Category: Crime and Missing Persons

Crime and Missing Persons

Ted Bundy was… Surprisingly Dumb

codylwrites

Thanks to original streaming channels like Netflix, serial killers have been all the rage lately. Shows such as Mindhunter, The Ted Bundy Tapes and the most recent drop Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez have really been putting violent criminals in the forefront of public interest. And it’s understandable, right? Humankind has always been drawn to the things it doesn’t understand. We want to know how these people tick; why they choose to do the things that most people wouldn’t even consider. We constantly hear them described as masterminds – as geniuses who play people like a pack of cards, manipulating them into their lairs before tearing them to pieces. Because how could a killer possibly get away with their gruesome crimes for so long unless they knew exactly what they were doing, right? Unless they really were undetected geniuses?

Well, apparently not so much. In fact, some prove to be pretty much the opposite. With ridiculously witless moves and an over-the-top ego to boot, Ted Bundy proved to be hilariously dumb.

ted-bundy-g[1].jpghttps://www.oxygen.com/martinis-murder/debra-kent-victim-ted-bundy-admitted-taking-back-to-his-home

Theodore Robert Bundy

Theodore Robert Cowell was born in 1946 in Burlington, Vermont to 22-year-old Eleanor Cowell. Theodore – shortened to Ted – never knew his father and due to the shame that came with baring a child unmarried in the 1940’s, Eleanor and her parents made the decision to hide Ted’s true parentage. Eleanor was introduced as Ted’s sister, rather than mother, and Ted’s Grandparents took on the role of mother and father. It wouldn’t be until many years later, while Ted was well into his adulthood, that he would discover his true parentage. Ted’s Grandfather, however, had a mean streak, often physically abusing Eleanor and Ted alike. In fact, an old neighbour of Ted, Sandi Holt, went so far as to say that ‘[Eleanor] told [Ted] that yeah, her Dad had raped her’, leading to the belief that Eleanor’s father himself may have been Ted’s real father. Due to this abuse, Eleanor escaped the household with Ted, who was just 5 years old, to live in Tacoma, Washington, with some relatives. Although, strangely, Ted idolised his grandfather as an adult, never mentioning any abuse and never appearing to be upset by the decade-long deceptions by his mother.

d28f7785-5567-448a-a7f5-105d07f6ab60-Conversations_with_a_Killer__The_Ted_Bundy_Tapes_S01E01_19m49s28528f[1].jpghttps://www.usatoday.com/story/life/tv/2019/01/24/conversations-killer-ted-bundy-tapes-netflix-docuseries-revelations-what-we-learned/2655837002/
ABOVE: A Photograph of a young Ted Bundy.

It was in Tacoma that Eleanor Cowell met Johnnie Bundy. Although Ted didn’t appear to be overly taken with Johnnie – calling him unintelligent and expressing his distaste towards Johnnie’s choice of low-income career – Ted still took Johnnie’s last name, turning from Ted Cowell into the now infamous Ted Bundy. It’s also here in Tacoma where a young girl, Ann Marie Burr, went missing in 1961, not too far from Bundy’s place of residence and the residence of his uncle, whom he often visited. This led to speculations that Bundy himself may have been responsible, making the poor 8-year-old Ann his very first victim. This would’ve made Ted only 14-years-of-age at the time.

Ann_Marie_Burr[1].jpghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Ann_Marie_Burr
ABOVE: Photograph of the Missing 8-year-old Ann Marie Burr

As an adult, Bundy went on to attend the University of Puget Law School with dreams of becoming an A-Grade lawyer. In his time studying, he was known for an involvement in local politics and spending his time working alongside the local police force, hence his knowledge of the uncoordinated nature of State Police Forces when it came to sharing knowledge across State borders. He was described as relatively popular, but his grades began to decline, leading to him no longer attending most of his Law classes. It is at University that Bundy also started a relationship with Diane Edwards, who later broke up with him because Ted had a lack of ambition. It is Diane, who many criminologists believe may have been the cause of Ted’s later crime spree due to her striking resemblance to his victims and the apparent devastation this break-up had on Ted.

dianeF[1].jpghttps://www.mamamia.com.au/ted-bundy-girlfriend-diane-edwards/
ABOVE: Ted Bundy and once-girlfriend Diane Edwards

Bundy’s first confirmed victim was 18-year-old Karen Sparks, a student of the University of Washington. Sparks surprisingly survived the 1974 encounter, but unfortunately ended up with a range of injuries, including brain damage and memory loss after spending ten days in a coma. He struck again the next month, taking 21-year-old ski reporter Lynda Ann Healey from her home. This time, the victim wasn’t so lucky, as her skill and jawbone were later found about an hour away from her home in Taylor’s Mountain.

