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

[MelmothTheLost]

Fresh insight into outback SA search for missing boy Gus Lamont | 7NEWS​

Family friend says he is certain the little boy is not on the property and has ruled out bizarre theories like an eagle taking him.

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The idea of birds of prey carrying off children is a fascinating one nevertheless and is well established in both British and European folklore. It has also given rise to a number of pubs named the Eagle and Child here in the UK, including the one in Oxford which was frequented by Tolkien and the other Inklings.

It's quite difficult to find definitive information about the lifting power of various birds of prey, but it seems that most larger European birds of prey such as eagles could quite feasibly easily take a newborn or a baby a few months old. Wikipedia's article on the Wedge-Tailed Eagle reports:

"The wedge-tailed eagle is at times capable of taking very substantial livestock animals, lambs taken have been estimated to weigh a mean of 3.5 kg (7.7 lb) or up to 15 kg (33 lb) while fully grown sheep weighing some 40 to 50 kg (88 to 110 lb) are infrequently vulnerable, presumably in large part to hunting pairs of eagles."

Wedge-tailed eagle - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A 4-year old child would typically weight 30-40 lb, so Gus would probably be right at the upper end of the prey range but might nevertheless be an attractive prospect if injured or dead.

 

[TMich6811]

He lived there.

I hadn’t seen this anywhere yet

 

[tedtink]

DBM

 

[tedtink]

I hadn’t seen this anywhere yet

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

Thursday at 6:39 PM

Royce Player used to be neighbours with the family and is also an experienced tracker who knows the area well.
"I would've thought they might've found him by now, you never know, this could be something someone's missed somewhere," he said.
"Under a bit of bush, a bloody hole in the ground, or an old motorcar … could be anywhere."
He said it could be easy to "miss a little four-year-old" if the searchers were spaced out even "20 metres apart".
Mr Player, like many of the volunteers assisting in the extensive search efforts, said he dropped everything to come and help with the search for a...

• tedtink

• 
• 

 

[Dotta]

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" 'Jen and I were the only ones searching nights,
apart from Monday night the father joined us,
and we would head home when main search crews arrived through the day,'
he wrote on social media.

He explained he and his partner took the nights
in case he moved then 'because of the heat or flies' and that they shone strong lights over the flat, barren landscape
and they also listened for foxes and kept a lookout for 'birds of prey' circling overhead.

'Nothing.
I personally am very doubtful he is on the property'.

Dozens of police, SES, army personnel and volunteers scoured the outback property.

On Saturday,
Leave A Light on Inc called on South Australians
to leave their front door porch lights on
so Gus could 'find his way home'.

Investigations are ongoing."

 

[whitelilac]

^ That bit of scrub seen in the second picture above reminds me of the Mitrice Richardson case in Malibu here.
She was found 11 months after her disappearance, in an area of chaparral common in the area. More rugged than the area in the outback where little Gus lived, but still, lots of scrub where a child could be well hidden.

"On January 9, 2010, four months after she was reported missing, the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department conducted one of the largest-scale searches in the history of the department. Over 300 volunteers trained in search and rescue operations participated in the 18-square-mile (47 km2) search in the area of Malibu Canyon. The search included both air and ground searches of creeks, trails, and ridges. Richardson was not found during this search.<a href="Death of Mitrice Richardson - Wikipedia"><span>[</span>11<span>]</span></a>

 

[su5ie]

Thread 'Remains Found in Area After LE/SAR Searches'

Jul 15, 2021

@bombardier compiled an excellent starter list of MP cases that ended with the person's remains found in/near a location that had already been searched (some multiple times) by LE/SAR. Other WS members added a few cases to the list as well. I and others thought it would be useful to start a thread in order to track these types of cases as case study analyses could prove useful in future cases. Please feel free to add summaries of similar cases of which you are aware. MOO

Great post and thanks again, @bombardier!
#

TX - TX - Jason Landry, 21, enroute from TSU to home, car...

• YaYa_521
• Replies: 75
• Forum: General Information & Discussion

• 

It is very difficult to find a body, much more so than you would think.

MOO is he may be hidden in or around the house in some object only a 4 yr. old would think to climb into.

Thank you so much for posting this , I've just added it to the jack and lilly thread . Just thought it was a nice reminder to oneself when one begins to consider family involvement in a child's disappearance

 

[Karin1974]

I cannot count how many times I read about the searches which overlooked the missing people

They were later found by pure coincidence by passers-by,
not far from the places they were missing or seen last.
In the areas that had been previously searched.

