New police searches for William Tyrrell’s remains

A search for William Tyrrell’s body by hundreds of officers will begin at three separate locations on NSW’s mid-north coast today.

Missing foster child William Tyrrell.

NSW police no longer believe that William Tyrrell is a little boy lost. They think he is dead.

“We are looking for the remains of William Tyrrell, no doubt about that,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett, at a dramatic press conference on Monday morning.

A search for his body by hundreds of officers will begin at three separate locations on the NSW mid-north coast this afternoon.

Until now, some police, and some family members, have held out hope that William would be found.

But Detective Bennett said the searches, which will concentrate on thick bushland around the house on Benaroon Drive in Kendall, on the NSW north-coast, where William was last seen on 12 September 2014 – were for remains.

William Tyrrell in his Spider-Man costume.

“This is not speculative in any way, we are acting on behalf of the coroner and in conjunction with the colonial orders,” said Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett, at Monday’s press conference.

“There is a large amount of work to be undertaken, we will be working specialist areas and people from outside the police force. We are very hopeful we can bring this matter to some sort of conclusion.”

Asked whether they were looking for William’s remains or whether they were looking for him alive, he said: “It’s highly likely that we, if we found something it would be a body. We are looking for the remains of William Tyrrell, no doubt about that.”

He said he believes the search will “take us a degree towards finding out what happened to William”.

Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Christian Gilles

“I’m not anticipating a swift end to the investigation by any means,” he said.

It’s not yet clear why police have decided to turn the case into a homicide investigation, rather than a child who was, like Cleo Smith, 4, from Western Australia, abducted.

The cases are eerily similar: William was three years old when he went missing from outside a house on Benaroon Drive in the village of Kendall, on the NSW mid-north coast.

Cleo was missing for 18 days before being found alive.

William has been missing for more than seven years.

It was at first assumed that he was lost. He did not know the area well, and it is bushy, with many waterways. Key forensic evidence was lost as police, dogs, horses, local kids, the SES and others marched through the village, trying to find him.

When Cleo went missing, the focus was immediately on abduction. The campsite was sealed; rubbish collected and fingerprinted; data from mobile phone towers was downloaded; every person in the area was asked to explain themselves.

The NSW Coroner is expected to recommend, when she makes findings in the Tyrrell case, that such moves become standard procedure when a child goes missing.

The last people to see William alive were his foster mother, who cannot be named to protect her identity; her mother – his foster grandma – who died in March; and his sister, who was four years old, and likewise cannot be named.

Detectives in September announced that new information about William’s disappearance had “come to light.”

An arrest was said to be imminent, but no arrest was made.

William Tyrrell’s foster parents still believe the case can be solved.

“On the seventh anniversary of William’s disappearance, we ask of the person or persons involved; how much more heartbreak must be endured before you come forward,” the statement, released last September, said.

“When you took William, you plunged our world into perpetual darkness. How long will you continue to make us suffer?

There is a $1 million reward for information that leads to the recovery of William and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance.

An inquest launched in March 2019 is yet to make findings.