Tyrrell Search Takes Unexpected Turn (Part 2/2) | Forensic Files

[Music] Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at
any time you need support, please contact your local crisis center. For suggested phone numbers, for
confidential support, and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this
episode on your app or on our website. Today's episode involves crimes against children and won't be suitable for all
listeners. Please note that the names of several individuals have been changed due to
court suppression orders preventing them from being identified, while others have
been changed to protect their privacy. By the time William Tier had been missing for 3 years, police had almost
700 persons of interest remaining on their list. But among the legitimate leads they received, they were also
inundated with bogus sightings, prank phone calls, and clairvoyant prophecies. On the third anniversary of Williams
disappearance, lead detective Gary Jubilant spoke publicly about the case for the first time in 12 months.
With William's status as a foster child now able to be reported on, Detective Jubilant attempted to quash the ongoing
rumors by making it clear that both the foster parents and biological parents had been ruled out of the investigation.
He insisted that William's foster parents had been bringing him up in a warm and loving home and that they had
nothing to do with his disappearance. Detective Jubilant appealed for anyone with information to come forward,
clarifying that he didn't want to get bogged down with irrelevant details. It's 3 years down the track. Let's be
realistic. He said, "We're not interested in sightings of a child running around in a Spider-Man suit
playing in the McDonald's car park. What we are interested in is people that have
genuine information. That information might be in the form of someone that has concerns about someone
they know, someone within their family, in the way they react when William Tier's name is mentioned.
We're interested in speaking to those people. We can do it in the strictest of confidence and I would encourage those
people to come forward. It sounds counterintuitive to say we're making progress, but each day we're
learning more about what happened at the time and we're eliminating people. We're
making progress each day. We don't think this has been a success by any stretch of the imagination, but
we're not going to give up. Once again, police canvased homes around Kendall, hoping that the passing of time
might propel someone to talk. If anyone knew anything, they were remaining as tight-lipped as ever.
However, what Detective Jubilant hadn't publicly revealed was that he'd set his sights on someone.
[Music] Paul Savage was a retiree aged in his late 70s who lived on Benaroon Drive
directly across from William's foster grandmother, Mary Saunders his front verander looked towards the
back of Mary's house where William was last seen playing. Police had interviewed Savage in the
early stages of the investigation and discovered that he was the only person outside of William's foster family who
had heard the children playing outside on the morning that William disappeared. According to Savage, the morning of
Friday, September 12th, 2014, had started out like any other. At around 8:30, he'd gone for his daily walk in
the bush behind his property. Afterwards, he ate breakfast on his back deck before pottering around the house
in preparation for an upcoming trip to pick his brother up from the hospital. At around 10:35, Paul Savage's wife,
Heather, left for her weekly bingo game in Lauron. Savage had walked Heather to her car,
but said he hadn't heard any of the commotion going on down the street. He only discovered that William had gone
missing at around 11:00 a.m. when a neighbor knocked on his door to inform him. Savage told the police that he
immediately went looking for William down the fire tracks in the bush behind his property. He looked for 2 hours
before finding himself a bit lost. Eventually, he found his way home and sat down to have a cup of tea.
Shortly after, at around 1:30 p.m., some of Heather's relatives arrived for a pre-arranged visit, and they all joined
in on a line search. Savage said he continued searching until around 700 p.m. and then all weekend,
only stopping on Monday for his road trip to pick up his brother from the hospital in Lismore, which was a 4-hour
drive away. Heather Savage's statement to police supported her husband's version of
events. She had left for bingo at around the same time that William was thought to
have gone missing with CCTV footage from the Kendall Tennis Club confirming that
Heather's car had left town at 10:42 a.m. She said she hadn't seen or heard anyone
or anything out of the ordinary at the time. Although there was nothing outwardly
suspicious about Paul Savage or his movements, detective Gary Jubilan couldn't shake the feeling that
something wasn't quite right. With Heather at bingo, there was no one who could vouch for his movements
between 10:35 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on the day of William's disappearance. It also struck Detective Jubilant as odd
that Paul Savage said he'd gotten lost in the bush during his search, given that he walked in the area every day.
Savage also had a reputation with the locals for being a bit of a sticky beak. Detective Jubilant therefore found it
strange that he claimed to have returned home to have a cup of tea without checking in with anyone to see if
William had been found. If he could be nosy when not much of anything was going on, then why keep to
himself when genuine drama was unfolding around him? These factors alone weren't
incriminating, but they became of interest to the strike force after covert cameras were placed in the
bushland surrounding the home of the man who police had dubbed Gorillas in the mist.
One of the cameras went missing and it turned out that Paul Savage had it. He held on to the camera for 6 weeks before
reporting it to the police station. At that point, Detective Jubilan's suspicions were intensifying.
He looked into Savage and discovered that his home hadn't been searched until 3 days after William went missing. He
hadn't been asked to provide a witness statement until 2 weeks later. When Paul Savage had driven to Lismore
on the Monday after William went missing, his car hadn't been stopped or searched either.
Theoretically speaking, if Savage had been involved in William's disappearance in any way, this would have given him a
sizable window of time to dispose of any evidence. It turned out that Savage had also
exhibited some odd behaviors in the past. The local postwoman had a restraining order against him for
harassment, and Williams foster grandmother, Mary, told the police that Savage often showed up at her house
uninvited. She claimed he had once stood outside her glass doors just watching her
inside. These interactions had made Mary feel so uncomfortable that she'd approached
Heather Savage and asked her to have a word with her husband about it. Strike Force investigators posited
several theories centering around the savages. They even considered the possibility
that Heather could have accidentally hit William with her car when leaving for bingo, and Paul Savage had then gone to
great lengths to protect her by covering it up. Or maybe it was Savage himself who had
accidentally hit William. He drove a Nissen Pajgerro four-wheel drive, which in the eyes of the
three-year-old might have looked like a Land Rover. Investigators theorized that William
could have seen Savage's car mistaken it for his foster father's and ran towards
it only to be accidentally run over. They also considered the possibility that William could have entered the
savages property and some other kind of accident had occurred. By the time the savages came onto the
strike forc's radar, Heather Savage was no longer able to provide a statement. She had passed away 6 months into the
William Tur investigation. Her death left her husband devastated. For a month afterward, he wore a photo
of Heather around his neck. Detective Gary Jubilant didn't necessarily think that Paul Savage was
involved in Williams disappearance, but he did think he might be the closest thing the police had to an eyewitness.
He also wanted to be confident that he'd covered all bases before eliminating him
as a person of interest. Despite some push back from other members of the strike force who didn't
think Savage had anything to do with it, Detective Jubilant organized warrants authorizing listening devices to be
installed in his home, car, and telephone. [Music] Officers were tasked with listening to
the hundreds of hours of audio files taken from the covert surveillance of Savage and discovered he had a habit of
talking to himself. While he went about his daily life at home, he often chatted out loud,
sometimes to his deceased wife. Most of his mutterings were irrelevant, but some further sparked Detective
Jubilan's suspicions. Wanting to either pursue or eliminate Savage from his investigation once and
for all, Jubilan hatched a plan. Officers would hide a dirty Spider-Man suit along the bush tracks behind his
property and covertly film his reaction. If he had an extreme response or attempted to conceal the suit, they'd
have further reason to suspect he was hiding something. More importantly, if Savage did have
knowledge of where Williams remains were, seeing the suit might compel him to visit that site, inadvertently
leading police to William's body. The plan went ahead on the morning of Wednesday, July 26th, 2017, less than 2
months before the 3rd anniversary of William's disappearance. As expected, Paul Savage got up and went
for his usual morning walk along the bush tracks behind his home. When he approached the area where the
Spider-Man suit had been planted, he walked a few steps past it, then bent over and paused for approximately 12
seconds. Savage then returned home without reporting anything to the police. That evening, listening devices in
Savage's home recorded him saying to himself, "You know I love you, Angel. I bloody screwed up. A
[Music] Investigators were torn. Some were convinced that Savage had seen the suit and had stopped to get a closer
look at it, while others believed he hadn't noticed the suit at all and had coincidentally paused to look at
something else. The Spider-Man suit was left alongside the bush track again the following
morning. This time, Savage stopped and prodded the costume with his foot. He then
turned around, walked home, and called the police to report the sighting. 2 days later, the listening devices
captured Savage talking to himself once again. He said something along the lines
of, "Well, I'm going to run into your property, too. This is my place. You're in my place. You do what I want. Hey,
I'm not interested in your [ __ ] mate. You're a little boy. You're nobody. You don't tell me. I'll tell
you. I did tell you. Detective Jubilant still wasn't sure what to make of Paul Savage.
