‘Fresh leads’: William Tyrrell search expected to continue for ‘weeks and weeks’

New South Wales (NSW) Police Commissioner Mick Fuller has hinted that the investigation into William Tyrrell’s disappearance could take “weeks and weeks” but assured the public the search for the three-year-old would continue until “the job is done”.

William vanished from his foster grandmother’s Kendall property over seven years ago. An extensive investigation and an exhaustive search by hundreds of volunteers and emergency service workers followed, however, the then three-year-old has not been found. Renewed search efforts announced on November 15 saw hundreds of police descend on the town of Kendall as police seized a vehicle for forensic investigation and detectives revealed they were zeroing in one suspect.

NSW Police Commissioner Mick Fuller told ABC News, investigators are currently working through a large amount of potential evidence.

“We have taken 15 tonnes of soil and other pieces of evidence or potential evidence back for forensic investigation,” he said.

“(It’s) particularly challenging weather conditions at the moment but that will continue until investigators believe that the job is done.

“If you think about 15 tonnes of soil being moved into a clandestine lab, there could be weeks and weeks of searching through that before we have any answers.”

Police Minister David Elliot told Sunrise that authorities were scouring the town of Kendall for clues because they believed there might be something there that could assist the investigation.

“They wouldn’t be there unless they thought there were new and fresh leads,” he told the program.

“I think that is the expectation for the people of NSW, and for Australia, that police go to the nth degree and they don’t stop until they know that every opportunity of finding evidence is exhausted.”

“They wouldn’t be there unless there were new and fresh leads”

NSW Police Minister David Elliott shares an update on the William Tyrrell investigation as the search around where he disappeared enters its eighth day. pic.twitter.com/cHzRIglKTl

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) November 22, 2021

Heavy rain has hampered the ongoing search efforts, with more rain predicted to be on the way. Multiple pieces of potential evidence have been taken for forensic testing as police sift through mounds of dirt in the search for clues.