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

New Posts

  • #641
In my opinion if there's only been 1 or 2 footprints found, its saying that the nature of the ground's surface is such that footprints don't last very long. Otherwise, Gus's footprints would be all over the place.
 
  • #642
Bats said:
In my opinion if there's only been 1 or 2 footprints found, its saying that the nature of the ground's surface is such that footprints don't last very long. Otherwise, Gus's footprints would be all over the place.
Click to expand...
This is what I was thinking. If he had been playing outside there should have been footprints everywhere. I understand being the desert and very windy those footprints could have been blown away but I still find it very strange that they have only found 1 footprint and that one was 500kms away. Maybe they just aren't mentioning the ones in the immediate yard?
 
  • #643
This makes me wonder…..


"There are further lines of inquiry being undertaken and the family have continued to cooperate fully with police and have consented to every request that we have made of them thus far."
www.9news.com.au

'Done all we can': Footprint ruled out as police scale back search for Gus

Police are confident they have done "all we can" in the search for missing four-year-old Gus Lamont, as de...
www.9news.com.au www.9news.com.au
 
  • #644
  • #645
Absoluterubbish said:
This is what I was thinking. If he had been playing outside there should have been footprints everywhere. I understand being the desert and very windy those footprints could have been blown away but I still find it very strange that they have only found 1 footprint and that one was 500kms away. Maybe they just aren't mentioning the ones in the immediate yard?
Click to expand...

That would be 500 metres, not kilometres away. :)

I assume the searchers were referring to any footprints that would indicate where or which direction the wee boy had walked away from the sand pile. A light breeze would have wiped them away almost immediately.
 
  • #646
  • #647
Interesting that they've never found his hat. Little kids lose those all the time, and I doubt he would have kept it on after sunset
 
  • #648
Why are people saying to stop speculating about what happened to Gus?
They all seem to be saying move on, nothing to see here, please just go away and leave us alone.
Have all these friends and neighbours been told by the family to put a message out there to stop the gossip.
Have all these friends and neighbours been on the property to look for Gus or does the go away and leave us alone apply to them as well.
I haven't seen any mention of the names of any family members.
In a crisis like this it's incredible that not one family member has become a spokesperson to relay messages from the family themselves.
 
  • #649
Lucy.D said:
Why are people saying to stop speculating about what happened to Gus?
They all seem to be saying move on, nothing to see here, please just go away and leave us alone.
Have all these friends and neighbours been told by the family to put a message out there to stop the gossip.
Have all these friends and neighbours been on the property to look for Gus or does the go away and leave us alone apply to them as well.
I haven't seen any mention of the names of any family members.
In a crisis like this it's incredible that not one family member has become a spokesperson to relay messages from the family themselves.
Click to expand...
To be frank, the family doesn't owe anyone that kind of performative role.

MOO
 
  • #650
Just a general safety observation from a mining perspective


I’ll keep this careful because I don’t want to break any forum rules. Gus was reported to have been playing in the sand pile near the homestead, and from the aerial footage that area appears quite close to a well-used internal track on the property.

In mining, and even on larger agricultural operations, we’re very deliberate about separating pedestrians from vehicle movement, usually with clear demarcation and in higher-risk areas physical barriers. There’s a good reason for that. Larger vehicles, especially older LandCruisers and work utes, have limited visibility close to the vehicle, and the risk to small children can be extreme.

If that track was frequently used, especially around knock-off time when people are moving between jobs or sheds, it would be considered a very hazardous setup in an industrial environment. Not suggesting anything beyond that, just noting that from a safety standpoint it’s a configuration that carries significant risk.

1759893149996.webp
1759496741200.webp
 
  • #651
Lucy.D said:
In a crisis like this it's incredible that not one family member has become a spokesperson to relay messages from the family themselves.
Click to expand...

On 30th September (3 days after Gus went missing), a family friend spoke for them. I remember that there are better links that name the friend, just this is the first link I saw right now.


A family friend has read a heartbreaking statement on behalf of a family in the state's Mid North, currently searching for their missing four-year-old boy.

The little boy, Gus, was last seen playing at his family's homestead - about 40 kilometres south of Yunta - at 5pm on Saturday, September 27.

10 News Adelaide
 
  • #652
TootsieFootsie said:
I don't feel comfortable sleuthing the family.
Click to expand...
Is it sleuthing the family to just want to know who was around at the time he went missing? I think that is important information.

If Mom, and grandma and grandpa were all home at 5 pm, when he was outside playing alone---where was everyone?

I'm curious because I wondered if someone drove off and he wanted to try and follow?

What kind of transportation do they use besides cars/trucks?

Do they move around the area on 3 wheelers or motorbikes or anything?

I'm curious how they initially searched the area when they realised he was no longer playing on the dirt mound.
 
  • #653
"Alex Thomas, who grew up on a station 75km from Yunta, revealed to The Advertiser that the tragedy has shaken the entire rural community.

“It’s painful because of the trauma the situation is inflicting on one of our own, alongside those who know the family and the wider rural community,” she said.
“Anyone who’s ever lived on the land is feeling this pain because it could have been any of our children.”

She described Gus’ deep connection to the land, a place that may seem unforgiving to outsiders, but is familiar to those raised on it.
“For those not from the area, the landscape seems quite harsh, but for Gus – it’s this kid’s backyard.

“It might be a big backyard but he knows that place like the back of his little hands, not unlike his parents, and his parents’ parents; there’s a wisdom, a confidence and a know-how that comes with that generational upbringing.”

“Because this family – this gentle and loving family – they’re not headlines, they are not a spectacle.
“They are real people who are hurting beyond belief.” "

thenightly.com.au

‘He knows’: Friend of Gus’ family speaks out on vanishing

A close friend of the Lamont family has offered a deeply emotional glimpse into the anguish gripping South Australia’s rural heartland, following the disappearance of four-year-old Gus Lamont.
thenightly.com.au thenightly.com.au
 
  • #654
Absoluterubbish said:
This is what I was thinking. If he had been playing outside there should have been footprints everywhere. I understand being the desert and very windy those footprints could have been blown away but I still find it very strange that they have only found 1 footprint and that one was 500kms away. Maybe they just aren't mentioning the ones in the immediate yard?
Click to expand...
500 metres
 
  • #655
katydid23 said:
Is it sleuthing the family to just want to know who was around at the time he went missing? I think that is important information.

If Mom, and grandma and grandpa were all home at 5 pm, when he was outside playing alone---where was everyone?

I'm curious because I wondered if someone drove off and he wanted to try and follow?

What kind of transportation do they use besides cars/trucks?

Do they move around the area on 3 wheelers or motorbikes or anything?

I'm curious how they initially searched the area when they realised he was no longer playing on the dirt mound.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure the daughter-in-law was around until after Gus went missing. Otherwise why was Grandma taking the responsibility for Gus.
 
  • #656
Does anyone know if the driveway to the homestead where Gus was staying is five gates and 25km long, or is the closest road Oak Park Road which I believe is a public road just 200m away from the homestead.
To me that's an enormous difference and the scenarios of what happened to Gus would be hugely different. IMOO
 
  • #657
Total_C said:
I work in mining and wanted to share a bit of context on what police might mean when they talk about the “special drone with infrared capabilities” and why they’ve said it could take weeks to analyse.

In our industry we use LiDAR and other survey tech to scan and compare terrain over time. Even a relatively small scan area produces a massive dataset, hundreds of millions of data points and sometimes hundreds of gigabytes in size. Once the point cloud is processed we can overlay it with previous scans or base survey data to detect subtle changes on the surface.

It’s incredibly accurate. You can pick up small depressions, new wheel tracks, compacted soil, or areas that have been dug or filled. When vegetation is sparse, like out there, the ground reads very cleanly. A few millimetres of change over a large area can be mapped out once the data is filtered and modelled.

That’s why it’s described as quite complex technology. They’re not talking about infrared to pick up heat signatures ten days later, that wouldn’t be useful now. What they’re doing is using multispectral or LiDAR-type imagery to look for disturbed earth or any physical surface change that doesn’t match the baseline.

The analysis takes time because every grid of data has to be reviewed, filtered, and compared. It’s slow detailed work but it can show things the human eye would never catch from the ground or a helicopter.

I’ve attached an example from a low precision LiDAR terrain scan I have been working on, not from the search area. Even at low resolution you can still make out roads, small depressions, and compacted areas. You can imagine how high resolution police data would reveal far more detail.

In simple terms they’re not searching for Gus directly with this drone tech, they’re scanning for evidence of disturbance, areas where the ground tells a story. Once that analysis is complete it could guide them to where to look next.

View attachment 618625
Click to expand...
Wow! Isn’t technology amazing now! Thanks so much for explaining, it’s really interesting
 
  • #658
  • #659
The property looks pretty shambolic. Easy for a kid to crawl and hide, even if you think everything has been searched.

In cases where a body is discovered years after in a very close location - were cadaver dogs used? In the Daniel O’Keeffe it sounds possible the police didn't search the house in a thorough manner, for example.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Members online

... and 103 more.
Total: 2,647 (members: 104, guests: 2,543)

Online statistics

Members online
104
Guests online
2,543
Total visitors
2,647
Totals may include hidden visitors.

Forum statistics

Threads
632,898
Messages
18,633,256
Members
243,331
Latest member
Loubie
Back
Top