Many others on the task force thought he was chasing a dead end, but Jubilant wasn't prepared to rule him out
entirely. In August 2017, Detective Jubilant brought Savage in for questioning. He thought that if he interrogated him
with enough pressure, he might be compelled to say something incriminating when he returned home.
But Savage steadfastly maintained that he had nothing to hide. He vehemently denied the police theories that he or
Heather could have accidentally killed William, saying there was no way in the world that either of them would ever
hurt a child. He also denied having seen the Spider-Man suit in the bush the first
time he walked past it. But as Savage drove home from the interrogation, the listening device in
his car recorded him saying, "Make sure you don't tell anyone, love. They are right after me. Don't tell anyone, love,
please. They are right after me. Sorry." The following month, Savage was recorded
at home saying to himself, "They're going to find something. Mom, don't do on me. Okay. Oh, mom, what do I
do?" Although these recordings were equal parts bizarre and compelling, they proved nothing.
By this point, the surveillance team had amassed thousands of hours of audio of Paul Savage, and there wasn't enough
time to listen to it all. Many of the officers wanted to move on, but in early October 2017, Savage said something that
Detective Jubilant couldn't ignore. In a recorded conversation with his daughter about whether or not he had
seen the Spider-Man suit that first day, he remarked, "I didn't see the suit. From memory, I just seen this white
thing on the ground that was covered in dirt." Detective Jubilan was stunned. The
Spider-Man suit that William Tier was wearing on the day he disappeared had a white spider motif on the back, but this
detail had never been released to the public. It was something that only the person who took him could have known.
The suit planted in the bush didn't have a white spider on it either. In fact, there was no white on it at all, just
red, blue, and black. So why, Detective Jubilant wondered, did Paul Savage recall seeing a white item
of clothing? Jubilant wanted to press him about this detail on a phone call, but by this
point, the warrants on his telephone intercepts had expired. The devices in Savage's home were still
present, but it meant Jubilant's end of the conversation wouldn't be on the record.
This could present an issue if Savage ever accused the detective of saying anything problematic further down the
track. He'd already complained about being treated poorly during police interviews, saying the air conditioning
was too high and that he hadn't been offered any water. To cover himself, Detective Jubilant
decided to put the call on speaker phone and then use his own mobile to record the conversation.
Jubilant called Savage and asked him about the Spider-Man suit he'd spotted in the bush.
Savage repeated his claims that he'd just seen a white bit of cloth, but made no mention of the red or blue of the
suit. There still wasn't any solid reason to suspect he had any involvement in William's disappearance, but Detective
Jubilant believed there were enough red flags to keep pursuing him. Over the following months, he visited Paul Savage
at home several more times to question him further. Knowing that the covert listening
devices in Savage's home produced poor quality audio and their batteries sometimes went flat, Detective Jubilant
secretly recorded their conversations on his mobile phone to ensure he had a clear record of what was said.
Despite his efforts, the constant pressure he applied led nowhere, and the strike force was no closer to making any
arrests. Meanwhile, there was another name that had come up multiple times during the
investigation into William Tier's disappearance that couldn't be ignored. Frank Abbott was an elderly man aged in
his 70s who made a living doing odd jobs and collecting scrap metal. At the time
of Williams disappearance, he'd been living rough in a caravan 10 km north of Kendall.
Referred to by some towns people as a quote dirty old man, Abbott apparently had a habit of making people feel
uncomfortable. He wasn't trusted around children with many parents warning their kids to stay
away from him. He wasn't trusted around animals either. At least one of his neighbors had accused him of beastiality
after walking into a disturbing scene involving Abbott and their family dog. Frank Abbott was already known to police
as he had a long wrap sheet that included various charges involving breaking and entering, theft, firearms
offenses, and escaping from custody. At the time William Tier went missing, he was out on bail after being charged
with sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl. Strikeforce interest in Abbott grew after a woman who lived across the
paddic from him claimed to have heard the pained scream of a young boy coming from the direction of where Abbott lived
on the day after William went missing. Since then, Abbott had apparently made some odd comments.
When police were searching the house of white goods repairer Bill Speding, Abbott allegedly told two people that
the police were looking in the wrong spot. To another, he claimed that he'd smelt a
dead body in the bush near Logan's Crossing, an area 4.7 km north of Kendall. Abbott allegedly said it wasn't an
animal because he knew the difference between a dead kangaroo and a dead human smell.
That comment alone was incriminating. In 1968, 17-year-old Helen Harrison went missing while riding her bike towards
her home in the Sydney suburb of Morelia. One week later, her semi- naked body was
found buried in a shallow grave southwest of Sydney. She had been robbed of her watch and $20
cash. Frank Abbott was spotlighted as a person of interest, but his parents supported
his alibi that he'd been home at the time Helen went missing, and there was no other evidence to link him to the
crime. Helen's murder remained unsolved for decades until the early 1990s when Frank
Abbott was serving time for unrelated offenses. While in prison, Abbott allegedly
confessed to a fellow inmate that he was responsible for killing Helen Harrison.
He ultimately faced trial for Helen's murder, not once, but twice. The passing of time and death of
critical witnesses meant the first jury couldn't reach a verdict, and the second
found him not guilty. Abbott often bragged about beating the murder charge with one local saying he
saw it as a badge of honor. Frank Abbott also had a connection to another person of interest in the Tyr
investigation. Word around town was that Abbott had been telling various people, "I know
where William Tier is. Why don't you check Jeff Owen's place?" Jeff Owen was a qualified electrician
and a general tradesman aged in his 60s who lived in a caravan on the property next door to Frank Abbott.
The two men were known to be friends and had been seen driving around together in
the past. Locals were somewhat wary of Owen, who reportedly had schizophrenia and had
once killed a neighbor's dog after failing to take his medication. He came on the police radar after it was
revealed that he had a direct connection to William Tier's foster grandmother, Mary Saunders.
Owen was Mary's handyman, and he had been booked in to repair her deck in midepptember 2014.
At 9:10 on the morning of William's disappearance, Owen had called Mary to let her know the work would be delayed
due to an unexpected stay in the hospital. Mary had missed the call as she'd been
outside watching the children ride their bikes at the time. Police made some inquiries and
discovered that Jeff Owen and Frank Abbott had worked on some repair jobs together in the past.
They considered the possibility that Owen could have offered Mary's deck repair job to Abbott, who then drove
past the property and came upon William, grabbing him in a moment of opportunity.
But when questioned, Jeff Owen denied being friends with Frank Abbott. He said they were merely acquaintances and that
he'd sometimes given Abbott a ride. Frank Abbott didn't have a driver's license or own a car, but further
inquiries revealed that he had access to one. His friend Ray Porter drove an old
white Commodore station wagon similar to the one Williams foster mother claimed to have seen on Beneroon Drive on the
morning of Williams disappearance. According to some witnesses, Ry often let Abbott borrow it.
