Riddle of Australia's boy in the bush: Professional bush tracker is brought in to solve mystery of missing three-year-old who was found after four days and reveals he CAN'T rule out foul play

 Australian officials are grappling with the mystery of how a three-year-old autistic boy survived four days alone in the bush after disappearing from his family home in a case that has gripped the country and made headlines around the world.

There were scenes of jubilation when young Anthony 'AJ' Elfalak was finally spotted by a police helicopter on Monday, drinking water from a creek just 500 yards from his family's home in rural New South Wales.  

The little boy, who cannot speak, vanished from his home on Friday and managed to survive without any food as temperatures plunged to 2C over the rainy weekend.

His parents Anthony and Kelly Elfak initially believed that AJ had been abducted.

Detectives are continuing to investigate, with police saying 'there are of lot of things that don't add up' including claims of missing CCTV footage from the family home. 

AJ's mother Kelly was asked about that missing CCTV from het home on Tuesday and abruptly shut down any questioning, saying: 'I'm not thinking about anything now, I'm happy, and my son's here. Thank you all very much.' 

Police on Sunday seized a white ute that was reported to have been seen driving away from AJ's home property around the time he disappeared, as well as CCTV from a service station 40km away.

It is not yet clear to whom the vehicle belongs or how it and the footage might be connected to the child's disappearance.

Further adding to the mystery is how AJ got into the creek where he was found. The water was accessible only by a very steep and uneven decline which a Daily Mail Australia reporter at the scene said an adult would have difficulty getting down. 

Despite the steep descent, AJ was found with only a few scratches on him. 

Professional bush tracker Jake Cassar was drafted in on Saturday to assist in finding AJ and is continuing to investigate how the boy disappeared. He says that he cannot rule out that AJ was abducted. 

The area where the boy was spotted by helicopters on Monday had been thoroughly searched with sniffer dogs after he went missing on Friday.

Experts are now questioning whether he travelled or had been taken somewhere else before returning to the spot.  

The family of little AJ Elfalak is relying on the opinion of professional bush tracker Jake Cassar (pictured) to help them understand how the toddler spent three nights alone in the unforgiving terrain behind their home

The family of little AJ Elfalak is relying on the opinion of professional bush tracker Jake Cassar (pictured) to help them understand how the toddler spent three nights alone in the unforgiving terrain behind their home

Mr Cassar told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday he couldn't rule out that the three-year-old was abducted, and said his job was to consider all possible scenarios. 'I'm here to keep an open mind,' he said. Mr Cassar (right) is pictured with AJ's mother Kelly

Mr Cassar told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday he couldn't rule out that the three-year-old was abducted, and said his job was to consider all possible scenarios. 'I'm here to keep an open mind,' he said. Mr Cassar (right) is pictured with AJ's mother Kelly 

Superintendent Tracey Chapman said having wombat holes and access to water helped increase AJ's chances of survival. AJ is pictured at home on Tuesday morning as his family celebrates his safe return

Superintendent Tracey Chapman said having wombat holes and access to water helped increase AJ's chances of survival. AJ is pictured at home on Tuesday morning as his family celebrates his safe return

'I know everyone has lots of questions. So we need to try and understand what has occurred over the past three days. I don't understand what has happened with some CCTV footage, however, it is subsequently part of our inquiries,' Superintendent Tracy Chapman of the New South Wales Police Force said on Monday. 

'We are certainly happy with where things are at the moment. We'll continue that investigation to be entirely comfortable but from our perspective it's simply a good- news story. 

'We have a three-year-old boy who many people probably expected was not alive and he's been located and been returned to his family.'

Chapman added that having access to water and wombat holes that could be used as shelter, may have helped AJ.     

Regarding the circumstances of AJ's disappearance, Mr Cassar, the trapper told Daily Mail Australia: 'I'm here to keep an open mind.

Five unanswered questions hanging over investigators in the riddle of the boy in the bush 

With AJ safely home, a police investigation into his disappearance continues.

Here are five unanswered questions in the puzzling case:

How did a three-year-old survive four days outdoors? 

