WEBVTT - The Bird Tree |12 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:12.520 So we're driving back up to the Mid North Coast 0:00:12.520 --> 0:00:15.480 and New South Wales, which is where William Tiler went missing. 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.480 And I didn't think we'd be coming back, but we've 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:26.880 still got questions. And the questions were about one of 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:30.520 the people who was held up at the inquest into 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:39.120 William's disappearance as a suspect, potential suspect. And his name's 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:43.520 Frank Abbott. What do we know about Frank Abbott? 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:47.680 So, Frank Abbott is a man that has been around 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:52.280 the Mid North Coast since the late eighties or nineties. Yeah, 0:00:53.320 --> 0:00:57.720 he's lived in both John's River and Heron's Creek, both. 0:00:57.440 --> 0:00:59.880 Of which and near Kendall where William were missing. 0:01:01.040 --> 0:01:07.640 And I guess there's no clear connection between. 0:01:08.760 --> 0:01:12.800 Human except that he keeps talking about it. And that's 0:01:13.120 --> 0:01:16.920 the thing that stands out, is Frank keeps talking about 0:01:16.959 --> 0:01:20.840 William's disappearance. There's people who give evidence at the inquest 0:01:20.880 --> 0:01:25.000 and say that Frank used to bring it up. He 0:01:25.080 --> 0:01:27.959 used to say that other people must have been involved 0:01:28.000 --> 0:01:30.920 in what happened to William. Or he would talk about 0:01:31.240 --> 0:01:33.120 an area of the bush where he said he could 0:01:33.200 --> 0:01:36.720 smell a body, or he knew what the smell of death. 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:40.320 Was and you have a difference between a dead kangaroo and. 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:44.360 A dead body. And there was evidence that he actually 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:48.680 bragged in front of children that he killed William and 0:01:48.760 --> 0:01:52.280 disposed of William I think under their house. 0:01:52.640 --> 0:01:55.680 In a port, in a suitcase, in the suitcase. 0:01:55.720 --> 0:01:59.640 I mean, look, it wasn't true. There's no evidence, actual 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:02.920 evidence that Frank was involved in what happened to William, 0:02:03.400 --> 0:02:06.720 but Frank keeps talking about it. 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:10.760 And inserting himself into the investigation. So he even contacted 0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:13.560 the police while he was in prison for child sex 0:02:13.560 --> 0:02:17.880 abuse in twenty eighteen. He contacts the police and he 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.200 asks to speak to a local detective and he tells him, 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:25.000 you know, I saw Tony Jones somewhere with a child 0:02:25.160 --> 0:02:27.000 or you know, he tells them things that there's no 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:30.959 evidence of, but he's inserting himself into that insony, right. 0:02:31.000 --> 0:02:33.920 He demands to speak to someone who's on the William 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:38.360 Tool strike force, and he knows people, so he knows 0:02:38.440 --> 0:02:42.480 Tony Jones, who's another convicted pedophile and another person of 0:02:42.520 --> 0:02:47.120 interest in the William Tool investigation. And again no evidence 0:02:47.160 --> 0:02:49.400 that Tony was involved in what happened to William, but 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:53.160 the police are looking at him, and Frank knows Jeff Owen, 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:56.880 the tradesman who does work on the house where William 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:01.760 goes missing, and is on the phone to the house 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:07.120 that day. So there's this connection between Frank and the 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:12.120 house where William goes missing, but there's no evidence that 0:03:12.200 --> 0:03:13.480 puts Frank at the house. 0:03:14.000 --> 0:03:18.160 Yeah, and yet as he goes through all the evidence 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:22.840 heard at the inquest, Frank just keeps popping up throughout 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:24.359 it in these strange ways, like. 0:03:24.320 --> 0:03:25.919 He's like, well, then there's Ray Porter. 0:03:26.200 --> 0:03:26.959 Yeah. 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:31.760 So Ray Porter is this guy who is really elderly. 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:34.560 He's in a care home and he's dying, and his 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:39.320 nurse gives evidence that Ray says before he dies that 0:03:39.440 --> 0:03:43.920 he gave his mate a lift with a boy driving 0:03:44.000 --> 0:03:47.480 north away from Kendall, further north in New South Wales. 