By 2018, Frank Abbott was being held in prison pending an upcoming trial for unrelated child sex offenses when police
questioned him about William Tier. He claimed that on the day the toddler went missing, he'd been in the nearby
town of Warho. He said he'd done some repair work at a takeaway shop before having lunch at the Uniting Church and
then making a deposit at the bank. Abbott denied having anything to do with Williams abduction, but implied that he
knew who did. Abbott told police they should look into Tony Jones, the convicted child sex
offender who had momentarily shared a cell with white goods repairman Bill Sping.
Jones had since been released from jail after serving just two of his three-year
sentence for child sexual assault. Abbott claimed that in early 2015, a few months after William went missing, Ray
Porter drove him out to a property in Logan's Crossing near an old radio tower and log dump site.
There they met two men who were driving a white station wagon. One of the men allegedly introduced
himself as Tony Jones. With them was a little boy If the investigation into William's
disappearance had exposed anything, it was just how many sex offenders had chosen the quiet life of the midn north
coast to call home. But Whitewood repairman Bill Sping was not a convicted sex offender.
Although he remained a person of interest in the William Tier investigation by 2018, nothing further
had been uncovered to link him to the crime. In March that year, Sping faced trial
for the 1987 child sexual assault charges against him. The woman at the center of the
allegations was Speding's ex-wife. She was unable to provide any compelling evidence for the claims, saying she had
lost crucial files. On the stand, Spetting's two alleged victims were reluctant.
As grown adults, they admitted they had no memory of the abuse ever taking place.
Had it occurred, Spetting's legal team suggested it was possible that the real abuser could have been their uncle. He
was a convicted pedophile and murderer who had been living with them around the time the alleged abuse was said to have
taken place. The judge ultimately threw the case against a bill spetting out, declaring
it was based on claims that had already been disproven decades earlier, and she ordered that legal fees be paid in his
favor. In turn, Sping settled a defamation claim out of court with the Daily Telegraph newspaper after they
incorrectly referred to him as a quote convicted pedophile. Although police had gathered no further
evidence to link Spetting to William Tier's disappearance, he remained on their list of persons of interest
regardless. By mid 2018, the case was approaching its 4-year anniversary with no major
breakthroughs, and the New South Wales police were starting to come under fire. The decision was made to refer the case
to the coroner for a formal inquest. Police told reporters that an inquest would give them an opportunity to test
information and evidence gathered by Strike Force Rosanne and allow them to further the investigation.
If nothing else, it would formally solidify that William's disappearance was the result of human intervention and
provide another step in getting answers for his loved ones. However, it also came with a downside.
Unless the coroner recommended that charges be laid against a particular individual and referred the case to the
director of public prosecutions, Williams case would inevitably go to the unsolved homicide unit, where police
resources were already stretched thin. In conjunction with the inquest, police announced that a new major search would
be conducted of the bushland behind Beneroon Drive. Unlike the initial search which was
focused on finding a lost child, this would be a forensic search of a 3 km radius focused on finding evidence such
as human remains or clothing. The aim was to rule out with forensic certainty that William hadn't gotten
lost in the bush and died. The search went ahead on Tuesday, June 19, 2018, led by officers from the
Public Order and Riot Squad. For 4 weeks, they scoured the rugged bushland, digging through leaf litter as
GPS trackers recorded their every movement. Various items were uncovered, but nothing that could be linked to William
Tier. [Music] As police began the monumental task of putting a brief of evidence together for
the coroner, it was revealed that someone on the strike force had spoken out about detective Gary Jubilan's
decision to record his conversations with Mary's neighbor, Paul Savage, without a warrant.
In doing so, Jubilin had breached the Surveillance Devices Act, a criminal offense that carried a maximum sentence
of 5 years in jail. Jubelin was given four charges and handed a legal document advising he was
no longer allowed to speak to members of the strike force or to William Tier's family.
With the inquest about to begin, this was a major blow. Detective Jubilant had been leading
William's homicide investigation for almost 4 years, and he knew the case better than anyone.
He'd also formed a close relationship with William's foster parents, and they relied on him for support.
Detective Jubilant fought to continue working on the case, even if it was only in an advisory capacity.
To the great disappointment of Peter and Angela, his request was denied. Feeling as though he had little choice,
Jubilan resigned from the police force as he awaited trial for the charges against him, which he intended to
strongly defend. At Gary Jubilant's twoe hearing, his defense barrista claimed he had both a
lawful right and an operational need to record his conversations with Savage to protect himself against any future
complaints that the man might make. She argued that Jubilant was entitled to a degree of leniency due to his
exemplary public service, calling this an exceptional case about an exceptional man.
Several high-profile and wellrespected figures within law enforcement testified on behalf of Jubilant's strong character
and professional work ethic, with some labeling him the best cop in New South Wales.
Williams foster parents were among his supporters. Angela teiered up as she spoke of the
connection her family had made with Gary Jubilin and how the investigation into Williams disappearance had suffered
since his absence. The prosecution argued that a potential future complaint could not be considered
a lawful interest to justify recording without a warrant. Jubilan was ultimately found guilty of
four counts of breaching the Surveillance Devices Act and given a $10,000 fine. The sentencing magistrate criticized the
Jubilant's constant pursuit of Paul Savage, accusing him of belittling and humiliating the elderly man with no
evidence, leads, or witnesses to suggest he had anything to do with Williams disappearance.
Jubilin appealed against the conviction, saying he'd rather go to jail than pay to do police work, but he lost the
appeal. Speaking to reporters outside court, Jubilant said, "I'm obviously disappointed by the decision of the
court, the court says that I went too hard to find out what happened to William Tier. I couldn't live with
myself if I did anything less. So, I stand by what I did. [Music] While all this was going on, Kendall man
Ray Porter's health was failing. Ry was the friend of Frank Abbotts, who drove an old white station wagon similar
to the one Angela claimed to have seen on Beneroon Drive on the morning of William's disappearance.
In early 2019, Rey was living in an aged care facility and didn't have long to live.
Wanting to get something off his chest, he struck up a conversation with a nurse
named Kirsten. Ry trusted Kirsten because he thought she had an honest face. He allegedly told her that on Friday,
September 12th, 2014, he drove to pick up his best mate from a shed behind Kendall school.
When he got there, his mate had a quote cute little boy with him. Ry claimed he had driven his friend and
the boy 300 km north. Kirsten asked if the boy was William Tier. Rey allegedly responded, "Yes."
Ry never told Kirsten his friend's name, but he had only ever spoken of having two friends, one of whom was named
Frank. By this point, Frank Abbott had been sentenced to 16 years in prison for 10
counts of child sex offenses committed against two young boys and a girl. When Rey passed away shortly after this
supposed confession, his sister-in-law was going through his possessions when she found a letter that had been sent
from prison. It provided instructions for Rey to pick up a boat and move it to the house of a
female friend. Ray's sister-in-law disposed of the letter, but remembered with clarity that
it was signed from your good friend, Frank. [Music] from prison. Frank Abbott's phone calls
were being recorded. During one conversation, Abbott told a friend that two people were involved in
taking William. He didn't want to say the names over the phone, so he asked his friend to come and visit so he could
give him the information in writing. The friend obliged, and as promised, Abbott handed over a note with two names
written on it. After the visit, Abbott's friend took the note directly to the police.
For reasons unknown, they did not publicly reveal the names of the individuals Abbott implicated, nor did
they disclose the extent of their investigations into them. As the inquest into William Tier's
disappearance grew closer, there still hadn't been any arrests in relation to his case.
