William Tyrrell

On the morning of September 12, 2014, three-year-old William Tyrrell was playing in the front yard of his foster grandmother's home on Benaroon Drive in Kendall, a small town on the mid-north coast of New South Wales, Australia. He was wearing a Spider-Man costume and was playing a game of roaring like a tiger with his foster mother, who was on the front deck. When she went inside briefly to make tea, William disappeared.

His foster mother searched the property and neighborhood immediately, then called police. An extensive search was launched involving hundreds of police, State Emergency Service volunteers, and community members. The heavily wooded area around Kendall was searched extensively, including bushland, waterways, and properties. No trace of William was found.

A $1 million reward was offered for information—the largest in New South Wales history at that time. The case was referred to a coronial inquest and investigated by Strike Force Rosann, one of the largest police operations in Australian history. Investigators explored theories of abduction, accident, and involvement of known persons.

In 2021, police returned to the foster grandmother's property and conducted extensive searches of surrounding bushland, focusing on a new theory. The foster mother became a person of interest, with investigators exploring whether William's death may have been a result of an accident that was then covered up. However, no charges have been filed. The coronial inquest continued into 2022 without a definitive finding. William Tyrrell's disappearance remains Australia's most prominent missing child case.