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

[BreakingNews]

One of the screen shots I took from the 7news video that I posted earlier on here, shows a rather old, crumbling brick structure. Seeing as the property has been handed down through 5 generations, I assume there would be old buildings on the property. IMO


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I would hope that LE would have covered all of these buildings and hiding places. Think like a 4 yo. When it got dark poor little Gus would have been terrified
Unless he was sadly already gone.

 

[BreakingNews]

That's why Major Crimes are on the scene. The procedures for missing children are a lot more robust in 2025 than they were in NSW in 2014. Imo

However the robust procedures after 8 days still haven't found Gus. He's a missing person, so hope Major Crimes come up with answers asap. What are your theories?

 

[Total_C]

I’ve had a bit of pushback on my last post and a few DMs so I’ll try to address them all here.

I’ve worked with plenty of traditional owners in my time in mining and I can tell you first hand they know their country intimately. That knowledge is real, valuable and often lifesaving on their own lands. What I am skeptical of is how easily people assume that knowledge is directly transferable to a completely different property or scenario.

If my child went missing, I am taking the people who have the systems and the repeatable methods. I am taking the crews with drones, infrared and a coordinated search plan that leaves a paper trail and can be audited. Those systems exist because they have been refined through hard lessons and repeatable results. They are not glamorous but they work.

A tracker might get lucky once in a blue moon. That luck becomes a problem when it is used as evidence that instinct should replace process. When someone gets one anecdotal hit and starts grandstanding about being the answer, it sidelines the people doing the grunt work. Those are the volunteers and crews who go out into the dust every day and follow a method built to catch what single hunches miss.

I am not dismissing Indigenous skill or experience. I value it and have seen it help on country more than once. I am pushing back against the romanticism that elevates a lone hero story above systematic, tested practice. If you want consistent results you follow the system that finds people again and again, not the one that relies on luck and theatre.

 

[BreakingNews]

Possible, but there were K9s out there - likely tracker and cadaver dogs. I know even the best trained dogs aren't flawless, but assuming they were given fresh/recent scent from Gus' belongings in the home, I'd think that they'd have a good chance of locating him on the premises if he was *that* close-by.

MOO

So if he is not on or near the premises, where do you think he might be? Given there are no footprints or thermal imaging of him? I agree dogs are great, but not 100%. It's nearly like Gus just grew wings. Which brings me to birds. But it not lambing season, so the birds wouldn't be hanging around. Poor sweet little boy.

 

[ScottToorak]

Please confirm as I am very confused
1. Does little Gus have a mum & dad and any brothers & sisters?
2. Have mum & dad been at the property prior to or post his disappearance?
3. Did Gus live at the property full time?

 

[BreakingNews]

I’ve had a bit of pushback on my last post and a few DMs so I’ll try to address them all here.

I’ve worked with plenty of traditional owners in my time in mining and I can tell you first hand they know their country intimately. That knowledge is real, valuable and often lifesaving on their own lands. What I am skeptical of is how easily people assume that knowledge is directly transferable to a completely different property or scenario.

If my child went missing, I am taking the people who have the systems and the repeatable methods. I am taking the crews with drones, infrared and a coordinated search plan that leaves a paper trail and can be audited. Those systems exist because they have been refined through hard lessons and repeatable results. They are not glamorous but they work.

A tracker might get lucky once in a blue moon. That luck becomes a problem when it is used as evidence that instinct should replace process. When someone gets one anecdotal hit and starts grandstanding about being the answer, it sidelines the people doing the grunt work. Those are the volunteers and crews who go out into the dust every day and follow a method built to catch what single hunches miss.

I am not dismissing Indigenous skill or experience. I value it and have seen it help on country more than once. I am pushing back against the romanticism that elevates a lone hero story above systematic, tested practice. If you want consistent results you follow the system that finds people again and again, not the one that relies on luck and theatre.

Excellent post! I have worked on Aboriginal communities in NT and Qld. The bush skills are exceptional. However we now have many other helpful technology to help as well. So let's use everything available.

 

[BreakingNews]

Please confirm as I am very confused
1. Does little Gus have a mum & dad and any brothers & sisters?
2. Have mum & dad been at the property prior to or post his disappearance?
3. Did Gus live at the property full time?

The answers are on social media. Not approved for Websleuths.

 

[Ellery84]

However the robust procedures after 8 days still haven't found Gus. He's a missing person, so hope Major Crimes come up with answers asap. What are your theories?

No, you're right, Gus has not yet been found, but it took longer than 8 days to find little Cleo in WA so if still have some hope. Will he be found alive? I am not sure.

My random thoughts are as follows:

*Taken by a dingo, or ...

*Murdered by someone known to him and the missing boy story is a bogus cover-up, or perhaps ...

*Abducted by a visiting family member who was estranged from him and wanted him back?

Abducted by a opportunistic paedophile who just happened to be at the property for some other reason?

I wonder: Were there any workers on the property and if so, did they have police checks or "working with children" cards? If it's a Station, they usually take a few people to run.

Do I think Gus wandered off? No, as I think the area has been searched and he has not been found.

I wish there was more information made public about this case but also I respect the need of the police to do their job unhindered by the media and the public.

Imo

 

[TootsieFootsie]

It's tragic to think that little Gus may be hiding in plain sight, and has possibly been missed.

 

[musicaljoke]

I think the police expect people to contact them if they have some brilliant idea or information.

I suspect that the police are not reading social media comments - it is Gus' loved ones and the family's close friends and community who are finding that accusatory online speculation is adding to their pain.

imo

I'm not sure about the "brilliant ideas", but certainly contact police with information.

Police have operations manuals that they follow which use tested protocol for situations like this one. Search and Rescue workers may be volunteers, but they are trained professionals.