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.080 And the nurse says, is that the boy is that 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:55.440 William Tyroll And apparently Ray says yes. And there's the 0:03:55.480 --> 0:04:00.880 white car. So William's foster mother says there's a white 0:04:01.280 --> 0:04:04.520 station wagon parked outside the house on the day that 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:06.880 William goes missing. Nobody else has seen it, but she 0:04:07.040 --> 0:04:11.360 insists there was. Frank is seen driving a white station 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:17.039 wagon in Kendall on different days. So there's all of 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:21.719 these reasons to look at Frank and say, we should 0:04:21.760 --> 0:04:25.800 probably talk to you, as in the police should talk 0:04:25.839 --> 0:04:30.000 to him. And he's at the inquest. He's allowed to 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:34.239 be in the hearings, and he joins them from prison 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:37.440 where he's serving time for child sexual abuse. But he 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.080 calls in on a video link and he's allowed to 0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:41.280 question witnesses. 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:46.719 Yeah, and we established earlier in the series that he 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:49.800 in fact gets all the evidence from the inquest. 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.680 Yeah, and this I was speaking to a former detective 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:55.960 about exactly this, just a couple of days ago and 0:04:56.040 --> 0:05:00.560 telling him about what happened, and this detective was horrified 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:06.640 that the inquest had sent Frank well parts of, if 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:11.240 not the complete brief of evidence. While Frank is preparing 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:14.800 himself to give evidence at the inquest, so he knows 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:18.680 what everyone is saying. He's allowed to question witnesses who 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:23.960 are saying things about him, and everyone is waiting for 0:05:24.040 --> 0:05:28.919 Frank to be called to answer questions at the inquest, 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:33.840 and then he doesn't. He's not questioned in person, he's 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:40.000 not questioned in private, and then the inquest stops and 0:05:40.040 --> 0:05:44.440 we don't know why. So there's all these questions and 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:48.400 we still don't have answers. So we decided it was 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.080 time to drive back up to the Mid North Coast 0:05:51.600 --> 0:05:54.120 and to try and find some. 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:57.800 Answers to those questions, or find out if the police 0:05:57.839 --> 0:05:59.960 have tried to find some answers to those questions. 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:10.599 Yeah, I'm danbox and from news dot com dot au. 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:22.000 This is Witness William Tyrell, episode twelve, The Bird Tree 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:27.880 and here we are. Where we are is a little 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:32.560 town called John's River. It's just off the Pacific Highway 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:36.479 on the Mid North coast of New South Wales, which 0:06:36.520 --> 0:06:41.680 is where Frank moved back in the nineties, but then 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:46.280 he stayed for years. John's River is about a ten 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:51.240 maybe twelve minute drive from Kendall, where William Tyrell was 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:56.760 reported missing. And it's small. It's got one shop, one pub, 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:02.279 a service station. The trees overhang a few old cars, 0:07:02.440 --> 0:07:05.599 some of them upon blocks or in pieces in the 0:07:05.600 --> 0:07:10.520 front yards of the single story weatherboard houses. Just a 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:16.600 few hundred people live here. It's barely a town. 0:07:16.760 --> 0:07:20.160 It's going to say, you said by driving in almost. 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.360 It's kind of a straggler houses on either side of 0:07:24.360 --> 0:07:33.560 the road and looks like a Symbda days. But people 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:40.680 here knew Frank because he lived here, he worked here. Frankly, 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:44.440 in a place this big, you can't get away with not. 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:45.360 Knowing your neighbors. 