6664381_121766104093[1].jpghttps://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6664381/lynda-ann-healy
ABOVE: Photograph of Lynda Ann Healy, Bundy’s first murdered victim.

For almost every month that year, Bundy took another life. Donna Gail Manson in March, Susan Elaine Rancourt in April (taken from a University campus on the same day that a man in a sling named ‘Ted’ was reported approaching students), and Brenda Carol Ball (last seen talking to a man in a sling outside a local tavern) and Georgann Hawkins (last seen in the same area as a man on crutches, struggling with a briefcase) in June. In July of 1974, both Janice Ann Ott and Denise Marie Naslund were taken on the same day from the Lake Sammamish State Park in Issaquah Main, the same area that many reported a man in a sling named ‘Ted’ asking for help loading a sailboat onto his car.

ted-bundy-sketch-police[1].pnghttps://www.oxygen.com/snapped/time-serial-killer-ted-bundy-almost-caught-luring-women-beach
ABOVE: The Sketch of Ted Bundy, composed after the murders of Denise Marie Naslund and Janice Ann Ott.

This was the event that began Bundy’s demise. Not only did he give his actual first name to his victims – something even rookie criminals would know to avoid – but he introduced many to his car as well, which was identified as a tan VW bug. Since he had approached many people throughout the day, the police were easily able to put together a sketch of the man named ‘Ted’, thrusting their investigation into full speed. It was this sketch that led to Bundy’s long-time girlfriend, Elizabeth Kloepfer, and workmate, Ann Rule (who later wrote the novel The Stranger Beside Me about her experiences with Bundy) to report him as a possible suspect.

img_20190123_1321079[1].jpghttps://www.mentalfloss.com/article/571746/ted-bundy-exhibition-alcatraz-east-crime-museum
ABOVE: Bundy’s tan VW Bug, now on display at the Alcatraz East Crime Museum.

Then followed the brutal murders of Nancy Wilcox, Melissa Ann Smith and Laura Aime in October 1974. The following month of November, however, marked another of Bundy’s downfalls, a woman named Carol DaRonch. Bundy had approached DaRonch in a shopping mall, pretending to be a police officer and informing her that her car had been broken into. DaRonch was sceptical, noting his lack of police uniform, and when he’d led her back to her car, asked to see the ‘officer’s’ ID.  He flashed her his ID, barely enough to see, then asked her to ride in his car, a tan VW bug, back to his station. She never arrived at a police station. Instead, Bundy pulled the car over and handcuffed her. However, Bundy, no doubt caught up in his own ego, managed to place both handcuffs on the same hand, leaving DaRonch free to escape and track down a passing car, escaping with her life. A few hours later, he took the life of Debi Kent.

5aa2ec91a4af7894008b458a[1].jpghttps://www.insider.com/people-who-survived-serial-killer-attacks-2018-3#carol-daronch-fled-ted-bundy-2
ABOVE: Photograph of key witness to Ted Bundy’s crimes, Carol DaRonch.

These mistakes apparently didn’t put Bundy off, leading to the January 1975 murder of Caryn Eileen Campbell, the March 1975 slaying of Julie Cunningham, Denise Lynn Oliverson in April, Lynette Culver in May and Susan Curtis in June.

Ted_Bundy_murder_kit[1].jpghttps://thestrangerinsideofme.wordpress.com/2016/06/25/what-is-in-ted-bundys-murder-kit/
ABOVE: Scene photograph of the tools found in the boot of Ted Bundy’s VW Bug.

