Almost four years after three-year-old William Tyrrell disappeared from outside his grandmother’s house in Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast, police have began a fresh search within bushland which is estimated to be about 4km away from of where he was last seen.
According to 7News, Using information uncovered by Strike Force Rosann this month, “detectives have now identified an area of bushland at Cedar Loggers Lane and Batar Creek Road as an area of interest.”
The news site also reports that up to 50 members of the NSW Police Public Order Riot Squad were called in to investigate three square kilometres of bushland at the end of William’s grandmother’s street earlier in June.
Tuesday, June 26 would have marked the boy’s seventh birthday and a Facebook page dedicated to finding William made an official comment about the difficult day.
“Today is William’s 7th Birthday. If he were home, he would be opening his presents and running through the house laughing and playing with his new toys. If William were home, we’d be taking him to school with chocolate crackles to share with his friends,” the post began.
“If William were home, after school there would be lots of play and then we’d have his special Birthday dinner with all his favourite foods. There would be the Birthday cake William would have chosen, and as he’s blowing out his candles he’d make his birthday wish while we all sing ‘Happy Birthday Dear William.'”
“But sadly, William is not at home. Today marks another heartbreaking year and another Birthday without him. It’s been 1384 days since we last saw William and for every single one of those days our thoughts have been of William – hoping he is being loved, hoping he is being cared for; and hoping that soon William will be found. We miss him every minute of every day… especially today.”
As previously reported on WHO, head of investigation Det. Chief Insp. Gary Jubelin said in a statement: “We need to able to satisfy a court—whether that be coronial or criminal—that William’s disappearance was not through misadventure,” he says. The officer hopes the $1 million reward offered by the NSW government will provide motivation for someone who knows what happened to William to come forward.
“Someone knows what happened; they might not be the one who took him, but know who did, and they’re potentially concealing a criminal offence.”
In the meantime, renewed efforts to find evidence in William’s 2014 disappearance—he was playing with his sister in his grandmother’s front yard, just metres from the house where she and his foster mother were making a cup of tea when he vanished—have prompted his biological grandmother Natalie Collins to call for a halt to the search. “This is just opening old wounds for us … they’re never going to find William,” she told News Corp. “You’re wasting your time—he’s dead.”
This is a developing story.
This article originally appeared on WHO.