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:48.280 So we're going to try talking to people and find 0:07:48.320 --> 0:07:53.680 out anything we can about Frank Abbott. When I say 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:58.200 find out anything we can about Frank Abbott, I mean it. 0:08:02.680 --> 0:08:05.840 Since the last episode of this series, Nina and I 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:12.240 have gone deep on Frank, looking at court files and 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:19.679 electoral roles. Hello, following the different branches of Frank's family, 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:22.960 where he's one of eleven brothers and sisters. 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:29.240 Hello, Drive around the back. 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:34.600 We've traced phone numbers and property records to see where 0:08:34.640 --> 0:08:41.000 Frank's family lived over decades, from western Sydney north to Wooton, 0:08:41.200 --> 0:08:45.560 a hilltop town surrounded by cattle farms and forests, and 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:49.160 further north to the city of Taree, which sits in 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.960 a loop in the wide Manning River, and here to 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:53.720 John's River. 0:08:54.640 --> 0:09:00.160 I'm pretty sure there's somebody at home TVSA. 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:04.360 Then Heron's Creek, a tiny township built around a sawmill 0:09:04.760 --> 0:09:08.120 and a rail line where the police searched after William 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:08.720 went missing. 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:11.920 Sorry to bother you, in turn of our Nowhere. 0:09:12.080 --> 0:09:15.080 We followed Frank to Logan's Crossing, where he lived in 0:09:15.120 --> 0:09:18.920 a caravan belonging to a man called Jeff Owen, a 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:23.040 tradesman who called the house where William was reported missing 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:27.040 on that morning. My name's Dan, This is Nina, and 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:31.040 north again into Queensland, where Frank's family are now scattered. 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:34.640 We've been trying to get in touch with it. Julie 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:36.840 Abbott Abbot. 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:46.240 We've read the death certificates of Frank's wife, Katrina, who 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:50.640 died in nineteen ninety one of liver failure, and of 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:54.480 Frank's two year old son Darren, who died in nineteen 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:58.840 eighty four and whose inquest file has been sealed, meaning 0:09:58.880 --> 0:10:03.480 it cannot be made public. We've also seen Frank's parents' 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:08.199 marriage certificate, which showed they married at nineteen and lists 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.679 his dad's job as a laborer and his mum's as 0:10:11.760 --> 0:10:16.720 domestic duties. And we've read the police witness statement and 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:21.280 the old court reports that say Frank's dad, Henry Abbott, 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:26.959 was a child abuser. We've gone through old TV, radio 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.960 and newspaper reports about Frank that show how he's been 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.920 in and out of prison. Over decades do. 0:10:34.840 --> 0:10:37.439 You think Frank Abbot was involved in the disappearance? 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:41.880 That I cannot answer, including one time when he broke 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:45.360 out of prison, stole a car and drove across the 0:10:45.480 --> 0:10:47.040 country to his sisters. 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:48.720 But do you think he's capable? 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:55.920 Well, he scares me. They're still scilling in that name's there, 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:02.960 so I really want to say. Over the decades, Frank's 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:07.720 done time for smaller crimes including drugs, breac and enters, 0:11:08.000 --> 0:11:12.640 car thefts, and he's now doing time for big crimes, 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:20.679 specifically child sex abuse, including four counts of indecently assaulting 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:25.480 a child under sixteen and six counts of having sex 0:11:25.520 --> 0:11:30.479 with a child under ten against three victims, two girls 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:35.120 and a boy, for which he's currently serving sixteen years 0:11:35.679 --> 0:11:39.960 in Long Bay Prison in Sydney's East, where one of 0:11:40.000 --> 0:11:44.199 our colleagues recently saw Frank Abbot sitting and laying out 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:49.199 the playing cards for a game of Solitaire. Among everything 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:53.360 we've learned about Frank Abbot are new details about the 0:11:53.400 --> 0:11:59.600 circumstances of William's disappearance, including that Frank told one person 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.960 he'd never even been to the street where three year 0:12:04.000 --> 0:12:08.440 old William was reported missing, but he told someone else. 