A volunteer missing persons group is joining the search for Lilly and Jack Sullivan, a pair of siblings who disappeared from rural Nova Scotia more than five months ago.
“The ideal solution is we locate them,” said Nick Oldrieve, co-founder of the not-for-profit group, Please Bring Me Home.
“We got to find these kids.”
Oldrieve says the group’s goal is to “shake the tree” when it comes to the investigation.
“Maybe it implores somebody to send in a tip if they know something … or the search efforts continue and they’re in those woods,” he said.
Lilly and Jack — aged six and four — were reported missing on May 2 from their home in Lansdowne Station, N.S., in Pictou County.
The children’s family has said the siblings wandered away that morning from the home, which is situated in a heavily-wooded area.
RCMP have said their Northeast Nova Major Crime Unit is still following up and assessing more than 860 tips, 8,060 video files and forensic testing.
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In September, two RCMP police dogs specifically trained in human remains detection were brought in to search a 40-kilometre area near the children’s home. Last week, the RCMP said those dogs did not find any remains.
Oldrieve says his group has only been involved in the case for about five days, but adds the children’s paternal grandmother, Belynda Grey, first contacted them in May.
Oldrieve says Please Bring Me Home has had success so far in getting more information out publicly and circulating a statement that they say is from Lilly and Jack’s mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray.
In the statement, she writes, “I will never stop searching for my children until they are found and brought home safe and sound. Someone, somewhere knows something so please bring my babies home.”
The RCMP told Global News it is aware of Please Bring Me Home’s plan for an independent search.
“This initiative is being organized separately from our investigation,” wrote Nova Scotia RCMP spokesperson, Allison Gerrard.
“Although Malehya Brooks-Murray has confirmed authorship of a written statement, we cannot verify the accuracy of the version currently circulating on social media.”
In the meantime, Oldrieve says his organization is encouraging people to come forward with tips and is considering planning a physical search in November. He says it would most likely be a search of waterways in the area.
“It’s really difficult because we’ve seen everything be thrown into this area for searching,” he said.
“But it’s just an extra layer of precaution to make sure that (Lilly and Jack) weren’t underwater while searches were happening.”
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