Volunteer in missing children search urges caution against speculation on their fate

A police investigation is continuing into the disappearance of two young children reported missing last week from their home in northeastern Nova Scotia.

On Wednesday, RCMP Staff Sgt. Robert McCamon, a senior major crime investigator, confirmed detectives have been involved in the case since last Saturday, a day after six-year-old Lily Sullivan and four-year-old Jack Sullivan are believed to have wandered from their rural home in Lansdowne Station, N.S.

McCamon said detectives are always involved in missing persons cases to determine if they are "suspicious in nature."

The search was scaled back Wednesday after the RCMP said there was little chance the siblings could have survived after six days in a densely wooded area, about 20 kilometres southwest of New Glasgow, N.S.

Meanwhile, a volunteer who helped with the search is urging the public to avoid harmful speculation.

Salvation Army Maj. Daniel Roode says some people have been "unwisely" speculating about the children's fate on social media, which he says is creating more stress in the surrounding communities.

Still, Roode says he was reassured by residents who provided a steady stream homemade meals that his team distributed to hundreds of search and rescue volunteers tasked with combing through four square kilometres of dense woodlands in the centre of the province.

RCMP say some of the areas that have already been searched will receive a second look to make sure no clues have been overlooked, and the Mounties say they may bring in dogs capable of finding human remains.

Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ron Ward