It was August of 1975 that brought about Bundy by far dumbest mistake. On the 16th at about 2:30am, a police officer by the name of Sergeant Bob Hayward noticed a car slowly patrolling his street. The officer hadn’t seen the car before and thought it seemed suspicious, so turned on his lights to look at the car’s number plate. The Stanger Beside Me continues ‘suddenly the Volkswagen’s lights went out, and it took off at high speed. Hayward pulled out, giving chase. The pursuit continued through two stop signs and out onto the main thoroughfare, 3500 South. Hayward soon was just behind the slower car, and the Volkswagen pulled into an abandoned gas station and stopped. The driver got out and walked to the rear of his car, smiling. “I guess I’m lost,” he said ruefully.”.’ When the police officer checked the car’s boot, he found a range of incredibly suspicious items including hand cuffs, a ski mask, black bags and a range of blunt instruments. Turns out that high speed car chase didn’t exactly work out in his favour. If he hadn’t decided to speed away, it’s likely they never would’ve found those incriminating tools at all. Lucky for Hayward, Bundy wasn’t the brightest thinker.

bundy-lineup[1].pnghttps://www.thecrimemag.com/10-little-known-facts-about-ted-bundy-jeffrey-dahmer-and-richard-ramirez/bundy-lineup/
ABOVE: Police photograph of lineup following Carol DaRonch’s attack (Bundy 2nd from the right).

Of course, these items led to a lot of suspicion among the police. They eventually linked Bundy to DaRonch, discovering that the handcuffs in the back of Bundy’s bug were the exact same type DaRonch had around her wrists when she escaped her attack. Bundy, asked to attend a line-up at the police station, attempted to change his appearance by cutting his hair to put off DaRonch. DaRonch, however, knew exactly who her killer was and identified Bundy, leading to Bundy’s first trial.

rs_1024x759-181023150903-1024-ted-bundy[1].jpghttps://www.eonline.com/news/1007628/inside-the-horrific-legacy-of-serial-killer-ted-bundy
ABOVE: Ted Bundy on trial

Bundy was convicted of the crimes against DaRonch and was given a 1-15-year prison sentence in Aspen, Colorado. It was after Bundy’s capture, however, that the police began to link Bundy to other unsolved murders, and he was soon put back on trial for the murder of a Colorado woman. It was during this trial that Bundy, being Ted Bundy, decided that he was much more capable of defending himself on trial than any other professional lawyer. However, Bundy acting as his own lawyer allowed him provisions that normal prisoners were not given access to, such as the prison law library. It was from here that Bundy made his first – yes, first – escape. While a prison guard was distracted, he managed to leap out the library window, injuring his ankle on the way down. However, Bundy’s impulsive thinking yet again failed him. Realising he’d need resources to survive out in the woods, as he’d planned, and having none, he was left to travel around Aspen, leading to him getting caught after making an illegal U-turn in a stolen car. Yet again, Bundy’s driving had led to his capture.

rs_634x1024-190123152010-634.ted-bundy.ct.012319[1].jpghttps://www.eonline.com/news/1007628/inside-the-horrific-legacy-of-serial-killer-ted-bundy
ABOVE: Ted Bundy after his first escape.

After 6 more months on trial and a range of strange behaviour, such as sticking toilet paper in his cell’s lock so officers couldn’t take him to a court date, Bundy yet again escaped his cell. Trading with another prisoner for a hacksaw, Bundy had hacked at the paster surrounding a vent on his cell’s roof to provide an exit hatch. Spending weeks losing weight, he managed to slip through the hatch and crawl through the vent and into the jailer’s room, where he swapped his prison uniform for normal clothing and simply walked out the prison’s front door. This time, it appeared Bundy was more organised. Using money that his now-girlfriend Carol Ann Boone, Bundy took a flight to Colorado, then moved via a combination of taking the bus and stealing cars, managing to make it to Florida before he began to settle down. This, however, was where another of Bundy’s blunders appears. To everybody but Bundy apparently, Florida was known as the death-penalty capital of the United States. Since 1976, 97 known criminals had been given the death sentence in Florida prisons.

large[1].jpghttps://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/serial-killers-part-3-ted-bundys-campaign-of-terror1
ABOVE: FBI Interstate Flight wanted poster of Ted Bundy

