One year on: Where is William Tyrrell?

It was lunchtime on the 12th of September last year.

The Nine newsroom in Sydney received information that a three-year-old boy was missing from the tiny mid-north coast town of Kendall and a search was underway.

Our crew arrived thinking it was a case of a little boy who had gone for a walk in the bush and would be found that afternoon.

But here we are a year later, still looking for William Tyrrell.

READ MORE: Where is William Tyrrell? What we know 12 months on

THE DISAPPEARANCE 

William was with his family the day he went missing.

Along with his mum, dad and older sister, they drove the five hours from Sydney’s north shore to Kendall.

It was a spur of the moment trip that hadn’t had much planning. William’s folks wanted to take the children to visit Nan, who had been having some health problems.

They arrived at his grandmother’s home on the afternoon of the 11th of September.

The next morning William - in his favourite Spiderman suit - went into the yard of the home that sits on the top corner of Benaroon Drive.

His dad headed up to the local shops, while his mother and grandmother watched William and his sister.

They were playing "lions and tigers" on the beautifully manicured lawn. Brother and sister roaring at each other in the spring sun, all the time watched by the adults.

This is the crucial moment. 

William’s mother stood up from her vantage point on the balcony and went inside to make a cup of tea. It was right on 10:30am. 

She was gone for just a couple of minutes.   

When she couldn't hear William roaring anymore she stepped outside to find her son was nowhere to be seen.

THE SEARCH

William's mother and grandmother searched for him immediately; frantically going from house to house up and down Benaroon Drive, thinking he may have just wandered into a neighbour’s home.

Twenty minutes after William went missing, police were called and a full scale search began.

The first thing that struck us as journalists was just how many people were looking. It was huge. Hundreds of local police, SES volunteers and concerned locals negotiated the webs of lantana and crumbling sand rock in an effort to find this boy.

IN THEIR WORDS: The parents of William Tyrrell speak publicly for the first time since their son vanished

Rhi Chapman who owns the local bottle shop told us "we're all parents, we're all relatives of little children, so it's just so important."

At first, most people held the same belief as we did. He would show up.

But as the days passed it became less and less likely. 

One local commented at the time: "The bush is just so thick. A three-year-old couldn’t have gone very far and we’ve been searching for three days. He’s not here."

I struggled to believe him. 

A little boy in a Spiderman outfit could not have just disappeared. Kids don’t just disappear.

It was then that a cameraman I was travelling with said, "Well, what if someone has taken him?”

THE INVESTIGATION

In the twelve months since William's disappearance we have constantly been back and forth to the mid-north coast covering every development in the case. Some significant, some not.

Strike Force Rossann has been established to investigate William’s disappearance. It's made up of some of the most talented officers in New South Wales and is headed by Detective Inspector Gary Jubelin.

They have been methodically working through the thousand of leads that have been flowing in through their own work as well as Crime Stoppers.

But still no William. 

In Michael Usher's 60 Minutes exclusive you could feel the heartbreak of William's parents through your television screen.

WATCH: Michael Usher's exclusive interview with the parents of William Tyrrell

The drive from Kendall to their home in Sydney without their little boy would have just been diabolical.

While this is truly one of Australia's most baffling missing persons cases - it is just so overwhelmingly sad.

A little boy abducted while doing what all of us as young children have done. Playing in a yard.

William didn't deserve this. His parents didn't deserve this. 

They said to Usher "we are dead inside".

That says it all really.

Anyone with information about William Tyrrell's disappearance is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or use the online reporting page nsw.crimestoppers.com.au.

To support the Where’s William? campaign visit the Facebook page or website.