A police theory that William Tyrrell’s foster mother loaded his body into a car and disposed of it close to where he died will be examined as an inquest into the toddler’s disappearance reopens.
The three-year-old went missing while playing at his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall, on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, on 12 September 2014.
On Monday, counsel assisting Gerard Craddock SC reopened the inquest for a fifth round of evidence, saying the focus would be on a theory the foster mother was involved in unlawfully disposing of William’s body after his accidental death.
He said the prevailing theory was that the boy’s foster mother found him already deceased after a fall from the balcony at the Kendall property.
Police believe the foster mother might have then loaded his body into her mother’s Mazda.
Police believe she then alerted a neighbour to the boy’s alleged disappearance, before driving down the road to dispose of his remains in some undergrowth, the deputy NSW coroner Harriet Grahame heard.
It was only then that she called triple zero, according to investigators’ theory.
“Police assert that she must have quickly resolved that if the accidental death were to be discovered, she might lose [her other foster child],” Craddock said.
As part of the renewed investigation based on that theory, police seized the Mazda and conducted a forensic search of Batar Creek Road, where they believe the body was placed.
Craddock said that 2021 search “left nothing to chance”.
The foster mother has always denied having anything to do with William’s disappearance.
The inquest on Monday heard from Prof Jon Olley, a Griffith University expert in geomorphology who helped police design and carry out the extensive 2021 search.
He said layers of vegetation and sediment were removed at designated locations downstream from the property where Tyrell was last seen.
Vegetation and soil were excavated and searched up to 10 metres from the edge of Battar Creek Road, River Oaks Drive and Cobb and Co Road.
Soil in buckets was examined by hand and water was pumped from the nearby creek.
Animal bones were found but no bones or clothing belonging to William were located, Olley said.
The expert said the vegetation was so thick it would have been impossible for anyone to travel too deep into the bush.
Olley said “in our assessment, raking and removing all of the vegetation, all the loose leaf litter, and then raking through what’s underneath – that would pick up any remains”.
He said through consultation with another expert it was determined wild dogs could have taken William’s bones if they had been placed within the search area.
“I wrote an email to a wild dogs expert and asked him a series of questions which related to whether, if remains were there, could they have been removed from the site by animals. And he responded saying ‘absolutely, yes’.”
The polyester Spider-Man suit William was wearing when he disappeared would have lasted hundreds of years if the three-year-old’s body had been dumped in it in a local creek, Olley said.
Rubber-soled shoes and sandals would have lasted for decades before breaking down.
Further evidence was scheduled this week from a truck driver who drove past the site where the foster mother allegedly disposed of the body.
The inquest into William’s disappearance began in March 2019 but was adjourned in October 2020. No one has been charged in the case and a $1m reward for information still stands.
Despite a decade-long investigation involving hundreds of persons of interest and dozens of searches, no trace of the boy has been found.
The current round of the inquest will examine the 2021 search of the Kendall property and surrounds – the third by police into William’s whereabouts.
Craddock said after an initial search for the toddler in September 2014, further sweeps of the area using GPS trackers and police dogs were conducted in 2018 and 2021.
“The 2018 forensic search was an intensive, thorough search,” he said. “By comparison, the 2021 search was at a further level of intensity.”
In looking for William, police followed through on tip-offs from prison inmates and clairvoyants claiming to have information.
One lead involved a car that was heard doing a U-turn in the street outside the foster grandmother’s home about the time of the disappearance, Craddock said on Monday.
But police had been unable to verify that information or track down the vehicle. The inquest continues.