Every possible theory about William's fate had been discussed by investigators, web sleuths, and curious
members of the public. They ranged from the optimistic that William had been abducted and raised by
a loving couple who were desperate for children to the outlandish that William had been abducted by aliens or fell
victim to a Yahi, the Australian equivalent of Bigfoot. The inquest aimed to clear things up
once and for all. By the time the strike force put together their brief of evidence for the
coroner, investigators had interviewed 263 local residents, retrieved CCTV footage from 181 locations around
Kendall and beyond, and received over 2,000 reports of sightings of William from Australia and overseas.
When the inquest commenced in March 2019, the courts clarified that Paul Savage was no longer being considered a
person of interest. The inquest, which was scheduled to be held in several installments, began by
establishing Williams family situation. Williams biological father, Tyler Martin, made no attempt to hide his
disdain for the Department of Family and Community Services. He told the court that the authorities
had failed by placing William in foster care, remarking, quote, "The minister had a duty of care to keep William safe
until he was 18. That was not the case at all." He expressed a disappointment about the
way William had been treated by Peter and Angela, telling the court, "I don't think the foster mother and father
really care about the kids, as they aren't their kids. They don't love them like we do."
One of the most compelling pieces of evidence in William's case was the now infamous photograph his foster mother,
Angela, had taken less than an hour before his disappearance. The seemingly innocuous image of William
in his Spider-Man costume looking up at the camera with his mouth a gape mimicking a lion's roar served as proof
of life and helped establish the timeline of the morning he went missing. It had also provided an exact
description of what the young boy was wearing at the time. However, during the inquest, a shocking
allegation surfaced regarding the photo. Meta data in Angela's digital camera showed that the photo had been taken at
9:37 a.m. on Friday, September 12th, 2014. However, the brief of evidence revealed
that the timestamp had been altered with the original photo having been taken at
7:39 a.m. When presented with this evidence, Williams foster parents vehemently denied having altered the timestamps in
any way. But those critical of the foster family weren't satisfied. if the photo had been taken at 7:39
a.m., they wondered what happened in those unaccounted for 118 minutes between the time the photo was taken and
when the time stamp was altered. Angela's explanation was that she didn't set the clock correctly when she
originally purchased the camera. It was a simple enough reason, but the skeptics weren't buying it.
Some wondered if the Foster family could have been involved in Williams disappearance and had altered the
timestamp to cover their tracks. The coroner ordered the police to conduct an urgent probe into those
unexplained missing minutes. Sifting through the content on the camera, examiners discovered another
photo that had been taken 11 days prior to William's disappearance. A television in the background had
captured the live broadcast of a morning news program, which featured an on-screen clock.
The time displayed was 118 minutes earlier than that shown by the camera's timestamp, proving Angela's assertion
that she simply hadn't ever set the camera's in-built clock to begin with. But some questions were also raised
about other details Angela had provided, including the dark colored sedan she claimed to have seen momentarily pull
into a neighbor's driveway on the morning William went missing. When first questioned by police, Angela
said she didn't get a look at the occupant. In an interview with Detective Jubilant
years later, Angela described the driver as an older gentleman with gray hair. When asked if there was anything in
particular that drew her attention to the car or its driver, Angela had responded.
If I think about it, he didn't look over. He just kept driving straight ahead. At the inquest, her story changed
significantly. Angela said she got a very clear view of the driver, describing him as a large
man who appeared to be aged in his 50s with a thick neck, beer belly, weathered skin, and thinning red hair.
Angela testified that the two had locked eyes, and the man gave her a challenging
stare as if to say, "I'm watching you." Despite police efforts, they'd never been able to verify this sighting or
track down the vehicle. The same went for the white station wagon and gray sedan Angela claimed had
been parked oddly on Benoon Drive that morning. Some found it hard to believe that
Angela hadn't remembered this detail straight away and had only come forward with the information 2 days later.
The only other person who recalled seeing any cars matching this description in Kendall was Mary's
neighbor, Paul Savage. He'd told police he'd seen the cars, too, but not on the day of William's
disappearance, but 2 days prior before William's family were in Kendall. A forensic psychologist who specialized
in memory, Dr. Helen Patterson, was called to give evidence. She told the court it was possible that
Angela had unintentionally created a false memory. Dr. Patterson explained that information
learned after an event has the potential to distort future versions of the event.
So, it was possible that Angela had seen the vehicles at a different time, but then mistakenly attributed the memory to
the morning that William went missing. The same went for Ronald Chapman, the man who claimed to have seen a
four-wheel drive speeding off through Kendall with an unrestrained boy matching William's description in the
back seat and a woman behind the wheel. Over time, Ronald had added extra details to his original story, including
that the boy he saw was wearing a cape. Dr. Patterson said it was possible that Ronald was incorporating information
that came to light after the event, such as news reports, into reconstruction of
his own memory. If this was the case, Dr. Patterson clarified that both witnesses were still
acting in good faith, explaining, "There are ways that people can report information that is not true, but they
are not lying. [Music] One of the first aspects that the inquest focused on was Whitewoods
repairman Bill Spedding's possible involvement in Williams abduction. It quickly became apparent that all
wasn't as it had appeared in the trial by media. Sping had always maintained that on the
morning William went missing, he and his wife had dined at a cafe before attending their grandson's school
assembly. Police had a bank statement that confirmed the cafe visit, and it turned
out that there were some witnesses who could attest to his alibi, with at least one parent testifying to seeing Sping at
the assembly. Sping's work records also confirmed that the replacement part for Mary's washing
machine still hadn't arrived by Friday, September 12th, giving him no reason to visit Beneroon Drive that morning.
Police had previously accused Bill Speding of deleting a voicemail from Angela off his phone.
Spetting's legal team had his phone records examined by an expert who found that Sping had been on another call when
the call from Angela came in. Because of this, the voicemail was never recorded on his handset.
The legal team accused the police of using this erroneous detail against Spetting during their interrogation of
him rather than having his phone records thoroughly checked themselves. Had they done so, it would have
eliminated one of the major pieces of information they were holding over him. As for Dean Pollard, the witness who
claimed to have seen Bill Speding's work van speeding down Ghost Road on the day
after William vanished, it was suggested that he made the sighting up with malicious intent.
It was known that Dean didn't like Spetting. At the inquest, Dean denied saying he
saw Spetting's car near Ghost Road on the day after William went missing. He stated,
"I didn't say it was Bill's van. I said it was the same color as Bill's van." Furthermore, video footage proved that
Sping was exactly where he'd always claimed to be that day at the local footie club celebrating the end of
season with a beer. With all this evidence brought to light at the inquest, it was clear that police
had targeted the wrong man. Bill Spetting was ruled out as a person of interest.
Outside court, he told reporters, "I know what I've been through is nothing compared to what William's
family are going through now. I wished the coroner all wisdom in getting to the bottom of this mystery."
Former case detective Gary Jubilan maintained that police made the right decision to investigate Bill Sping. He
told ABC's Four Corners program that while he regretted that things had played out so publicly, quote, "The
decisions that were made at the time were the decisions that had to be made, and I'm comfortable with that."
Sping's life was turned upside down from the negative publicity against him. His
business failed and he and his wife were subject to ongoing scrutiny from the community and greater public. The public
accusations had even led to violence. A stranger had once recognized Sping outside of a restaurant and grabbed him
by the throat. The Speddings had been forced to move, but their new neighbors were anything
but welcoming. One parent sternly warned Sping not to use his phone in his front yard in case
he was filming her children. She also advised him against stepping outside his house or opening his blinds if her
children were playing out in the street. Spetted eventually went on to sue the New South Wales police for malicious
prosecution in relation to the historical child sex abuse allegations, arguing that the charges had only been
placed to pressure him into giving evidence about William Tier's whereabouts. He also sought damages for false
imprisonment, loss of reputation, and 4 years of psychological counseling that he'd undergone in relation to the
ordeal. Spetting ultimately won the lawsuit and was awarded $1.5 million in damages with
his lawyer labeling it the worst police prosecution Australia had ever seen. His wife told Four Corners,
"I'd like to hear the police apologize to him for what they put him through, but I don't know whether he'll get that
because they told him they were going to ruin him and they did. By March 2020, the inquest into William
Tier's disappearance reached its second year when shocking testimony was delivered by two witnesses.