AJ's survival is being described as a 'miracle' with the child seemingly emerging from four days in the bush with just a few scratches.

It rained over the weekend and temperatures dropped to 2C, prompting questions about how the three-year-old, who is autistic and does not speak, could have survived 72 hours outdoors alone.

That AJ was found uninjured in a creek accessible only by a steep, uneven descent, is also puzzling.

What did AJ eat?

AJ's family said that when he got home all he wanted to do was eat. 

But it's not yet clear what the toddler ate while he was missing.

He was drinking water from the creek when he was spotted and police said AJ may have used wombat holes in the area for shelter. 

How was he missed by searchers? 

AJ was found in a spot just 500m from his home, which had already been thoroughly searched, including with helicopters and sniffer dogs.

Professional tracker Jake Cassar, who is assisting the family, said it's possible the child could have been overlooked as systematic searches do not mirror the scattered route of someone who is lost.

However, Cassar also said it was possible AJ wandered further and circled back round to the spot where he was found, or even that he was abducted as his family initially believed.

What happened to the missing CCTV footage?

A family friend told local media that four hours of footage of the front of the family's home on the night AJ disappeared was missing.

Footage from the camera usually downloaded into both a cloud server and to a memory device, but it was not there. 

 'We will continue to look at that, but it is a motion-detected CCTV and there could be any number of reasons [why it wasn't recording],' Police Superintendent Tracy Chapman said on Tuesday.

There were also reports of 'suspicious footage' from a neighbouring property.

Police said this is under investigation. 

Could AJ have been abducted? 

A white ute was reported to have driven away from AJ's home property around the time he disappeared.

Police seized a similar vehicle on Sunday, as well as CCTV from a service station 40km away.

It is not yet clear to whom the vehicle belongs or how it might be connected to the child's disappearance.'The way I see it, if you've got two feet and a heartbeat, anything is possible,' Mr Cassar said on Tuesday from the Elfalaks' home in Putty, 150km northwest of Sydney. 

'Doesn't matter if you're a 97-year-old woman or a three-year-old boy.' 

Mr Cassar has been at the family home since Saturday, volunteering his expertise to help untangle the riddle of AJ's disappearance. 

The trapper queried whether AJ had actually travelled further from home and somehow looped back to the nearby spot where he was found, pointing out that the area had been explore extensively in the days the child was missing.

Investigators are considering how the toddler, who has autism and is non-verbal, could have survived outside in wet weather, and without anything to eat for 72 hours.    

Mr Cassar has stuck close to the Elfalak family since arriving and was spotted on Tuesday heading into the ditch where AJ was found.

The expert tracker said he planned to venture out with his search party and explore the area, looking for any potential paths AJ might have taken. 

AJ was found sitting in a shallow, muddy creek, the entrance to which is so steep that even adults would struggle to clamber down.

Daily Mail Australia photographs taken from the base of the creek show the uneven, rocky terrain leading down to the water.

There is what appears to be a barely visible path at the entrance, but it remains unclear how the young child was able to make it down safely.   

It is apparent that even if he did make it down unaided, he likely would not have been able to get out again.

'I couldn't get down there,' Kim Grace, who owns nearby Grey Gum Cafe and knows the Elfalaks said. 

'It's near impossible. I can't see how he ever would have gotten down there on his own.'

Ms Grace, along with several of her colleague at her cafe, is suspicious that there might be more to the story of AJ's disappearance.

But Mr Cassar explained it was very possible that, even with hundreds of volunteers searching for him, that AJ avoided detection while in the bush.

He said search parties tended to stay in straight lines and follow a near perfect trajectory from point A to point B, whereas somebody who is lost intuitively does the opposite.

'When we're lost, we almost always walk at a slight curve to the right or left, therefore it's easy to travel in directions that might be missed by search parties,' Mr Cassar said.

He hoped to provide the Elfalaks with some information that could help determine whether AJ wandered off on his own or was abducted, as they initially believed. 

A relative, who said he lived at the home with the Elfalaks, said the family was performing 'their own investigation'.

'We'd like to think the police are still investigating, but they're not here are they,' the man said.  