Bundy hoped to live the rest of his life out in Florida, however, he failed to realise just how difficult life hiding from the law really was. Without ID, Bundy was unable to find a job and without a job, the money he had saved was running out fast. This resulted in Bundy resorting to theft in order to keep up his lifestyle. Two weeks after his escape, Ted Bundy fell back into bad habits. On January 1978, Bundy broke into the Chi Omega Sorority House at the Florida State University Campus and attacked four women within the solitudes of their rooms. The lives of Margaret Elizabeth Bowman and Lisa Levy were brutally taken, and the two remaining victims, Karen Chandler and Kathy Kleiner suffered a range of injuries, but fortunately managed to survive the bludgeoning.

ted-bundy-victims-lisa-levy-margaret-bowman-split-gty-jc-190212_hpMain_16x9_992[1].jpghttps://abcnews.go.com/US/chi-omega-survivor-ted-bundy-murders-asleep-evil/story?id=60894306
ABOVE: Chi Omega murder victims Lisa Levy (left) and Margaret Elizabeth Bowman (right).

Bundy’s last known victim also happened to be one of his youngest victims: twelve-year-old schoolgirl Kimberly Leach. This murder brought great sorrow to Florida communities, with the body of young Kimberly left dumped in an abandoned pig sty.

rs_634x1024-190123151658-634.kimberly-leach.ct.012319[1].jpghttps://abcnews.go.com/US/notorious-serial-killer-ted-bundy-escape-custody/story?id=61032623
ABOVE: Photograph of Bundy’s last known victim Kimberly Leach.

Bundy was caught on February the 15th, 1978, after an officer noticed a car driving suspiciously Pensacola, yet a third time Bundy was caught purely due to his driving. The car was recognised as stolen and Bundy was brought into the police. Bundy did manage to provide identification, the problem, however, was that the identification was of a student named Kenneth from the Florida State University. Florida police obviously knew the ID was stolen – Bundy was significantly older than the man in the ID – but due to a lack of communication between the States as well as Bundy’s new dishevelled appearance, were unable to identify him as the man on the FBI’s top 10 most wanted list. After an unnecessarily long period of confusion, he was eventually identified as Ted Bundy, but due to not only committing crimes, but also getting arrested in the State of Florida, Bundy was kept in the Florida legal system rather than moved back to Colorado.

rs_1024x759-190123152408-1024.ted-bundy.ct.012319[1].jpghttps://abcnews.go.com/US/notorious-serial-killer-ted-bundy-escape-custody/story?id=61032623

Eventually, Bundy was linked to both the Chi Omega brutalities and the murder of Kimberly Leach. Bundy decided to yet act as his own defence attorney during the cases, but of course failed in his attempts to acquit himself on his charges. Bundy was sentenced to be executed via the electric chair and after many attempts to halt the process, including confessing to the murders of thirty women, Bundy was put to death on the 24th of January 1989.

4800[1].jpghttps://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/apr/30/zac-efron-ted-bundy-victims-hollywood-heartthrob-serial-killer#img-4
ABOVE: Ted Bundy on Trial.

Ted Bundy turned out to be not a genius with ill intentions, but rather an animalistic killer with far too much focus on the killings and too little focus on the consequences. From his hilariously bad driving, lack of forward thinking and an ego larger than life itself, it’s clear Bundy didn’t quite live up to the mastermind Brainiac he’d hoped to be. In the end, Ted Bundy will always be known as that guy who got caught not once, not twice, but three times for bad driving. Not the best way to go down in history.

 More Videos

Ted Bundy Takes the Stand – Trial Footage

 

Ted Bundy’s Final Interview

 

Who Was Ted Bundy – Inside Edition

 

References

https://allthatsinteresting.com/ted-bundy-victims

https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/ted-bundy

https://allthatsinteresting.com/ted-bundy

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2019/01/222447/how-was-ted-bundy-caught-arrested-story-netflix

Ann Rule – The Stranger Beside Me
Purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com.au/Stranger-Beside-Me-Ann-Rule-ebook/dp/B07F5787CB

https://www.oxygen.com/martinis-murder/what-was-ted-bundys-childhood-like

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/the-little-known-story-of-serial-killer-ted-bundys-first-girlfriend-diane-edwards/ar-BBTZV2g

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/world/the-little-known-story-of-serial-killer-ted-bundys-first-girlfriend-diane-edwards/ar-BBTZV2g

https://www.news-press.com/story/news/local/2019/05/21/numbers-floridas-death-penalty/3752213002/

https://abcnews.go.com/US/notorious-serial-killer-ted-bundy-escape-custody/story?id=61032623

 

 

 

 

Crime and Missing Persons

The BTK Killer Was… Surprisingly Dumb

codylwrites

Thanks to original streaming channels like Netflix, serial killers have been all the rage lately. Shows such as MindHunter, The Ted Bundy Tapes and the most recent drop Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez have really been putting violent criminals in the forefront of public interest. And it’s understandable, right? Human kind has always been drawn to the things it doesn’t understand. We want to know how these people tick; why they choose to do the things that most people wouldn’t even consider. We constantly hear them described as masterminds – as geniuses who play people like a pack of cards, manipulating them into their lairs before tearing them to pieces. Because how could a killer possibly get away with their gruesome crimes for so long unless they knew exactly what they were doing, right? Unless they really were undetected geniuses?

Well, apparently not so much. In fact, some prove to be pretty much the opposite. With ridiculously witless moves and an over-the-top ego to boot, the BTK Killer proved to be hilariously dumb.

Dennis Rader – AKA The BTK Killer

btk-killer-dennis-rader-1567104104[1].jpghttps://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a28859869/btk-killer-dennis-rader/

Born 1974 in Wichita, Kansas, Dennis Rader – alias BTK Killer (standing for Bind, Torture, Kill) – seemed like your every day family man. He earnt his wages installing security systems in local homes for a company called ADT Security Systems, and lived with his wife and two children, a son and a daughter. As president of the Christ Lutheran Church Committee and the leader of a Cub Scouts group Rader was the epitome of your average do-gooder Dad. Only, much to the horror of his friends, family and the surrounding public alike, Rader had a hidden alter ego with a disturbing pattern of torture and murder.

Dennis_Rader[1].jpghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Rader

Rader started his crimes on January the 15th, 1974 with the murder of 33-year-old mother Julie Otero, her husband, 38-year-old Joseph Otero, and their two children, 9-year-old Joseph Junior and 11-year-old Josephine. It wasn’t until the young Charlie Otero, the 15-year-old son of the slain couple, arrived home alongside his two other siblings that the bodies were found. Later, that year, Kathrine Bright was stabbed to death in her home, Rader having broken in and waited in her apartment for her to return home.
Three years later, in 1977, Rader knocked on the house of Shirley Vian. Pretending to be a police officer, he entered her home, switching off the television and closing the blinds before holding a gun to the young mother and asking her to lock her three children in the family bathroom. He then proceeded to strange her while her own children listened on. Later that same year, Nancy fox also fell victim to the BTK, strangled in her own home.

Otero-Family-ABC-AY-190129_hpMain_16x9_992[1].jpghttps://abcnews.go.com/US/life-changed-instantly-families-victims-murdered-serial-killer/story?id=60686971
ABOVE: A photograph of the Otero family, four of whom were tragically slain in their home. 

After a surprisingly long down period of 8 years, a neighbour of Rader, 53-year-old Marine Hedge, was found deceased on the side of the road not far from her home. Vicki Wegerle suffered a similar fate in 1986. Five years later, the final victim of the BTK, 62-year-old Dolores Davis, was similarly strangled in her own home, her body taken and dumped under a Sedgwick County bridge. He later went back to the scene to photograph her body, much as he did with his other victims.

dolores-davis-ht-jpo-190130_hpEmbed_11x16_992[1].jpghttps://abcnews.go.com/US/life-changed-instantly-families-victims-murdered-serial-killer/story?id=60686971
ABOVE: A photograph of Rader’s last victim, Dolores Davis

