After seven years of fruitless investigation, it is the 96 minutes between when William Tyrrell’s foster father drove to the shops and police arrived at his grandmother’s house that could finally bring the heartbreaking case to a close.
Detectives believe there may also be a crucial clue in the famous picture of little William, who was three when he disappeared, playing in a Spider-Man costume.
The detailed timeline from the moment that picture was snapped could now prove key to the investigation, which has dramatically ramped up this week with forensic officers swarming the property in Kendall on the NSW Mid North Coast.
Several contradictions have reportedly set alarm bells ringing for the new investigation team when Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw took charge of the hunt.
Police hope revisiting the very first minutes of the boy’s disappearance could reveal crucial evidence that has been hiding in plain sight for seven years.
William’s foster parents – who live in Sydney’s wealthy Upper North Shore – have been thrust back into the spotlight by the latest renewed hunt for the boy.
It is understood detectives have already identified an apparent contradiction over whether or not William (pictured) was wearing shoes at the time he vanished
Police are going back over the events of the day William vanished (pictured, William’s foster mother at home in Sydney)
On Wednesday, the 56-year-old woman and 54-year-old man were charged with common assault of a child, who can’t be named for legal reasons, but is not William.
They have now brought in lawyers and intend to fight the charges, claiming the alleged injuries could have come from a fall from a horse, reports The Australian.
William’s foster mother has become a person of interest in the case, however, the case has had hundreds of persons of interest.
Being a person of interest does not necessarily suggest William’s mother is a suspect and she has vehemently denied any involvement in his disappearance.
The dramatic development came after detectives said they have important new information which has led them to launch a renewed massive ‘high intensity’ search.
They have brought in scores of officers and search experts to scour bushland near the home of William’s foster grandmother in Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast.
The family were visiting the grandmother, who has since died, when the youngster was last seen on the morning of September 12, 2014, with police embarking on a forensic search around the property.
The 56-year-old foster mother and 54-year-old foster father (pictured) have been charged with common assault of a child who can’t be named for legal reasons, but is not William
It is understood detectives have already identified an apparent contradiction over whether or not William was wearing shoes at the time he vanished, with the three-year-old barefoot in the famous picture of him playing in a Spider-Man costume.
The intriguing observation has cast new light on the entire timeline of the day William disappeared.
On the day he vanished, William woke early in the same room as his foster father, with his foster mother sleeping in another room of her own mother’s home.
William watched videos on his foster father’s iPhone before he was dressed in his beloved Spider-Man outfit, but not without a row.
‘I remember the discussion I had with him about putting on his Spider-Man clothes because I wanted him to wear a singlet,’ the foster mum said at the time, a later inquest heard.
‘He didn’t want to wear a singlet, so the compromise was he’d wear a Spider-Man t-shirt underneath his Spider Man clothes.
‘So he was spider-manned out completely.’
Pictured: Who’s who is William Tyrrell’s complicated family tree – from his wealthy north shore foster parents to a ‘homeless’ biological dad and single mum raising his two younger brothers
Police have brought in scores of officers and search experts to scour bushland near the home of William’s foster grandmother in Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast (pictured)
At 9.30am, the foster father leaves his mother-in-law’s home, verified by tracking on his phone.
At 9.37am William was pictured barefoot on the verandah of the home in his Spider-Man outfit, in a snap which has now become central to the hunt for the toddler.
However his foster mother reportedly said he was wearing shoes to protect his feet from bindiis and dog droppings when he vanished less than an hour later.
Police now believe there were no bindiis at the home, and the family dog was dead, reports The Daily Telegraph.
Around 10am, William’s foster mother said she made tea for her and her mother, and sat with the boy on the rear verandah – not the tall verandah at the front, which is one focus of the new police search.
His foster mother told the 2019 inquest into his disappearance that the child had been playing with dice and pencils but changed to play a game called ‘Daddy Tiger’.
The dramatic development came after detectives said they have important new information which has led them to launch a renewed massive ‘high intensity’ search (pictured)
‘He crawled around on the ground for a bit, playing tiger. He jumped off the deck, ran around the side of the house and roared,’ she said.
The picture taken around half an hour earlier also shows William roaring for the camera.
Gerard Craddock, counsel assisting the coroner told the inquest: ‘Whilst dressed as a Spider-Man he was actually a tiger. You can see him roaring.’
Police estimated William vanished between 10.05am and 10.20am.
Around 10.30am, William’s foster father texted his wife to say he was returning home after buying newspapers nearby.
The foster mother said she saw the text after she had started looking for William.
Police are sifting through soil and ripping up plants (pictured) in a search expected to last two to three weeks
‘It sounded like he was just around the corner. And then I heard…nothing. And Mum and I were still talking and I could still hear nothing and I think that’s really weird – it’s too quiet,’ she told the inquest.
She went round the other side of the house but still couldn’t find him.
‘And I’m just standing there, thinking “why can’t I see him?”‘ she added.
‘I just stop and I go: “William where are you? I can’t see you.” I’m looking and thinking where is the red, because in all this green I’ve got to be able to see some red, and I couldn’t see anything.
‘And I couldn’t hear anything. It was silent. There was no wind. No birds, nothing. And at mum’s, sound carries so well, I mean, unbelievably. You can hear everything and I could hear nothing.’
She told her mother: ‘I can’t see William.’
After searching inside and underneath the house, the foster mother said she asked a neighbour to help look for William before jumping in her mother’s car.
The car formerly owned by William’s foster grandmother has now been seized by police and undergoing intense forensic testing (pictured)
That car has now been seized by police and undergoing intense forensic testing.
