Today marks the third anniversary of William Tyrrell‘s disappearance and police and family members have given updates on what’s an incredibly difficult milestone.
It’s been a year since NSW Police announced an unprecedented $1 million reward for information leading to the little boy’s recovery. Now Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin has addressed the media once again and says: “I can assure you that we haven’t given up on the investigation. I can assure you that we won’t give up on the investigation.”
He also reiterated the $1 million reward was very much still available to anyone with information that could lead to William, stating “human intervention” was at play in William’s disappearance from his foster grandmother’s garden in Kendall on September 12, 2014.
William’s foster family issued impassioned pleas on Facebook, speaking of their “unspeakable heartbreak and endless tears” since William went missing.
“Where are you William? Where are you our precious little boy?,” they wrote last night. “Tomorrow will mark the 3rd anniversary of your abduction and 3 tragic years of unspeakable heartbreak and endless tears. Tomorrow will mark 3 years without you, 3 years of not knowing where you are, 3 years of keeping hope in our hearts that with every new tomorrow will come the day that you’ll be found.”
“William, we will never stop loving you. We will never stop looking for you, and until the tomorrow we yearn for comes, we will never give up hope that you will be found and returned home to the arms of your loved ones where you belong.”
It comes just one month after a bombshell court ruling that William was indeed in foster care at the time of his disappearance. He was therefore in the care of the Department of Family and Community Services (FACS), being cared for by his foster parents when he went missing from his foster grandmother’s house.
Statutory restrictions previously prevented this from becoming public knowledge but a Supreme Judge has now deemed this information to be “legitimate public interest”.
Supreme Court of NSW judge Justice Brereton is also quoted as noting “the tragic probability that (William) is no longer alive”.
William’s biological parents, Karlie Tyrrell and Brendan Collins, have also now been named after three years of keeping their identities private.
William’s biological mother, Karlie.
It’s understood William’s father has battled drug and alcohol problems and has also served time in prison.
The facts about missing toddler William Tyrrell
When was William last seen?
William disappeared from his grandmother’s home in Benaroon Drive, Kendall, on the NSW Mid North Coast at 10:30am on September 12.
Police believe the toddler disappeared in a five-minute window while playing alongside his sister in his grandmother’s yard.
What does he look like?
William has been described as being of Caucasian appearance with dark hair and hazel eyes. He was last seen wearing a Spider Man suit. William would have turned six years old in June.
What is being done to find William?
An initial bushland search for William, which included police and dozens of volunteers, failed to find the boy. Since September 2014 Strike Force Rosann has been formed to investigate the disappearance and while some persons of interest have been named there have been no arrests made.
A new digital ad campaign promoting that reward will be rolled out across the country this week. Anyone with information is being urged to contact NSW Police or report it anonymously to Crime Stoppers.