So with a good 31 years, you’d think the man dubbed the BTK Killer would be an expert at evading capture, right? Not so much.
The BTK was infamous for toying with detectives and the general public alike, sending a range of letters gloating over his crimes, sending photographs taken at his crime scenes, poems about his victims, and leaving cryptic messages for the police to solve (similar to the Zodiac Killer and Jack the Ripper years before).
However, in 2005, Rader left a message that was just a little bit too cryptic for the public. The police received a post card, indicating there was a parcel left for them on the side of the road, but when police arrived, they were puzzled to find there was no parcel left behind at all. It wasn’t like the brilliant BTK not to go through with one of his tricks, was it?

the-cereal-box-photo-u2[1].jpghttps://www.ranker.com/list/btk-photos-drawings/amandatullos?page=3
ABOVE: Wichita Police Department evidence photograph of the cereal box left in the back of a ute.

It wasn’t. Rader had gone through with his promise. He’d left a cereal box with the word ‘Bomb’ written on the front and the cereal’s brand – Special K – rearranged to spell BTK. Only, he’d placed the box in the back of a random ute. The ute’s owner did end up seeing the box, but it didn’t quite cause the amount of chaos Rader intended it to. Instead, the Ute’s owner simply saw the box, read the terrifying notes on the front… and threw the box in the trash. Turns out Rader’s 14 year break had made him far less of a celebrity in the public eye than Rader had thought. A little bit humiliating, right?

floppy-disk-btk-killer[1].pnghttps://www.oxygen.com/snapped/crime-time/floppy-disk-exposed-dennis-rader-btk-killer
ABOVE: The floppy disk Rader sent to Wichita police, containing details of its previous use

But it wasn’t the end of Rader’s humiliation. After using CCTV footage to track down the ute’s owner, they were able to find the discarded box with all of the documents inside still in tact. Within these documents, Rader posed a simple question: he asked if it were possible for a floppy disk to be tracked. If it wasn’t, he asked for the detectives to place an advertisement in his local newspaper with the words ‘Rex, it will be okay’.
It was possible to trace a floppy disk. Of course, not being complete idiots and all that, the police posted the message in the local newspaper. Rader, in return, sent a floppy disk to the investigators with nothing but ‘This is a Test’ on it; at least, that was all Rader thought the floppy had on it. By going into the disk’s ‘properties’ section, the police not only found out that the floppy had been used in the Christ Lutheran Church – the very same church Rader happened to be council president of – but also found the file was saved under the name ‘Dennis’. It was so easy, in fact, that lieutenant Ken Landwehr, head of the task force in charge of the BTK’s capture, stated: “It’s pretty basic stuff. Anybody who knows anything about computers could figure it out”. Yeah…. not so smart.

gettyimages-53436216-1565881712[1].jpghttps://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/tv/a28709277/mindhunter-bts-killer-dennis-rader-true-story/
ABOVE: Dennis Rader at his inevitable court date where he plead guilty to ten counts of first-degree murder.

Dennis Rader was apprehended on February of 2005, a mere month after he’d sent his last message to investigators, which really isn’t surprising. He was charged with ten counts of murder and sentenced to serve ten life-sentences in prison.
In the end, the moral of Rader’s story is one that all people should probably already know: when you’re on the run from police, you probably shouldn’t ask their advice on how to evade police capture. You’re probably not going to get an honest answer on that one.

Related Videos

Watch: Dennis Rader’s full confession to the BTK crimes.

Watch: Dennis Rader’s daughter discusses horror of finding out her father was the BTK Killer on NightLine

A&E Video about the BTK Killings

 

References

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/entertainment/a28859869/btk-killer-dennis-rader/

https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/dennis-rader

https://www.ranker.com/list/btk-photos-drawings/amandatullos?page=3

http://www.abajournal.com/magazine/article/how_the_cops_caught_btk

https://survivingbtk.weebly.com/shirley-vian.html

https://survivingbtk.weebly.com/marine-hedge.html

https://survivingbtk.weebly.com/dolores-davis.html

Watch BTK: A Killer Among Us on Amazon at:
https://www.amazon.com/BTK-Killer-Among-Us-Season/dp/B07NSH698C

Crime and Missing Persons

William Tyrrell – The Case of the Boy in the Spiderman Suit

codylwrites

Unless you’ve been living under a rock – or outside of Australia – for the last few years, you’ve probably heard of the case of William Tyrrell. Maybe you’ve seen his photo in the news; that iconic image of the young boy dressed in a Spider-Man suit caught mid-roar, beaming with joy. But what exactly happened to this missing boy on that fateful September day in 2014? How could a three year old boy completely disappear from his grandparent’s home without a single trace? And how is he still missing?