She drove down the road looking for him before briefly speaking to a truck driver who stopped to help then returned home.
She told the inquest that she thought: ‘This is crazy, he isn’t out here, he couldn’t have got this far.’
Another text from her husband told her he would be ‘home in five’ and she said she ran outside to see if he had William with him.
At 10.57am, shortly after the pair began looking again, the foster mother called police and said they had been looking for him for ’15 or 20 minutes’.
At 11.06am, Senior Constable Christopher Rowley arrived at the scene and the police investigation began.
William’s foster parents will appear on the assault charges at Hornsby Local Court on November 23.
Timeline of William Tyrrell’s disappearance
Still missing: William Tyrrell vanished from his foster grandmother’s home five years ago
2014
September 12 – Dressed in a Spider-Man outfit, three-year-old William Tyrrell goes missing from the garden while visiting members of his foster family on the NSW north coast.
September 21 – Police stop searching for the missing boy after scouring surrounding bushland and neighbouring houses.
2015
January 20 – Police search the home and business of washing machine repairman Bill Spedding, who had been due to carry out repairs at the house at the time the three-year-old went missing.
Detectives take items for testing including a mattress, computer and vehicles. They drain his septic tank.
January 23 – The washing machine repairman publicly denies any involvement in William’s disappearance and says he and his wife are on the verge of a breakdown due to the public attention.
February 19 – Homicide detectives take over the case and say it’s likely William was abducted.
March 2 – Police fruitlessly search an area of bushland near Bonny Hills for three days after a tip-off.
April 17 – William’s foster parents speak publicly for the first time in an emotional video released through police which does not identify them.
April 17 – Police say the boy may have been a victim of a paedophile ring.
September 6 – The Nine Network’s 60 Minutes reveal two suspicious cars were parked on the street the morning William went missing.
September 12 – ‘Where’s William’ week is launched one year after he disappeared.
2016
September 12 – A $1million reward is offered for information leading to William’s return.
2017
August 24 – William’s foster child status is revealed after a landmark court ruling.
2018
June 12 – NSW Police announce the start of a four-week forensic search of bushland conducted by Strike Force Rosann.
June 14 – William’s grandmother scolds police who have failed to find the young boy after four years, and claims their latest search is ‘just for show’.
June 26 – The forensic search continues on what would have been William’s seventh birthday.
June 27 – Strike Force Rosann announces it will move the search to an 800sqm block of bushland just 4km from where William was last seen alive.
June 5 – The latest search ends with Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin saying the case could soon go to a coroner.
August – Investigation leader Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin and a sergeant get into a disagreement during a briefing.
September 13 – Police reveal they found a burned out car wreck belonging to a former person of interest.
December 19 – Coroners say William could still be alive and the inquest will determine if he died or not.
2019
February – DCI Jubelin is removed from the investigation amid a misconduct probe.
March 25 – The inquest into William Tyrrell’s disappearance begins, with William’s biological and foster parents appearing over the course of a week.
The inquest’s first batch of hearings focused on William’s family situation and the events leading up to his disappearance.
Both his foster and biological parents were quizzed, as were neighbours who helped in the search.
It was disclosed that William’s biological parents absconded with him for six weeks in 2012, following a children’s court order.
William’s biological father slammed authorities for letting them down.
‘Authorities f***ed up … The minister had a duty of care to keep William safe until he was 18. That was not the case at all.’
May: DCI Jubelin quits the Police Force.
June: Four charges of breaching the Surveillance Devices Act are laid against DCI Jubelin. He denies any wrongdoing whatsover
August: The second tranche of inquest hearings began on Wednesday August 7
Inquest hears Bill Spedding, a NSW mid-north coast repairman and one-time person of interest in the disappearance of William Tyrrell, met his wife for coffee about 9.30am in Laurieton, a 15-minute drive from Kendall, on the day William went missing.
They then attended a school assembly across the road to see a child in their care receive an award.
The inquest heard how a man who claims he saw William Tyrrell unrestrained in the back of a speeding car on the day the child went missing was waiting for police to interview him to tell them what he saw.
He told the inquest he contacted police but did not hear back about an interview.
It took it took almost 1000 days before he was able to reveal what he saw to police.
The coroner orders an urgent probe into the final image that was taken on the day William vanished as metadata suggests the picture may have been taken 118 minutes earlier than originally thought.
The image has a ‘created time’ of 7.39am and a ‘corrected time’ of 9.37am, a new document from the 2000-page evidence brief.
The coronial inquest has been delayed for another eight months with the next round of hearings happening in March 2020.
November 11: The deputy state coroner releases footage of William Tyrrell and family at Heatherbrae McDonalds, on September 11, 2014
Feb – March 2020: Gary Jubelin defends four charges of illegally recording person of interest Paul Savage in court hearing
February 21: Daily Mail Australia reveals Frank Abbott was arrested in custody for the purposes of a police interview about William’s disappearance
March 2020: The coronial inquest into William’s disappearance resumes but stops with two days to go due to the coronavirus outbreak
April 6, 2020: Magistrate Ross Hudson delivers his verdict in Gary Jubelin case
April 8, 2020: Jubelin is convicted of all four charges and fined $10,000. Ex-cop says he will appeal
June 22, 2020: Police and SES launch new search for William Tyrrell near Herons Creek, where Abbott once lived
June 26, 2021: Police acknowledge William Tyrrell’s 10th birthday
November 15, 2021: Detectives return to Kendall after receiving new information and admit they are searching for a body. His foster parents are reported to be persons of interest in the case
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk