True Crime Collection

William Tyrrell

On 11th September 2014, 3 year old William Tyrrell, his foster parents, and his 5 year old sister travelled 4 hours from Sydney to visit his foster mother's mother in Kendall. His foster grandmother's house on Benaroon Drive is directly across the bushland road from the Kendall State Forest, about 34 kilometres south of Port Macquarie. Between 10:00 and 10:25am on 12th September, William and his sister were playing hide and seek in the front and back yard, while his foster mother and foster grandmother were sitting outside watching them. His foster mother went inside to make a cup of tea; she became worried after she had not heard him for 5 minutes and began searching the yard and house. Shortly after, William's foster father returned after going to Lakewood on business and began searching the street and door knocking neighbours.

At 10:56, his foster mother phone 000 emergency services to report him missing and the police arrived at 11:06. His foster mother's last memory was that William was imitating a tiger's road while running towards the side of the home, and then there was silence and he had disappeared. His mum looked for him but to no success. 

Hundreds of police, members of State Emergency Services, Rural Fire Service and members of the community searched day and night for William. Specialist police, including the sex crimes squad from Strike Force were immediately formed. Motorcycles and helicopters were brought in to search. 200 volunteers searched overnight, hundreds of people combed rugged terrain around the home and police divers searched waterways and dams. The police searched every house in the estate that surrounds Benaroon Drive several times. The police detection dogs were brought in and they managed to detect William's scent, but only within the boundaries of the backyard. "Strike Force Rosann" was established with specially trained investigators from the State Crime Command who are experienced in the unexplained disappearance of young children. They supported the police, other emergency services workers and members of the public involved in the search. After 5 days, police said they were unable to come up with any leads.

The police later began investigations into finding the drivers of 2 cars that were seen parked on the dead end on the morning William disappeared. The cars, described as a white station wagon and an older style grey sedan, were parked between 2 driveways of the acre lot of land. They were seen with their driver's side windows down and were unknown to the neighbourhood were locals are friends. These cars were noticed by William's mother and they have not been seen again since the time he disappeared. The police regard these particular vehicles with suspicion, as there seemed to be no logical reason why they would be parked on the street before William's disappearance. 

Reportedly, at 9:00am, a green or grey sedan car drove past the Tyrrell home while William and his sister were riding bikes in the driveway. The car drove into the no through road, did a U turn in the neighbour's driveway and drove out of the street. Secondly, another 4WD was sighted driving out of Benaroon Drive at about 10:30am, about the time he disappeared. The same vehicle was later seen speeding down another Kendall Street. The police said that they have known about these cars since the investigation started. However, as part of investigative strategy, the information about these vehicles was not released to the public until 12 months after William disappeared. 

The police cleared William's family of any involvement in the disappearance and earlier believed the boy was abducted by an opportunistic stranger who may have a connection with a paedophile ring. The police also believed that the boy could be alive in the hands of a group of people suspected of paedophile activity, but it is no longer believed the kidnapper is a member of a paedophile ring. The police have interviewed dozens of people including a number of paedophiles. A Current Affair reported that about 20 registered sex offenders were living in the surrounding area of Kendall where William went missing.

2 persons of interest in the case, both convicted child sex offenders, may have met up on the day William vanished. The family of one paedophile, who had 90 convictions against his name including aggravated indecent assault of a minor, said he was going to visit another child sex offender on that day and returned home drunk that afternoon. But he told police he spent that day in the bush collecting scrap metal. It was reported that both men lived in the Kendall area and had been driving vehicles that matched the description of the grey sedan and white station wagon that had been seen near the Tyrrell house around the time he disappeared. They also had been members of an organisation called GAPA and were friends. The pair have both been questioned by the police and they categorically denied being friends, or having any involvement in the disappearance.