Cadaver dogs fail to find remains in search for missing Nova Scotia children

Nova Scotia RCMP say two tracking dogs trained to search for human remains have failed to find any trace of two children reported missing from their rural home more than five months ago.

The Mounties say that in late September, the two cadaver dogs and their handlers covered 40 kilometres around the small community of Lansdowne Station, N.S., where six-year-old Lilly Sullivan and her four-year-old brother Jack were reported missing May 2.

Investigators say the dogs searched the property in the province's northeast where the children went missing, trails along and near a pipeline, and an area where a pink blanket had been found.

Police say these locations were considered areas where there was the highest probability of finding the children.

Stephen Pike, spokesman for the RCMP Police Dog Services Training Centre, says even though the dogs did not detect human remains, that doesn’t rule out the presence of remains in the areas that were searched.

Meanwhile, RCMP say investigators continue to assess more than 860 tips from the public and 8,060 video files.

“There are multiple aspects of this investigation ongoing simultaneously,” Staff Sgt. Rob McCamon said in a statement. “Each piece of information, including the results from the search teams, helps inform our next steps.”