JMO

IMO - Personally, I find it absolutely staggering that bodies so often turn up in previously searched areas. How does this happen? What exactly are the searchers doing for it to so often appear that human beings searching for a body in any kind of rural area, are woefully inadequate. Is there anything that can be changed to make searches more successful? Why are human bodies so difficult to find, even when not purposefully hidden? My questions are merely my own musing but feel free to answer any of them. MOO

 

[SouthAussie]

"A missing persons expert has cautioned people about sharing misinformation, as Facebook's AI search engine provides some users with incorrect information about a boy missing in South Australia's mid-north."

Expert cautions people using AI as search for missing boy in SA outback scaled back

 

[Rocket333]

If that is the case, wouldn't the thermal helicopters have picked him up on the first day?

Regardless, what incidents could even happen by a sand pit other than getting trapped inside?

If he’s buried or hidden, thermal detection could get tricky. It depends on whether a contrast shows. Shallow cover or bushes might still leak some heat, but if he’s underground or fully shielded, the signal may not show or surface. No contrast = no detection.

Re incidents, I have no idea. He’s apparently not out yonder or subject to foul play and there’s been no sound, scent, or visual, so it’s possible he’s concealed - perhaps partially buried or covered by something that’s blocked detection to date.

Any there any dogs living there?

 

[pipj]

If that is the case, wouldn't the thermal helicopters have picked him up on the first day?

Regardless, what incidents could even happen by a sand pit other than getting trapped inside?

Thermal imaging has its own restrictions when searching. It’s not quite as easy as it’s made out.
Often rocks, walls, buildings are in the way and heat signatures cannot always detect through them. Same with bodies of water; they can be difficult to read anything from and are likely to cool down anything warm that enters them pretty quickly.

Another problem is machinery that has been active can contain heat signatures for some time and thermal may not always distinguish if (for example) a child was huddled up against a tractor that had been in use.

Thermal also isn’t like looking at something through binoculars…you’re not looking at real things…you’re looking at blobs. Shaped blobs, yes but shapes are not always very defined and there would be lots of nocturnal animals around at the time too.

And as always, human error comes into it. All it would take is for someone to sneeze or look away for a few seconds and miss something I guess.

 

[Dotta]

IMO - Personally, I find it absolutely staggering that bodies so often turn up in previously searched areas. How does this happen? What exactly are the searchers doing for it to so often appear that human beings searching for a body in any kind of rural area, are woefully inadequate. Is there anything that can be changed to make searches more successful? Why are human bodies so difficult to find, even when not purposefully hidden? My questions are merely my own musing but feel free to answer any of them. MOO

Advice concerning searches:

"- Get a map of the area and separate it into grids.

- Appoint one person as the 'Map Holder'
and have them assign people to different areas of the grid.

- Break into smaller groups of 4 or 5 people if possible
and spread those groups in several places of the area.

- Go slowly
and look at your surroundings.

- Walk along the area side by side,
arm-length apart
try and maintain the same pace as your team."

IMO,
2 last points are very important.
Walking slowly side by side looking at surroundings carefully.

Ground searches - Missing Persons Guide

Police have limited resources and will only conduct ground searches if there is evidence to suggest that a missing person's disappearance is suspicious.

www.missingpersonsguide.com

 

[kiwi50]

He lived there.

Is there a link anywhere that says this?

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Community comes together as search for missing 4yo Gus enters day 7

The search for missing four-year-old Gus has entered its seventh day, with no new signs of the boy.

www.abc.net.au

""We've got to remember that he [Gus] actually lives on the property and that might have been a footprint that he might have left there a couple of days ago, even before he went missing," said the officer in charge of the Yorke and Mid North region, Superintendent Mark Syrus"

 

[bearbear]

if family suspected that somebody known to him took him, could that explain the 3 hour reporting to police,
a head start for someone not verified as a caregiver but given leeway because of their family connection?

 

[musicaljoke]

Or he's been taken away from the house in a vehicle.

Could a kidnapper anrrive unseen and unheard? Would such a kidnapper stop to close all the gates on their way out?

if family suspected that somebody known to him took him, could that explain the 3 hour reporting to police,
a head start for someone not verified as a caregiver but given leeway because of their family connection?

If that were the case, I doubt the police would have been called.

It's not very likely, given that this was an area where neighbours would know one another's business. One doesn't get away with much in a rural community, Someone would have reported their suspicions.