A former detective of the Nova Scotia police says that he believes the search for Two children missing in the county of Pictou who lasted more than a month is now a criminal investigation.
The brothers and sisters Lilly and Jack Sullivan, aged six and four, were missing on May 2 at their home on Gairloch Road in Lansdowne Station, NS NS
Jim Hoskins, a regional retired police officer of Halifax and former staff sergeant of major crimes who does not work on the case, indicates that the actions of the police and the agencies involved led him to this conclusion.
“They look at this with certain criminal aspects. They just didn’t say it,” he said.
“In my personal experience, if it is not a criminal investigation now, I would be totally surprised.”
Jack Sullivan, four years old, on the left, and Lilly Sullivan, six, on the right, view of this document photo, disappeared on May 2, 2025 in the community of Lansdowne Station, NS
The Canadian Research and Rescue Association of the Press Press / Ho-Nova Scotia
In an update Wednesday, the RCMP said to discover what had happened to Lilly and Jack Can take longer than they had “hoped”.
Police revealed that several national agencies, including the National Center for Disappeared Persons and the Canadian Child Protection Center, joined the investigation.
“We access, assess and analyze a large volume of information from various sources”, CPL. Sandy Matharu, head of the survey, major crime of the RCMP in Northeast RCMP, said in a statement.
“We have a very coordinated and deliberate approach to ensure that all the information is meticulously examined, prioritized and organized to guarantee that nothing is missed.”
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Police also revealed that they had interviewed with 54 people and administered polygraph tests to “some of the individuals”.
The children’s stepfather, Daniel Martell, has already told Global News He proposed to take a polygraph and that he had been administered.
“If they give polygraphs, then they want to see if people’s statements are truthful as long as they can interpret it from the polygraph. But for me, it is a criminal investigation. And that is how I interpret it right now,” said Hoskins.
How do polygraph tests work
Tom Mauriello, legal consultant and professor in the Criminology Department of the University of Maryland, says it is important to understand how a polygraphic test works and why it could be used.
“I need that you understand that the polygraph is not a lie detector. He does not detect lies,” he said.
“It simply detects when a person answers with his sympathetic nervous system to relevant questions.”
He points out that police services will use polygraph tests as a investigation tool, but it is not a foolproof way to note who is guilty.
“Not passing the test does not mean that you are guilty or that you are involved. It simply means that there is a problem there, perhaps knowledge, guilty knowledge, etc.”, he explained.
He adds that if the police have a suspect, they can also use the polygraph test as a “psychological tool” to draw a confession.
“I did about 1,200 polygraph tests when I was an examiner for the federal government here in the United States and there were times when even before putting the attachments on the person, the person admitted things,” he said.
“You therefore create this psychological environment so that they are truthful and honest, and sometimes it works.”
‘A harmful socket’
As a police officer who participated in similar investigations in the past, including children’s research, Hoskins says that there is a lot of work behind the scenes in this case.
“They are not sitting in a pleasant, cool and air-conditioned meeting room all day speaking of this and in strategies,” he said.
“They are there. And the only way to see or get results in this is to be there to talk to people, watch videos, watch the topography…. They are not in the offices to do it by a laptop, let’s say it.”
The RCMP said that research on the property in which children have disappeared included “every aspect” of the house, land, outbuildings, nearby septic tanks, wells, mine trees and pumice.
Hoskins affirms that investigators will be “on the balance of probabilities” and will consider the fact that several research in the area strongly wooded around the house has not revealed any evidence.
“If you can’t find them, someone should say:” Enough enough for the search for these areas. “So now we are moving forward?
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