William Tyrrell search returns to where it started in town of Kendall
Updated
The search for the boy in the Spiderman suit will today return to where the mystery first began.
Since William Tyrell's 2014 disappearance, there has been no trace of the then three-year-old, but police are hoping to change that with a new operation announced yesterday.
An extensive, large-scale forensic search began today in Kendall on the NSW mid north-coast where William went missing from his foster grandmother's front yard.
It will take four weeks and will see roughly 3 square kilometres of bushland in Kendall scoured.
Police said the difference between this search and the initial search when William disappeared is the intention behind the operation.
"The initial search, while extensive, was focused only on finding William — a little boy who was lost — and not with a view of deliberate human intervention," police said in a statement.
Detective Chief Inspector Gary Jubelin said the purpose is now on gathering definitive evidence that William met with foul play which can be presented to either a criminal or coroner's court.
He said the search was on a smaller scale but more intense with 50 officers on the ground.
"[But] I don't want this interpreted that the investigation is coming to an end," Detective Jubelin said.
"We are very mindful that it's over 3.5 years since William disappeared and we haven't solved this matter.
"We are going to continue on until we do."
Until police know conclusively that William is not alive they will act with the possibility that he is, but Detective Jubelin said "we have grave, grave fears".
Someone watching this will be uncomfortable
Police still strongly believe there are people with information about what happened to William who have not come forward yet.
Detective Jubelin made another plea but this time with a warning.
"You are at a risk of committing a criminal offence by concealing an offence if you don't come forward," he said.
"I suggest you come to us before we come to you.
"I dare say with the intense interest in William's disappearance that someone watching this right now might be feeling very uncomfortable."
Anyone who notices someone acting strangely at the mention of William should pass that information on, Detective Jubelin said.
Attached to William's case is the first $1 million reward for information in New South Wales history.
If this current search returns no answers, police will continue on with numerous lines of inquiry which involve several persons of interest.
The case so far
The initial search in Kendall took 10 days with hundreds of local residents and emergency service workers looking for William in forests, creeks and paddocks.
Nothing relevant to his disappearance was found.
Although it was first believed he wandered off and got lost, police later said the circumstances in which he disappeared led them to believe he was abducted.
William was wearing a Spiderman suit and playing with his sister in the front yard of the Benaroon Drive house when he was last seen.
That house is directly across the road from the Kendall State Forest.
In 2015, the homicide squad also searched dense bushland around Bonny Hills, 20 kilometres from where William was last seen, but no trace of the boy was found.
That search was prompted by a tip-off and was two months later forensic teams searched the home of tradesman William Harrie Spedding.
Mr Spedding was understood to have given a quote at William's grandmother's house four days before he disappeared.
Police seized a number of items and the property's septic tank was drained.
Over the course of the investigation, police have also investigated reports of a paedophile ring operating in the area where William disappeared and seized a white station wagon for forensic examination from a property in Wauchope, north of Kendall.
Thousands of people in Australia and around the world have come together to raise awareness for the hazel-eyed boy since 2014, proving how the case has captured many hearts.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, crime, police, kendall-2439
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