http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...s-nearby-forest-hope-finding-alive-fades.html
Police now say missing toddler William Tyrell may have been picked up in a car, as search shifts to state forest
By Sarah Michael In Kendall
Published: 08:36 AEST, 18 September 2014 | Updated: 18:05 AEST, 18 September 2014
Police and search teams are now focusing on the possibility that missing toddler William Tyrell was picked up by someone in a car when he disappeared last Friday.
The massive search for the three-year-old has shifted from bushland near his grandmother's home in Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast to a state forest nearby.
The week-long search by hundreds of police and volunteers hasn't found a trace of the boy, who was last seen playing in his grandmother's front yard.
Police and NSW State Emergency Service crews will conduct a 'more evidence-based search' in the Middle Brother State Forest, about five kilometers from where William was last seen.
'We understand William wouldn't have walked that far but with assistance he could have been taken there,' SES liaison officer Tim Richards told search crews on Thursday.
Authorities say that if William became lost alone in the bush he is unlikely to still be alive.
Teams of officers in cars and on foot will scour roads in the 48 square-kilometre forest looking for items that may have been discarded from a vehicle, such as clothes or other clues to what happened to the boy.
William was dressed in a Spiderman costume when he was last seen.
Police say bushland surrounding the grandmother's home has now been thoroughly searched, with no sign of William found.
The three-year-old vanished without a trace from the garden at his grandmother’s house last Friday where he had been playing with his sister.
His grandmother and mother went inside the home at about 10.30am and within five minute he was gone.
Neighbours say William, his sister and mother had only arrived in town the day before.
William's grandmother is an active and well-liked member of the tight-knit Kendall community and had recently been in hospital.
His grandfather died earlier this year and his grandmother needed someone to care for her in the house, so William's family had travelled from their home in Sydney to stay with her.
Within an hour of his disappearance, phones all over Kendall were ringing as news spread.
In the six days since, search crews made up of more than 200 police officers, State Emergency Service volunteers and residents have scoured kilometres of bush surrounding the property.
Investigators have had hundreds of tips and possible sightings.
Police have scanned CCTV footage from local businesses, searched neighbours' properties and questioned locals, in some cases covering the same ground more than 10 times.
But no one has found a trace and police dogs failed to even locate a scent of the missing three-year-old.
Police are still investigating a number of tips, including reports that a 'well-dressed, well-spoken' man stopped at a local shop on Friday morning to ask directions to Batar Creek Road, which leads to Benaroon Drive where William was last seen.
But there have been plenty of false leads.
The Australian reports that Family and Community Services have also been called into the investigation as police admitted the only hope they hold for William being alive is if he had been abducted.
On Tuesday, a crew of volunteers came across a patch of blood near a creek just over 2km from William's grandmother's house.
Searchers were sent away and a forensics truck arrived to investigate, but test results showed it was not human blood.
Bush trackers have found clues such as a knife sheath and a set of small footprints but police have investigated all tip-offs from bush searches and still don't have a solid lead.
On Wednesday police received advice that there was no possibility William could still be alive if he is lost in the bush.
At the same time, police have ramped up the investigative side of their search for William and the possibility of 'human intervention' in his disappearance, bringing in investigators from the State Crime Command and officers from all over New South Wales.
Six days after he was last seen, William’s family are in despair as they hope for a clue that will help find their boy.
'They're under immense pressure and as you can imagine the numbness has most probably set in,' Superintendent Paul Fehon said on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the community of Kendall is devastated by the prospect that something sinister could have happened in their small town.
Residents stop on the main street to share their bafflement and to compare stories of the hours they've spent searching in the bush.
Local women who have been volunteering the canteen at the search's central headquarters at Kendall Show Ground worry about how their children are going to be spending the upcoming school holidays.
'I won't let my daughter play outside,' says Paula Trad, 41.
'I've only been here two years but it's going to make it hard for a lot of people to let their kids out, everyone's going to be worried.'
Sandree Peterson, 71, who has been spending 19-hour days at the canteen serving food to worn-out police and volunteers, says the town has been changed forever.
'People are edgy,' says Ms Peterson, who has lived in Kendall for 26 years.
'Before this happened my next-door neighbour’s kids would go up to the skate park by themselves.
'Country kids say "Hi" and "G'day" to everyone but this will change the kids.'
Search crews will continue searching the nearby bush for William in the coming days but they are no longer operating at night.
Police are still appealing for information about any person or any vehicle that were seen in Kendall on Friday morning.
But as numbers of volunteers diminish, police are reviewing the scale of the operation, which could shut down by next week.
'We were hopeful of being able to find William before this but as time passes we continue to search for anything,' Supt Fehon said.
'Any lead, any evidence, or any hope of finding young William out there.'
Strike Force Rossann, based at Port Macquarie, was established on Tuesday and comprises of special investigators from Mid North Coast and Manning Great Lakes local area commands as well as personnel from State Crime Command and Forensic Services Group.
Ambulance Paramedics, fire fighters from Fire & Rescue NSW and Rural Fire Service volunteers, SES volunteers and community members from across NSW are also involved in the search after being moved by William's disappearance.
Superintendent Fehon said the search operation had expanded to a 3km radius from William's grandmother's house, after the area within a 1.5km radius was thoroughly searched on Monday.
Police are appealing for anyone who saw any people or vehicles 'in the vicinity of Benaroon Drive or in the Kendall township on Friday to contact police'.
'We are not ruling out any possibilities, investigators are exploring every possible avenue of inquiry,' added.
More than 30 skilled investigators have been brought in to help.
'It's up to information from members of the public. Someone would know something if young William is not lost in the bush,' Supt Fehon said.
'Whilst we have our teams here searching and his survival is definitely our priority, we have an open mind and we are broadening our investigative teams at present.'
Family friend Nicole said the family has released more pictures of William in the hope someone in the community had seen him.
'There's extra photos out there now of William and they just want people everywhere to see his face, to know what he looks like and to just say and tell the police anything that they might know or any slightest bit of information that they have if they've seen him,' she said.
Nicole said William liked playing outside but he did not have a tendency to wander off.
'He didn't live here [in Kendall] so he wasn't in the bush but he was definitely outdoorsy,' she said.
'He loved being outside but he knew the limits, he knew the perimeters, he knew where to go and where not to go.
'He was taught really well about the places that he could play.'
She added that William's family is 'completely distressed' four days after he first went missing.
'They just want William back,' Nicole said.
'As every day passes it's just harder and harder for them.
'They're just really grateful though of the police and the SES and the volunteers and the community continuing to maintain the search and maintain the hope.'
Local police said there were 60 volunteer searchers on Tuesday, compared with 160 on Monday.
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Police say they have received a flood of calls with support from people hoping to help in the cause.
Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Alternatively Crime Stoppers can be contacted via their online reporting page.