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.360 He'd been among the hundreds of people who volunteered to 0:12:12.520 --> 0:12:23.560 search that area in the days that followed. So we're 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.640 at the pub now where people have told us Frank 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:29.240 was living in a couple of white sheds out the 0:12:29.240 --> 0:12:31.320 back of the property. I've just been speaking to the 0:12:31.320 --> 0:12:35.880 guy who owns it and he said, he said, look, 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.560 Frank did rent some white sheds down here further on 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:40.440 the property. He said he didn't think Frank was living 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.559 in them, but he did bar Frank from the pub. 0:12:44.120 --> 0:12:48.240 He said Frank stank and he was aggressive and he 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:53.960 just didn't want him in there. Frank denies having anything 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:58.480 to do with William Tyrell's disappearance. He's claimed to other 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:02.680 people that a bank withdrawal proves he was somewhere else 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:07.920 that morning. And we can't speak to Frank because he's 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:11.160 in prison, though we have written to him, and we've 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:15.040 spoken to his sister, Elaine Harding, who didn't want to 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:19.800 be recorded, but told us that Frank was innocent and 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.079 that he'd been willing to give evidence at the inquest 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:30.520 into William's disappearance, which is strange because everyone expected Frank 0:13:30.600 --> 0:13:35.040 to be called to answer questions, including both William's biological 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:42.520 and foster parents. Only Frank never did so. He wasn't 0:13:42.559 --> 0:13:45.680 called to give evidence in public and not in private, 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:50.520 and the coroner who's leading the inquest into William's disappearance 0:13:51.200 --> 0:13:55.880 has ordered there be no publication of her decision. Why not? 0:13:57.800 --> 0:14:01.280 We asked the Coroner's court to explain why Frank has 0:14:01.400 --> 0:14:06.280 not given evidence. We were told an answer might take weeks, 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:16.480 as they are quote currently occupied with other work. We're 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:17.319 still waiting. 0:14:19.400 --> 0:14:23.640 Okay, Dan's walking up to the house. It's coming in, 0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:26.200 appearing at them through the curtains of us. 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:33.080 In this case, getting answers isn't easy, all right. So 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.080 that guy didn't want to be recorded. 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:41.560 And then we haven't talked about the woman that I 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:43.600 contacted through Facebook. 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:47.239 Right since the last episode of this series. The coroners 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:53.880 also confirmed there won't be any more evidence heard in public. Instead, 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:57.840 the coroner wants to see written submissions from the various lawyers, 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:01.840 which also won't be made public, and aunt ju for 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:05.720 months from now, meaning it will likely be months more 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:08.960 before the coroner publishes her findings. 0:15:09.320 --> 0:15:11.120 I asked her how she knew Frank hmm. 0:15:12.280 --> 0:15:16.560 The coroner has released a short statement saying it is 0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:19.720 to be understood that the New South Wales Police Force's 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:24.600 investigation into the disappearance and suspected death of William Tyrrell 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:25.960 may continue. 