One was a woman who operated as an emergency foster career by taking at risk children into her home.
She told the court that in 2017 she was hosting two young brothers aged 7 and 10
who were given the pseudonyms of Jeffrey and Matthew. One afternoon the woman's teenage
daughter was babysitting for the boys when Jeffrey allegedly turned to her and said, "I know who took William Tur."
The comment shocked the teenager as it seemingly came out of nowhere. As Jeffrey spoke, Matthew looked at him
in wideeyed fear. He warned his brother to stop talking, but Jeffrey continued. He claimed that William was dead and had
been stuffed into a suitcase. As for the person who killed him, it was Frank Abbott.
Jeffrey and Matthew were survivors of Abbott's sexual abuse, the same crimes he was serving time in prison for.
The teenager told her mother about the boy's revelation, and she questioned the brothers further.
She asked why Matthew was so adamant that Jeffree keep this secret. Matthew said that Abbott had threatened
that he would snap their mother's neck if they told anyone. Both boys were utterly petrified.
When these testimonies were delivered to the court, Williams foster mother, Angela, became visibly upset.
Since the beginning of the inquest, she and Peter had openly criticized the police handling of the case. They
claimed there hadn't been a proper handover after Gary Jubilan was removed from the strike force and that the
police had seemed indifferent about the investigation ever since. According to author Alli Chumley, after
hearing the allegation that Frank Abbott had killed William, Angela appeared to be somewhat relieved.
In her book, Searching for Spider-Man, Ally wrote, "I sensed she had accepted that this was indeed what had happened
to her little boy. It seemed we now had two separate confessions that implicated
Abbott. One from an old mate on his deathbed and the other from a terrified child. On the face of it, neither had
any reason to lie." After this harrowing testimony, the coroner announced they would be hearing
from a final witness in a closed court session. The final pieces of evidence were due to
be presented in mid-March 2020, but just days before the scheduled date, the inquest was adjourned indefinitely due
to the CO 19 global pandemic. The coroner said, "I'm so sorry the world has done this. There's still work
to be done. There's nothing in relation to this matter which I consider to be a cold case.
Likewise, police assured that the investigation would be ongoing. In June 2020, they conducted a second
search of the log dump site in Logan's Crossing that had previously been pinpointed by Frank Abbott. As officers
scoured the site, they noticed something odd. Black electrical tape had been wrapped
around the trunk of a tree and the ground underneath looked particularly lumpy. The area was examined and several items
of interest were found, but nothing that related to William Tier. By the time the inquest resumed in early
October 2020, William's foster grandmother, Mary Saunders, had passed away. William's biological father, Tyler
Martin, was being treated in a mental health facility and was unable to attend the hearing.
Speaking on his behalf, Tyler's lawyer said, "Imagine having your son taken away and doing everything to try and get
him back, only for him to go missing." William's father hasn't been the same since he disappeared. In a way, two sons
have been lost. William's biological parents had suffered immeasurably in the years since
William went missing. In addition to losing their son twice, first to the foster system and then to
the unknown, they had been subjected to intense media scrutiny and public abuse,
with some going as far as throwing eggs at their home. A statement read in court on their
behalf said, "Because of some of the media, the world is blaming us. We have had 6 years of
pain and broken promises. We are grieving and we have been grieving for 6 years. We are angry and frustrated and
we want answers. Life will never be the same again. Living without answers makes things so
much harder. William's foster family also spoke of how difficult their lives had been since
William went missing. Not only had they lost the little boy that they loved so dearly, but they'd been the victims of
online trolls and ongoing harassment. Complete strangers convinced of their guilt had degraded their privacy,
stalking their home and encouraging others to do the same. Photographs had been taken of them
without their permission, and serious threats had been made against their lives.
Peter spoke of their ongoing anguish, saying their hearts had been split into a million pieces.
Angela said her arms still achd to hold William, stating, "Our world and the contented life we
knew collapsed around us. It's hard to understand how the sun could continue to shine."
Peter and Angela also voiced their discontentment about the way the investigation was going since Detective
Jubilant had been removed from it. Not only did they feel they'd been treated coldly ever since, they were
deeply disappointed when it was revealed in court that there were only five investigators currently working on the
strike force. Today, we are at the same point we were when the investigation began 6 years
ago, they told the court. How can the investigation into a missing three-year-old boy have its resources so
significantly reduced when there is so much more information that needs to be examined?
Every day, this heinous crime remains unsolved. The perpetrators remain at large and are capable of committing
other monstrous crimes against children. No other family should ever feel the need they have to fight tooth and nail
for those people in leadership positions to take notice. By this point, the inquest had been
running for 18 months. The coroner was left to review all the evidence presented before handing down her
findings 9 months later in June 2021. Many were critical about the inquest. Despite being one of the longest running
in New South Wales history and costing a significant amount to the taxpayers, it
didn't seem to have brought any answers. The allegations against Frank Abbott were compelling, but no physical
evidence had been uncovered to implicate him or any other person of interest in Williams disappearance.
Abbott had appeared at the inquest via video link from jail and was allowed to question witnesses about any allegations
made against him, but he was never questioned himself. The reason why is unknown, as the
coroner ordered that her decision not to do so be withheld from the public. The general consensus was that the
coroner would deliver an open finding, meaning that she'd confirmed that William was dead, but with no clarity
about how he had died. This led some to question whether it was worth it to put William's loved ones
through all the pain and discomfort of the inquest at all. Then came the breaking news that no one
saw coming. In mid 2021, it was announced that the coroner's findings would be delayed
indefinitely with no further explanation given. Then in November that same year, police
held a press conference to announce that they would be returning to Kendall to conduct several new searches based on
further information that had come to light. They said the searches were not speculative, but were being conducted at
three different locations in conjunction with evidence obtained during the course
of the strike force investigation as well as coronial orders. According to the police minister, a
number of people had been providing intelligence and working with the police, which had led to new
developments. Various news outlets subsequently reported that the police were focusing
on a new suspect who had previously been ruled out, a claim the police would not
officially confirm or deny. Williams foster parents called this fake news. They released a statement saying,
"Once again, we are forced to watch others objectify William for personal gain. Time and time again, we've watched
people lose sight of the tragic reality that William was a precious, innocent little boy who was taken from those he
loved and who love him deeply, forgetting that there is a heartbroken family waiting in hope that William will
be found. 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.
But those reports turned out to be true. The strike force had been focusing on one particular individual, William's
foster mother, Angela. Bolstered by inconsistencies in her story, the police had been conducting
surveillance of William's foster parents for some time. During one covertly recorded phone
conversation, Angela had made an interesting comment to a friend. She'd remarked that William's skeleton would
be found in quote 30, 40, 50 years time or 200 years when they are done clearing.
Police were particularly interested in this comment because of something Angela had told them 3 days into William's
disappearance. She said that before calling emergency services to report William missing, she
had driven her mother's car, a gray Mazda, about a kilometer down the road in case William had wandered off. The
coroner had pressed Angela about this detail at the inquest. Angela said that she'd had driven down
Beneroon Drive before turning right onto Betaar Creek Road. She drove along slowly with her windows down before
pulling up on the verge outside the old horse riding school on the corner of Cobb and Co. Road to let a truck pass.
