What REALLY happened to the toddler in the Spiderman suit - as the family of the tragic tot break their silence to reveal the shocking blunder that saw him die in a car just metres from where he went missing
Daniel was reported missing just after 3.30pm on Tuesday when he disappeared from his grandmother's home north of Brisbane. His aunt has now revealed what really happened.
- Daniel was found curled up on the floor of a car
- He was in the car throughout six-hour search
- Lived with his grandma and a fundraiser was set up
By CHARLOTTE KARP, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
Published: 15:55 GMT, 9 January 2026 | Updated: 07:01 GMT, 10 January 2026
A three-year-old boy spent nine hours trapped in a disused car on a hot day before his grandfather found his lifeless body curled up on the floor near the pedals, wearing a Spiderman outfit and holding two empty cups.
Daniel was reported missing just after 3.30pm on Tuesday when he disappeared from his grandmother's home in Thabeban, four hours north of Brisbane, sparking a widespread search with multiple police and State Emergency Services units.
But the panic came to a tragic end at 9.25pm when the preschooler was found unresponsive in the back of a broken vehicle, about three metres from where he was last seen alive.
Despite earlier reports stating Daniel was not in the car when it was checked by search teams earlier in the day, a close relative told the Daily Mail the boy was in the car the whole time - but search teams just didn't see him.
She said Daniel had likely been in the hot car for about two hours by the time the search began, and was probably already dead before it even started.
The situation unfolded about 1pm when relatives dropped Daniel home to his grandmother Linda Fuller's house, where he had lived since he was 12 days old.
The relatives normally walked Daniel into the house, but that didn't happen on this occasion.
Instead of walking inside by himself, Daniel raced to the backyard.
Pictured: Daniel, three, who was found dead in a disused car in a Spiderman suit on Tuesday
A relative said that Daniel (pictured) was in the car for about nine hours. Search teams looked inside the car but didn't see him
'Being a little boy who loved cars, he obviously walked straight out the back to the cars and got in the driver's side, where the handle was broken on the inside,' the relative said.
The other doors had working handles, but she said the toddler wouldn't have considered trying to use another door to escape the vehicle.
Linda normally kept the car locked, but it wasn't locked when Daniel climbed in on Tuesday.
She didn't realise Daniel had come home until about two hours later, when his little sister arrived at her house and started asking where her brother was.
'Linda ran around to the grandfather's to find Daniel, and he didn't know where Daniel was, so she ran back to her house looking for Daniel frantically,' the relative said.