Police narrow focus of William Tyrrell probe on foster mother

Detectives investigating the disappearance of toddler William Tyrrell have narrowed their focus on his foster mother.

Detectives have narrowed their focus of the William Tyrrell investigation to the missing toddler’s foster mother.

The family was staying with William’s maternal foster grandmother when he went missing in September 2014 and the grandmother’s grey Mazda car has been seized for forensic examination.

The foster grandmother died in March this year aged 88. Her and her daughter were the only two adults at her Kendall home when William was last seen in the famous photograph of him smiling and roaring like a tiger in his Spider-Man outfit.

The car seized by police.

It will be examined over several weeks by forensic detectives.

The Mazda was tracked down by Strike Force Rosann detectives at a home in Gymea in Sydney’s south last Tuesday. It has been taken to a secure facility where it will undergo extensive examinations and analysis for several weeks.

Police are working on the theory that the three-year-old fell to his death from the balcony of the foster grandmother’s house in Benaroon Drive as this week investigators have begun digging up plants in the garden beds beneath the balcony and using the latest technology to look for DNA and blood.

William Tyrrell.

Police using blue light to look for traces of blood during the search on Tuesday.

The foster mother, aged 56, had been caring for William and his older sister since March 2012.

The Daily Telegraph is not suggesting the foster mother is guilty, only that she is now a police suspect.

William’s sister was recently taken from the foster parents and police will next week apply in court for apprehended violence orders against the foster parents, naming the 11-year-old girl in their application.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller on Monday said that “there is one person in particular we are looking closely at”.

Police said they do not believe William is still alive and are looking for his remains.

Originally published as Police narrow focus of William Tyrrell probe on foster mother