0:15:26.640 --> 0:15:29.480 Her reply was sorry, it's taken song to get back 0:15:29.520 --> 0:15:31.040 to you. I wasn't sure I was ready to talk 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:34.640 about this. Frank sexually assaulted me as a teenager when 0:15:34.640 --> 0:15:35.560 I was living in Tare. 0:15:36.760 --> 0:15:40.560 We asked the New South Wales Director of Public Prosecutions 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:43.880 what's happening with a brief of evidence submitted by the 0:15:43.960 --> 0:15:48.480 police seeking to charge William's foster mother, and she. 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:52.560 Said he was never charged for it. My parents knew 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:53.040 about it. 0:15:53.440 --> 0:15:53.680 Hmm. 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:58.480 That brief of evidence was submitted almost two years ago 0:15:58.600 --> 0:16:02.240 now and there's still been no decision as to whether 0:16:02.520 --> 0:16:07.440 to actually charge her. The DPP did not respond to 0:16:07.520 --> 0:16:25.200 our questions. So that was a call from a guy 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:29.760 called Patrick Tealing and we knocked on his house half 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:31.840 an hour ago and I left a message on his phone. 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:36.160 The police did charge William's foster mother and foster father 0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:40.960 with assaulting and intimidating another child who wasn't William. He 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:43.520 was the guy who ran the store in John's River, 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:47.280 which is where Frank Abbott was living, and William's foster 0:16:47.400 --> 0:16:51.520 parents were convicted. But in the months since the last 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:55.480 episode of this series, William's foster father has appealed his 0:16:55.560 --> 0:17:00.320 conviction for intimidation and had it overturned. And the guy 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:03.960 from Taree's in the store delivering bread, and he pulls 0:17:04.080 --> 0:17:08.160 Patrick aside and says, stay away from that guy. That's 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:13.480 Frank Abbot. And William's foster mothers also appealed her convictions, 0:17:13.800 --> 0:17:17.080 and he's waiting on a decision. I know him from 0:17:17.119 --> 0:17:22.320 Tari Warn your kids, don't let your kids go near him. 0:17:23.760 --> 0:17:26.880 And when you put all of this together, what you've 0:17:26.920 --> 0:17:31.200 got is that so far, neither the police nor the 0:17:31.200 --> 0:17:37.040 coroner seem to have any real answers about what happened 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:42.360 to William. And so from then on, Patrick the storekeeper 0:17:42.520 --> 0:17:45.520 is keeping an eye on Frank Abbot, and he doesn't 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:50.080 like what he sees, which is why Nina and I 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.600 have come here to the town of John's River to 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:59.400 ask questions. Bringing us back to Frank Abbot, he said, 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:04.280 over and again and again and again, he'd notice outside 0:18:04.320 --> 0:18:07.240 the store Frank Abbot talking to women or women and 0:18:07.320 --> 0:18:10.480 children and just getting too close. He said, he used 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:13.200 to at night. Sometimes he'd be awake and he'd see 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:17.280 Frank backing out of his property with his lights off, 0:18:17.440 --> 0:18:20.159 getting down the road, and then the lights would turn on, 0:18:20.440 --> 0:18:22.680 and he said Frank was out and he was stealing stuff. 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:26.400 And the local people would say in John's River, if 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.800 you're missing something, go and look at Frank's house. He says, 0:18:33.160 --> 0:18:35.200 I'm just reading my notes. I made shorthand notes of 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:38.600 the conversation. He says, he's just one of those guys. 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:44.760 He didn't have any scruples, and he said he was 0:18:45.000 --> 0:18:50.720 worried about him. And then Patrick said, of Frank, you 0:18:50.800 --> 0:18:54.920 wouldn't feed him. He said, jail's too good for him. Wow, 0:18:55.880 --> 0:18:59.359 So why did his old neighbors say jails too good 0:18:59.480 --> 0:19:07.360 for Frank Abbott? What had he done? So we recording 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:10.320 this man used to live next door to Frank. He 0:19:10.440 --> 0:19:13.560 doesn't want to be named. We're sitting on the front 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.280 porch of his home in John's River, the main road 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:20.080 behind us, and the bodies of old cars seemingly scattered, 0:19:20.640 --> 0:19:23.160 almost half forgotten, in the surrounding forest. 