🚨 BREAKING: RCMP Drops Bombshell in Lilly & Jack Sullivan Case – Boot Prints in the Woods… TWO DIFFERENT SIZES! 😱

What really happened to those innocent little siblings who “wandered off” into the thick Nova Scotia forest?

Police confirm: Clumps of boot prints discovered along the pipeline trail – one set small enough for a child (matched to Lilly’s exact boot size from Walmart receipts)… but ANOTHER size lurking right there in the mud. Two different prints. Two different stories?

Full details:

More than eight months after six-year-old Lilly Sullivan and her five-year-old brother Jack vanished from their rural home in Pictou County, new details from court documents and early search efforts continue to raise questions about what happened on May 2, 2025.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) received a 911 call that morning from the children’s mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, who reported that Lilly and Jack had wandered away from the family residence on Gairloch Road in the sparsely populated Lansdowne Station area, roughly 140 kilometers northeast of Halifax. The heavily wooded region, marked by dense forest and remnants of downed trees from a 2022 post-tropical storm, immediately became the focus of one of the largest search operations in recent Nova Scotia history.

Hundreds of ground search and rescue volunteers, police sniffer dogs, drones, helicopters, and aircraft scoured more than 8.5 square kilometers in the initial days. Despite the massive effort – which amounted to thousands of volunteer hours – physical evidence remained scarce. Among the few items recovered were a piece of pink blanket believed to belong to Lilly, found tangled in a tree about one kilometer from the home, and a matching blanket fragment discovered in a trash bag at the end of the driveway.

But one of the most intriguing pieces of evidence emerged early in the search: boot prints discovered along a pipeline trail running through the woods behind the family property. According to a synopsis provided to search coordinators and detailed in later court documents obtained by media outlets including The Globe and Mail, CBC News, and The Canadian Press, search teams identified “clumps” of boot prints in two different sizes.

Search manager Amy Hansen of Colchester County Ground Search and Rescue described the finds to investigators: “There were clumps of them and they were two different sizes.” Some prints were small, corresponding to what children would wear. A cast taken of one print revealed tread marked with “29,” which matched the pattern on a size 11 child’s boot. Banking records later obtained by the RCMP showed that Brooks-Murray had purchased size 11 children’s boots for Lilly at a Walmart store in March 2025.

The presence of multiple sizes has fueled speculation in online discussions and true crime forums, with some questioning whether the additional prints could indicate an adult or another individual in the area around the time of the disappearance. However, RCMP officials have not publicly confirmed any adult-sized prints as definitive evidence of foul play, and the investigation remains classified as a missing persons case rather than a criminal one. In October 2025, authorities reiterated that there was no indication of criminal activity.

Other items seized during the investigation included the children’s toothbrushes for potential DNA comparison, a single sock, a piece of purple fabric, and scat samples that could be human or animal in origin. Police also collected impression castings – tools typically used for boot prints or tire tracks – suggesting they were preserving potential footprint evidence for forensic analysis.

The boot prints prompted targeted follow-up searches in the pipeline trail area shortly after the initial disappearance. Searchers returned to the location multiple times, including weekends in early May 2025, but no further significant discoveries were reported from those efforts.

As the case stretched into months, additional details emerged through redacted court documents released in August 2025 following media requests. The filings revealed polygraph examinations administered to family members, including stepfather Daniel Robert Martell, who lived with Brooks-Murray and the children at the time. Martell reportedly passed his polygraph related to the disappearance and has publicly maintained his innocence, describing himself as forthcoming with authorities and the public.

However, in January 2026, Martell, 34, was arrested on unrelated charges: assault, sexual assault, and forcible confinement involving an adult female complainant. The alleged incidents occurred in December 2024 on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne. Martell is scheduled to appear in Pictou provincial court in March 2026. RCMP have stressed that these charges are separate from the missing children investigation.

The Nova Scotia government has offered a reward of up to $150,000 for information leading to the resolution of the case, emphasizing that tips of “investigative value” could qualify. Authorities report receiving hundreds of tips – 488 as of one update – and conducting formal interviews with at least 54 individuals, some involving polygraphs. Video footage from surrounding areas has also been reviewed extensively.

Despite the passage of time and harsh weather conditions in the region, hope persists among family, search volunteers, and the community. Brooks-Murray has spoken publicly about her belief that the children may have met with harm, though she has largely deferred to police guidance on media statements.

The thick woods, limited initial evidence, and the boot print anomaly continue to keep the case in the public eye. Online groups dedicated to the disappearance – some with thousands of members – debate every detail, from the blanket fragments to the footprint sizes, while urging caution against unfounded theories that could interfere with the active probe.

RCMP continue to encourage anyone with information to contact the Northeast Nova Major Crime Unit or the local Pictou County detachment. As winter gives way to another year without answers, the question lingers: Do those two different boot prints hold the key to what happened to Lilly and Jack Sullivan, or are they simply remnants of a search that has yet to uncover the full truth?

The investigation remains open, with authorities following every lead in the hope of bringing closure to a family and a province gripped by the mystery of two small children who vanished without a trace.