‘WE CAN’T GIVE UP’
The search for William Tyrrell
It’s been more than five years since William Tyrrell disappeared from his foster grandmother’s home in the NSW town of Kendall. Despite an exhaustive, ongoing police investigation, the offer of a million dollar reward for information on his whereabouts and numerous reported sightings, false leads, rumours and speculation, William has never been found. Earlier this month, during former lead detective Gary Jubelin’s court case for allegedly illegally recording conversations with suspects, new details about the police investigation were disclosed and raised even more questions about its handling.
The police’s focus on ‘person of interest’ Paul Savage, who lived opposite William’s grandmother, was explained. It was revealed how investigators hypothesised that his now deceased wife, Heather, may have accidentally run over and killed the little boy. Also explained was how investigators planted a Spider-Man costume, like the one worn by William when he disappeared, in bushland and waited to observe Savage’s reaction.
Other behind-the-scenes revelations were made, including tensions within the investigating team. Jubelin claimed the then-homicide commander Superintendent Scott Cook had said, “no-one cares” about William.
William’s foster family issued a stronglyworded statement in which they detailed their “grave concerns” over recent police handling of the case. They criticised the force for prioritising “personal agendas, ambitions and bias” over the search for their son.
In the latest developments, another ‘person of interest’ in the case, Frank Abbott, is expected to testify at the NSW inquest into William’s disappearance this month.
This coming June will mark William’s ninth birthday and Caroline Overington, journalist and author of Missing William Tyrrell, says that despite so many years passing since the then 3-year-old vanished, the search
must not end. “It’s really important at this five-year point to say we can’t give up, we can still find him,” she says. “If he’s not alive we need to know where and when his life was taken from him. You can still bring someone home, even if they’re deceased. It’s still better to have an answer.”
That an exuberant young boy, wearing a bright red Spider-Man outfit, could vanish without a trace while playing on the quiet, residential Benaroon Drive, has baffled police, his family and the public since the day it happened on September 12, 2014.
Exacerbating suspicion about the case has been the various suppression orders which have limited the public’s access to information and led initially to the media publishing inaccurate information. Some of these have since been lifted and it’s now public knowledge that William, and his sister Lindsay (a pseudonym given to her by the Children’s Court) were living with foster parents, who still cannot be named, at the time of his disappearance.
Since he was 9 months old, William had been living away from his biological parents – who also cannot currently be named – and with his foster family. Lindsay had gone into emergency foster care at 3 months old. According to NSW Police, the children’s birth parents were involved in various domestic violence incidents over many years and struggled with drug and alcohol issues.
On the day before William’s disappearance, his foster parents drove him and his sister from their home in Sydney to the mid-north coast to visit their foster grandmother, as they did frequently.
The following morning, William and his sister were playing on the back deck, watched over by his mum and grandma. At around 10.30am William, who had been playing a game he called Daddy Tiger, jumped off the deck and, explained his mum, “ran around the side of the house and roared”. Moments later, when
“We can still find him”
– CAROLINE OVERINGTON
William’s mum realised she could no longer hear the little boy, she went to investigate. Unable to find him, she became increasingly concerned and the family began searching the house, then the neighbourhood. At 10.57am William’s mum called triple zero. In the hours that followed, it was widely assumed William had wandered into nearby bushland while playing.
By early afternoon, William’s biological parents were told about his disappearance. It’s now known that at the time the couple had been attempting to get their children
back into their care and had occasional supervised contact visits. The foster family, however, were looking into legally adopting them. As a result, in the hours after William’s disappearance, police focused their inquiries on his biological parents. But CCTV and mobile phone records, among other things, quickly discounted them as suspects. William’s foster family’s involvement was also ruled out.
Five days into the search, Strike Force Rosann made clear police no longer believed William was lost but that something had happened to him. The main theory was that he’d been taken by an opportunistic abductor. Yet, over the coming weeks, months and eventually years, despite persons of interest being investigated, William still hasn’t been found.
Since 2014, strike force detectives have infiltrated paedophile networks, worked undercover and searched the internet and dark web looking for clues. Around 15,000 pieces of evidence have been examined.
In March 2019, the case went before the Coroner’s Court with Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame stating the aim was to conduct an inquiry that would hear testimonies from all possible witnesses. The third and final phase resumes this month in Taree. Because William was a foster child, his parents were unable to make a public appearance or plea after his disappearance to protect the identity of his sister. But in September 2015, to mark the first anniversary of his vanishing, they appeared on 60 Minutes without showing their faces.
“William was stolen,” his foster mum said during the emotional interview. “Whatever word you want to use, he was abducted, he was kidnapped, he was stolen.”
Also unable to make any public declarations or even admit their connection to him, William’s biological parents felt frequently sidelined and ignored during the investigation, writes Overington. Both parents were desperate for answers. “One of the problems with all the suppression orders people maybe formed the belief that [they] didn’t care; of course they care, they care desperately and they really want him found,” explains Overington.
Along with other members of the birth family, William’s father attended the Coroner’s Court. “Although he feels like he wasn’t there every day for William’s life, or known life, he’s there for him right now,” says Overington.
William’s birth mum found the experience traumatic. “[Her] health is more precarious. She found it very difficult the day she came to court as there are a lot of people there; she wept and didn’t come back after that. For her, it’s better to stay away.”
The effect on William’s foster parents’ lives has been overwhelming, too.
Says Overington: “They loved him dearly. I think they love him still. I think they are shattered [and] in some ways destroyed by what has happened.
“This has completely upended their lives.”