As the agonizing six-month mark approaches in the disappearance of siblings Lilly Sullivan, 6, and Jack Sullivan, 4, a bizarre controversy surrounding a torn pink blanket has exploded into public view, with stepfather Daniel Martell openly suggesting someone deliberately “planted” key evidence taken from his week-old garbage.

Court documents unsealed in August revealed that a piece of Lilly’s distinctive pink LOL doll blanket – previously discarded by mom Malehya Brooks-Murray because the little girl no longer wanted it – was recovered from a trash bag at the end of the family’s driveway on Gairloch Road. Days earlier, on the very afternoon the children were reported missing, relatives searching nearby woods discovered a matching fragment tangled in a tree about one kilometer away.

According to statements summarized in the filings, Brooks-Murray told investigators she had removed the blanket from a door where Martell was using it to block drafts. With warmer weather arriving, she tossed it into household trash roughly a week before May 2 – the day she called 911 at 10:01 a.m. reporting the kids had wandered off while she napped.

Martell, 29, initially denied to police and media that the woodland fragment belonged to Lilly. But in later interviews, he flipped, claiming the blanket piece found in the woods must have been ripped from his garbage bag and staged – raising the explosive question: Who besides the parents even knew that old blanket was buried deep in household trash?

Sources familiar with the probe say the driveway trash bag had a hand-sized tear in the side, through which the pink fabric was reportedly visible and extracted. Yet the blanket was described as being “all the way at the bottom” of a large bag. Investigators confirmed both pieces matched forensically, turning a discarded household item into potential cornerstone evidence.

“Nobody outside the house knew that blanket was in there,” one online sleuth posted on true crime forums, echoing theories swirling across social media. “How does a random searcher spot pink fabric through a tiny rip, at the very bottom, unless they were looking for it specifically?”

RCMP seized the driveway piece on May 4, two days after the woods discovery by three relatives of Brooks-Murray. Cadaver dogs later hit on scents in the area but turned up nothing conclusive. Forensic testing on both blanket fragments continues, with results still pending as of November.

Martell, in interviews with The Globe and Mail, went further: He claimed two of his sweaters also vanished from the home post-disappearance, hinting at a broader setup. “It came from my week-old garbage,” he insisted, stopping short of accusing anyone directly.

The pink blanket saga has fueled bitter online speculation, with armchair detectives dissecting timelines: The woods piece was found hours after the 911 call, while searchers combed the area. Trash pickup in rural Pictou County is weekly – meaning the bag could have sat curbside for days. But who would rifle through family garbage amid a frantic child hunt, tear a precise hole, extract one item from the bottom, and plant it a kilometer away in a tree?

Brooks-Murray, 26, has remained largely silent since early media restrictions, recently breaking cover via volunteer group Please Bring Me Home to plead for tips. The couple split acrimoniously days after the disappearance; she blocked him on social media and moved in with her mother.

Both parents passed polygraphs in May, with examiners deeming their denials of harm “truthful.” Biological father Cody Sullivan and others in the extended family also cleared lie detectors. RCMP stress the case is not classified as criminal, though Major Crime Unit leads the probe assisted by multi-province resources.

Yet the blanket discrepancy has become fodder for YouTube true crime channels and Reddit threads, where users demand answers: “Only Daniel and Malehya knew it was trash. So either one of them staged it – or someone close enough to snoop garbage during a search.”

Paternal grandmother Belynda Gray, long estranged due to custody battles, told reporters the inconsistencies “rip the family apart.” She maintains hope but calls for a public inquiry.

Volunteer group Please Bring Me Home, which recently uncovered riverbank items including pink threads and a possible dinosaur toy fragment, slammed roadblocks in official searches. “Water and time shift everything,” director Nick Oldrieve said. “But questions like this blanket mess? That’s why people don’t trust the narrative.”

RCMP Cpl. Guillaume Tremblay declined comment on planting theories, citing the active investigation. “We’re assessing all evidence, including forensics on the blanket,” he said. Over 860 tips, 8,000+ videos reviewed, and $150,000 reward remain in play.

As winter looms over the foggy French River, the torn pink blanket – once a simple child’s castoff – now symbolizes the fractured trust at the heart of one of Canada’s most baffling cases. For Lilly and Jack’s loved ones, answers can’t come soon enough.