It has been 10 years since the disappearance that gripped the nation.
Since then, Australians have yearned for an answer to the question — where is the young boy last seen wearing a Spider-Man suit?
William Tyrrell was three when he went missing while playing at his foster grandmother’s home in Kendall, on the NSW Mid North Coast, on September 12, 2014.
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Despite a decade-long investigation involving hundreds of persons of interest and dozens of searches, no trace of the boy has been found.
On the 10-year anniversary of his disappearance, however, the boy’s loved ones say they have never given up hope in the search for answers.
Close friends of Tyrrell’s foster parents, Clare and Alice Collins, have told 7NEWS reporter Michael Usher the family was “crushed”.
“They remember William every minute of every day,” Clare said.
“They’re living a nightmare.”
Alice added, even a decade on, they believed “hope is the key”.
“You hear cases from around the world with kids who had been abducted, and they turn up 10, 20 years later,” she said.
“There is still a chance that he is out there … it’s a big reach … but in light of the fact that there is absolutely no evidence that William is deceased there is that very, very slim chance.”
William’s foster family were left “broken”, Clare said, when they were accused of involvement in the young boy’s disappearance.
“I have no doubts in my mind that they had absolutely no involvement in his disappearance,” she said.
“What people don’t realise is that William’s foster parents have fought tooth and nail behind the scenes to keep William’s investigation open.”
The police investigation has continued to “fail” William, Clare said.
“We’ve had lots of media leaks and talks about people that knew where William was … clearly they don’t,” she said.
“I think we actually need a Royal Commission into the investigation of William Tyrrell … there’s not one shred of evidence … not one answer or phone call to say we’ve found him … nothing.
“It’s as though he’s just vanished … we need answers … Australia needs answers.”
The pair appealed to anyone across the country with information as to where William might be to “make the call”.
“Help bring William home … and we will do everything in our power,” Alice said.
“We are never giving up.”
No one has been charged over the disappearance, and a $1 million reward for information still stands.
In November 2021 police launched a fresh, month-long search for William’s remains that concluded without any obvious breakthroughs.
In May 2024, a review into evidence that the three-year-old’s former foster mother might have been involved in his disappearance was suspended after a police request to the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions.