Police said this morning officers will be carrying out a major new search operation around where William Tyrrell was last seen.
Police said this morning officers will be carrying out a major new search operation around where William Tyrrell was last seen.
Police have revealed "many hundreds of officers" will search three locations in the area where Australian boy William Tyrrell vanished more than seven years ago — and conceded that they are most likely looking for the little boy's remains after new evidence came to light.
William was playing with his five-year-old sister in the yard at his foster grandmother's house on Benaroon Drive, Kendall, on the NSW mid-north coast on September 12, 2014, when she suddenly couldn't find him. He was three years old at the time and wearing a Spider-Man costume.
William has been missing for more than seven years. Photo / Supplied
Police said this morning officers will be carrying out a major new search operation around where the little boy was last seen.
"This activity is in response to evidence we have obtained in the course of the investigation, not speculative in any way, we are acting on behalf of the coroner and in conjunction with the colonial orders, she will be kept updated with regard to our progress," said Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett.
"There is a large amount of work to be undertaken, we will be working specialist areas and people from outside the police force. We are very hopeful we can bring this matter to some sort of conclusion."
Asked whether they were looking for William's remains or whether they were looking for him alive, he said it was "highly likely" officers would be looking for a body.
"It's highly likely that we, if we found something it would be a body. We are looking for the remains of William Tyrrell, no doubt about that," he said.
He said he believes the search will "take us a degree towards finding out what happened to William".
"I'm not anticipating a swift end to the investigation by any means," he said.
He was asked about what new evidence had come to light — including whether some of the information had arisen from a Channel 10 podcast on the boy's disappearance — but he remained tight-lipped.
"There is a lot of activity in around this, it's all related," he said.
A Network 10 spokeswoman told news.com.au that audio files from the podcast were subpoenaed by the NSW Coroner's Court.
"We can confirm that raw audio files from the podcast by Lia Harris, 'Where's William Tyrrell?' – including interviews with William Tyrrell's foster family and others close to the case – were subpoenaed by the NSW Coroner's Court," she said.
The update from police today comes after detectives revisited the Kendall and announced new information had "come to light" in mid-September.
Detective Chief Superintendent Darren Bennett. Photo / NCA NewsWire-Christian Gilles
Over the past seven years William has been the subject of the largest police investigation in Australian history.
NSW police have conducted multiple searches, collected thousands of pieces of information, identified hundreds of persons of interest, followed multiple leads of inquiry and posted the first one-million-dollar reward in NSW.
In September, police confirmed "new information" had come to light about the disappearance.
The Homicide Squad's Strike Force Rosann marked the seven-year anniversary of the disappearance by revisiting his foster grandmother's home on the NSW mid-north coast.
"Further information has since come to light, as part of our ongoing review of the materials gathered by investigators since the moment William went missing seven years ago," Strike Force Rosann Officer-in-Charge, Detective Chief Inspector David Laidlaw, said.
Police did not comment further as to what the new information was, but the previous week it was reported detectives had renewed their inquiries into a person of interest who had previously been dismissed.
Detectives and analysts from the State Crime Command's Homicide Squad have been investigating William's disappearance under Strike Force Rosann, and believe his disappearance was as a result of human intervention.
However, William Tyrell's foster parents have called claims by police sources that they are closing in on a new suspect in the toddler's disappearance "fake news".
"Once again we are forced to watch others objectify William for personal gain," a statement from the couple released on September 7.
"To publish unverified claims, without consideration to the hurt that articles of this nature cause, is disrespectful and devastating to everyone who knows and loves William," the statement said.
A statement released by William's foster family in September said his loved ones had "never given up hope" on finding him again, and made a heartwrenching plea for those involved in his disappearance to finally come forward.
"On the seventh anniversary of William's disappearance, we ask of the person or persons involved; how much more heartbreak must be endured before you come forward," the statement read.
"When you took William, you plunged our world into perpetual darkness. How long will you continue to make us suffer?
"When will you choose to come forward and end the nightmare we've endured every day for the past 2558 days since you took William from his happy life?"
Detectives are continuing to conduct interviews, searches and other investigative activity, including those under Coronial Orders, as well as reviewing all available materials with the assistance of various experts.
The A$1 million NSW Government reward for information that leads to the recovery of William and the circumstances surrounding his disappearance, remains in place.
