Tyrrell foster mother says boy’s skeleton will be found ‘in 40 years’, phone tap reveals

William Tyrrell’s foster mother told a friend the missing boy’s skeleton would be found “in 40 years” when bushland was cleared, in a phone tap played before the inquest into his disappearance and presumed death.

The woman, who cannot be identified under a suppression order, also admitted she doesn’t know why she didn’t immediately call triple zero or her husband when she thought the little boy had been taken, secret NSW Crime Commission recordings played to the inquest have revealed.

The foster mother of William Tyrrell (inset) outside another court earlier this year.Credit: Nikki Short and supplied

A long-running coronial inquest returned this week and is examining the police theory that William died accidentally and the foster mother disposed of his body, with a 2021 video from the commission shown to the hearing on Thursday.

In the interview before Commissioner Michael Barnes, William’s foster mother was played a phone tap of a conversation between her and a friend in 2021 in which she expressed her anger about the lack of progress in an investigation that “wasted millions and millions of dollars and … got nothing”.

“People are dying, people who might know are dying,” she said.

William’s skeleton will be found in “40 years”, she said, “when they are doing clearing”.

An enormous police operation in 2021 failed to find William’s remains or to unearth further evidence.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Counsel assisting the 2021 Crime Commission, Sophie Callan SC, asked the woman repeatedly if she had moved William’s body after he died in an accident and whether she expected his body to be found in nearby bushland.

“No. Because I didn’t take him there. I didn’t take him anywhere,” she said.

Quizzed on why she didn’t call triple zero or her husband as soon as she began to suspect the boy had been taken, the woman could not answer. It was up to 20 minutes before she contacted emergency services.

“I don’t know … I thought that maybe William had walked off and that [the foster father] may have seen him on the road and may have picked him up,” she told the commission in 2021.

“I panicked. ‘Where is he?’ I don’t know where he is.

“I cannot give you an explanation as to why I didn’t call him, I don’t know why.”

William vanished from his foster grandmother’s home on the NSW Mid North Coast a decade ago in what has become Australia’s highest-profile missing persons case. No trace of the then-three-year-old has been found despite searches, a $1 million reward and a decade-long investigation involving more than 600 persons of interest.

The house from which William disappeared.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Asked about her thinking on the day, William’s foster mother said a range of scenarios ran through her head.

“I might’ve thought he tripped, I might’ve thought he wandered off. I probably had all sorts of thoughts,” she said.

The NSW Crime Commission investigates serious and organised crime and has a range of unusual powers, including compelling people to testify and offering no right to silence.

The coronial inquest, which began five years ago, heard earlier this week that investigating officers believe William accidentally fell from the balcony of his foster grandmother’s home. There has been no evidence presented in open court.

“We all accept that you loved William and would not have done him harm. We know accidents can happen … If that’s what occurred on the day William went missing, this is your chance to safely and privately explain that,” William’s foster mother was told at the beginning of the two-day Crime Commission interrogation played to the inquest.

The inquest will resume in December. Police will apply to the deputy state coroner to recall William’s foster mother to the stand.

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