Police were initially baffled that the child turned up just 500 meters away from the family home, potentially having evaded detection by highly-trained sniffer dogs since Friday.

A helicopter fitted with infrared technology and hundreds of searchers also scoured the nearby bush searching for AJ.

Police said on Tuesday that the dense terrain complicated the search for the boy, who was spotted within a few hundred metres (yards) of his home.

'The young fellow was sitting in a small creek and was drinking water. He was able to catch the eye of the pilot and the crewman,' New South Wales Police superintendent Brad Monk told reporters after the rescue on Monday.

'There is no doubt emergency services during that search passed closely by the little boy who may have even been sleeping at the time. There is a lot of area there where he could have been hidden,' he added. 

AJ was found sitting in a shallow, muddy creek at the base of what appeared to be a barely visible path, but the question remains as to how he made it down such a steep track safely

AJ was found sitting in a shallow, muddy creek at the base of what appeared to be a barely visible path, but the question remains as to how he made it down such a steep track safely

Mr Cassar said he planned to head down with his search party and explore the area to find any potential paths that AJ might have taken. The creek where AJ was found in pictured

Mr Cassar said he planned to head down with his search party and explore the area to find any potential paths that AJ might have taken. The creek where AJ was found in pictured

Detectives confirmed an investigation was ongoing into the 72 hours AJ was missing

Detectives confirmed an investigation was ongoing into the 72 hours AJ was missing

A white ute was also reported to have driven away from the property around the time AJ disappeared, with a similar vehicle seized by police on Sunday, as well as CCTV from a service station 40km away.   

AJ's mother said on Tuesday she felt 'blessed' that her son was found alive.

'He is with us. He is safe and well and healthy. That is all that matters,' Kelly told television reporters Tuesday at the family home in the village of Putty.

'I want to thank everyone. I am so blessed,' she said.

AJ had a few scratches and bruises, Kelly said. 'Other than that he is perfect.' 

'What a relief. I can't imagine how traumatic this experience has been for AJ and his parents,' Prime Minister Scott Morrison said in a message on Twitter Monday.

The boy was reportedly treated at the nearby Maitland Hospital before returning home. The hospital declined to comment.

On Tuesday, Putty Community Initiative Facebook page reported a confirmed case of Covid at a nearby monastery which had sent volunteers to help in the search.

The community group called on any locals who offered assistance or came into contact with the family to get tested for the virus immediately.

Ms Grace said she'd been serving customers who were assisting with the search all week, many of whom she didn't recognise.

'They were out-of-towners,' she said. 'A lot of them certainly weren't from here, but some of them I've seen around before.'

Many of AJ's loved ones had earlier claimed they lived at the Putty address and had not travelled from Covid hotspots in Sydney.

The Elfalak family only moved into the home permanently three months ago, reportedly to escape Covid-19.

AJ's godfather Alan Hashem, who served as a spokesman for the family after the toddler disappeared, is the founder of anti-vaccine movement 'Our Voices Matter'.

'When we're lost, we almost always walk at a slight curve to the right or left, therefore it's easy to travel in directions that might be missed by search parties,' Mr Cassar said. The area where AJ was found is pictured

'When we're lost, we almost always walk at a slight curve to the right or left, therefore it's easy to travel in directions that might be missed by search parties,' Mr Cassar said. The area where AJ was found is picturedMr Cassar (pictured on Tuesday) hoped to provide the family some further guidance as to whether AJ likely wandered off on his own or was abducted, which is what the family initially believed

Mr Cassar (pictured on Tuesday) hoped to provide the family some further guidance as to whether AJ likely wandered off on his own or was abducted, which is what the family initially believed

'When we're lost, we almost always walk at a slight curve to the right or left, therefore it's easy to travel in directions that might be missed by search parties,' Mr Cassar said. Bushland near where AJ was found is pictured

'When we're lost, we almost always walk at a slight curve to the right or left, therefore it's easy to travel in directions that might be missed by search parties,' Mr Cassar said. Bushland near where AJ was found is pictured

Footage shows missing 3-year-old drinking muddy water to stay alive
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