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Parents Polygraphed As Investigation Into Disappearance Of Toddlers Jack And Lilly Deepens
Police have polygraphed family members of the two toddler siblings who disappeared from their rural home in eastern Canada on May 1.
Jack Sullivan, 4, and his sister Lilly, 6, were reported missing by their mother, Malehya Brooks-Murray, a day later.
Over the four months they have been gone, the local police have received more than 760 tips from the public, none of which have gotten them any closer to finding the children.
Highlights
- Jack Sullivan, 4, and Lilly Sullivan, 6, vanished from their Nova Scotia home on May 1.
- Police have since polygraphed their mother, stepfather, grandmother, and biological father.
- The grandmother’s polygraph results were inconclusive.
Police have since polygraphed the mother, the stepfather, Daniel Martell, the children’s grandmother, Janie MacKenzie, and their biological father, Cody Sullivan.
RELATED:
Two pieces of a pink blanket belonging to the little girl were found nearly a mile apart
Image credits: CBC News
The revelation was made in Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) documents, which indicated that the children were reported missing to Nova Scotia law enforcement at 10:01 a.m. on May 2.
It is unclear when the mother became alarmed, but she initially thought the children had wandered away from their house, which is near a heavily wooded area.
Police arrived 26 minutes after Malehya’s call and discovered a piece of Lilly’s pink blanket less than a mile from their home. They deployed a sniffer dog, but with no results.
Image credits: CBC News
They would later find another piece of the same blanket in a trash can closer to their home.
The grandmother’s polygraph test proved inconclusive
Although polygraph test results are inadmissible in Canadian courts, the RCMP uses them as a tool in their investigations.
Image credits: CBC News
Following tests on the mother and stepfather on May 12, documents seen by the local CTV outlet proclaimed that both had been honest and forthcoming in their initial accounts of Jack and Lilly’s disappearance.
Investigators then subjected grandmother Janie MacKenzie to the same treatment but determined that her results were inconclusive.
Image credits: Truro & Colchester Code 1 Coverage
“[Mackenzie’s] physiology was not suitable for analysis and an opinion on the polygraph examination was not rendered,” the filings observed.
The estranged biological father was home on the day his children went missing
Attention was also drawn to the children’s biological father, Cody Sullivan, after Malehya told police he might have collected them and taken them to New Brunswick, where he lived, which is over two hours away by ferry.
Image credits: CTV Atlantic
Image credits: CBC News
Another report backed this idea up when a suggestion bearing the same sentiment was phoned in to the police.
But after confronting the father on May 22, police learned that he was home on the day of his offspring’s disappearance, and while he paid maintenance for the children, he had not been in contact with them or Malehya for three years.
Image credits: CBC News
“He was home on May 2, 2025, and never goes anywhere. He has not been anywhere other than his house recently and has had no contact with Malehya since the children went missing,” the document reported.
One tipster claims they saw a boy and a girl walking toward a woman who was waiting for them by a car
Image credits: MissingPeopleCanada
One of the 760 tips received by the RCMP claimedthat a duo matching Jack and Lily’s description was seen walking hand-in-hand towards a woman nearby their home.
Said woman, described as being between the ages of 50 and 60, was waiting beside the open back door of a sedan.
Image credits: MissingPeopleCanada
The witness who submitted the tip, however, estimated that the children were between the ages of 9 and 10.
While police are still probing the claim, the report asserts that “none of the tips so far have led to Jack and Lilly’s location or has any information that has been corroborated by the investigation.”
Police have since indicated that they do not think the children’s disappearance is crime-related
Image credits: CBC News
The RCMP’s Corporal Charlene Jordan Curl from the Northeast Nova Scotia division has since noted that while numerous possibilities are being examined, she does not think Jack and Lilly’s disappearance is crime-related.
“I do not have reasonable grounds to believe a criminal offence has occurred. Because Jack and Lilly are still missing, polygraph examinations were conducted with the intention of ruling out that possibility,” the document quoted her saying.
Some netizens are calling for the grandmother to be retested
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What do you think ?
UKDeek 3 months ago
Inerestingly, the American Psychological Assiciation has stated that there is little evidence to prove that polygraphs detect lies (https://www.apa.org/topics/cognitive-neuroscience/polygraph) and even more interesting, I have found out that the UK Government have mandatory polygraphy testing for certain offences... you learn something new every day...
FreeTheUnicorn 3 months ago (edited)
The defense can enter polygraphs into evidence in the auS, just th government can't. It tests stress, not truthfulness, and the data show they are so inaccurate they can't be introduced as forensic evidence. But they can be used in the same way as a character witness because juries are dumb. (Juries are still the best system available, but they are dumb)
Load More Replies...
Rick Murray 3 months ago
"polygraph test results are inadmissible in Canadian courts" because it is pseudoscience at best, and only really has an effect at extracting confessions from people who think it's some sort of magical truth machine. At best it detects subtle indicators of stress, as if being hooked up to one and interrogated (especially if innocent) isn't a stressful situation.
UKDeek 3 months ago
Inerestingly, the American Psychological Assiciation has stated that there is little evidence to prove that polygraphs detect lies (https://www.apa.org/topics/cognitive-neuroscience/polygraph) and even more interesting, I have found out that the UK Government have mandatory polygraphy testing for certain offences... you learn something new every day...
FreeTheUnicorn 3 months ago (edited)
The defense can enter polygraphs into evidence in the auS, just th government can't. It tests stress, not truthfulness, and the data show they are so inaccurate they can't be introduced as forensic evidence. But they can be used in the same way as a character witness because juries are dumb. (Juries are still the best system available, but they are dumb)
Load More Replies... Rick Murray 3 months ago
"polygraph test results are inadmissible in Canadian courts" because it is pseudoscience at best, and only really has an effect at extracting confessions from people who think it's some sort of magical truth machine. At best it detects subtle indicators of stress, as if being hooked up to one and interrogated (especially if innocent) isn't a stressful situation.
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