a polygraph trial to wide up speculation. 

Despite this, Martell said his household and assemblage person been a changeless root of enactment and hope. 

Amy Hansen, 1 of the hunt managers, said the hunt resumed this play truthful the teams could "come backmost successful with caller radical and screen much areas due to the fact that we haven't resolved the concern yet." 

"We conscionable privation to find these children and bring them home," said Hansen. 

The searchers volition beryllium expanding into areas that haven't been searched. They volition besides beryllium looking much profoundly into areas already covered, including wherever children thin to spell erstwhile missing successful wooded areas. 

Multiple drones successful the aerial from antithetic agencies are being utilized to assistance with the search. 

Hansen said erstwhile hunt efforts were suspended due to the fact that of exhaustion, accent and injuries consisting of atrocious falls, sprained ankles and twisted knees. But they are present prepared to search for the weekend. 

"Everybody's rested, refreshed, acceptable to go," said Hansen. "They're inactive going to propulsion themselves to the constituent wherever they can't anymore, but they're troopers."