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

[packetgravy]

I'm beginning to wonder if Gus died 24 hours before his reported disappearance and the additional day was spent disposing of his remains way out in the bush before he was then reported missing. It feels as though a number of commentators are skirting around this but nobody yet is coming out and stating it bluntly.

I suspect this is at the very edge of what we can currently discuss.

I assume discussing possible scenarios is ok when based on the available information and public reporting.

MOO search and rescue response provides some clue into the initial line of enquiry. It was evident abduction was not the immediate focus early in the case. The delayed photo release supports this as SAR moved into the final phases of land search.

I do not believe Gus wandered of.

 

[jessicalouise]

Just looking at the homestead pics again ...

Intriguing that the trampoline outside the house was old school and had no safety netting around it and an unsupervised 4yo roaming about.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I would think so. But nothing was found to support any theory he wandered off the property. It is shearing season, so maybe there was more things for a little 4yo to investigate. MOO.

We've been talking about on the property and off the property for days now. Can one of the local or Australian members create an overlay of the property boundary on Google maps, please? It seems likely to me that the property is rather larger than the area within which Gus might have wandered and got lost and which has been searched. Not sure if that makes sense but if someone could oblige it would be very helpful for context

 

[justtrish]

Good question!

I guess there's a difference between having the potential to roam and consistently not supervising GL when he's outside. Maybe dad is a bit more hands on and keeps an eye on him when they're together? He's described as adventurous which sounds like a euphemism and can be a bit dangerous at that age.

That's why my first thought was that it was a clash over parenting styles. I hate speculating like this. It's just that dad's fears came true.

I am curious if Gus has ever wandered a bit before that day. I know the family searched for him for several hours before notifying LE so I do wonder if he's ever just been out of sight for a little while before and they had to search for him, maybe finding him pretty quickly so on this day they might have thought the same would happen,, they'd look themselves and find him just wandered off a bit. If that is the case, I can see that being a reason dad might say it's dangerous. As you said possibly different parenting styles. IMO

 

[MelmothTheLost]

are you implying that the family was watching football at the time of Gus' disappearance?

It's an interesting and plausible possibility.

 

[Itz_CrimsonYT]

We've been talking about on the property and off the property for days now. Can one of the local or Australian members create an overlay of the property boundary on Google maps, please? It seems likely to me that the property is rather larger than the area within which Gus might have wandered and got lost and which has been searched. Not sure if that makes sense but if someone could oblige it would be very helpful for context

IIRC, some of us had posted images of the general area around the property on Google Maps, I had pointed out a decent point, being that since there were 2 other homesteads located SW of the family's property. Gus could've wandered away, got lost by the time the sun set, and saw one of the houses. Either being curious about what was at the house, or assuming it was his home, he could be located at one of those houses.

 

[TMich6811]

I am curious if Gus has ever wandered a bit before that day. I know the family searched for him for several hours before notifying LE so I do wonder if he's ever just been out of sight for a little while before and they had to search for him, maybe finding him pretty quickly so on this day they might have thought the same would happen,, they'd look themselves and find him just wandered off a bit. If that is the case, I can see that being a reason dad might say it's dangerous. As you said possibly different parenting styles. IMO

I believe they said this hasn’t happened beforeb

 

[MelmothTheLost]

IIRC, some of us had posted images of the general area around the property on Google Maps, I had pointed out a decent point, being that since there were 2 other homesteads located SW of the family's property. Gus could've wandered away, got lost by the time the sun set, and saw one of the houses. Either being curious about what was at the house, or assuming it was his home, he could be located at one of those houses.

Yes, those two homesteads have been discussed several times, including asking whether they form part of the station or not but I don't recall that this has ever been answered. Nevertheless, I would be incredibly surprised if they had not been searched by LE since given local support for the search effort I can't imagine that occupants would refuse search access to them.

 

[Total_C]

IIRC, some of us had posted images of the general area around the property on Google Maps, I had pointed out a decent point, being that since there were 2 other homesteads located SW of the family's property. Gus could've wandered away, got lost by the time the sun set, and saw one of the houses. Either being curious about what was at the house, or assuming it was his home, he could be located at one of those houses.

Heres a pic of the parcel of land that Oak Park sits on. Its massive.

• Perimeter (Shape): 32,818.111 m
• Approximate Area: 8,000 – 9,000 hectares (≈ 80 – 90 km²)

You can use this website to look it up.