0:19:23.480 --> 0:19:28.359 Tell me about Frank, Well, we're not first viny. We 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:30.600 sort of got on for a while and then. 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:34.080 I heard stories about some girl in Sydney. 0:19:35.600 --> 0:19:37.959 Did you hear those stories from him or from other people? 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:42.280 Now was in the paper too. He sort of kept 0:19:42.320 --> 0:19:47.040 to himself, but me X missage used to get it 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:48.560 and do the garden. He used to look over the 0:19:48.600 --> 0:19:49.280 fence and stuff. 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:51.840 So when she was out in the garden. 0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:53.880 Yeah, when it was hard, she was in a bkinie 0:19:53.880 --> 0:19:55.200 at the back, like we had a fence. 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:57.360 But they used to look over so you could see 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:58.199 him like peering over. 0:19:58.320 --> 0:19:59.320 Yeah, I record you. 0:19:59.440 --> 0:19:59.919 What did you do? 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:03.040 I wasn't going to flog you, but I didn't because 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:03.680 he came. 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:08.480 Out with you. So you got into a blue with him. 0:20:08.640 --> 0:20:10.080 I didn't fight, but you were. 0:20:11.560 --> 0:20:13.080 And then he went back in and came out with 0:20:13.080 --> 0:20:16.520 a machete. Yeah, and this is your next door neighbor. 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:21.000 How did you get on after that? Not really before 0:20:21.000 --> 0:20:23.600 you kind of he pulled a machete on you. 0:20:24.359 --> 0:20:26.760 Did you ever talk to him about anything at all? 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:27.760 Did you get on with him much? 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:30.560 I used to talk with him. He was all right. 0:20:31.119 --> 0:20:32.359 Tell me about what he was like. 0:20:33.680 --> 0:20:36.800 Oh, he was just he was pretty dirty. 0:20:37.280 --> 0:20:40.240 It wasn't that plain. Yeah, and the house was pretty feral. 0:20:41.200 --> 0:20:44.960 Had Chuck's living in it living. We used to go 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:47.600 to the tips and night and breaking the tip. 0:20:48.080 --> 0:20:50.080 So he used to go and steal stuff and break 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:52.800 into the bag and tipt a hold the fence and 0:20:52.840 --> 0:20:55.719 bring it back here. But none of you kids were 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:58.800 all out over there. Why not? Well, just the way 0:20:58.800 --> 0:21:04.399 he walked, Just the stories, what stories that. 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:06.640 He was a bit of of As a police ever 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:08.680 spoken to you about the. 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:14.520 Degnies about Frank on the phone, I just same thing. 0:21:14.560 --> 0:21:17.000 I'm telling you something. And then they never came back 0:21:17.040 --> 0:21:17.639 after that. 0:21:18.359 --> 0:21:18.719 Okay. 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:24.320 The police who spoke to Frank's old neighbor were detectives 0:21:24.320 --> 0:21:28.119 from the Strike Force investigating the disappearance of William Tyrrel. 0:21:29.040 --> 0:21:32.720 But they only called him, he says, they never visited 0:21:32.880 --> 0:21:37.240 in person. Sitting on his front porch, I look next 0:21:37.280 --> 0:21:42.000 door at Frank Abbott's old house. Someone new lives there 0:21:42.040 --> 0:21:45.119 now since Frank moved out, And there were more cars 0:21:45.119 --> 0:21:47.880 on the front lawn, a little boats, a tinney up 0:21:47.880 --> 0:21:50.960 on a trailer, and what looks like a black stone 0:21:51.080 --> 0:21:55.199 gargoyle of some kind of winged mythical creature beside the 0:21:55.240 --> 0:21:59.359 screen door. I look over at all of that and 0:21:59.400 --> 0:22:02.240 I think, all right, it's worth a visit. 0:22:03.600 --> 0:22:05.440 Let's have another knock hed tat him. 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:09.720 Before the screen doors shut, But the main door behind 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:13.080 it is open, and I can see it's dark inside 0:22:13.119 --> 0:22:18.159 the house although it's late morning, almost midday. I'm pretty 0:22:18.240 --> 0:22:22.120 sure we wake the owner up. I'm sorry to bother 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:26.440 you on the The man comes to the doorway, scratching 0:22:26.520 --> 0:22:31.480 himself in shirtless, wearing only shorts, and he's big, muscular, 0:22:31.640 --> 0:22:34.840 he's got tattoos across his body, but he's friendly. 0:22:35.359 --> 0:22:36.920 How long did you know him for? 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:39.720 Not more? 