Angela said she looked out for any sign of William's Spider-Man suit among the surrounding greenery, but all she saw
was bushland. Police were curious as to why Angela only disclosed this detail a few days
after William went missing. Then there was the ongoing question about whether or not Angela had really
seen two cars parked oddly on Beneroon Drive. It had taken her days to report this
sighting, too. And given that no one else had seen the cars that morning, there was increasing suspicion that
Angela could have created this detail to cover up something that she herself had
done. Despite being cleared by former case detective Gary Jubilan and his predecessor, the current strike force
had been working on the theory that William had died after accidentally falling from Mary Saers's front balcony.
They suspected that Angela could have panicked upon finding his body, fearing that his death would mean she'd lose
custody of Lindsay. She could have quickly bundled William into her mother's car and drove him to
Betar Creek Road, where she disposed of his body in the thick undergrowth. Mary's Mazda was the only other car at
the property at the time, and it had not been searched by police. If the strike force had any evidence to
support this theory, they kept it to themselves. Publicly, Angela had never swayed from
her story about William wandering off and seemingly disappearing into thin air. Over the years, she'd worked hard
to draw attention to the case and had publicly criticized the police when she felt they weren't doing enough to find
her foster son. She had made emotional, heartfelt pleas for anyone with information to come
forward and had spoken openly about how difficult life had been for her and her family since William vanished.
If there was any truth to the new police theory, many agreed that Angela had done
an incredible job of hiding it. An investigation was opened by the New South Wales Crime Commission, a highly
secretive criminal intelligence organization. The government-run body holds extensive
powers and can hold hearings and supply evidence obtained during its investigations to various other courts
and agencies. Such hearings are often a lastditch attempt to get reluctant witnesses or
persons of interest to provide information. Although these hearings are only inquisitorial in nature, individuals are
compelled to provide testimony. If they refuse, they can be charged with contempt of court.
If they lie while giving testimony, they face a perjury charge. Police visited Angela at her home in
Sydney and summoned her to appear at a crime commission hearing. One of the officers urged her to come
forward with the truth. You will have to live with it, he said. Today is the day you make a decision for
William. We understand decisions have been made for different people for different
reasons. We aren't guessing. We aren't bluffing. We know how. We know why. We know where
he is. [Music] In November 2021, Angela was subject to two days of intense questioning at the
crime commission hearing. As she sat before the panel, the police theory was put directly to her for the
first time. Angela repeatedly denied the allegations, crying and yelling out, "No, no, no."
Asked why she had gone for the drive down Betar Creek Road before calling emergency services, Angela said she
couldn't explain why. She said she thought William might have walked off and her husband might have picked him
up. It's a panic. All I could think was I don't know. I panicked. Where is he? I
don't know where he is. Angela told the commission. I don't know what I was thinking. All I
could think about was I have to find him. I can't give you an answer to that. I remember driving. I remember stopping.
I remember thinking I can't see him. This is silly. So, I went back. Angela was then told that the purpose of
the upcoming searches in Kendall was to look for evidence to support the police theory.
asked if the police could expect to find William's body during these searches, Angela replied.
"No, I didn't take him anywhere. I didn't touch him. If you want to dig up that entire house at mom's, dig it up."
On Monday, November 15, 2021, hundreds of police officers and specialists descended on Kendall.
Mary Sa's old Mazda was also seized from its new owners at a Sydney property and
taken for forensic examination. The police cut no corners as they searched Mary's former home on Benoon
Drive, which had been sold to new owners years prior. The front garden under the balcony was
extensively dug up with officers putting every shovel of soil through a sifter and sorting through the rubble by hand.
Luminal tests were conducted for any evidence of blood while cadaavver dogs searched the yard and underneath the
house and cameras were put into the septic tank. Ground penetrating radar was also
brought in to test a concrete slab under the home that had been installed in the
years since William went missing. News crews captured footage as officers bagged numerous items and took them off
site for further testing. The bushland on Betar Creek Road, where police suspected Angela could have
dumped William's body, was densely vegetated and overgrown. Machinery was brought in to clear an
area the size of three football fields while water was drained from the nearby creek.
For weeks, the team searched through over 15 tons of soil, sediment, and leaf litter by hand, looking for anything not
naturally occurring in the bushland. Police divers searched nearby dams, using their hands to claw through the
mud along the bottom. The search efforts were hampered by wild wind and rain, but one detective said
they were leaving no stone unturned. It's painstaking. It's difficult, he told reporters.
We're very happy with the progress so far, but we've got no great milestone to report.
[Music] If anything of interest was found during these three searches, police didn't say
and no charges were laid as a result. However, something else had been going on behind the scenes.
It turned out that listening devices installed in Peter and Angela's home as part of Strikeforce Rosanne had
allegedly captured something startling. Angela was apparently overheard assaulting another foster child in her
care, the identity of whom is unable to be revealed. According to the police, in October
2021, Angela had been attempting to intervene in the child's problematic behavior, which had been the source of
several arguments between herself and her husband as they discussed how to handle the situation.
Audio revealed that on separate occasions, Angela had kicked the child in the thigh and hit her with a wooden
spoon. She also allegedly threatened the child numerous times, once warning, "I'm going
to slap you across the face. Do you want to do that?" Another time, Angela said, "If I see or
hear you throw something around again, that won't be the only thing that gets thrown around. You only seem to listen
when I threatened to get violent. She also ordered the child to wash their own clothes, saying they smelt putrid
and told them, quote, "Not to act like a homeless person." [Music] Phone taps captured Angela telling Peter
that she had kicked the child. "Did you kick her hard?" he asked. "Yeah," Angela
responded. "I can't believe I did that. Later on, Angela told Peter that she had
hit the child really hard with that wooden spoon. She remarked that the child would have a
massive welt on her leg, stating she didn't even cry. One morning, Peter was recorded yelling
at the crying child to get ready for school. As they got into the car, he admonished them for not closing the
front door, yelling, "Every [ __ ] day." Peter continued yelling and swearing at
the sobbing child throughout the drive. At one point, reportedly calling them a quote, "Stupid little shit."
His voice was so loud that it caused the recording device to distort. As a result of these recordings, the
child was subsequently removed from their care and interviewed by the police in the presence of a support worker.
She allegedly confessed that Peter had once put his hands around her neck, saying he had mental health and anger
management issues. Peter and Angela had both been questioned about these incidents during
the Secret Crime Commission hearings. Under oath, Angela admitted to having hit and kicked the child, but she denied
having ever hit her with a wooden spoon. Despite having recorded conversations in
which they discussed these events, Peter denied that his wife had ever hit or kicked another child in their care.
As a result of the audio recordings, Angela and Peter were both charged with assault of a child as well as stalking
and intimidation of a child. For their crime commission testimony, they were both also charged with
knowingly giving false or misleading information. When the suppression order was lifted on
these allegations, the police clarified that they didn't believe Angela or Peter
had mistreated William Tier while he was in their care and that these charges had
no connection to his disappearance. Nonetheless, public speculation began to circulate.
According to author Alli Chumley, records kept by social workers said that Angela had expressed some concerns about
William's challenging behaviors. At times, he could be oppositional, unsettled, boisterous, and defiant.
He was a troubled sleeper who often fought with his older sister, sometimes biting and hitting her.
While William had formed an immediate connection with his foster father, he'd been slower to warm to Angela.
As their relationship improved, he became clingy and required constant reassurance and attention.
Such behavior was not unusual for kids in foster care, but Angela admitted to social workers that she was struggling.
She had sought professional help for some of William's more challenging behaviors, but continued to second
guessess her parenting strategies. About a month before William went missing, his foster parents took him to
the hospital with a black eye, saying he had fallen against a table. William's biological parents had seen
the black eye at a subsequent supervised visit, their last, before William went missing.
Amy Tier spoke about it at the inquest, saying she'd also noticed that William had appeared to be a bit too skinny.