359a8dea67c83687762081210a2a2775-225418[1]

New Beginnings

On the 26th of June, 2011, William Tyrrell was born. Unfortunately for young William, his family life was far from simple. Both parents – who remain unnamed for legal reasons – suffered from substance abuse and were described as having a ‘troubled’ marriage. His older sister – who also remains unnamed – had already been taken away due to these family difficulties and had been living in different foster homes ever since. Not much has been said about this family’s ‘troubled’ behaviours, but whatever had been occurring appeared to have a profound effect on the life of William. Before long, authorities had begun speaking about placing William into care.
Terrified at the thought of loosing yet another child, William’s biological parents took William and ran. After six weeks of hiding, William was found safe with his parents at his grandfather’s home in Sydney.
In March of 2012, when William was not even a year old, both him and his older sister were placed into the care of the same foster parents. These two foster parents, alike many in this story, remain unnamed due to the complications of the fostering process. Both William and his sister took a relatively fast liking to their new parents, with William developing an especially close bond with his foster father.
The biological parents continued to spend time with William once a fortnight under the watch of authorities. According to all involves, the biological parents themselves included, William’s biological parents had never spoken to the foster parents, nor attempted to seek them out. William’s foster parents also never harboured any hard feelings towards William’s biological parents, insisting that he keep up routine visits to uphold the bond with his biological family.

6cbe837c16e82210e0d6241fb9c40361[1](Pictured) William Tyrrell’s foster parents

The Day Of

On Thursday the 11th of September, William’s foster parents made the last-minute decision to take a surprise drive up to the country town of ‘Kendall’ to visit William’s Grandmother, picking up both William and his sister from school on their way. The two were overjoyed, never having known about the family’s plans. The drive itself took around three hours from Sydney to Kendall, including one stop at a Caltex service station and another at a McDonalds. It was late, about 9pm, when the family arrived at the Grandmother’s home in Benaroon Drive, Kendall. William’s grandmother, having only been informed of the visit the moment the parents left, was reportedly ill and hadn’t been able to prepare for the family’s visit. The parents set up two separate rooms for each of the children, then set them off to bed.

17447d980ace23519a4b13951f5f372b[1](Pictured) William’s Grandmother’s Kendall home.

The next morning, William woke up early with his father. They both turned on the television and watched a children’s show, attempting not to wake the rest of the house. However, it didn’t take long before William’s sister, mother and grandmother were also awake. Excited about their new bicycles, the two siblings were adamant to go outside. William, dressed in his Spider-Man suit (the same costume pictured in William’s iconic missing person’s photos, dubbing him ‘The Boy in the Spider-Man Suit’) and his sister then rode around their grandmothers’ spacious backyard.
Between 9 and 9:30am, William’s foster father found himself having to make the drive to Laurieton to make a business call via Skype, escaping Kendall’s notoriously bad internet connections.
During this time, William had raced back outside with his foster mother and grandmother, bursting with energy. William and his sister had begun playing a game of dice, each sibling jumping the amount of times the dice commanded. Once that game was over, William had begun playing a game of tigers, racing around the yard ‘roaring’ with his mother. William, still full of energy, ran out into the grass to continue his games.

imagev1e8e7a4ced7f0fa99b8daf861b13aad74-j7w5k6fwjjxzfh3kmp2_ct1880x930[1]After a short amount of time, only a couple of minutes, had passed, William’s foster mother noticed she hadn’t heard William for a little while. She went out to look for him, panicked. She held hope that William’s foster father might’ve dropped by, picking him up to take him for a drive. Maybe William had run down to greet his father, something both him and his sister had a habit of doing. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case.
William’s foster father arrived home to hear his son was missing. Both himself and Williams foster mother began a search for him, visiting the houses of nearby neighbours, who also agreed to look for the young William. About 20 minutes later, William’s foster mother called the police, announcing William’s disappearance.

