I think part of the issue with little William Tyrell is that Australian law is far more restrictive in what can be revealed about children in the media. It wasn't permitted under Australian media law for anyone to disclose that he was a foster child, ostensibly for his own privacy, until a member of the public - a former child in care herself - who suspected that he was a foster child and thought it was in the public interest that people know that, took it to court and made a case that this should be public information. She won and it then became known.
And even after that, the identities of his foster parents (and the late woman whose house they were visiting) are still legally protected, again ostensibly for the privacy of the children (William and his sibling) but in practice it feels like that is maybe protecting the wrong people.
I read that William's foster mother's alibi was based on the time the famous photo of him in his Spiderman suit was taken. Almost immediately after that he was missing and she phoned the police. However there's a suspicion that the metadata of the camera may have been tampered with to make it look like the photo was taken later than it was which if true would mean the family had time to dispose of his body before calling for help.
I feel sorry for William's birth family. They were flawed as parents but how heartbreaking to have a child taken off you and then not even protected by his new carers.
This thread has made me realise how much time I spend thinking about, and reading about, unsolved cases. And to be honest I'm starting to feel it's too much time. I think I need to step away from the true crime and do something more wholesome.