A fibro cabin in a caravan park on the NSW mid-north coast has been searched by police investigating the disappearance of toddler William Tyrell after residents reported hearing cries of a child in the weeks after the three-year-old vanished.
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Police searched a cabin at The Haven caravan park at Laurieton, just south of Port Macquarie at the end of last week.
The cabin is one of many properties searched since the three-year-old disappeared from his grandmother's home in the neighbouring town of Kendall on September 12.
Revelations of the caravan park search come after homicide detectives raided a home at nearby Bonny Hills and a unit above a set of shops at neighbouring Laurieton on Tuesday, seizing a mattress and computer equipment.
The owner of the caravan park told Fairfax Media that a resident had called police after hearing a child crying in a cabin where a middle-aged couple from Victoria stayed from September 28 to October 9.
"They heard an infant crying and they thought it was coming from that cabin," the owner said.
"We don't have kids, [nor are there] many children in the park; they are all retired here, so it is an unusual sound," he said.
"Police came here. They wanted to have a look through even though I'd been through that cabin since. We went down because obviously there might have been a body in there or [the police] thought there could be."
The owner said he gave the address of the couple to police and "away they went".
An excavator was on Wednesday at the Bonny Hills house, where police were also emptying a septic tank as officers continued their search of the single-level house in Wandoo Place.
Homicide detectives have spent more than 24 hours searching the semi-rural property, where an elderly couple live.
A grease trap and septic service truck pulled up to the house about 8am on Wednesday.
Detectives were instructing a man and he was later seen putting a large hose into the ground near the front of the house.
Police are sifting through a mountain of bark a few metres from the septic tank as dogs on the property continue to howl.
Two officers were seen using rakes and picking up large clumps with their hands as plainclothes detectives watched.
Resident Dean Pollard said the couple are the guardians of at least three grandchildren.
He said at least 20 police officers and six cars were parked outside the home since 7am on Tuesday.
Next-door neighbour Hannah-Jayne, 18, said she was deeply disturbed that police were searching the couple's home in relation to the toddler's disappearance.
She told Fairfax Media she did not know the couple that well but said one of their grandchildren often played with her dog Wilfred.
"It's really scary," she said. "I hope they find him [William] soon, just hopefully not next door to my house."
Another neighbour said she had met the man and two of his grandsons for the first time at a street Christmas party last year.
It is believed the couple rent the property and moved in a few years ago, neighbours say.
The couple are believed to own a business at the nearby town of Laurieton that was raided on Tuesday.
Spider-Man suit
William vanished without a trace from his grandmother's home in Kendall, just south of Port Macquarie, on September 12.
He was wearing a Spider-Man suit and playing in the backyard with his sister when he disappeared, as their mother made a cup of tea.
A 10-kilometre search of the area surrounding the house failed to find any trace of William.
The search lasted weeks and involved the NSW Police, Rural Fire Service, the State Emergency service and more than 200 locals.
Investigators have searched every corner of the 21 houses in the bushland estate where William was last seen.
Commander of the mid north coast region Superintendent Paul Fehon said recently that police were looking at a number of scenarios.
Superintendent Fehon said that, if the little boy had some form of misadventure in nearby bushland, police would have found something by now.
"We are completely open to any possibility, including human intervention," he said in an interview with Fairfax Media.
"If that has occurred, somebody knows something."
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