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:41.320 As were more disposed. 0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:46.240 The man invites us in. 0:22:48.119 --> 0:22:48.879 How long you've been there? 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:54.199 He says he's lived here since twenty ten, four years 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:58.760 before William was reported missing. We sit down in a 0:22:58.840 --> 0:23:03.240 lounge room dominated by a long black sofa and a big, 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:08.840 noisy fish tank. The man starts talking about how they 0:23:08.840 --> 0:23:10.760 took over the house from Frank Abbott. 0:23:11.080 --> 0:23:14.359 I think we've done about thirteen loads thirteen loads of 0:23:14.520 --> 0:23:17.440 rubbish from the backyard. What kind of rubbish about everything? 0:23:17.440 --> 0:23:22.840 A washing machines over in this corner, there was and 0:23:23.359 --> 0:23:25.359 steal bathtubs over in that corner. 0:23:25.600 --> 0:23:28.640 Scrap metal and bits things you could. 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:32.720 Sell maybe yeah, I don't know about selling them. 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:37.479 But yeah, and that's even now, like you go they 0:23:37.480 --> 0:23:40.320 you could dig the dirt, Yeah, and you're still find 0:23:40.359 --> 0:23:40.840 shot in. 0:23:40.800 --> 0:23:44.359 The dirt like that was that thick? What was he 0:23:44.440 --> 0:23:45.320 like in cider house? 0:23:46.920 --> 0:23:50.280 Very dark and gloomy, Like the bathroom was basically rotted 0:23:50.320 --> 0:23:54.159 out side of thing in the bathroom. Yeah, like you know, 0:23:54.280 --> 0:23:58.520 the walls inside the floor, and it was very like old. 0:23:58.600 --> 0:24:00.399 And it was one of these houses where he could have, 0:24:01.119 --> 0:24:03.399 you know, it was fifty fifty you can push it 0:24:03.440 --> 0:24:06.800 down and start building again, or he could start renovating. 0:24:07.760 --> 0:24:12.480 Yeah, so we chose to renovated. And was it clean? 0:24:13.520 --> 0:24:18.480 It was very old and dusty inside. And then stuff 0:24:18.520 --> 0:24:23.359 that was inside it was like he can say antique furniture, 0:24:24.119 --> 0:24:27.280 but he got it from out the front of someone's 0:24:27.280 --> 0:24:30.240 house or whatever, Like it wasn't proper you know. 0:24:30.960 --> 0:24:31.840 Old furniture. 0:24:31.960 --> 0:24:36.919 Yeah, so much antique is old and he'd been thrown away. Yeah, 0:24:37.359 --> 0:24:38.760 tell me about Frank himself. 0:24:38.840 --> 0:24:40.080 What was he like? 0:24:42.320 --> 0:24:44.679 I told to him, and that like straight up, I 0:24:44.840 --> 0:24:46.879 just assumed to know an old boat, you know, a 0:24:46.880 --> 0:24:52.760 bit a bit funny in his ways. But then once 0:24:52.800 --> 0:24:56.080 you've heard the stories and stuff, like from people around 0:24:56.119 --> 0:25:03.040 town and even from his He's brother brother named Bluie. 0:25:03.760 --> 0:25:07.200 That was his nickname. Blue Even he had nothing nice 0:25:07.240 --> 0:25:10.320 to say about him. What stories did you hear about Frank? 0:25:10.920 --> 0:25:11.880 Well, I heard about. 0:25:13.520 --> 0:25:15.960 I don't know know who it was at the time, 0:25:16.040 --> 0:25:22.520 but as young girls and young boys, something about he 0:25:22.560 --> 0:25:25.760 took him out to the forest out here, just something 0:25:25.760 --> 0:25:31.320 here and but tied him up the trees. What. Yeah, 0:25:32.160 --> 0:25:35.760 tired him up the trees and did I can't I'm 0:25:35.800 --> 0:25:38.399 not going to sit here and make up something that 0:25:38.520 --> 0:25:40.560 I don't know. I'm just saying tied him up the 0:25:40.600 --> 0:25:44.560 trees and did something bad out there. Did you hear 0:25:44.600 --> 0:25:53.560 anything else? Yeah, Well, Frank was basically like creeked around 0:25:53.640 --> 0:25:56.960 any any girl. They would be onto him. 0:25:58.000 --> 0:26:01.360 One story, this man tells us. We hear more than 0:26:01.400 --> 0:26:05.320 once in John's River from other people who knew Frank. 0:26:06.320 --> 0:26:10.240 But I'm not going to repeat it, not because we 0:26:10.440 --> 0:26:14.520 don't think that story's true, but because we fear it 0:26:14.680 --> 0:26:22.200 might be and I don't want to identify the people involved. 0:26:24.200 --> 0:26:28.439 What I'm saying didn't really have any hate or anything 0:26:28.480 --> 0:26:30.600 towards him, because I've said, there are stories, you know, 0:26:30.680 --> 0:26:35.320 and he's always wandering around town and making and he 0:26:35.440 --> 0:26:38.240 was going to get a lift to help out someone 0:26:38.440 --> 0:26:42.040 or like cleaning or something for people. 0:26:42.680 --> 0:26:46.360 Anyway, that's as much as I knew him. 0:26:47.000 --> 0:26:49.480 They don't like And then he stopped in here and 0:26:49.680 --> 0:26:52.920 sub twice I said a couple of times more, and 0:26:54.640 --> 0:26:57.159 my dad's given him a lift, like see, you was 0:26:57.200 --> 0:26:59.760 always hunting for a lift of the shops or something. 0:27:00.600 --> 0:27:03.680 So that's as much as we knew of him, right, 0:27:03.760 --> 0:27:05.600 you know, And just you give my lift. 0:27:06.280 --> 0:27:07.760