It's hard because I don't know the carers. Amy had testified. I don't know where they live and I never
get to see them. I don't want to come across as though I am blaming them or being mean, but it's just been really
hard. However, Amy had been wary of the care William had been receiving since the
beginning. In her 2017 interview with the Channel 7's Sunday Night program, Amy had told
presenter Melissa Doyle in previously unaired footage that William showed up for their supervised visits with
bruises, a snotty nose, and inappropriately dressed for the weather. She claimed his motor skills
deteriorated once he was placed into care, and that she'd written letters to the authorities saying William would be
better off with her. Nothing in any of the case workers notes supported any allegations of wrongdoing
on the foster parents behalf. Department of Family and Community Services staff, child care workers, and
family friends had nothing but good things to say about Peter and Angela and their treatment of William.
One child care educator had even described Angela to the police as the perfect parent.
In September 2023, Peter and Angela appeared in the Paramea local court to face the child abuse charges against
them for kicking and hitting the child in their care with a wooden spoon. 58-year-old Angela pleaded guilty to two
counts of assault. However, she pleaded not guilty to two counts of intimidation against the same
child for threatening to slap them. for allegedly placing his hands around the child's neck. Peter pleaded not guilty
to one count of common assault. He claimed he'd only ever put his hands on the child's shoulders while giving
them a timeout. For berating the crying child on the drive to school, he pleaded not guilty
to one count of intimidation. Over the 5-day hearing, the defense teams argued that the incidents had
occurred during a time of significant stress, both emotionally and financially, which was exacerbated by
the ongoing trauma of William's disappearance. Various audio recordings were played to
the court in which the couple discussed the pressure Angela was under, both in managing the child's behavior and
becoming the focus of the Strikeforce investigation. In the recordings, Angela admitted she
wasn't coping, and Peter expressed his concern, saying, "I've never seen you like this."
The defense said the couple had shown great remorse for their actions and were unlikely to reaffend, factors they
believed should result in non-convictions. Peter's assault charge was ultimately
thrown out as the judge found that the level of physical force he'd used on the child constituted lawful correction.
The child had also told the police that Peter had never hurt them for berating the sobbing child in the
car. She found Peter guilty of one count of intimidation, calling his conduct unacceptable and unlawful
for threatening to slap the child on two occasions. The judge found Angela guilty
of two counts of intimidation. She accepted that the couple had been under significant stress and that they
had shown genuine remorse. describing Angela as an admired foster parent. The judge stated,
"It has been a difficult sentencing process because there are so many competing factors to weigh up here."
She ultimately convicted both Peter and Angela and gave them both 12-month good behavior bonds.
[Music] The charges for knowingly giving false or misleading information during the
crime commission were dealt with separately by Sydney's Downing Center local court.
The presiding magistrate dismissed all five charges against Peter, citing the substantial ambiguity of the questions
that he had been presented with during the crime commission hearing. The council assisting had asked Peter if
his wife had harmed the child in recent times. They had also asked if he recalled if
she had kicked the child. Peter had answered no each time. The magistrate reasoned that Peter
wasn't given a clear definition of the word harm or recent times, and therefore it couldn't be proven that he'd been
deliberately lying. It was also possible that he'd forgotten the incident. The charges against Angela were also
dropped. Although the covert recordings had captured her hitting the child with a
wooden spoon and telling Peter about it later, the magistrate said she couldn't discount the possibility that Angela had
simply been mistaken when telling the crime commission that she'd never done such a thing.
During that hearing, Angela had admitted to hitting and kicking the child in her
care, but denied the wooden spoon incident. The magistrate said she might have taken
a different view if Angela had denied those allegations and acknowledged the intense pressure Angela had been under
at the time. Angela became emotional as she was cleared of the charges. Former Tier Case detective Gary Jubilan
was present and gave her a hug. He continued to stand by his belief that the foster parents had nothing to do
with Williams disappearance and that he'd been right to clear them from the investigation.
Outside court, a teary Angela told reporters, "With this behind me, I hope that police
focus on finding William and what happened to him. By the time Peter and Angela had dealt
with all the unrelated charges against them, the public were well aware of the prevailing police theory that Angela had
buried William's body after a fatal fall from her mother's balcony. In June 2023, New South Wales police
handed a brief of evidence to the director of public prosecutions, recommending that Angela be charged with
interference with a corpse and perverting the course of justice. They cleared Peter of any involvement,
clarifying they did not believe Angela had caused the toddler's death, but only concealed his body out of fear of losing
custody of Lindsay. Angela was not informed of the recommendation before it went public.
To the best of her knowledge, police had no evidence to support their theory. Angela's lawyer demanded that any
evidence relating to the claims be disclosed, releasing a statement that said, "To date, William's body has never
been found. The foster mother has always and maintains she has nothing to do with
William's disappearance. She desperately urges the police to resume the investigation into finding
out what happened to William. [Music] Whether or not the police theory could be true has been discussed at length by
journalists and members of the public. without any evidence to support it. Many questions were raised about the police's
proposed timeline. As pointed out by journalist Dan Box in an exclusive article for news.com.au,
the last ever photo of William in his Spider-Man suit was confirmed to have been taken at 9:37 a.m. on Friday,
September 12th, 2014. Angela first alerted a neighbor that William was missing at around 10:40 a.m.
If the police theory was true, this gave Angela a window of just over an hour to
realize William was missing and discover his body. She would have had only a few moments to
make the decision not to call for help or alert anyone of his death. She then had to get the keys to her
mother's Mazda and carry William's body to the car. While all this was going on,
she either had to keep what she was doing a secret from her mother and Lindsay or tell them what had happened
and convince them to agree to her plan. With William's body in the car, Angela would have then had to drive the 2
minutes to the corners of Betar Creek Road and Cobb and Co. road and dispose of his body in the thick, almost
impenetrable scrub before racing back home again for her husband's return at 10:33 a.m.
Either she quickly brought him in on her conspiracy or flat out lied to him. By the time Angela alerted a neighbor at
around 10:40 a.m., she was in the company of someone outside of her family for the rest of the day.
This meant she had no other chances to tamper with any evidence or conspire with her family members.
While it was technically possible for Angela to have done all of these things within this short time frame, skeptics
to the police theory have raised several questions. For one, the area on Betar Creek Road
where police suspected Angela could have dumped Williams's body was in view of the old riding school as well as two
other properties. Angela would have had no way of knowing if someone was watching what she was
doing. However, just a bit further up the road, the bush land was just as thick, but with no properties in sight.
Why not dump his body there where she could be sure there were no witnesses? William's sister and foster grandmother
had always maintained that William disappeared after wandering around the side of the house.
So, if the police theory was true, how did Angela do all of this without Mary or Lindsay seeing?
And why would Angela continue to keep calling for more public attention and police resources towards William's
disappearance if she had something to hide before being publicly named as a suspect. A reporter had asked Peter and
Angela if they would ever stop fighting for William. Angela had resolutely responded,
"Never. If police think they've seen the last of us, big mistake. We will not give up on William and we
will not let other people give up on him. He is too important to give up on. [Music]
In May 2024, the police asked the director of public prosecutions to suspend its consideration of the
proposed charges against Angela until after the coronial inquest resumed. The possibility that Angela could have
covered up William's accidental death then became the focus of the inquest when it recommenced in early November
2024. By this point, over 5 years had passed since the inquest was first opened, and
it had been 3 years since the police first went public with their theory. Anticipation
was high in the courts as those gathered waited anxiously to hear what evidence had been gathered to support their
suspicions. The general consensus was that the police must have some fresh and compelling evidence to justify their
allegations. As Angela arrived at the court, a member of the public hurled abuse at her using
her real name. The council assisting the coroner kicked things off by clarifying there was still
no forensic evidence or eyewitnesses to confirm what had happened to William Tur. He reiterated that the police
theory was just a theory and the coroner couldn't act on the express belief of a
police investigator. Over 4 days, testimony was heard from numerous experts who had been involved
in the 2021 search of Mary Saers former property and the bushland on Betar Creek
Road. It was confirmed that officers had found several pieces of fabric and some animal
bones, but no human remains and nothing directly connected to William Tier. According to a professor in
geomorphology, this didn't necessarily mean that William hadn't been buried there. He
said it was possible that a child's remains could have been carried away by wild animals, such as a pig or a fox.
