The case of missing three-year-old AJ gripped the nation over the weekend. Photo / Facebook
The case of missing three-year-old AJ gripped the nation over the weekend. Photo / Facebook
As Australia — and the world — grapples with how a 3-year-old autistic boy survived in the bush for three days, the family of Anthony "AJ" Elfalak have hit out at conspiracy theorists.
The case of the missing toddler gripped the nation over the weekend.
NSW Police deployed an extensive search party after he vanished without a trace on Friday morning from his home on a 650-acre property in Putty, about 75km south of Singleton, in the NSW Hunter Valley.
Just before midday on Monday, it was announced the non-verbal toddler had been found.
"Missing 3-year-old boy Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak has been located a short time ago. He is yet to be assessed by NSW Ambulance paramedics. More info to come," NSW Police shared in a tweet.
AJ was found 470 metres from his home by a rescue helicopter at a creek within the property at 11.30am on Monday.
"Polair1 was flying over a ridge with a creek bed in it and they notice some movement. They were able to clearly identify a small boy in a puddle in a creek bed. That was the movement to alert Polair there was someone there," Superintendent Tracy Chapman said.
AJ was found on Monday after vanishing from his home on Friday. Photo / Facebook
Chapman highlighted that while it was incredible news the little boy had been found alive, the police investigation surrounding where he had been was still ongoing.
"From a policing perspective we will still be continuing our inquiry to understand what has occurred over the past three days and how he came to be found after three days but certainly what occurred during the course of those three days," she said.
Family members celebrated after hearing AJ had been found alive. Photo / Channel 9
AJ sustained some minor scratches and nappy rash, but otherwise was deemed to be in healthy condition.
Alen Hashem, who regularly spoke on behalf of the family through the ordeal, blasted anyone who was doubting their story.
"No one could understand what this is like, what happened and what we went through," he told 7NEWS.
"There's nothing, people saying 'crocodile tears, you guys aren't showing emotion, the best friend is very suss with Anthony's (AJ's father) wife'. Like, just rubbish.
Suspicious details surrounding disappearance
There were a multitude of suspicious details that emerged during the three-day search for AJ, with family members convinced someone was responsible for taking him.
AJ was last seen at about 11.45am on Friday, September 3, at a home on the property on Yengo Drive, where police arrived at about 12.30pm.
BREAKING NEWS: Missing three-year-old boy Anthony ‘AJ’ Elfalak has been located a short time ago. He is yet to be assessed by NSW Ambulance paramedics. More info to come.
His family were instantly concerned, given AJ had never wandered away from the home before.
His mum Kelly believed her son had been "taken", while his godfather Alan Hashem recalled seeing an unknown vehicle near the property before he went missing.
"I think he's been taken … If he was around here, I would've found him by now," Kelly told 7 News.
Hashem, who lives next door, was also convinced someone else was responsible for AJ's disappearance.
"A suspicious vehicle was spotted outside on the farm's private road … right before AJ went missing," he said.
On Monday, he said the family would continue working to find out what happened to AJ.
"We still need to find out what happened. We need answers. This is our little fortress. How did he leave? Who did he leave with? Did anything sinister happen?" he said, ABC reported.
"You know, these are questions that need to still be answered. You know, and we will not stop until we actually find the truth."
Vehicle seized from property
It was revealed on Monday that a ute had been seized by police from a property at Bulga, 78km northeast of where AJ was last seen.
There were no further details on whether the ute was the same "suspicious" vehicle Hashem recalled seeing.
An abandoned derelict shack about one kilometre from AJ's home was also declared an active crime scene.
An extensive search party was established in search of AJ. Photo / Facebook
Items from inside the house, reportedly strewn with rubbish, were seized, according to Channel 9.
Petrol station CCTV was also seized by police from Colo Heights, about 40 minutes from the Putty property.
Footage missing from security cameras
Hashem said footage from when AJ went missing had been mysteriously deleted from CCTV cameras installed on his property.
"We installed it so high you can't tamper with it and we had two mechanisms of storage, cloud storage and physical storage, and there's no data in that timeslot," he told Today.
The case of missing three-year-old AJ gripped the nation over the weekend. Photo / Facebook
"We provided the user name and password to the police, we provided them the actual original memory card."
Appearing on Sunrise moments later, he elaborated more on the grim discovery.
"We did have CCTV footage, I (installed) it myself as a matter of fact, I put it high up, so high in the tree that when the (Fire Brigade) said, 'Let me get the CCTV footage,' we went in there and I can't explain it, the window in which he went missing (is gone)," he said.
"Probably a much greater, larger window, about four hours, there is footage missing.
"We do have two mechanisms in which we store it, through cloud-based, which is obviously internet-based, and we have also got the physical memory cards, both have been provided to police and they are investigating further."
Chapman said the missing footage would form part of the police investigation.
"I don't understand what has happened with some footage however it [will] subsequently [form] part of our inquiries still," she said.
AJ finally found
There were emotional scenes on the property after it was revealed AJ had been found, with family members and friends seen cheering and celebrating the news.
His whereabouts for the period he was missing remains unknown, however Chapman said police were working on the assumption that AJ was in the bush for the full three days.