So when people tie up the police lines with calls that ask if they've searched the outbuildings, then that brilliant idea actually is frustrating to the police and harming the investigation by draining police time and energy. Some people think that their brilliant idea is something no one has ever thought of before, when in reality, police don't write a new playbook every time they do a search.

 

[arrogantcat]

Why would police say keyboard detectives are not helping find Gus?
If police are reading comments from the public, would it not be helpful to find Gus if they read something that they had not even thought about doing themselves, or overlooked something important.

South Australian Police issued a statement saying: We are confident that we have done all we can to locate Gus within the search area. Police statement regarding Yunta search

The odds of a member of the public, without expertise in S&R and outback conditions, with almost no background of the case (scant details only released via the media) having anything useful or helpful to contribute is vanishingly small.

Idk if you’ve read much of the speculation on social media but it tends to just be things like “check for trapdoors” or “check up on all the neighbours” or “look in the outbuildings again”. Not exactly groundbreaking insights lol.

Which is fine for online discussion but not remotely useful to law enforcement who will have considered that stuff in the first 5 minutes. Reading through it would waste valuable police time, and when frames as a criticism it risks undermining their very real and expert work. JMO.

 

[Lucy.D]

The odds of a member of the public, without expertise in S&R and outback conditions, with almost no background of the case (scant details only released via the media) having anything useful or helpful to contribute is vanishingly small.

Idk if you’ve read much of the speculation on social media but it tends to just be things like “check for trapdoors” or “check up on all the neighbours” or “look in the outbuildings again”. Not exactly groundbreaking insights lol.

Which is fine for online discussion but not remotely useful to law enforcement who will have considered that stuff in the first 5 minutes. Reading through it would waste valuable police time, and when frames as a criticism it risks undermining their very real and expert work. JMO.

Well, from what I have seen from WS members and they way they can analyse and investigate by sleuthing, I reckon put 100 of those members out there looking for Gus and if he wasn't found in the vicinity that a 4 year old can walk and he wasn't found around the homestead, then I would bet you that Gus is not on the property.
With all their marvellous resources and technology police aren't saying that are they? And I think WS people are made up of just ordinary members of the community. I'm not criticising your opinion @arrogantcat, I simply believe the police effort has so far been a failure.
I thought about something the police probably wouldn't have done in the first 5 minutes you mentioned and I told South Australian crimestoppers that today. LE should be reading WS as I believe it could be very useful to finding Gus. And that's JMO

 

[Itz_CrimsonYT]

So if he is not on or near the premises, where do you think he might be? Given there are no footprints or thermal imaging of him? I agree dogs are great, but not 100%. It's nearly like Gus just grew wings. Which brings me to birds. But it not lambing season, so the birds wouldn't be hanging around. Poor sweet little boy.

could he have been transported by vehicle somehow? that seems like the only logical solution to why he isn't nearby.

 

[Dotta]

Well, from what I have seen from WS members and they way they can analyse and investigate by sleuthing, I reckon put 100 of those members out there looking for Gus and if he wasn't found in the vicinity that a 4 year old can walk and he wasn't found around the homestead, then I would bet you that Gus is not on the property.
With all their marvellous resources and technology police aren't saying that are they? And I think WS people are made up of just ordinary members of the community. I'm not criticising your opinion @arrogantcat, I simply believe the police effort has so far been a failure.
I thought about something the police probably wouldn't have done in the first 5 minutes you mentioned and I told South Australian crimestoppers that today. LE should be reading WS as I believe it could be very useful to finding Gus. And that's JMO

Undermining/Ridiculing the public is grave error IMO.
It might even discourage people's effort to help.

There is this saying
"2 heads are better than 1"

JMO

 

[PolyDot]

If Gus wandered off on his own, he’s likely not far from home —farms can be dangerous for a young child, with hazards like machinery, dams, and sheds. At just four years old, he might have been waiting for someone to arrive around 5 p.m. — his mum, dad, or grandad — and could have run off to meet them or hidden nearby to play a game. However, if others were involved in his disappearance, he could be much farther from home.

 

[Megnut]

Outside the box, and too obvious not to have been investigated but things do get missed -- how were mail and packages delivered to the property. 5 pm... were they in a regular scheduled route?

Accident. Stowaway. Even an undiscovered stowaway who found himself lost in a completely new area where no one would know to look?

It comes down to the obvious. Either he's still in the area, unfound, or he left the area. This might be one way how.

JMO

 

[Rocket333]

If there’s no trace of Gus - no footprints, no heat, no scent, no clothing and no signs of foul play - he’s most probably underground, or underneath something and close to home. Maybe it’s a spot that’s simply been missed, something you can’t see with the eye or with the methods they’ve used so far. I now don’t think it’s anything more than a terribly tragic accident. It’s just heartbreaking, and I really feel for his poor family.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I can imagine the police call takers tearing their hair out in frustration at call after call that turns out not to be information or a lead, and that is just someone's thoughts or ideas on what might have happened.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I did think of a terrible septic tank accident but I am sure the Police would have checked anything like that out.

 

[Itz_CrimsonYT]

If there’s no trace of Gus - no footprints, no heat, no scent, no clothing and no signs of foul play - he’s most probably underground, or underneath something and close to home. Maybe it’s a spot that’s simply been missed, something you can’t see with the eye or with the methods they’ve used so far. I now don’t think it’s anything more than a terribly tragic accident. It’s just heartbreaking, and I really feel for his poor family.

is it possible foul play could've occurred in silence? without any trace of evidence? for example, tire tracks don't show on asphalt (The example is unrelated to the case at hand)

With how many possibilities are being outed, it makes the most sense that he's either underground or foul play was involved, as both could possibly leave no clues or evidence behind