Tyrrell-search2[1](Pictured) Police search Bushland for evidence of William Tyrell.
Image taken from: https://www.nbnnews.com.au/2018/06/27/police-expand-bushland-search-for-william-tyrrell/

The Investigation

New South Wales police were quick to respond to William’s disappearance. Although they had originally suspected it was merely a case of a wondering boy, no sign of the youngster after hours of searching had lead them to believe there were far grimer forces at work, and an Amber Alert was released.
Due to the size of Kendall and the last-minute nature of the family’s decision to drive to Kendall, police began to look into William’s family – his biological family specifically.
William’s biological family had already run off with William once previously at the thought of their son being placed in temporary foster care and the biological family appeared to be again fearful of losing their son after recent talk of William’s foster family looking to permanently adopt William and his sister. However, police appeared to rule the biological family out as suspects. Not only were the two in Sydney at the time, but they had been kept away from William’s foster family and had no idea where William was being housed, let alone where William’s Grandmother lived.
William’s biological parents and Grandmother were also ruled out as suspects. They were extensively questioned and all alibies, including the foster father’s Skype call, had checked out. However, there was one line of inquiry that appeared to take the media by storm.
William’s Grandmother had mentioned a broken washing machine to William’s foster mother. William’s Grandmother had said she had made a call about the problem, but that there still hadn’t been any repairs made. The repairman finally arrived a few days before William’s disappearance.
Although it appeared to be a meaningless visit to police at first, it was later discovered that this repairman, Mr Bill Spedding, was previously accused of historical sex crimes (although these charges were later dropped). Police had searched the Spedding’s Laurieton home, but to no avail. Nothing of William’s was reportedly found. Although Spedding’s name would continue to plague media reports, falsely stating he was a convicted paedophile (an accusation proven to be false), Spedding has appeared to be dropped by police as a suspect in the case.

0440da3ca959864d2f8cf23a3c207743[1].jpg
(Pictured) ‘Strike Force’ Officer (left) alongside suspect Bill Spedding (right). Photo from: News Corp Australia.

So What Really Happened?

To this day, the fate of the gorgeous youngster in the Spider-Man suit still remains unknown. Most have come to the conclusion that William had been abducted, but the mystery of who still continues to baffle everyone involved. With family all ruled out as suspects, it appears that the only option could be that William was a victim of an opportunistic abductor. William’s foster parents have since described a serious of cars, two which were parked out the front of their street and one which had driven into the street by an unknown person. Being a small country-town, any cars driving past the house that didn’t belong to the family could’ve been suspicious, but they also could’ve just been confused visitors – all a big coincidental passing. There have been reports of a man asking for directions to a road that passed the Grandmother’s home at a local pub – perhaps explaining the car that had ‘suspiciously’ passed the house before William went missing, but as of yet, that driver has not been publicly identified.
On the 5th of August, the inquest into William Tyrrell’s disappearance will continue.
We only hope – we all hope – to find answers for the mourning biological and foster families, and to bring justice to the cheerful, giggly William Tyrrell.
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For more information, I highly recommend the podcast recently released by Chanel 10 titled ‘Where’s William Tyrrell’. It describes in-depth the family life, disappearance and investigation.
Link: https://play.acast.com/s/wheres-william-tyrrell

References:

http://www.whereswilliam.org/

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-03-28/william-tyrrells-parents-hid-him-from-authorities-court-hears/10949458

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/missing-boy-william-tyrrells-doomed-life/news-story/38baa59f1db54e441f01cc11a6af6eba

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/missing-boy-william-tyrrells-doomed-life/news-story/38baa59f1db54e441f01cc11a6af6eba

https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/axed-top-cop-expected-to-be-grilled-at-the-william-tyrrell-inquest-over-his-intense-interest-in-washing-machine-repairman-bill-spedding/ar-AADyaqb

https://www.news.com.au/national/courts-law/paedophile-to-testify-at-william-tyrrell-inquest/news-story/551d485fd59bb6f513d630c6ec9ea7c3

If you have any information relating to the disappearance of William Tyrrell, please contact Crime Stoppers at: 1800 333 000
Reports can be made anonymously.