Lansdowne Station, N.S. — Newly released court documents reveal that two residents living near Jack and Lilly Sullivan’s home told police they heard a vehicle repeatedly coming and going in the early-morning hours before the Nova Scotia children were reported missing on May 2.
The details, unsealed after CBC News successfully petitioned to lift redactions, are drawn from investigative affidavits filed by the RCMP as they sought search warrants for phone, banking, and video records connected to the case. The statements have not been proven in court.
Neighbours report late-night activity
According to the documents, neighbour Brad Wong told police he heard a “loud vehicle” near the family’s property in Lansdowne Station, roughly 140 kilometres northeast of Halifax.
“He said his residence is at an elevated position from Daniel’s residence and he could see vehicle lights over the treetops,” wrote RCMP Cpl. Charlene Curl. “He said the vehicle left three or four times after midnight … he could hear it stop and return.”
Another resident, Justin Smith, said he was awake and browsing Facebook around 1:30 a.m. when he heard a car turn around near the railroad tracks at the intersection of Gairloch Road and Lansdowne Station Road, close to where the children later disappeared.
“It made noise then went quiet,” police recorded him saying. “The vehicle was quiet for about two minutes then drove towards Lairg Road.”
Smith later told officers that Wong believed the vehicle belonged to Daniel Martell, the children’s stepfather.
Family’s version of events
According to police interviews, Malehya Brooks-Murray, the children’s mother, said she put Lilly, 6, and Jack, 4, to bed first, followed by their baby daughter, before turning in around 9 p.m. Martell, she said, stayed up to clean but “the house wasn’t clean” when she awoke. She said she was not disturbed during the night and did not know when Martell went to bed.
Martell told investigators he went to bed “fairly early” and slept until daylight. In a phone interview Friday, he denied any vehicle movement that night.
“No one from the family left the property,” Martell said. “The only time a vehicle left was that morning, when I took the SUV to look for the kids. It’s not loud by any stretch of the imagination.”
He added that investigators never questioned him about the vehicle activity. “I know they work hard,” Martell said. “They’re exploring every lead.”
The disappearance
Brooks-Murray reported her children missing around 9 a.m. on May 2, telling police they had wandered away from the property. The siblings lived there with their mother, stepfather, baby sister, and grandmother.
What followed was one of Nova Scotia’s largest ground searches in recent memory — covering 8.5 square kilometres of rugged terrain with 160 volunteers, search dogs, drones, and helicopters.
Despite extensive efforts, no trace of the children has been found.
Social media speculation and family tensions
Court files also reveal police interviews with Darin Geddes, a relative of Brooks-Murray, who has shared speculative theories online and on a YouTube true-crime channel It’s a Criming Shame, under the pseudonym Derwood O’Grady.
Geddes suggested — without evidence — that Brooks-Murray may have sent the children away before calling 911. Investigators described him as “confrontational and evasive” and noted he demanded information about the case.
Police also received a video recording of a June 21 phone conversation between Geddes and Patti Pearson, Brooks-Murray’s grandmother. The recording, submitted by Brooks-Murray, captured a private exchange but its contents were not disclosed in the documents.
Case remains a missing-persons investigation
As of July 16, RCMP investigators stated that the children’s disappearance was not believed to be criminal in nature. Last week, police confirmed that cadaver dogs found no human remains around the property or in nearby search zones.
In an interview, Staff Sgt. Rob McCamon said the case continues under the Missing Persons Act. “It remains an open and active investigation,” he reiterated.
Lingering questions
The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Jack and Lilly Sullivan has drawn national and international attention — not only for the scale of the search but also for the uncertainty that persists five months later.
For now, investigators continue to follow new leads, neighbours continue to hope for answers, and a quiet rural community remains haunted by the unanswered question of what happened on that May night.
