Australia AUSTRALIA - 4YO AUGUST (GUS) Missing from rural family home in Outback, Yunta, South Australia, 27th Sept 2025

[Ellery84]

No I'm not a local. Have been through Yunta many times on the way to Adelaide. Originally from Broken Hill and then spent a big chunk of my life in a very small town not far from Broken Hill surrounded by stations. My 2 brothers have worked on many stations, so I guess some of my knowledge come from stories they have told.

I've been on a few pigging trips and I've seen first hand what boars can do to a pigging dog and within seconds cause so much damage. Unfortunately sometimes you can't save the dog, but if near by you can. A lone 4yr old boy up against a boar would definitely have no chance at all IMO.

You definitely have the bush credentials! Question, so wild boars typically roam around before dark, like would they be out and about at 5pm; or are they nocturnal?

 

[Lady-J]

I agree with Retired Police Detective Charlie Bezzina. I think it's possible Gus was taken by an animal.

If Gus was taken by an animal wouldn’t his clothing or boots would be found, or drag marks seen in the dirt?

 

[Dotta]

I can't help but think about the dad. According to the DailyMail he lived on the family property until he had a clash with "the child's transgender grandparent."

(I'm interpreting this as a descriptor, not that he had a personal issue with being trans as he would have known long before he moved in.)

I wonder what the clash was over. The dad said to a friend "(he) doesn't think its safe for the kids to be out there, its dangerous."

I wonder what hes referring to. The way they kept the homestead? The way GL was parented? Maybe given too much freedom to roam for a 4 yo?

Whatever it was it was a big enough deal and enough conflict for him to move out and now a little boy is gone.

I don't understand how a father could get alienated from a child.
Fathers have rights,
Legal Rights,
and only Court can decide about separating a child from a father by depriving of parental rights.

JMO

 

[Kemug]

Can we be certain that he was last seen about 5pm? How many people attest to that? Sorry if this has already been discussed.

 

[Ellery84]

If Gus was taken by an animal wouldn’t his clothing or boots would be found, or drag marks seen in the dirt?

The dirt was messed up by family searching between 5:30 - 9:30pm.

Imo

 

[Hexe]

I've been on a few pigging trips and I've seen first hand what boars can do to a pigging dog and within seconds cause so much damage. Unfortunately sometimes you can't save the dog, but if near by you can. A lone 4yr old boy up against a boar would definitely have no chance at all IMO.

Feral pigs and boars do not hunt humans though, not even very small ones. They like meat, but they usually do not hunt for anything bigger than rodents. They rarely attack humans when they are not directly threatened by them.

 

[Ellery84]

Can we be certain that he was last seen about 5pm? How many people attest to that? Sorry if this has already been discussed.

One person, Josie.

Afaik

 

[Kemug]

One person, Josie.

Afaik

Hmm.

 

[jessicalouise]

I don't understand how a father could get alienated from a child.
Fathers have rights,
Legal Rights,
and only Court can decide about separating a child from a father by depriving of parental rights.

JMO

There's been nothing in the media about custody issues, I don't think?

I'll I've seen is that there were disagreements with a grandparent. I'm assuming (speculating) that the dad lives elsewhere for his own sanity (maybe also for work?) and that he and the mother are still technically together.

 

[Dotta]

Can we be certain that he was last seen about 5pm? How many people attest to that? Sorry if this has already been discussed.

I also asked about last "proof of life" but never got the answer.

 

[Hexe]

You definitely have the bush credentials! Question, so wild boars typically roam around before dark, like would they be out and about at 5pm; or are they nocturnal?

I do not think boars would roam inside the fenced in property. Also, if it was a boar attack there would be a plenty of evidence left behind.

 

[jessicalouise]

If Gus was taken by an animal wouldn’t his clothing or boots would be found, or drag marks seen in the dirt?

And wouldnt the sheep equally be at risk? Seeing what wild animals do to livestock and even domestic pets surely there's no way evidence of some sort wouldn't have been left?

 

[Dotta]

I do not think boars would roam inside the fenced in property. Also, if it was a boar attack there would be a plenty of evidence left behind.

Absolutely!
Boars leave lots of evidence in their trail.

JMO

 

[Ellery84]

I do not think boars would roam inside the fenced in property. Also, if it was a boar attack there would be a plenty of evidence left behind.

They fence a certain way in the bush. It's like 3 horizontal barbed wires stretched out using intermittent wooden stakes.

Dogs can usually get through underneath with no issues. For example.

They don't fence like they do in the suburbs. However: Some rural properties have more sturdy and comprehensive fencing around their homesteads to protect domestic animals and children, whilst still keeping the three barbed wire fencing on the boundaries and outside perimeters the of their land, but I can't see that they had that interior fencing at the property where Gus went missing.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

One person, Josie.

Afaik

We know that there were three adults on the property. One (Shannon or Josie) cooking and supposed to be watching Gus. Jess has a one-year old and it is likely that most of her attention would be on the baby, hence one of the grandparents watching over Gus. So where was the other grandparent at around 5pm when Gus went missing?

And yes, I have wondered plenty about the fact that the only account of what happened is that of one or three family members. There appears to be absolutely no independent corroboration of that account.

 

[spiritualdreaming]

When was this on tv?

Tonight

 

[Ellery84]

I also asked about last "proof of life" but never got the answer.

That's a good question.

When is the last proof of life??

 

[Lucy.D]

If Gus was taken by an animal wouldn’t his clothing or boots would be found, or drag marks seen in the dirt?

I also thought a wild animal could have taken Gus and when I saw a book written about large animal footprints in the area where Gus disappeared it got me excited until someone pointed out the tracks were left behind by an animal 50,000 years ago and those animals don't even exist anymore, so I went back to the drawing board.

 

[Lucy.D]

We know that there were three adults on the property. One (Shannon or Josie) cooking and supposed to be watching Gus. Jess has a one-year old and it is likely that most of her attention would be on the baby, hence one of the grandparents watching over Gus. So where was the other grandparent at around 5pm when Gus went missing?

And yes, I have wondered plenty about the fact that the only account of what happened is that of one or three family members. There appears to be absolutely no independent corroboration of that account.

And no apparent mention of any workers being on the property at the time Gus disappeared.

Shannon and Gus were, but can we even be sure Jess and Josie were home at that time.

 

[spiritualdreaming]

If Gus was on the property surely he would’ve been found dead or alive by now

If Polair covered the entire 60,000ha and were unable to locate him with thermal imaging then that really only leaves Gus falling down a large hole like a mineshaft or an animal totally consumed him before Polair was able to fly of that particular area.

I was doing some reading and found a study that the FLIR technology can actually pick up a cadaver upto 21days after death.

So if Gus happened to be totally missed via searches hopefully the infrared technology brings some answers.

One of the most common techniques applied for searching living and even dead persons is the FLIR (Forward Looking Infrared) system fixed on an aircraft like e.g. a helicopter, visualizing the thermal patterns emitted from objects in the long-infrared spectrum. However, as body temperature cools down to ambient values within approximately 24 h after death, it is common sense that searching for deceased persons can be just applied the first day post-mortem. We postulated that the insect larval masses on a decomposing body generate a heat which can be considerably higher than ambient temperatures for a period of several weeks and that such heat signatures might be used for locating insect infested human remains.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1355030617300540