It was a Thursday morning, around 10:30am when the cries, “William, William,” began echoing through Benaroon Drive, a quiet street in Kendall.
Situated on the mid north coast of New South Wales, about a four hour drive from Sydney city, the small town of Kendall is surrounded by thick bushland. As you enter, there are three sculptures of gum leaves known as the ‘Leaves of Kendall’.
It was the greenery that William Tyrrell’s foster mother says still haunts her years later.
So much green. And all she wanted was a hint of red – a sign of William’s Spider-Man suit.
It’s been almost five years since William went missing on a Thursday morning in September, 2014.
William Tyrrell’s mother breaks silence on his disappearance. Post continues below.
Now the subject of two Australian podcasts, Nowhere Child by The Australian and Where’s William Tyrrell? by 10 Speaks, the three-year-old has never faded from public consciousness.
A coronial inquest into the little boy’s disappearance is currently underway, with the second round of hearings set to begin on Wednesday, August 7.
So, what do we know? And what are the key theories about what happened on that fateful day, September 11, 2014?
Could William still be alive?
“He wasn’t just roaring. He was roaring at someone.”
That morning, September 11, 2014, three-and-a-half-year-old William and his sister had awoken early at their foster grandmother’s home. They were, according to testimony during the inquest into William’s disappearance, “excited to see Nanna”. William was dressed in his favourite Spider-Man suit, a gift purchased for the toddler in Bali.
After breakfast and going for a walk, William played in the yard, roaring like a tiger.
His foster mother quickly made a cup of tea, before finding William on the deck, insisting he was a “daddy tiger”. She took the last photograph of William. It was 9:37am.
He ducked and ran and rushed out from corners, immersed in a world of his own.
William's foster mother then sat down for a cup of tea with her own mother where, according to the counsel assisting the inquest, Gerard Craddock, SC, the two spoke about how "boisterous and loud" William was, before his foster mother remarked, "He's a boy... that's just how they are".
A few moments later, the yard went quiet.
"It had become quiet," his foster mother described. "Too quiet."
According to Craddock, she raced into the yard, searching through ferns and trees, desperately wanting to see a flash of red.
In court, his foster mother cried as she said, "he wouldn't do it".
"He wouldn't hide, he's not brave enough.
"I raced around the house, opened every single cupboard, every wardrobe."
But the little boy dressed as Spider-Man had vanished.
In an interview released by NSW police, William's foster mum says: "I had a vision in my head. I don't know why, but I had a vision in my head, somebody... I can't explain it. Somebody reached over, and I sort of feel like they've sort of gone 'clump' on his shoulders, picked him up and moved him on. Because to me that's the only way I can explain for him not to be there..."
"It was high-pitched." Did William's foster mother hear him scream?
On Tuesday, the NSW inquest was told of the moment William's foster mother thought she heard a scream in the hours after he went missing.
"When a child hurts themselves unexpectedly, there's a scream, and it felt like a scream — it was quick and it was high pitched and it was sharp, which is why I went into these reeds," she said.
"I got into the bush and I thought I can't see any red — I thought maybe I imagined it, maybe it was a bird and I just walked back."
The washing machine repairman.
A washing machine repairman was publicly reported as a prime suspect after police learned he had visited the Kendall home in the lead up to William's disappearance.
According to Fairfax Media in 2015, the repairman allegedly provided a quote, and was due to return to the home that day.
He was subjected to DNA tests, and forensic specialists as well as sniffer dogs examined the grounds of property. A septic tank was drained, and an excavator searched the yard.
Mamamia has chosen not to name the man, because he has always maintained his innocence, and no charges were ever laid in relation to William Tyrrell.
The involvement of a paedophile ring was an early line of inquiry for detectives, who considered the possibility that an opportunistic stranger kidnapped William.
In February 2016, A Current Affair reported that there were 20 registered sex offenders in close proximity to William when he went missing,
News Corp named one person of interest in 2018, a convicted paedophile who was released months before William's disappearance. He lived a 20 minute drive from where William was allegedly abducted.
The man was a member of a group called Grandparents As Parents Again (GAPA), which was investigated by police after it was found that two of its members had prior convictions for crimes against children.
Members and their families were interviewed but were never considered official suspects.
"The strongest likelihood" police have already met the kidnapper.
Lead investigator Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin said in September 2017 that it was "highly likely" police had already encountered the person who abducted William.
"I would be sweating," Jubelin said, addressing the public.
The police, at this point, believed that it was one person acting alone, and offered an unprecedented $1 million reward for any information leading to William's whereabouts.
The second round of hearings in William Tyrrell inquest.
On Wednesday, August 7, the coronial inquest will resume, the purpose of which is to determine whether William is still alive.
People who have been identified as persons of interest will be made to take the stand, and explain their movements at the time of William's disappearance.
The findings collected by Strike Force Rosann, which was led by then head investigator Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin, will also be presented to the Coroner's Court.
Gerard Craddock, SC, the counsel assisting the inquest, said in March that the inquest will show, "William's disappearance was the direct result of human intervention".
"If the evidence establishes William was abducted, that conclusion is chilling because it means a person snatched a three-year-old from the safety of a quiet village backyard," he said during his opening address.
He also said that at this stage, investigators cannot rule out that a relative or associate was involved in William's disappearance.
If William is alive now, he's an eight-year-old boy.
His days as a missing person have now outnumbered the days he lived as just William - the toddler who loved Spider-Man.
Top Comments
Could the last person to have contact be the killer?
I think the police know who took this boy.... they just don’t have enough evidence .... yet....
I suspect that's true of a lot of 'unsolved' cases. I hope that proof shows up.