Playing dress-ups, hugs, and big smiles: William Tyrrell’s sister shares haunting never-before-seen photos of her little brother before he mysteriously disappeared

By CANDACE SUTTON, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA

Published: | Updated:

William Tyrrell‘s older sister has shared never-before-seen photographs of the missing toddler while revealing the pain of losing him. 

The 15-year-old posted photos of the two together as children online.

William’s sister, known legally as Lindsay, was playing with William just moments before he mysteriously vanished from his foster family’s home in Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast in 2014.  

Speaking of the still unresolved disappearance of William, then aged three, Lindsay posted: ‘Most people wouldn’t understand the pain of loosing (sic) a sibling but I hate it how ik (I know) it all to (sic) well.’

The photos show William as a chubby toddler, much plumper than the image of him in the Spider-Man suit in what is believed to be the last photo taken of him alive.

In other photos, Lindsay – whose identity cannot be revealed for legal reasons – is seen kissing William, and cuddling up with him and their birth parents.

One image shows Lindsay lying next to a newborn William.

She has proudly captioned it ‘my brother’ with a golden heart emoji, and added hashtags ‘my best friend’,  ‘#fyp’ (which means ‘for you page’) and ‘#my little brother’.

William is pictured playing with his older sister (left and right)

William (left) was last seen by his older sister when they were playing on the verandah of the Kendall home from which he disappeared more than 11 years ago. His sister said that ‘most people wouldn’t understand the pain’ of losing a sibling, but that she knew it too well

One image shows Lindsay lying next to a newborn William

The inquest into William’s disappearance, which is Australia’s most high-profile missing child case, heard evidence and saw photographic exhibits of Lindsay’s final moments with her brother.

The two children – who were born less than two years apart – were riding bikes in the driveway of their home at about 9.30am before he went missing on September 12, 2014.

Lindsay and William had been playing with dice and making cards to place on their late grandfather’s grave when William became bored.

He started playing a game called ‘Daddy Tiger’ in which he roared like a tiger. Soon afterwards he vanished, and no trace of him has ever been found.

In the year following William’s disappearance, it was revealed that Lindsay often asked: ‘Has anyone seen my little brother?’ 

The findings from the inquest into his disappearance are yet to be delivered by Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame.

In 2020, William’s then 10-year-old sister made an emotional promise via a recorded message to the inquest, vowing to find her younger brother.

‘I hope this speech makes you solve the case,’ Lindsay said.

William on the verandah with his sister Lindsay (in blue, right) in the siblings’ final moments before he mysteriously vanished 

William in his Spiderman suit that became the enduring photo of the missing boy

William Tyrrell is Australia’s most high-profile missing child case

‘If it doesn’t, when I am officially an adult, I will be in the police force, a detective specifically, and I will find my brother and not give up until he is found.

‘Please help my family, most of all me, find our precious William.’

In 2016, NSW Supreme Court Justice Paul Brereton ruled that William was probably dead. 

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