 

[spiritualdreaming]

We've been talking about on the property and off the property for days now. Can one of the local or Australian members create an overlay of the property boundary on Google maps, please? It seems likely to me that the property is rather larger than the area within which Gus might have wandered and got lost and which has been searched. Not sure if that makes sense but if someone could oblige it would be very helpful for context

There is no public online data for that property due to it being owned by the same family for years. So overlapping a map for the boundary of that property is impossible unless you had access to the title deeds for that land to see where the whole boundary is for the station.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

There is no public online data for that property due to it being owned by the same family for years. So overlapping a map for the boundary of that property is impossible unless you had access to the title deeds for that land to see where the whole boundary is for the station.

No problem. I was probably being optimistic.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

Can anyone clarify if Josie was making dinner at the time? I've seen it mentioned here twice but no links.

 

[jessicalouise]

Re-watching the ACA report from tonight.

Does anyone find it strange that a family friend is admonishing people for "conspiracy theories", saying "this child has not been taken!" The reasoning being that there are 6 gates to get to the highway.

Sorry, but what?
Nothing has been ruled out at this stage. They've done a complete search of the property or at least the scrub and he hasn't been located just having wandered off.

Is this one of those situations where police just let family and friends speak to the media to see what they'll divulge?

How would she know definitively that no one abducted him off the property (could be someone who knows the property) and if that's the case then she's implying that he remains on the property and logic dictates he hasn't wandered off.

I'm baffled.

 

[SouthAussie]

Can anyone clarify if Josie was making dinner at the time? I've seen it mentioned here twice but no links.

There are no links because it was my speculation. That it was dinner time, or approaching dinner time, and the grandmother may have been making dinner between 5 & 5:30.

I didn't mention any name of the grandmother, that came from somewhere else.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Can anyone clarify if Josie was making dinner at the time? I've seen it mentioned here twice but no links.

I think it was Shannon.

 

[SouthAussie]

Re-watching the ACA report from tonight.

Does anyone find it strange that a family friend is admonishing people for "conspiracy theories", saying "this child has not been taken!" The reasoning being that there are 6 gates to get to the highway.

Sorry, but what?
Nothing has been ruled out at this stage. They've done a complete search of the property or at least the scrub and he hasn't been located just having wandered off.

Is this one of those situations where police just let family and friends speak to the media to see what they'll divulge?

How would she know definitively that no one abducted him off the property (could be someone who knows the property) and if that's the case then she's implying that he remains on the property and logic dictates he hasn't wandered off.

I'm baffled.

Just like how would the SES guy know Gus was definitely not on the property? None of them know. People are voicing their opinions as fact.

imo

 

[essareem]

I kinda just assumed everyone on here was from Australia but probably not, so just a bit of context. Aussie Rules football (AFL) is basically our version of the Superbowl. The Grand Final is one of the biggest days of the year here and Snoop Dogg even performed at it this year. South Australians and Victorians are especially big on their footy, most people stop what they’re doing to watch.

September 27 was the day Gus was reported missing and that also happened to be Grand Final day. The reported timeline for him being last seen, around 5:00 to 5:30pm, lines up almost exactly with when the game would have been finishing in South Australia. That’s normally when everyone’s glued to the TV or talking about the end of the match.

If people were watching the game at the time there’d actually be really clear reference points for remembering the exact moment they last saw him, like what was happening in the match or when the siren went.

I've spent some time living in Victoria, so I'm well aware that it's basically a religion down there, but I'm curious how big it is in South Australia?

I guess, since they don't have an NRL team, they must be into the AFL pretty strongly?

- A QLDer

 

[Itz_CrimsonYT]

Does anyone find it strange that a family friend is admonishing people for "conspiracy theories", saying "this child has not been taken!" The reasoning being that there are 6 gates to get to the highway.

A valid point, no doubt... But it's still strange...

Was it a statement? or a claim?
Did they say it as if it was a fact? or as if it was their own opinion?

 

[packetgravy]

Can anyone clarify if Josie was making dinner at the time? I've seen it mentioned here twice but no links.

If this is accurate, imo this would be easilly verified. I would assume the meal would remain mostly untouched based on the given timeline of a three hour search.

ETA: Surely a frantic search would be evident. It certainly was for us when two of our kids decided to hide in the back of a closet late one evening. We tore that house apart within minutes.

 

[jessicalouise]

Just like how would the SES guy know Gus was definitely not on the property? None of them know. People are voicing their opinions as fact.

imo

There's a difference between being asked by the media what you think happened and specifically going to the media to speak out and shut down speculation by declaring something definitively didn't happen.