‘THEY THINK I’LL GIVE UP — THEY’RE WRONG’: Grieving Grandmother of Missing Nova Scotia Kids Speaks Out

— Sitting quietly behind a green fence that separates her trailer from the rest of her property, Janie Mackenzie struggles to make sense of how her life — and her family’s — has been upended.

Ever since her two step-grandchildren, Lilly and Jack, vanished from their rural Nova Scotia home, Mackenzie says the peaceful life she once knew has been replaced by relentless scrutiny, heartbreak, and unanswered questions.

“Cars drive by and slow down, peering down the driveway,” she said softly. “It’s not uncommon for drones to be flown over my house, for reporters to knock at my door. I get recognized everywhere I go.”

The gravel driveway leading to her property, flanked by a mobile home and a trailer, has become an unending source of unwanted attention. Mackenzie says she mostly keeps to herself now, staying behind the house to avoid the gaze of strangers.

“I mostly stay around back here, and if I do go out front, I usually have my head down because I don’t want people to see who I am,” she explained. “It’s not because I’m hiding from anybody. I’m just a quiet person who wants to be left alone.”

A Family Torn Apart

The disappearance of Lilly and Jack has fractured the family. The day after the children went missing, Brooks-Murray — the children’s mother — and Martell, her partner and Mackenzie’s son, attended an RCMP briefing. After that, Brooks-Murray never returned to the Lansdowne Station home. Mackenzie says she hasn’t seen her two other grandchildren, Martell’s children from a previous relationship, since that day either.

“I went from seeing my five grandchildren regularly to not being able to see any of them,” she said, her voice breaking. “I just want to hear someone call me ‘Granny’ again.”

The children’s mother, Brooks-Murray, gave a single interview with CTV News the day after the disappearance and has not spoken publicly since. According to her mother, police advised the family not to speak to the media — advice Mackenzie has ignored, saying she feels she has no other choice but to speak up.

‘I Know They’re Still Alive’

Despite the mounting fears and rumors surrounding the case, Mackenzie refuses to believe the worst.

“You know if something bad happens, you get that feeling — your heart just drops?” she asked. “Mine hasn’t dropped. Deep down in my heart, I do believe Jack and Lilly are alive.”

She clings to that hope, even as the search stretches into weeks without progress.

“My life has been turned upside down, inside and out,” she said. “I had nothing to do with any of this. I want them home safe and sound, just as much as everybody else does. I want to know what happened.”

Her frustration is directed not just at the media attention, but also at the swirling accusations and online speculation targeting her family.

“I want the rumours to stop. I just want everything to stop — for me, for the sake of the other children, my grandchildren,” she said. “They don’t deserve this. They’re innocent of everything. Jack and Lilly are innocent. They didn’t deserve this.”

Feeling Forgotten

In the early days of the investigation, Mackenzie said the family received frequent updates from the RCMP. But as weeks passed, those updates slowed to a trickle. Now, she says, it feels as though the urgency has disappeared.

“There’s so many unanswered questions,” she said. “It feels like the case isn’t being treated with the urgency it deserves. They were part of my life for two years. When they came to live here, they became part of this family.”

The 59-year-old grandmother insists that both she and her family have been fully cooperative with police since the children went missing.

Under the Microscope

The property has been searched repeatedly by both RCMP and search-and-rescue teams. Investigators scoured the mobile home and trailer multiple times, checked the well and septic tank, and even flew a drone underneath the mobile home.

Mackenzie recalls one incident from the first day of the search, when an officer attempted to enter her trailer.

“I stopped him, but only because I wanted to move my dog out of the way first,” she said. “After that, they searched everything. Every corner, every space.”

Her son, Martell, also underwent a polygraph test, which he says he passed.

Despite these efforts, no trace of Lilly or Jack has been found.

‘I Won’t Stop Speaking Out’

While the case has drawn intense international attention, Mackenzie says what she wants most is peace — and justice.

“I just want to be left alone,” she said. “But I won’t stop speaking out until something is done. They think I’ll give up — they’re wrong.”

Her words echo with both defiance and grief — a grandmother’s promise not to rest until two missing children are found and a family can begin to heal.