While one expert told the court she couldn't say for certain whether Williams remains would still be present
after this long, examples were also given of juvenile bones that had lasted over 100 years in the Australian
elements. The video of Angela's crime commission hearing was also played to the court. in
it. She was grilled about what she meant when she told her friend on a taped phone call that William's skeleton would
be found years down the track when clearing was being done. Angela strongly denied that she meant
she knew William had been hidden in the bush. She said she had simply meant that
he could be anywhere. On that same call, she had also told her friend she couldn't believe the police
were focusing on her, stating, "If I had done anything to William, I wouldn't have tried to cover it up. I would have
owned up to it." As the hearing started to wrap up, it became clear that the police didn't have
any incriminating evidence to present. The coroner rejected their request to re-examine Angela on the stand.
Before the final block of hearings could take place, the coroner announced that she was vacating the evidence
completely, which meant the upcoming hearings would be cancelled. She called for all parties to provide
their written closing submissions and said she would hand down her findings at a later date.
Many have criticized the way the inquest was handled, including the fact that over its 5-year duration, not one of the
three senior investigators overseeing Strike Force Rosanne were called to give evidence.
Criminologist Dr. Zanthy Mallet had sat through the inquest and she told the ABC
it was time for the police to charge Angela or quote, "Leave her alone." People have the right to the presumption
of innocence and that has been denied in this case via gossip and innuendo for years. Dr. Mallet said if there is
evidence she was involved then she should be charged or police should acknowledge there is insufficient
evidence to charge her. It was a sentiment shared by many others. Journalist Dan Box had been following
the William Tier case since the beginning and had many questions about the way police were handling things.
appearing on Channel 7's Spotlight program to discuss the allegations against Angela. Dan said,
"If the police want to say that someone is involved in William's disappearance, and if that person is William's foster
mother, they have to be certain that all the other people who might have been involved definitely weren't.
They have to actually be able to prove that. and I haven't seen the evidence that
they can. Former case detective Gary Jubilan agreed. Since the allegations came out against
Angela, many have criticized Jubilant's handling of the case, saying he'd been too close to the Foster family during
his time in charge and hadn't investigated them properly. Jubilant told Spotlight that he stood by
everything he did during the four years he ran the investigation. We ran a covert and overt operation, a
fairly intense operation on the foster mother. Jubilant said there was no evidence of the foster mother having
knowledge of or involvement with William's disappearance. In February 2025, Peter's conviction for
intimidating a child was quashed on appeal with the judge reasoning that during the court hearing, the child had
never actually been asked about the incident or whether they had felt intimidated.
He said Peter's actions were similar to any parent who was quote stressed and using a loud and frustrated tone of
voice. Angela also appealed her intimidation convictions and is scheduled to face an
appeal hearing later in 2025. [Music] As of the release of this episode, the inquest findings into William Tier's
disappearance still haven't been released. No one has ever been arrested or charged
in relation to Williams disappearance and case file does not suggest the involvement of anyone mentioned in this
episode and acknowledges their presumption of innocence. Anyone with information about William
Tier is encouraged to contact Crimestoppers on 1800LE300. Williams foster mother continues to
staunchly maintain her innocence. At the advice of her lawyer, she has not spoken publicly about the case since
being named by the police as a suspect. The only statement she has given was to Dan Box for his podcast series on the
case titled Witness William Tur. It read, "Just over 10 years ago, my little boy,
William Tier, disappeared from my mother's yard at her house at Kendall. I believe that William was taken.
I have no idea who took William or what happened to him. If he is in fact dead, I have no idea where his little body is.
I have no knowledge of or involvement in his disappearance. Even though William was not my child by
birth, I loved William as much as any mother could love her child. I loved him as if he was my child by
birth, if not more. It did not matter one bit that he was not connected to us biologically.
William made my life complete. I loved him fiercely. I just loved being his mommy.
My life with William was happy, fun, and an adventure. Every day was different. Never ever for a moment did I regret
becoming a foster mother. We were a family, not the traditional version of a family. It didn't matter. We were and
still are a family, and we connected as one. For the past 5 years, the police have
done nothing to try to discover who took William and what has happened to him. Instead, they have concentrated all
their efforts on trying to build a case that I was in some way to blame for his death and the disposal of his precious
little body. They have gone to great lengths to blacken my character in the media.
I believe that if the police had properly investigated this case instead of persecuting me, they may well have
found the person responsible for William's disappearance. It's challenging to have hope and build
plans for the future when our hearts remain shattered and in pieces. All I can hope for is that some person
who knows something comes forward. Speaking about the allegations against Angela to Spotlight, Dan Boach said,
"Part of me actually hopes that the police have got this right. Then that justifies everything they've done. That
justifies all the attention, all the whispers, the leaks, all of that is justified.
But if the police are wrong and she's not guilty and we haven't seen any evidence that she is,
then what damage has been done to that family? Whatever the truth, the reality is that
when Angela snapped the photographs of William playing on her mother's deck on the morning of Friday, September 12th,
2014, she could never have known how significant they would become. The last photograph ever taken of
3-year-old William Tier in his blue and red Spider-Man suit roaring at the camera has become etched into
Australia's public psyche. Even those unfamiliar with the case are likely to recognize the photo.
It's a confronting image as it represents two sides of humanity. The pure innocence of childhood and the
potential evil that lurks amongst us. [Music] But William is more than just a missing
boy in a superhero costume. During the coronial inquest into William's disappearance, an impassioned
statement was played to the court from his then 10-year-old sister, Lindsay. In it, she said,
"This is my brother we are talking about. In my mind, no one is trying. So, I've made the decision to do something
about that. I hope this speech today makes you solve the case. If it doesn't, when I'm officially an adult, I will be
in the police force, specifically a detective, and I will find my brother and won't give up until he's found.
Not a day goes past that we don't think about him. He's a loving, kind, sweet boy who was annoying at times.
But the day he disappeared, we lost everything. We lost my innocent brother. He needs to
be found. So, please help our family, but most of all me, find our precious William.
[Music] [Music]

[Part 2 of 2] As the search into the disappearance of three-year-old William Tyrrell reaches its third fruitless year, the investigation takes turn after turn until a coronial inquest is eventually called. The inquest aims to figure out what happened to William once and for all, but will it succeed or raise more questions than it answers?

CREDITS Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Elsha McGill Creative direction – Milly Raso Production & music – Mike Migas Audio editing – Anthony Telfer

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RESOURCES

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Brief Summary

The episode covers the investigation into William Tier's disappearance, focusing on key suspects and the emotional impact on his family.

Key points

Detective's Public Appeal. Detective Jubilant makes a public appeal for information on William's disappearance after a year.
The Spider-Man Suit Incident. Paul Savage's reaction to a planted Spider-Man suit raises questions about his involvement.
Bizarre Comments from Frank Abbott. Frank Abbott, a person of interest, makes unsettling comments about a dead body smell.
Detective Jubilant's Legal Troubles. Detective Jubilant faced charges for breaching surveillance laws, impacting the investigation.
The Inquest Begins. The inquest into William's disappearance aimed to clarify the circumstances surrounding the case.
Bill Spedding's Alibi. Bill Spedding's alibi was supported by witnesses and bank statements, challenging accusations against him.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You know I love you, Angel. I bloody screwed up.

Paul Savage's recorded mutterings raise suspicions during the investigation.

12:34WatchJul 26, 2025

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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